Purdue Engineering Podcast

For February 2020, we present two episodes featuring professors in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. This episode explores the next generation of nano-scale technologies with a leading global expert in the field, Professor Kaushik Roy. He directs Purdue's Nanoelectronics Research Laboratory, which was established in the 1990s and has been in the forefront of collaborative nanotechnology developments throughout that time. Its work, supported by an array of sponsors, extends not only to devices, but to the architecture and algorithms that can support prospective advances in devices through the new Center for Brain-Inspired Computing. There are nine universities involved in C-BRIC's work, with about 120 Ph.D. students, according to Roy. C-BRIC is supported by the Semiconductor Research Corp. via its Joint University Microelectronics Program (JUMP), which provides funding from diverse industrial sponsors and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Center's goal is to deliver key advances in cognitive computing—the launch pad for the next generation of AI—to enable new autonomous intelligent systems, such as self-flying drones and interactive personal robots. Major issues of energy efficiency, comprehensive learning, and robust autonomous performance must be addressed, he said. Roy described how C-BRIC's efforts with “brain-inspired” algorithms and theory, as well as neuromorphic hardware, can lead to distributed intelligence that more closely emulates they way human brains functions. In the spirit of the Purdue Engineering Initiatives as incubators for wide-ranging engagements, Roy said his laboratory utilizes many interdisciplinary collaborations. Developments inspired by the human brain's capabilities must bridge machine learning, computational neuroscience, theoretical computer science, hardware expertise, mathematics, applications in robotics and autonomous systems, and mechanical engineering as well as electrical engineering. In keeping with the College of Engineering celebration of 120 years of history, Roy said Purdue has proven adept at facilitating the kind of wide-ranging expertise and cooperation that has already moved nano-scale technology far beyond original expectations. A resource already developed years ago by Purdue, now known internationally as Nanohub.com, has proven extremely valuable for cooperative innovation at the nano scale, Roy said, and the University's leadership in the field continues. See additional show notes on the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

This second episode of the two-part visit to the School of Materials Engineering (MSE) remains centered on the overview provided by David Bahr PhD, head and professor and head of materials engineering. Again, comments from other faculty members with special areas of innovative expertise are interspersed throughout the conversation with Bahr. Bahr told us ceramics are wide-ranging, from coffee mugs to glass windows to temperature-resistant materials for advanced applications. The complexity of making this last group of ceramics has prompted new research on more cost-effective, smaller-scale “additive manufacturing” of ceramics. These processes are akin to additive manufacturing of polymers and the 3D printing techniques increasingly common in workplaces. Professor Rodney Trice, mentioned in the previous episode, spoke of ceramics in the context of an urgent challenge now confronted in the defense arena. Materials for hypersonic missile flight must be extremely heat-resistant, as well as resistant to oxidation. Trice is part of a large community of industry and academic researchers pursuing ceramic innovation. Professor Chelsea Davis exemplifies interest in measurement of adhesion strength between materials. One project for which she leads a team of students, along with Professor Kendra Erk, addresses the road-signage needs of the Indiana Department of Transportation. Davis has seen how MSE prepares students to work in a wide range of applications. In another testimony to the variety of career paths for materials engineers, Bahr pointed out that one of the School's faculty members, Professor Jan-Anders Mansson, will oversee Purdue's new Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center. Bahr said the School's comprehensive materials know-how fits well with the broad visioning taking place in the five Purdue Engineering Initiatives. Those PEIs are virtual structures for incubating innovations connecting principal trends in engineering to the College's distinctive strengths for ongoing leadership.   One early example of the intersection between MSE's resources and the path toward top-priority impacts in engineering is nanoHUB, Bahr said. The international materials community has embraced the nanoHUB tools that were created by Purdue engineers. That places the School at the heart of planning for future applications of computational resources and data science. Professor Alejandro Strachan is one representative of MSE's early and ongoing momentum in using data to advance materials research. He said the ability to use predictive modeling based on physics has already helped to accelerate engineering. Bahr said the School and its extended community will continue to be a crucial part of the teamwork that makes Purdue a leader in engineering. For more podcasts, visit the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

