Denny Yu selected for prestigious NAE symposium, continuing four-year streak for Purdue Industrial Engineering
For the fourth consecutive year, a faculty member from Purdue University’s Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering has been selected to participate in one of the nation’s premier gatherings of emerging engineering leaders.
Denny Yu, Cubitt Rising Star Professor of Industrial Engineering, has been selected by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to participate in the 2026 Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Sept. 21-24 at the University of Texas at Austin.
Yu is one of just 100 early-career engineers from across industry, academia and government invited to participate in the annual symposium. Participants are selected through a competitive nomination and review process based on exceptional research accomplishments and leadership potential.
His selection continues an impressive run for the Edwardson School. Purdue IE faculty have now been chosen to participate in the symposium in four consecutive years: Brandon Pitts in 2023, David Johnson in 2024, Sivaranjani Seetharaman in 2025 and Yu in 2026.
The streak also reflects the breadth of research underway within Purdue Industrial Engineering. The four faculty members' work spans human-automation interaction, decision-making under uncertainty, digital twins and complex systems, human factors, artificial intelligence and healthcare.
Yu leads Purdue's Healthcare Ergonomics Analytics Lab (HEAL), where his research brings together human factors engineering, biobehavioral sensing, machine learning and technology design to better understand human behavior and performance in complex, high-stress environments. His work includes developing systems capable of modeling physical capability and cognitive states, assessing team performance and adapting technology based on a user's workload.
Associate Professor Denny Yu at the 2024 Applied Ergonomics conference, where he was awarded the Young Investigator Award
The interdisciplinary nature of Yu's research aligns closely with the mission of the Frontiers of Engineering program. Rather than focusing on a single engineering discipline, the symposium is designed to expose participants to emerging research across fields and encourage new collaborations and the exchange of ideas.
The 2026 symposium will explore four areas: innovation in bioengineered materials; compute challenges for artificial intelligence; agriculture as a system of systems, from molecules to markets; and hypersonics.
Yu will be joined at the symposium by two other Purdue Engineering faculty members: David Warsinger, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Brandon Chynoweth, research associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics.
The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Symposium is an invitation-only program of the National Academy of Engineering for engineers within 12 years of earning their master's or doctoral degree. Since its creation, the program has sought to bring together emerging engineering leaders and foster collaborations capable of addressing complex technological and societal challenges.
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