Purdue faculty at the West Lafayette and Indianapolis locations are invited to submit project proposals for the Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship (DUIRI) Spring 2027 session. DUIRI supports faculty-led undergraduate research teams tackling problems across the strategic areas of global security, global health and global sustainability.
Project proposals must span two or more distinct academic disciplines — represented by faculty from different departments and, ideally, different colleges. Each student who meets all program requirements will earn a fellowship award of $1,000 at the end of the session. Faculty across all disciplines are encouraged to apply.
Key dates
Special focus: Cybersecurity and CERIAS partnership
DUIRI is actively seeking faculty proposals in the cybersecurity domain. Projects submitted in cybersecurity and related areas will be supported by the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) at Purdue. Faculty submitting proposals that align with CERIAS research focus areas will receive priority consideration during the project short-listing process.
CERIAS research areas of interest include, but are not limited to, network and system security, privacy and data protection, AI and machine learning security, critical infrastructure protection, cyberpolicy, and human factors in cybersecurity.
DUIRI and Institute for a Sustainable Future partnership
Purdue’s Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF) helps support DUIRI interdisciplinary projects that promote collaborative sustainability research in areas such as water challenges, environmental stressors, risk and resilience, renewable energy and sustainable communities. Projects supported by ISF must have “ISF” included in their titles, and students selected for these roles will have opportunities to connect further with ISF initiatives. Faculty actively engaged with ISF research areas are encouraged to indicate this alignment in their proposals and will receive priority consideration accordingly. Questions about proposals to the ISF-DUIRI can be directed to Lynne Dahmen.
Review recently funded projects here.
How to submit a proposal
Faculty can submit project proposals via the DUIRI website using their Purdue career account credentials.
All proposals must clearly explain why the proposed project fits within one of DUIRI’s strategic areas (health, security/cybersecurity or sustainability). Proposals should not reference or frame their work around research areas outside of these three strategic domains.
Submit proposals here.
Undergraduate students from Purdue West Lafayette and Indianapolis have been selected to participate in the Fall 2026 DUIRI session, featuring 13 interdisciplinary faculty-led projects in Global Health (4), Global Security (4), and Global Sustainability (5).
The session is taking place from August 31 - December 12, 2026.
Program Updates for This Cycle:
Global Security: DUIRI did not receive any faculty proposals aligned with CERIAS research focus areas this cycle. As a result, no projects will be funded through the CERIAS partnership under the Global Security category this session.
Global Sustainability: Select DUIRI projects will be co-funded by Purdue's Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF), supporting interdisciplinary research in areas such as water challenges, environmental stressors, climate science, environmental justice, renewable energy, and sustainable communities. Projects supported by ISF will carry "ISF" in their titles.
For more information, please contact duiri@purdue.edu