For March 2020, we're presenting two episodes featuring professors in the School of Materials Engineering (MSE). This first episode introduces David Bahr, PhD, head and professor of materials engineering, who guides our tour of innovations and cutting-edge experts who have been part of big change at Purdue University's College of Engineering. The episode provides background on the growth of the School of Materials Engineering, which in its first 60 years has become the fifth-largest materials engineering program in the U.S. New material groups have emerged continuously over 60 years, adding breadth and depth to a repertoire that at first was focused on metals. The spectrum now includes ceramics, polymers, electronic materials, biomaterials, energetic materials, and more. Nanomaterials are formed as thin films that may combine the properties of more than one kind of material. Some nanomaterials have the thickness of a single atom and are called two-dimensional materials. One such material comprising a single layer of atoms is called graphene. Haiyan Wang, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering, is a noted researcher in thin film composites suited to the nanostructures of next-generation computing devices. Among the devices being developed are those that could no longer be called microelectronics; they transmit information using photons, not electrons, so they bear the name “photonics.” Wang mentioned Professor Michael Manfra, who is focused on a different path toward quantum computing. Professor Matthew Krane centers his materials engineering and mechanical engineering research around metals processing and microstructures that affect product efficiency, efficacy and sustainability. His manufacturing partners include companies in today's steel industry, with its new demand for customized, advanced properties. Krane mentioned Professor Kenneth Sandhage, who is pursuing properties of intensive heat and corrosion resistance in materials that would provide heat-transfer functions in concentrated solar power plants. Professor Jeffrey Youngblood works on polymers and other materials, such as ceramics, with a special focus on optimizing sustainability in products. His research seeks out natural materials, including cellulose, but all materials must be judged in light of a “triple bottom line” standard. Products must be functional, cost-effective and sustainable. One Purdue innovation, nano-cellulose-enabled concrete, has been used to pave a parking lot in South Carolina. This triple bottom line also applies to development of such products as heat exchangers for turbine engines, a project in which Youngblood has joined forces with Professor Rodney Trice. They aim to reduce jet engines' carbon footprint. Their collaborators include the Burke Laboratory, a mechanical engineering research facility emphasizing energy efficiency. Professor Davin Piercey develops new energetic materials, such as explosives. One must address an array of safety and toxicity concerns in this field. The quality of replacement materials can be determined through small-scale experimentation. Piercey said the experimentalists enjoy the hands-on work but also benefit from the predictive skills of data scientists conducting simulations and modeling to assess different materials and properties. See additional show notes on the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

The April 2020 episode presents this episode featuring an interview with Makarand (Mark) Hastak, PhD, head of Construction Engineering and Management in Purdue University's College of Engineering. Hastak discusses CEM's extensive, cutting-edge role in all aspects of infrastructure, pointing out how the definition of that familiar term has broadened. CEM's unique approach to the combination of research and teaching includes special engagement among alumni and other knowledgeable practitioners, industry, and peer academic institutions, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The CEM head explains how this approach enables world-class faculty to serve the construction industry through visionary and time-tested experience. The contributions cover the entire lifespan of a typical construction project, with attention to quality, safety, cost, schedule and sustainability, Hastak says. That lifespan comprises planning, design, physical construction, and maintenance. Faculty members are internationally recognized in specialized areas, such as facilities engineering, virtual reality, augmented reality, cyberspace applications, construction safety, disaster risk reduction, geographic Information Systems (GIS), building information modeling (BIM), heavy construction, underground infrastructure, and construction company profitability. According to ASCE estimates, the U.S. needs to invest $4.5 trillion by 2025 to maintain its existing civil infrastructure. This civil infrastructure is the concept most familiar to the general public, largely referring to municipal supplies of water and electricity, as well as bridges, dams, tunnels and much more. Hastak also names social, educational, environmental, financial and cyber/communication as types of civic infrastructure.    Purdue's CEM is perhaps the only program in the country whose curriculum includes three internships for every undergraduate. Every summer, about 120 students fan out to dozens of companies, in the U.S. and overseas, to receive hands-on learning as paid interns. Over time, CEM has built relationships with some 180 construction companies. The experiential component of learning is a distinguishing feature of Purdue's program. Alumni play a crucial role as mentors for internships. CEM pays particular attention to successful career preparation for women and underrepresented minority group members among undergraduates. Hastak is proud that CEM alumni established the Women in Construction (WinC) mentoring program to support female students. Interns can tap into the insights and assistance of the WinC network. Currently, women constitute about 25 percent of every CEM graduating class. Hastak graduated from Purdue with his PhD in 1994. He worked in industry for a time before joining academia, and he returned to Purdue in 2001. In 2019, this renowned author and industry influencer received the honor of being named Dernlan Family Head of Construction Engineering and Management. All CEM stakeholders are involved in a major strategic planning process to map the division's next five years to remain “the best of the best” in construction engineering and management education, Hastak says. CEM celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2016-2017. All five Purdue Engineering Initiatives (PEIs), underway as incubators for advanced planning of College of Engineering priorities and programs, have connections to CEM, Hastak notes. The division is addressing opportunities to bring data analytics and digital capabilities more fully into the construction field. Most CEM research is conducted by interdisciplinary teams. Hastak foresees a surge in the number of qualified construction engineers needed to implement the anticipated investment in infrastructure repair and expansion.CEM is expanding its expertise in the virtual-physical space. Also, it is developing a professional master's program, combining on-site and online learning, to offer customizable graduate-level programs that update skills in various areas of specialization. CEM will also be the home for a Purdue center of excellence to optimize collaboration between experts in industry and academia to focus on addressing major challenges. The center is called Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Operations, and Maintenance(EPCOM). See additional show notes on the Purdue Engineering podcast website.     

