These Projects were each chosen by the Showalter Selection Committee for support through a highly competitive selection process.  Proposals for funding from the Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust are first reviewed by an internal selection committee at Purdue. The Committee is appointed on an annual basis by the Associate Vice President for research and is comprised of distinguished faculty representing individual academic units within the Purdue system. The committee then selects the most meritorious pre-proposals for development of full proposals which are then forwarded to the Showalter Trustees. The Showalter Trustees make the final selection of projects to be funded.

Since 1975, Purdue has received research funding through grants made possible from the Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust Fund. The areas of research eligible for funding, as described by the benefactors, are:

• Air and water pollution research
• Research in the field of biochemistry
• Research for the control and prevention of disease
• Research for development of new technologies in food production
• Research in medical and biophysical instrumentation, including the adaptation of the modern computer in the measurement of biological processes, in the collection, recording, analysis, and interpretation of data.