As a regional winner, Purdue University is eligible for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which is accompanied by a $20,000 prize. It will be announced in Washington, DC this November.

The awards, sponsored by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, recognize engagement, scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities. They honor programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery and engagement missions to be more involved with their communities.

EPICS was cited for its development, design, delivery and support of technology-based solutions that help nonprofit organizations. Since it was created in 1995, students involved in EPICS have delivered more than 350 finished projects. Those range from software that enables agencies to coordinate services and protect privacy, to a constructed wetland that purifies agricultural runoff, to an iPad app that helps autistic children communicate and an accessible camp for children with disabilities.

Other universities that received the 2017 regional award are the universities of Minnesota, Louisville and South Carolina.