This April 2020 episode looks at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, part of the College of Engineering at Purdue University. The world's current battle against the COVID-19 pandemic makes this episode especially timely because our interview is with Professor Ernest R. (“Chip”) Blatchley III. His research deals with the preservation and disinfection of water supplies; his long-standing efforts to improve water purification in the U.S. and around the world through ultraviolet radiation and halogen chemicals such as chlorine may have implications for ridding water of the novel coronavirus. Blatchley is the Lee A. Rieth Professor in Environmental Engineering, holding a joint appointment in the Lyles School and in Environmental and Ecological Engineering. His lab research aims to assist in the generation of data about the impact of UV radiation on the newest coronavirus. Past efforts have uncovered beneficial impacts combating previously identified coronaviruses or other waterborne dangers. The research also takes into account the fact that UV and chlorine have proved to be complementary for disinfection purposes, for degrading toxic organic compounds. So, COVID-19 may present similar scenarios. Blatchley sees Purdue providing a full range of capabilities from a number of disciplines that can benefit his areas of research. Environmental engineering is a broad and growing field, and it is inherently interdisciplinary. The potential for wide-ranging collaboration is one of the University's great strengths, he says, noting that the opportunities for continuous learning are exciting for him and his students. The Lyles School is involved in at least one of the Purdue Engineering Initiatives, or PEIs – namely, regarding increased capabilities for flight in cislunar space.  Blatchley's research lab has collaborated with NASA, among many governmental, corporate and academic organizations. Education in civil engineering and environmental engineering has been evolving and will continue to do so, Blatchley says. COVID-19 will change a number of things, including teaching styles. Students have adjusted well to Purdue's full transition to distance learning triggered by the pandemic. Already, before the health crisis, the College of Engineering was expanding virtual education opportunities, for example, with the development of affordable online master's programs in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and Blatchley is writing a book about applications of UV radiation – at the core of lab research he has conducted over the years. He will develop a class related to the book, to be taught via distance education. UV radiation is used for disinfection differently around the world, so online learning will create opportunities for unusual conversations and valuable cross-boundary learning. See additional show notes on the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

