From left: Mark Lundstrom, Jim Bullard, Mike Berghoff, Mung Chiang, Jennett Hill, Johnny Pryor, Ted Maple, and Patrick Wolfe (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

Lilly Endowment Inc. has approved grants totaling $100 million to Purdue Research Foundation to support two major Purdue University initiatives, which together will elevate the university, its students and faculty and accelerate new investments in Indiana’s workforce and economy.

Funding includes $50 million to support Purdue Computes, one of the top strategic initiatives for the university. The other $50 million will support the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business. Together, these commitments represent the largest gift in the university’s history.

“These transformational grants from Lilly Endowment are historic in both magnitude and vision. Combined, the grants represent the largest gift in university history, injecting crucial momentum to the two intersecting initiatives: the Daniels School of Business and Purdue Computes. Together with Purdue University in Indianapolis — our first comprehensive urban campus, which opens this July — these strategic initiatives will further elevate Purdue’s excellence at scale for Indiana’s job creation, workforce brain gain and tech-driven prosperity,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “We are truly grateful for the tremendous support from Lilly Endowment.”

Purdue Computes, a bold initiative that focuses on computing departments, physical artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and quantum, involves many faculty members from the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The effort will use Lilly Endowment funds to continue its mission to connect faculty and students from across the university and enable it to further advance to the forefront of these sectors and their diverse applications. Initiatives will include:

• $20 million for the Birck Nanotechnology Center, which houses the state-of-the-art Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory, one of the largest and most advanced university cleanrooms in the world. Renovations will include:
  • Dedicated training bay for students.
  • Updated cleanroom and laboratory space for advanced microelectronics packaging.
  • Enhanced capabilities for quantum research.
• $20 million to launch the Institute for Physical Artificial Intelligence. With a founding director and interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellows, the institute members will develop innovations that will bring together the bytes of AI and the atoms of “what we grow, what we make and what we move” and further integrate physical AI into Indiana’s core economic sectors.
• $10 million to increase brain gain in Indiana, with enhanced workforce development efforts in the areas of semiconductors and physical AI. Purdue Computes will expand programs for precollege, college and working professional students that provide on-ramps to careers in semiconductors and a variety of industries, from digital agriculture and advanced manufacturing to digital health and autonomous transportation that utilize AI.

“With Purdue Computes, the university is building on its legacy of leadership in computing and microelectronics to trailblaze technologies that will shape the future, and this gift from Lilly Endowment will make a big difference in helping us achieve our goals,” said Karen Plaut, Purdue executive vice president for research. “This support is essential to realizing the power of AI and computing in transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, and life and health sciences and creating the workforce for the future that benefits Purdue students, our state and our nation.”

Business and technology converge

The grants, while given separately and for distinct purposes, will operate together to elevate the university and leverage new investments in Indiana’s economy because the Daniels School and Purdue Computes share the following goals that connect them strategically:

• Increasing and improving Indiana’s talent pipeline by recruiting more top students, as well as faculty interested in new research opportunities.
• Positioning the university to stimulate economic development and prosperity in Indiana by helping the state take full advantage of opportunities in emerging industries, deepening collaborations with Indiana employers and encouraging students to find careers with Indiana-based businesses.
• Infusing ethical principles throughout all teaching and research activities, remaining mindful of the critical importance of ethics in the ever-evolving world of AI and other advanced technologies.
• Building on Purdue’s reputation and capacities in key disciplines, especially STEM, where mutually beneficial cross-disciplinary research and teaching opportunities are expected to grow.

“Students joining the workforce must comprehend new technologies, but they must also be familiar with important business concepts such as organizational change, the impacts of change management, workforce transitions and industrial disruption and creation,” said Patrick J. Wolfe, Purdue provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity. “The Daniels School and Purdue Computes initiatives will collaborate to prepare students who understand how business and technology converge, including in the areas of AI and other advanced technologies, so that they can bring this expertise to their corporate careers. This strong bilateral connection between business and STEM education aims to be the first of its kind in the nation.” 

Matt Folk, president and CEO of the Purdue for Life Foundation and vice president for university advancement and alumni engagement at Purdue, said, “The generosity Lilly Endowment has shown to Purdue, both with these gifts and in the past, is amazing, and we are forever grateful. Contributions like this really move the needle for the university and its ambitious mission, but every gift matters — at Purdue, the small steps and giant leaps go hand in hand.”

Source: Purdue University receives $100 million commitment from Lilly Endowment