I am writing this message as the Fall Semester 2017 at Purdue begins. This provides an opportunity to extend a special welcome tp all of the new Colombian students that are joining Purdue this semester. For some of these students, this new adventure will follow a previous undergraduate research experience at Purdue. We expect about 23 new students. This brings the total number of students to over 140, almost 3-times the number of Colombian students that were at Purdue in 2010 when the Colombia-Purdue effort began.

The new semester also provides an opportunity to briefly describe the Colombia-Purdue Initiative (CPI) and what it has to offer. The initiative began just over seven years ago within the College of Engineering with tremendous support from the former College Dean, Dr. Leah Jamieson, several Purdue faculty and staff and a few key Colombian-Purdue alumni. CPI began as an important experiment in what it means for a Land Grant University like Purdue to be engaged internationally in the 21^st Century. The success of the approach has since spread to all of the Purdue Colleges who are now engaged with Colombian Institutions of Higher Education, the Colombian private sector and both Colombian and US government agencies and initiatives. I believe that Purdue's engagement with Colombia has made Purdue a better university.

CPI's goals are to 1) help form the next generation of leaders and globally-engaged citizens through bilateral programs, 2) create, develop, and participate in high-impact, trans-disciplinary, international programs, and 3) support further development of the Colombian technology and innovation ecosystem.

CPI supports several signature initiatives, which include graduate fellowships and student and faculty exchange, undergraduate research experiences, pre-university engagement projects, curriculum development initiatives, and important collaborative Colombia-Purdue research and extension programs. CPI also works to develop and maintain communication and collaborations between Colombian institutions and Purdue.

In short, CPI connects Colombia and Purdue. We are here for you, and especially for the Colombian students at Purdue. With this in mind, I will close by saying that we are always interested in learning from you regarding your ideas as to how we can improve and about opportunities you may be aware of that we might explore to further our objectives.

Most importantly, I want to mention that the Colombian Students at Purdue have their own organization, CSAP (Colombian Students at Purdue). All Purdue faculty and staff greatly appreciate CSAP as a highly collegial, welcoming and helpful organization at Purdue. We wish to encourage all Colombian students, alumni and visiting guests to engage with this warm and passionate association, and if you are a new Colombian student at Purdue, please seek them out and join!

Welcome all new and returning Colombian students to Purdue!

Saludos,

Jeff Stuart

Executive Director of the Colombia-Purdue Initiative