Our May 2020 episode features an interview with Rakesh Agrawal, PhD, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering. Agrawal discusses principal interests that have driven his research during the 15 years since he left the corporate world for academia. From his first days on Purdue's College of Engineering faculty, he has shown a zeal to contribute to energy sustainability for the future. This passion has taken him into multidisciplinary collaborations extending far beyond chemical engineering. His pursuit of renewable energy has translated into enthusiasm for developing low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells — through printing with light-sensitive ink composed of unique nanocrystals. Intensive work at the world-class laboratory of the Rakesh Agrawal Research Group has yielded cells with approximately 15 percent efficiency so far, and these efforts continue toward the goal of 20 percent efficiency. As an offshoot of his work on capturing the sun's energy, Agrawal more recently started researching technologies for growing food at the same time in the same spaces. This facilitates the human race's shift from fossil energy to solar resources without disruptive competition for land. Agrawal's team has built its first plant on agricultural land owned by Purdue, and data on combined food and solar-power production are being collected. The combination of research on sustainable food, energy, and water systems is called SFEWS. Agrawal says he has found abundant support among faculty and administration at Purdue for this collaborative research involving broad areas of know-how in multiple types of engineering, agriculture, economics, business and more. The interdisciplinarity of this SFEWS work — and the need to educate generations of engineering talent ready for such broad collaborations —have[1] helped Agrawal receive support from the National Science Foundation's Research Traineeship (NRT) and Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS) programs. Agrawal and collaborators across Purdue have been developing multidisciplinary courses attracting diverse groups of students under NSF training grants for studies in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Those students have impressed Agrawal by forming cohesive groups. He says they want to shape a brighter future and cooperate with one another as they tackle their own specialized tasks. The professor's third principal area of research interest dates to his days as a chemical engineer in the corporate sector. He is pleased that his efforts to increase the energy efficiency of processes to separate products at petroleum and chemical plants have continued to yield exciting results. See additional show notes on Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

Our June 2020 episode features an interview with Shimon Nof, a professor of Industrial Engineering in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University Nof discusses the foundation of Industrial Engineering, Industry 4.0, emerging areas of research, and the role industrial engineers play in helping solve challenges from the pandemic we are facing with COVID-19. He discovered industrial engineering in high school and it appealed to him more than other areas of engineering because of the human factors involved and how he could see himself contributing to society. Through his long career, his research has pioneered the development of knowledge-based computer-aided facility design and robotics control models. He has held visiting positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at universities in Chile, the European Union, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the UK. Nof is also the Director of the PRISM Center, an NSF-industry supported center focused on Production, Robotics and Integration Software for Manufacturing & Management. His current research projects include cyber-supported integration and collaboration of distributed e-Work and robotics, as well as CCT (Collaborative Control Theory) with applications in industrial, management, transportation and agricultural systems. Podcast Extras are available on the  Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

For July 2020, we are featuring research from across Environmental and Ecological Engineering (known as EEE at Purdue) in three episodes.  This first episode is hosted by John Sutherland, the Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering and features an interview with Hua Cai, an assistant professor in Environmental and Ecological Engineering and in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University.   Cai discusses urban sustainability and efforts being made to meet the demands of urban populations while trying to use resources wisely and efficiently. She also shares about her research related to the three revolutions happening in transportation:  electrification, shared mobility and autonomous driving.    Cai's research team is called Urban Sustainability Modeling & Analysis Research Team (uSMART) and uses agent-based modeling, life cycle assessments, system dynamics, big data analytics, GIS and optimization tools to study the environmental implications of emerging technologies from the systems perspective. The team's research interests include energy-water nexus, emerging transportation systems, energy policy, and sustainable consumption.   Listen to more Purdue Engineering podcast episodes. 

For July 2020, we are featuring research from across Environmental and Ecological Engineering (known as EEE at Purdue) in three episodes.  This third episode hosted by John Sutherland, the Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering and features an interview with Professor Fu Zhao, an international leader in life cycle engineering, who also has a joint appointment in mechanical engineering.   Zhao discusses the environmental approach to industrial sustainability which explores the impact of processes and products on the environment across their life span. His research team in the Sustainable Engineering, Technology and Systems Lab studies a wide range of areas including 3D printer emissions, sustainable electronics, energy efficiency of digital manufacturing and rare earth elements.   For more podcasts, visit the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

