Purdue Computes

Banner image: The Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory at Birck Nanotechnology Center is a 25,000-square-foot cleanroom with bays operating at ISO 3/4/5 (Class 1/10/100). The three-level structure consists of a full subfab, the clean room level, and an air-handling level above the cleanroom. 

Computing synergies across science and engineering; Purdue invests in computing to meet student need

Advancing Purdue’s national leadership: Phase 1 of semiconductor facilities moving forward

As part of Purdue Computes, a three-pronged strategic initiative launched in April to further scale Purdue’s research and educational excellence in the future of computing, and recognizing that computing takes place in chips, Purdue announced the investment of Phase 1: a $49 million in semiconductor cleanroom upgrade and a planned Phase 2: another $51 million to help create an open innovation ecosystem¹. 

“Birck Nanotechnology Center has for decades been a critical home for discovery and technology development, both for Purdue researchers and those from industry and other universities who use our facilities,” says Zhihong Chen, the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center. “This investment will ensure that we maintain our state-of-the-art facilities, reclaim more space, and establish new capabilities for semiconductor R&D.” 

Upgrades will include procurement of specialized equipment for device fabrication and characterization, and effort to increase capacity in the 25,000-square-foot Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory cleanroom, one of the largest academic cleanrooms in the nation. It will include a dedicated training bay for use in preparing those enrolled in the university’s Semiconductor Degrees Program, such as Purdue undergrads, Ivy Tech students, and engineers in the field.

The upgrades will also create dedicated cleanroom and lab space for advanced packaging research — innovations in design, materials and processing that are needed to integrate chiplets with different functionalities — and shared quantum transport and characterization facilities, which are important to future electronic and quantum information science applications. Work will begin immediately and is expected to be completed in August 2024. The installation of new equipment in the renovated space will start in the first quarter of 2024.

Full-length story can be found on the engineering news website.

Purdue launches nation’s first Institute for Physical AI (IPAI)

As student interests in computing-related majors and societal impact of AI and chips continue to rise rapidly, Purdue University has announced a major initiative, Purdue Computes

Purdue Computes consists of three pillars: academic resource of computing departments, strategic artificial intelligence research, and semiconductor education and research.

First Pillar: Academic resource of computing departments

A wave of top-notch hirings will bring 50 new faculty to computer science, computer engineering and related departments in the next five years, with a goal of reaching top 10 in the U.S. In addition, the Department of Computer Science in the College of Science will have a secondary affiliation in the College of Engineering, further enhancing collaboration opportunities with faculty and students. Bi-collegiate collaboration efforts are a proven benefit, following the model of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, which ranks No. 1 nationally. Productive collaboration with computer engineering in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which offers a minor in AI applications, will be carried out.

Second Pillar: Purdue launches nation’s first Institute for Physical AI (IPAI), recruiting 50 new faculty

At the intersection between the virtual and the physical, Purdue will leapfrog to prominence between the bytes of AI and the atoms of growing, making and moving things: the university's and state of Indiana's long-standing strength.

The Purdue Institute for Physical AI (IPAI) will be the cornerstone of the university’s unprecedented push into bytes-meet-atoms research. By developing both foundational AI and its applications to “We Grow, We Make, We Move,” faculty will transform AI development through physical applications and vice versa. IPAI’s creation is based on extensive faculty input and the unique strength of research excellence at Purdue. Open agricultural data, neuromorphic computing, deepfake detection, edge AI systems, smart transportation data, and AI-based manufacturing are among the variety of cutting-edge topics to be explored by IPAI through several current and emerging university research centers. The centers are the backbone of the IPAI, building upon Purdue’s existing and developing AI and cybersecurity strengths as well as workforce development. New degrees and certificates for both residential and online students will be developed for students interested in physical AI.

Third Pillar: Semiconductor facilities and equipment

The third pillar draws together computing, AI and their reliance on semiconductor chips. The university plans to invest $100 million in semiconductor facilities, with Phase 1 of $49 million approved in April 14 by the Board of Trustees for capital project and equipment procurement to upgrade the 20-year-old national treasure Birck Nanotechnology Center. This further illustrates Purdue’s dominant position today in education, research and industry partnership in semiconductors. 

Full-length story can be found on engineering website.

1. An innovation ecosystem refers to facilities of other related technical fields within close location proximity.