The new school year is underway and with it comes a fresh sense of excitement and anticipation for what is to come. It also serves as a good reminder of why what we do here is so impactful.

Our students in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering have immense potential as eventual leaders in their fields. Whether it be in industry, research or education, what they learn here today has a tremendous impact on not just their futures, but all our lives as they go on to lead, create and safeguard our communities, the environment and the following generation of engineers.

Our school — and Purdue University as a whole — has always set its focus forward, as we persistently pursue The Next Giant Leap to amplify our impact in society. That impact, of course, begins in the classroom. Our faculty are some of the absolute best in their fields, and they all possess a strong passion for education and sharing their knowledge with the civil engineers of tomorrow.

We also have researchers — on campus and around the world — hard at work, investigating how to improve water systems, how communities can better respond and recover from natural disasters, and how to make our daily commutes both faster and safer.

Our mission to amplify impact has never been a set of empty words — it is what we all continually strive to do. And this edition of Impact Magazine will highlight some of our work that aims to improve our world.

These stories include research into creating better, more vibrant indoor environments for people with light sensitivities; creating smarter, safer mass transit systems; preserving the freshwater at the Panama Canal; and better prevention and mitigation of wildfires in the United States.

These are just a handful of the innovative research projects taking place at the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, and I look forward to sharing even more of these stories in future publications.

Best regards,

Robert Frosch
Interim Head and Professor of Civil Engineering
Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineeringc

Vice Provost for Academic Facilities
Purdue University