For July 2020, we are featuring research from across Environmental and Ecological Engineering (known as EEE at Purdue) in three episodes.  This second episode hosted by John Sutherland, the Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering and features an interview with EEE's Caitlin Proctor and Andrew Whelton about their NSF Rapid Response grant to study the water systems in buildings that were closed or shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Caitlin Proctor is a Lillian Gilbreth postdoctoral fellow currently working with three advisors across four schools: Dr. John Howarter, Associate Professor of Materials Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Dr. Andrew Whelton, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering, and Dr. Paul Robinson, Professor of Biomedical Engineering. She came to Purdue University after completing her Ph.D. in Life Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology at Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. Andrew J Whelton, is an associate professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental and Ecological Engineering and his team investigates and solves problems that affect our natural and built environments. His expertise focusses on environmental chemistry and engineering, disasters, polymer science and engineering, water quality, infrastructure, and public health. For more information about Purdue's Plumbing Safety research visit:  plumbingsafety.org  Related News:  NY Times: After Coronavirus, Office Workers Might Face Unexpected Health Threats The Conversation: The coronavirus pandemic might make buildings sick, too Purdue News: Water quality could change in buildings closed down during COVID-19 pandemic, engineers say For more podcasts, visit the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

Clive Townsend is the reactor supervisor for PUR-1, Purdue University's Reactor 1, and is responsible for its safe operation, assuring that all operations are conducted in a safe manner and within the limits prescribed by the facility license. In this episode, Townsend shares his experience in helping to manage Indiana's only nuclear reactor and the first nuclear reactor in the U.S. to have all digital instrumentation and controls.  We'll also learn what is unique about PUR-1 and how it is used for teaching, research, and outreach at Purdue.   Learn more about Purdue University's Reactor 1 and view a photo gallery and video of PUR-1 This is one of four episodes featuring Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University. Listen to others from Nuclear Engineering and other Purdue Engineering podcast episodes. 

In this episode highlighting Nuclear Engineering, we meet Dr. Ran Kong, a post-doctoral research associate working with the head of the School of Nuclear Engineering, Dr. Seungjin Kim. He'll discuss his work with a Versatile Test Reactor and how it will contribute to the future of nuclear energy. Dr. Kong's original intention was to study coal power plants during his undergraduate studies in China, yet after taking an “intro to nuclear energy” course, he learned of the importance of carbon-free emissions to the planet's future. The nuclear industry's reliability, emphasis on safety, and sustainability drew Dr. Kong to study nuclear engineering as a way to steer the world away from the toxicity of carbon emitters. Dr. Kong works in the Thermal-Hydraulics and Reactor Safety Laboratory (TRSL) at Purdue with the goal of design improvements for high-performing reactor systems. In the TRSL, Kong has the capability to study fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and safety in nuclear systems. His current focus is his work with the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), a Department of Energy-funded program intended to accelerate and improve generation IV reactor designs. Dr. Kong is collaborating with Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory to design the VTR's sodium-cooled cartridge loop to assist the development of sodium fast reactors. The VTR program contributes directly to the United States' ability to maintain its leadership in advanced reactor technologies, which was threatened by the shutdown of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) in the 1990s. The VTR re-establishes the testing capability, allowing for the continuous development of new materials and nuclear fuels for the next generation of reactors. The global market for nuclear power technology is estimated at $1 trillion, nuclear power generation is projected to grow 73% by 2040, and most of the existing reactors are on track to retire within the next few decades. Thus, the contributions of the VTR are crucial if the United States, and even the world, is to keep up with global energy demand in the future. Read Dr. Kong's Medium article about the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) This is one of four episodes featuring Purdue University's Nuclear Engineering. Listen to more about Nuclear Engineering and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website.  Special thanks to Destiny White, our guest host for this podcast.  Destiny is a junior in nuclear engineering at Purdue University. Throughout her three years, she has participated in activities ranging from rowing to nuclear security research. She currently serves as the founder and president of Minorities in Nuclear Engineering and Sciences (MINES), the treasurer of Purdue's American Nuclear Society chapter, and a teaching assistant for the honors engineering program. Her current career aspiration is to work with uranium chemistry and safeguards inspection. 

