May 15, 2023
Purdue Ventures, which manages multiple early stage investment funds to support Purdue University-connected startups, has invested in Ixana, a company that provides wearable smart devices with the ability to securely communicate with touch. Purdue Ventures’ investment is part of a larger $3 million seed funding round for Ixana, including backing from EvoNexus, Hack VC, Paradigm Shift Capital, Samsung Next and Uncorrelated Ventures.
Purdue Ventures invests in wearable communication chip company Ixana
May 15, 2023
Purdue Ventures on Monday announced its investment in Ixana, a West Lafayette-based startup that has developed a high-speed silicon chip it says provides wearable smart devices with the ability to securely communicate via touch. The investment is part of a $3 million seed round of funding for Ixana, which received “Startup of the Year” at this year’s TechPoint Mira Awards. Ixana, which also has offices in Seattle, Washington and Bangalore, India, was co-founded by Shreyas Sen, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue, as well as Purdue alumni Shovan Maity and Angik Sarkar. Purdue said the Wi-R, or “wire-like wireless,” chip could transform how wearable devices communicate with each other. Sen, who serves as chief technology officer for Ixana, said the technologies uses the conductive properties of the human body to guide small amounts of Electro-Quasistatic, or EQS, fields around a person.
May 13, 2023
A concrete that “talks”? This is what they say at Purdue, who present their creation as a “talking” material. In reality, what they have developed at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, a body linked to the university, is a sensor that is added to the concrete to provide engineers with valuable, real-time data about the material. “Allow me to speak,” illustrates the organism. The result seems as promising as its installation is simple. The sensors are embedded during the works, throwing them directly into the formwork to bury them later in the concrete. When they are ready, they are connected to a portable device that begins to record different data about the material. Thanks to an app, engineers thus obtain information in real time.
May 11, 2023
A growing number of U.S. highways are poised to test an innovative device from Purdue University, which could potentially save taxpayers millions of dollars and substantially lessen traffic congestion. The device is a sensor that allows concrete to “talk”, thereby reducing the duration of construction and the frequency of concrete pavement maintenance. This innovation enhances the road’s sustainability and considerably reduces its carbon emissions. Embedded directly into a concrete pour, the sensor sends engineers more precise and consistent data about the concrete’s strength and need for repair than is possible with currently used tools and methods.
“Talking” Concrete – New Invention Could Significantly Reduce Traffic Jams
May 10, 2023
As the U.S. experiences a resurgence of manufacturing and operations, Purdue University is providing a big lead. The university’s efforts in such areas as semiconductors, aerospace, defense, biomanufacturing for agriculture and transportation figure prominently in bringing jobs and needed technology back to America and in defining the future through excellence in manufacturing and operations. The Purdue College of Engineering and its campus partners are drawing on a long history of excellence in manufacturing and operations research, education and innovation in announcing the eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations (XMO) Purdue Engineering Initiative (PEI). “In making decisions at Purdue, we like to ask how they will maximize our positive impact on society through education, research and advancing our state and nation,” said Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and Robert V. Adams Professor in Mechanical Engineering. “This initiative provides another important arena in which we can help deliver tremendous benefits to the American people, our economy and our society. Reshoring and reimagining manufacturing for the 21st century is crucial to our future as a country, and we are proud to do our part in the revitalization of American manufacturing might.”
Purdue’s eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations initiative meets the moment
May 1, 2023
The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) will present awards recognizing excellence in food safety to the following organizations and individuals at IAFP 2023, July 16–19, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The IAFP Fellow Award is awarded to professionals who have contributed to IAFP and its affiliates with distinction over an extended period of time. This year’s recipients are Arun Bhunia, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; Catherine Cutter, Penn State University, University Park, Pa.; Beilei Ge, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Laurel, Md.; Vickie Lewandowski, Barry Callebaut, Amery, Wis.; and David Tharp, IAFP (retired), Clive, Iowa.
April 28, 2023
A new study reveals that US dog and cat owners grew closer to their pets during the COVID-19 pandemic, with complex connections emerging between pet ownership, stress, and loneliness. While dog owners experienced greater reductions in stress and loneliness during reopening and recovery periods compared to cat owners and those without pets, pet ownership did not conclusively alleviate stress and loneliness levels overall during the pandemic.
Pet Ownership, Stress, and Loneliness: A Complex Relationship Unveiled During COVID-19
April 28, 2023
Indiana’s push to build up high-tech manufacturing is great. But the labor pool is very different for high-tech manufacturing than it is for the low-tech manufacturing that large swaths of Indiana’s workforce has depended upon for so long. High tech manufacturing brings in huge investments, but the number of jobs per dollar spent is relatively low and the jobs require relatively high education attainment. Practically, it means that those who are out of work in low-tech manufacturing – an industry that continues to decline – will fall back to warehouse work, which is lower paying industry than low-tech manufacturing. That’s not to say that The State should stop trying to attract high-tech manufacturing; it’s great for The State. But all of the money that IEDC spent on attracting low-paying logistics companies would have probably been better spent on education. 1.) High-tech manufacturing can only grow as fast as the educated workforce grows 2.) No matter what the education attainment distribution of the workforce looks like, there will be many on the low-end of it. Even if we don’t change the shape of the distribution, we need to shift the distribution forward such that people coming out of high school can do better than low-paying logistics work.
April 28, 2023
During the COVID-19 epidemic, dog and cat owners experienced greater stress and loneliness during reopening and recovery periods, but pet ownership did not significantly reduce stress and loneliness levels overall. Owners of dogs and cats reported a stronger connection with their pets during the epidemic; however, the connection between pets and stress or loneliness is complex. The COVID-19 epidemic, according to a recent study, has strengthened the bond between US pet owners and their dogs or cats. The research, conducted by Niwako Ogata, Hsin-Yi Weng of Purdue University in the United States, and a colleague, uncovers the intricate relationship between pet ownership, stress, and loneliness during the epidemic.
During COVID-19, pet ownership, stress, and loneliness became apparent
April 26, 2023
Cat and dog owners in the United States gradually grew closer to their pets during the first two years of COVID-19. But these furry friends didn’t ease their humans’ overall stress or loneliness, despite owners citing their pets’ positive influences, researchers report April 26 in PLOS ONE. “The one very clear message is that the human-animal relationship is very complicated,” says veterinary epidemiologist Hsin-Yi Weng of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Pets and people bonded during the pandemic. But owners were still stressed and lonely
