Fall 2024 - Frontiers - Purdue University

ARVIND RAMAN
John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering
Robert V. Adams Professor in Mechanical Engineering
Professor of Materials Engineering (by Courtesy)
Purdue University

Purdue Engineering continues charting momentous advances toward fulfilling its Vision 2030 — to be the most consequential engineering college in the nation. As we celebrate our College's 150th anniversary year, we are proud to share recent giant leaps that extend our impact on the world and pave the way for further breakthroughs.

This issue of FRONTIERS illustrates excellence at scale spanning:

National center/semiconductor manufacturing: Purdue has become the beating heart of the semiconductor heartland and without a doubt the nation’s leading semiconductor university. Just last month, the Dept of Commerce announced a combined $1B investment in a new CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute – called the SMART USA Institute – to develop, validate, and use "digital twins" to improve domestic semiconductor design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, assembly, and test processes. This was a tough national competition with one winner taking it all. I am proud to say that Purdue is the lead academic institution in this industry-led consortium and helped conceptualize the institute as a member of the founding executive committee. Birck Nanotechnology Center, already the nation’s largest academic semiconductor research facility, will now become a national hub for developing and applying digital twins for semiconductor manufacturing and R&D, working in close collaboration with strong industry partners. This milestone underscores Purdue's unwavering commitment to driving innovation, enabling critical technological advancements, and educating the next generation of semiconductor pioneers. Together, we continue to shape the future of this transformative industry.

Manufacturing milestones: expansion of Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories across the Hard-Tech Corridor, the LyoHUB2040 Tech Roadmap, the $73-million High-Speed Propulsion Lab at Zucrow Laboratories, and a panel discussion of AI in manufacturing across the I-65/I-75 smart corridor.

Major research centers and partnerships: Purdue’s new Institute of CHIPS and AI, SK hynix's nearly $4 billion facility investment to boost advanced packaging of AI memory chips, a partnership with Dassault Systèmes to transform semiconductor workforce development, a collaboration with Quanser to enhance autonomous and connected systems education and research, a Defense Innovation initiative to meet national security challenges on the global stage, and a Smart Crossroads ecosystem to drive creative logistics 4.0.

Academic strides: lengthening the streak of our most-ever top 10 undergraduate rankings and launching an online engineering doctorate.

Organizational developments: merging our civil and construction engineering schools, naming our industrial engineering school to honor an alumnus' $25 million in philanthropic commitments, and receiving a sesquicentennial tribute in the U.S. Senate.