In this episode highlighting Nuclear Engineering, we meet Professor Lefteri Tsoukalas, professor in Nuclear engineering and a renowned scholar on deep neural networks. He'll be sharing insights on how artificial intelligence is being integrated into nuclear power systems and nuclear security. Tsoukalas is recipient of the Humboldt Prize and an internationally renowned expert in signal processing algorithms applied to nuclear materials detection and non-proliferation, smart sensor development and advanced measurement techniques. He has extensive experience as a safeguards engineer and as a nuclear instrumentation and controls specialist and has served in several advisory and consulting positions for national and international regulatory agencies. He has more than 25 years of accumulated experience as project manager of competitively funded projects sponsored, among others, by NNSA, NRC, DOD, DOE and EPRI. His research covers both experimental and model development studies, signal processing techniques, including cutting edge multi-variant statistical methods, Gaussian processes for background estimation, wavelet analysis and Hilbert-Huang transforms. This is one of four episodes featuring Purdue University's Nuclear Engineering. Listen to more about Nuclear Engineering and others engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website Special thanks to Destiny White, our guest host for this podcast.  Destiny is a junior in nuclear engineering at Purdue University. Throughout her three years, she has participated in activities ranging from rowing to nuclear security research. She currently serves as the founder and president of Minorities in Nuclear Engineering and Sciences (MINES), the treasurer of Purdue's American Nuclear Society chapter, and a teaching assistant for the honors engineering program. Her current career aspiration is to work with uranium chemistry and safeguards inspection. 

In this episode highlighting Nuclear Engineering, we meet Professor Shripad Revankar, Director of the Multiphase and Fuel Cell Research Laboratory in the School of Nuclear Engineering. We'll discuss his work with gas-cooled small modular reactors, part of generation IV of nuclear reactors, which are the safest and most efficient designs yet. Gas-cooled small modular reactors operate at high temperatures up to 1,000 degrees celsius, are small and transportable, and can power areas that lack gridlines or support existing grids. These reactors are also practically autonomous, with minimal refueling and maintenance needs. Professor Revankar speaks to how nuclear energy complements the emergence of renewable energy, as it produces 55 percent of America's carbon-free energy. Because many renewables are intermittent and dependent on environmental conditions, it is important to have a base energy that supplies continuous power that simultaneously supports environmental health. In order to be licensed, reactor designs must contain detailed accident mitigation technologies and procedures.  Because small modular reactors have not been commercially built/operated yet, the regulatory process is still under way. To this end, Revankar is working to address depolarisation nuclear accidents, in which reactors have leaks from their primary systems. When this occurs, there is a chance the oxygen will come back and oxidize the reactor core, which can lead to overheating and meltdown. Revankar is developing an experimental setup, in collaboration with Texas A&M University and the Imperial College of London, through which they can test these accidents and determine mitigation strategies. This research will help ensure the safety of the gas-cooled reactors and assist developed and developing countries in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This summer, Professor Revankar worked with both undergraduate and graduate students to perform scaling analysis on the experimental system setup, in addition to work with CAD modeling and other design projects. His research is approachable for college students of all ages, relevant, and pertinent to the success of generation IV reactors. Revankar's passion for the field is tangible in each conversation he has, and he is driven each day by the passion exuded by his students, nuclear's boundless applications, and the constant evolution and excitement of the field. This is one of four episodes featuring Purdue University's Nuclear Engineering. Listen to more about Nuclear Engineering and others engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website.  Special thanks to Destiny White, our guest host for this podcast.  Destiny is a junior in nuclear engineering at Purdue University. Throughout her three years, she has participated in activities ranging from rowing to nuclear security research. She currently serves as the founder and president of Minorities in Nuclear Engineering and Sciences (MINES), the treasurer of Purdue's American Nuclear Society chapter, and a teaching assistant for the honors engineering program. Her current career aspiration is to work with uranium chemistry and safeguards inspection.   

