Two Purdue University-affiliated startups have received approvals for up to $250,000 each from the Purdue Foundry Investment Fund to help continue their missions of advancing life science technologies. Brightlamp, a startup led by CEO and founder Kurtis Sluss (BSChE '16), uses machine learning and computer vision to improve health care and detect concussions, received approval for $250,000 in matching investment dollars, of which approximately $130,000 has closed. Sluss received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2016.

Imagine being able to try out something beforehand so you know how it is going to work afterward. That's the power of the virtual twin - a digital replica that lets you validate a design so you get it right the first time, saving time and money and speeding innovation. Dr. R. Byron Pipes, John L. Bray Distinguished Professor of Engineering, discusses how virtual twins help us find the best solution, and reaching optimal solutions to the challenges of our society - whether they lie in medicine, industry, smart cities, or other areas.

Dr. Jeffrey Miller, Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor at Purdue University, is part of a multi-institution research team developing new materials for improved single-atom catalysis and future electronics. The materials, based on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) that include disulfides, diselenides and tellurides, have a variety of interesting properties that scientists would like to exploit, especially for next-generation electronics and catalysis.

Purdue Chemical Engineering alumnus Dr. John Klier (MSChE '86, PhD '89) has been appointed Dean of the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He will begin his role at OU on July 1. Klier will join OU from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he serves as professor and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Before serving on the faculty at UMass Amherst in 2015, Klier worked for more than 25 years in the private sector with Dow Chemical Co. Klier is a member of several professional organizations, including the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. Klier was named a 2015 Outstanding Chemical Engineering and 2016 Distinguished Engineering Alumni.

Dr. Linda Wang, the Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, was inducted in the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization's Innovators Hall of Fame, which annually recognizes scientists and researchers who have made a positive impact on global society through their research. The program was created in 2013 and now has honored 137 Purdue innovators. The inductees include a Nobel Prize winner, two World Food Prize winners and many other distinguished scientists and researchers.