Today’s top 5 from Purdue University

‘Purdue News Now’

From winter commencement to the beloved Purdue Memorial Union Christmas tree, 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 scientist expecting new world to reveal itself to Mars rover

NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission and Purdue University planetary scientist Briony Horgan are approaching a new phase in the search for details about the red planet’s history and potential for previously hosting life. The mission’s Perseverance rover is only weeks away from emerging from the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater to explore new terrain. It’s a point in the mission Horgan set her sights on following the rover’s landing in the crater four years ago.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, emurphyv@purdue.edu 

New ranking demonstrates Purdue prominence in AI research supercomputing

Purdue University’s newest supercomputing community cluster Gautschi has debuted at No. 7 among U.S. universities and in the top third of the world’s most powerful supercomputers listed in the new Top500 list. The ranking was released at SC24, an international conference for high-performance computing, networking, storage and analysis. Gautschi also ranks No. 43 on the Green500 list of the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputers, with only three other universities ranking higher.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, emurphyv@purdue.edu 

Cement grows stronger, more resilient with Purdue cellulose innovation

Jeffrey Youngblood, a Purdue University researcher, has increased the strength and resilience of cement by integrating patent-pending chemically modified cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibers that he has developed. Mechanical tests show a 30% increase in concrete’s flexural strength, or the ability to resist bending when an external force is applied, when 0.2% volume of the nanocellulose is integrated. Youngblood and his team found that by increasing the heat of hydration, the chemically modified nanocellulose reacted to improve the behavior of cement paste in a variety of chemical reactions.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, emurphyv@purdue.edu 

AP video — Top STEM toys for kids in 2024

Tamara Moore is a professor of engineering education in the College of Engineering and the director of the INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering at Purdue University. In this video, she explains what the Purdue Engineering Gift Guide is and how it can connect kids with engineering-inspired gifts this holiday season. The Engineering Gift Guide is a collection of toys and gifts compiled annually by researchers at Purdue that aim to introduce children to engineering in fun and exciting ways. This year, the guide focuses on microelectronics. 

Media contact: Erin Murphy, emurphyv@purdue.edu 

Purdue researchers identify infrastructure and communication challenges as barriers to food safety in the low-moisture food industry

Low-moisture foods such as dried fruits, seeds, tree nuts and wheat flour were once considered to carry minimal microbial risks. However, the increased number of outbreaks linked to bacteria-contaminated low-moisture foods has resulted in product recalls, lawsuits and financial losses. Despite these growing concerns, there have been limited studies into the food safety research and Extension needs for the low-moisture food sector. Purdue University researchers like Yaohua Feng, associate professor and Extension specialist in Purdue’s Department of Food Science and principal investigator in the Food Safety Human Factor Lab, are stepping in to fill this gap.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, emurphyv@purdue.edu  

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About Purdue University

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.