In this episode highlighting the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, we meet Elsje Pienaar, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. We'll discuss her work to discover host-pathogen interactions through computational simulations. Professor Eljse Pienaar shares about her experience using sophisticated computational models of systems pharmacology to help predict the effectiveness of drugs in a patient with hopes of accelerating drug development and offers advice to future biomedical engieers with an interest in her area of research.  Professor Pienaar earned her MS and PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and did postdoctoral work in microbiology, immunology and chemical engineering at the University of Michigan as well as at Linköping University, Sweden. Her laboratory uses computational simulations of within-host pathogen, immune and drug dynamics to optimize treatment of infectious diseases. Current projects in the lab include TB, HIV, non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections and Ebola virus dynamics.  Learn more by visiting Pienaar's lab website:  Computational Systems Pharmacology Lab This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.  Listen to more about Biomedical Engineering and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website.  Special thanks to Shruthi Suresh, our guest host for this podcast.  Shruthi is a PhD candidate at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering with a Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship and was previously a Leslie Bottorff Fellow.  Her research focuses on using signal processing, machine learning and data science to help individuals with mobility and visual impairments. When not in the lab, Shruthi can be found out on a run or curled up reading a book.

In this episode highlighting the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, we meet Krishna Jayant, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue University and learn about his research on the applications of technology to neuroscience. Professor Krishna Jayant shares how he shifted research focus after earning his PhD in electrical engineering to study neuroscience as a postdoctoral fellow.  His passion for brain research is fueled by his work toward the next big discovery. He also encourages future engineers and scientists to start doing research as early as possible to gain a wide range of experiences.  Professor Jayant joined the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering faculty in December 2018. He received his MS and PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University and B.Tech. in electrical and electronic engineering from National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. Prior to joining Purdue, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University, a research project collaborator at ARCES at the University of Bologna, Italy, and a research assistant at Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India. Jayant is interested in bridging nanoscience and neuroscience. He is developing nanoprobes and integrated electronic systems to use in conjunction with two-photon microscopy and electrophysiology to study how fundamental biophysical features of neurons, including synaptic and dendritic mechanisms, influence neural circuit computation in vitro and in vivo.  Learn more by visiting Professor Jayant's lab website:  Nano Neurotechnology Lab This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.  Listen to more about Biomedical Engineering and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website.  Special thanks to Shruthi Suresh, our guest host for this podcast.  Shruthi is a PhD candidate at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering with a Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship and was previously a Leslie Bottorff Fellow.  Her research focuses on using signal processing, machine learning and data science to help individuals with mobility and visual impairments. When not in the lab, Shruthi can be found out on a run or curled up reading a book.

In this episode highlighting the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, we meet Maria Dadarlat, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue University and learn more about her work in neuroscience and neural engineering. Professor Maria Dadarlat's research is aimed at developing artificial sensation for brain-machine interfaces, which could ultimately help restore motor control to people who have lost the ability to move due to paralysis or injury.     Professor Dadarlat joined the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering faculty in August 2019. She received her BS in biomedical engineering from Purdue University and her PhD in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Graduate Program in Bioengineering. Dadarlat is interested in understanding how animals learn to use novel sensory information to guide movements and in the application of these principles to neural prostheses. Her thesis work concerned the latter topic, studying how to use electrical stimulation of primary somatosensory cortex to deliver artificial sensation.  This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.  Listen to more about Biomedical Engineering and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website.  Special thanks to Shruthi Suresh, our guest host for this podcast.  Shruthi is a PhD candidate at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering with a Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship and was previously a Leslie Bottorff Fellow.  Her research focuses on using signal processing, machine learning and data science to help individuals with mobility and visual impairments. When not in the lab, Shruthi can be found out on a run or curled up reading a book.

In this episode highlighting the Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), we meet Dennis Buckmaster, a Professor in Agriculture and Biological Engineering and Dean's Fellow for Digital Agriculture in the College of Agriculture and learn more about his many projects involving digital agriculture. This is one of two episodes featuring Purdue University's Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Listen to more about ABE and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the Agricultural and Biological Engineering, we meet Mohit Verma, an assistant professor in Agriculture and Biological Engineering at Purdue University and learn more about his work to develop a rapid diagnostic tool for Covid-19. This is one of two episodes featuring Purdue University's Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Listen to more about ABE and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

Carson Slabaugh is featured on the Purdue Engineering podcast discussing his advanced propulsion and combustion research at Maurice J. Zucrow Labs

Ran Dai, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics discusses her research on controlling autonomous systems in unmanned ground/aerial vehicles.

