The first round of PEPC-College of Engineering Student Organization Fund awards will support 13 student organizations on a variety of projects and events from engineering/STEM outreach events in the Greater Lafayette community to national and international competitions in rocketry, robotics and biomedical innovations.

As part of the competition, student organizations filled out an initial application summarizing their organization’s project or event and how funding would be used. With help from reviewers within the College of Engineering, Purdue For Life, and PEPC, applicants were then selected for an interview. During the interview, applicants had the opportunity to present their proposed project or event more in-depth and answer specific questions about their plans.

A full list of student organization awardees and their initiatives can be found below:

American Society of Mechanical Engineers – Funds awarded will seed the design/build project of a prosthetic hand for a young man who is currently a chef who lost his hand in a meat grinder accident.

• Website: purdueasme.com
• Instagram: @purdueasme
• Facebook: @ASME - Purdue Chapter
• Twitter: @ASMEPurdue
• LinkedIn: @ASME Purdue

Autonomous Robotics Club – The funds will support an innovative autonomous chess board inspired by Harry Potter which will allow player to use voice commands to play and support an on-going robotic arm project.

• Website: purduearc.com
• Facebook: @PurdueRobotClub
• LinkedIn: Autonomous Robotics Club of Purdue
• Youtube: Autonomous Robotics Club of Purdue

Boiler Robotics – Boiler Robotics is a new organization planning on building a Mars Rover to use in competition.  The funds will be used to purchase re-useable mechanical and electrical parts.

• Website: boilerrobotics.org
• Instagram: @boilerrobotics
• Facebook: @BoilerRobotics

Formula SAE – The project is developing our team's engine dyno which provides us the ability to tune our engine to maximize it's efficiency, response, and power which will ultimately yield our team greater performance on the track.

• Website: engineering.purdue.edu/fsae
• Instagram: @purduefsae
• Facebook: @PurdueFSAE
• LinkedIn: Purdue University Formula SAE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Racing – The project is the development of an autonomous vehicle that can compete in races. Specifically, it is to integrate all the functionality onto a single onboard computer and then use Computer Vision to allow the kart to know what’s around it.

• Website: purdueieee.org/racing

Latinos in Science and Engineering – We hosted a STEM day at a local elementary school in Lafayette.  The event was virtual and the funds supported the costs of providing materials to the students and teachers for the guided activities.

• Website: bit.ly/MAESPurdue
• Instagram: @maes.purdue
• Twitter: @PurdueMAES
• LinkedIn: MAES Purdue

Purdue FIRST Programs – The funds will be used to help Purdue First mentor and support local public school student robotics teams in a socially distant and COVID-19 safe manner.

• Website: purduefirst.org
• Instagram: @purduefirst
• Facebook: @PurdueFIRST
• Twitter: @purduefirst

Purdue Lunabotics – Purdue Lunabotics competes in the NASA Robotic Mining Competition (RMC) every year, however this season and last season's competitions were canceled due to COVID-19. In spite of this, we are continuing to design, manufacture, and build our lunar rover this year.

• Website: lunabusinessops.wixsite.com/lunabotics
• Instagram: @purduelunabotics
• Facebook: @purduelunabotics
• Twitter: @PurdueLunabotic

Purdue Medical Innovation, Network, and Design – MIND is developing an innovative method of measuring dehydration through capillary refill time as well as a way to detect traumatic episodes or nightmares in veterans and alerting their service dogs via their dog collars.

• Website: purduemind.mailerpage.com
• Instagram: @purdue.mind
• Facebook: @PurdueMIND
• Twitter: @PurdueMIND

Purdue Space Program – PSP consists of several teams which design & build specialized types of rockets. The funds will help pay for liquid rocket manufacturing & hybrid rocket systems.

• Website: purdueseds.space
• Instagram: @purdue_seds
• Twitter: @purdue_seds
• Facebook: @PurdueSEDS
• LinkedIn: Purdue Space Program: A SEDS Chapter
• YouTube: Purdue Space Program

Purdue University Material Advantage – PUMA is establishing a Bladesmithing Competition Team/Blacksmithing Group which is about a year and a half in the making.

• Instagram: @purdue_ma

Stempower – This project aims to use the STEM design/build process to solve the problem of shelter animals not having toys to play with.  In conjunction with the 3D Printing Club, we will work with high school students to solve this problem.

• Website: stempowerpurdue.wixsite.com/stempower
• Instagram: @stempowerpurdue
• Facebook: @stempowerpurduechapter

Society of Environmental and Ecological Engineers – The funds were used to host a Protect Purdue approved fun social event that brought together sophomores in EEE to introduce them to SEEE and help connect them to one another as this has been a challenge of COVID-19 and the school year.

• Twitter: @PurdueSEEE
• Facebook: Purdue Society of Environmental and Ecological Engineers (SEEE)

Any questions regarding the College of Engineering Student Organization Fund or PEPC can be directed to Co-Presidents Breanne Towers (btowers@purdue.edu) or Cole Heald (cheald@purdue.edu).

About PEPC:

PEPC is an organization of engineering presidents working together to support the engineering/technical organizations on campus through interorganizational promotion, staffing, or brainstorming. Other benefits include increased communication with the college, a space on the college of engineering’s web page, and other leadership/professional development training in the form of faculty presentations.