Purdue University has always had a resolute focus on serving those who serve our country, and its commitment to national security is paramount as a land-grant university. Purdue is now further strengthening its endeavors as a thought leader for national security and defense by announcing Defense Innovation, its newest Purdue Engineering Initiative (PEI).

“This is a key time for the Defense Innovation PEI, as our country faces new and present challenges from near-peer adversaries on the world stage,” said Michael D. Sangid, co-leader of the new PEI and the Reilly Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “The Defense Innovation PEI is an opportunity to harness the unique talent and expertise at Purdue, transition new research and technology into service, and help support the future workforce needs of the U.S. Defense ecosystem.”

Purdue Engineering PEIs are virtual organizational structures designed to strengthen research in areas of national and global importance. The Defense Innovation PEI will assist with alignment, coordination, and the promotion of pockets of activity around national security and defense to provide support and visibility. It will feature multidisciplinary collaborations across Purdue faculty, other academic institutions, industry, and foundations to incubate research centers, create novel IP portfolios, and accelerate commercialization in select engineering areas.

“When we work together, we can address important problems that are otherwise intractable. We look forward to building research communities across the diversity of Purdue Engineering and connecting them to the partners and resources they need to solve pressing defense challenges,” said Stephen Beaudoin, co-leader of the Defense Innovation PEI and director of the Purdue Energetics Research Center.

“As the largest top-ranked engineering program in the nation, Purdue Engineering has played an important role in helping the military since our founding in 1874,” said Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering. “This initiative is critical to ensuring that we can respond quickly and efficiently with programs in place to support our armed forces now and in the future.”

The Defense Innovation PEI will have five initial thrusts:

• Help increase the number of large Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE) research activities and centers in Purdue Engineering.
• Help create undergraduate and graduate pipelines in Purdue Engineering for defense workforce development.
• Help convene key stakeholders to create faster pathways and accelerators for defense tech-based patents, start-ups and tech commercialization.
• Increase national visibility for Purdue Engineering in defense innovation; leverage subject matter expertise to create more opportunities to participate in policy conversations.
• Increase partnerships with key DOD and DOE entities.

Defense Innovation will investigate and support a wide range of technological disciplines in the context of their current and near-future relevance to challenges to our national security, including energetic materials, propulsion, hypersonics, organic chemistry, biotechnology, electrochemistry, cybersecurity, crystallization, supply chains, drones, advanced materials, manufacturing of high-performance materials, batteries, electronic warfare, systems, and additive manufacturing.

It will take that kind of collaborative mindset to advance our national security and defense.

"As a proud contributor to Purdue's successful efforts to advance our contribution to national security and defense over the past decade, I am eager to link the many relevant research and relationship activities ongoing in the DPD institutes family with the Defense Innovation PEI to maximize our impact,” said Dan DeLaurentis, vice president for the Discovery Park District Institutes and Bruce Reese Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The Discovery Park District (DPD), houses several large-scale interdisciplinary research facilities, institutes, and centers and is managed by the Purdue Office of Research  

“Purdue Engineering already has an outsized reputation in national security and defense, and because of it the nation expects even more from us,” DeLaurentis said. “This PEI will make sure we rise to the call."

“The goals of this new PEI are a perfect complement to the work we are doing at the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI) and across Purdue, embodying our collective, unwavering commitment to research in support of national defense,” said Mark J. Lewis, PARI president and CEO and chair of the Purdue National Security and Defense Counsel. 

In addition to PARI, the new PEI will intersect with other PEIs and also link a number of Purdue institutes and centers of excellence across the campus to amplify their national security and defense contributions.

This “Whole of Engineering” approach, as the Defense Innovation PEI seeks to “rise to the call” to buttress and advance our nation’s national security, will persistently pursue a lofty outcome as Purdue celebrates its 2024 Sesquicentennial year.

“That Purdue Engineering will be recognized as a premier source of talent, ideas and solutions that address our most urgent defense challenges,” said Beaudoin.