Today’s top 5 from Purdue University

‘Purdue News Now’

From information on the upcoming Presidential Lecture Series to Super Bowl champ and Purdue alum George Karlaftis on “This Is Purdue,” Trevor Peters has everything you need to know in this week’s “Purdue News Now.”

Plus, check out five good stories below you may have missed. 

Purdue AI urban tree monitoring and analysis initiative to improve city life

Daniel Aliaga, Purdue computer science associate professor and principal investigator, with Songlin Fei, professor and director of the Purdue Institute for Digital Forestry, have received a $5 million fund from the National Science Foundation for uTREE (Urban Tree Resilience and Environmental Equity), a project that focuses on using AI to obtain information about tree density, species and location, and changes in tree counts over time and events. Cloud-based cyberinfrastructure will be used in multidisciplinary urban science, engineering and planning to create and maintain safer and more livable cities.

Media contact: Devyn Ashlea Raver, draver@purdue.edu

Concrete sensor manufacturer Wavelogix receives $1M grant from National Science Foundation

Wavelogix, founded by Luna Lu, Purdue University’s Reilly Professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, has received a $999,910 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships to advance its innovative REBEL Concrete Strength Sensing System, which allows for real-time monitoring of concrete strength. The two-year project will focus on developing a comprehensive production solution, establishing quality control procedures, and optimizing a scalable cloud infrastructure to handle extensive data logging while ensuring security and low latency.

Media contact: Steve Martin, sgmartin@prf.org

Purdue researchers create single-photon method for large-scale laser-based 3D additive nanoprinting

Researchers in Purdue University’s College of Engineering — led by Liang Pan, professor of mechanical engineering — have developed patent-pending single-photon 3D nanoprinting technology. The team’s innovative approach allows for 3D nanoprinting at lower laser intensities without relying on femtosecond lasers or single-point scanning. This results in significantly faster and more precise outcomes.

Media contact: Steve Martin, sgmartin@prf.org

University of Chicago professor Lars Hansen, 2013 Nobel Laureate in economic sciences, to highlight Purdue Presidential Lecture on Oct.17

Nobel laureate Lars Peter Hansen, a leading expert in economics and asset-price modeling, will be the keynote at Purdue University’s Presidential Lecture Series on Oct. 17. “Uncertainty in Our Scientific Inputs Into Policy: Disguise It or Embrace It?” will be held at 6 p.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union and is free to the public with general admission tickets required. Purdue President Mung Chiang noted the importance of Hansen’s insights for understanding economic dynamics.

Media contact: Phillip Fiorini, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Purdue researchers create orientation-independent magnetic field-sensing nanotube spin qubits

Purdue University researchers have developed patent-pending one-dimensional boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) containing spin qubits, which detect off-axis magnetic fields with greater sensitivity than traditional diamond tips used in scanning probe magnetic-field microscopes. Led by Tongcang Li, a professor of physics and electrical and computer engineering, the team found that these BNNTs are more resilient and cost-effective, with applications in quantum sensing, nanoscale MRI and the semiconductor industry.

Media contact: Steve Martin, sgmartin@prf.org

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Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.