Purdue Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Neuro-AI Symposium (PN3) - Purdue University

The intersection of neuroscience, advanced neurotechnologies, and artificial intelligence represents one of the most dynamic frontiers in modern science. Federal agencies—including the NIH, DoD, and NSF—are rapidly expanding investments in neuro-AI, emphasizing the convergence of biological intelligence and engineered computation. Purdue is strategically positioned to lead this effort, given its strengths in neuroscience, neuroengineering, AI systems, and computational modeling. The Purdue Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Neuro-AI Symposium would formalize this leadership, catalyze interdisciplinary collaboration, and align campus strengths with evolving national research priorities.

This initiative builds directly on Purdue’s growing momentum. Recent successes—most notably the DoD MURI award focused on energy-efficient brain computation and the use of cutting-edge neurotechnologies—demonstrate federal recognition of Purdue’s excellence in cognitive and computational neural dynamics and its growing strength in electrical and optical neurotechnologies. Federal directives such as the NIH BRAIN Initiative and NSF-funded Neural and Cognitive Systems programs further illustrate a broad and mature research ecosystem. The Purdue Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Neuro-AI Symposium provides a cohesive institutional mechanism to integrate these communities, foster new collaborations, and elevate Purdue’s visibility with federal program managers and industry partners.

Purdue’s existing infrastructure provides an exceptional foundation. The College of Engineering, the BIRCK Nanotechnology Center, PIINs, and the Institute for Physical-AI collectively offer world-class capabilities in microfabrication, neural interfacing, and AI-driven analysis. Coordinating these resources through a cross-cutting symposium would transform distributed excellence into a unified campus identity in Neuro-AI, creating new pathways for center-scale funding and student recruitment in this emerging domain.