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Greg Shaver, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about his work with connected Class 8 trucks and autonomous truck platooning. Professor Greg Shaver shares about his work with autonomous commercial vehicles, specifically with class 8 tractor trailers. These big rigs haul about 70% of the freight in the US, and consume 25% of the nation's fuel. If these trucks could be made more efficient -- even just a little bit -- there would be huge cost savings, and at the same time, significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Professor Shaver is working on platooning, in which one truck autonomously follows another at close range. Once in a platoon, the air resistance lowers, and this alone can increase fuel economy up to 15%. And, counterintuitively, it's actually much safer, because connected trucks react much more quickly than human drivers do. We talked to Professor Shaver about how important it is for academics to work with industry and government to tackle these big challenges. Shaver joined Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering faculty in 2006. His PhD and MSME are from Stanford University, and his BSME is from Purdue University. His research interests include: Model-based system and control design of commercial vehicle power trains, connected and automated commercial vehicles, internal combustion engine and after-treatment system design and controls, and flexible valve actuation in diesel and natural gas engines.  Shaver is also currently involved in the Purdue Engineering Initiative in Autonomous and Connected Systems and recently participated in a webinar on "Advancing Driver-Centric Automation to Enhance Safety and Efficiency in Freight Trucking" This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Nina Mahmoudian, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about her work with controlling individual and multiple autonomous vehicles in harsh dynamic environments, addressing challenges that currently limit the use of autonomous vehicles in unknown complex situations. Professor Nina Mahmoudian shares about her work with autonomous vehicles, specifically, underwater vehicles. The interview took place at Fairfield Lakes in Lafayette, Indiana, where she and her students were testing the next generation of autonomous underwater vehicle docking. So imagine a marine robot, yellow, about 4 feet long, that looks like a torpedo. Then imagine a small inflatable catamaran, on which they've installed a docking platform for that torpedo. Both the marine robot and the catamaran can move autonomously, and find each other on the lake, so that the underwater vehicle can recharge itself with no human intervention. It's really something to see, and Professor Mahmoudian says she has her sights set beyond air, land, and sea, all the way to docking on other planets. Mahmoudian joined Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering in 2019, after spending eight years as faculty at Michigan Technological University. Her PhD is in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech. She received the 2015 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program (YIP) award and the  2015 National Science Foundation CAREER award. Her research interests include: Nonlinear Control and Dynamics, Autonomous Systems, Cyber-physical Systems, Cooperative Control of Multi Agent Systems. This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Eric Nauman, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about his work to to reduce head injuries in sports. In this episode, Professor Eric Nauman shares about his work to reduce head injuries in sports. He is a sought-after expert in concussion research, in both American football and soccer. For his biggest research project, he collaborated with former Purdue School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Tom Talavage, who is now the head of biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati. They placed acceleration sensors on the heads of high school football players, and also conducted fMRI studies of their brains. By coordinating the two datasets, Nauman found remarkable evidence that it's not just concussions that cause brain damage. As well as being a member of Purdue's Mechanical Engineering faculty, Nauman is a professor of Basic Medical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy), and Director of the Honors Programs in the College of Engineering. He directs the HIRRT Laboratory (Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies) at Purdue. He earned both his PhD and MSME from the University of California - Berkeley. His research interests include: cell and tissue mechanics, human injury, adult stem cell-based tissue regeneration, and biophysics and biotransport. This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode, we'll have a conversation with Dr. Donna Riley, the Kamyar Haghighi Head of Engineering Education and discuss the origin of the first School of Engineering Education in the world, the transformation of our First-Year Engineering program, and how we adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Dr. Riley shares about the founder of Purdue's School of Engineering Education, Kamyar Haghighi and his vision for the first School of Engineering Education in the world.  She also discusses the research based approach used to transform the First-Year Engineering program to increase student engagement and retention.  Prior to becoming Head of the Purdue's School of Engineering Education Dr. Riley was Professor and Interim Head in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. From 2013 to 2015, she served as Program Director for Engineering Education at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Riley spent thirteen years as a founding faculty member of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, the first engineering program at a U.S. women's college.  Riley earned a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy. She is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education.  See full bio.