Karen Plaut - IPAI Special Edition Dimensions of Discovery Introduction

April 26, 2024

Dear Colleagues,  

Welcome to this special edition of Dimensions of Discovery, which focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) applied to the physical world. The articles you will read underscore the impressive and vast array of AI-related research taking place at Purdue.

Purdue’s Institute of Physical AI (IPAI), which launched in 2023, leverages our leadership in foundational AI as well as engineering, life sciences, aviation and so many other physical realms to make an unprecedented push into the ‘bytes-meet-atoms’ research space. Research profiled in this edition show not only how Purdue researchers are shaping the future of ‘physical AI’ but also broader spheres, such as policy, ethics and skilled workforce, impacting the AI landscape.

Among key examples are: Anand Raghunathan’s award-winning research to address rising energy demands created by AI’s meteoric rise; the use of DNA structural knowledge to develop innovative AI models with applications in architecture, gaming, and entertainment; development of robots that can sort and choose specific articles and research on which regulations, ethics and policies are needed to optimally foster development of AI in the Governance and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Lab. This month, we also launched the world’s first center pioneering use of AI to innovate tomorrow’s modes of autonomous aviation transportation, the Center on AI for Digital, Autonomous and Augmented Aviation (AIDA3).   

AI will impact the physical world in all our focus areas: We make, we move, we grow, and we thrive.  I hope this special addition gives you an opportunity to see how Purdue’s research and the Institute for Physical AI will have an impact on society.

Thanks

Karen Plaut
Executive Vice President for Research