Top 5 stories from Purdue University   

‘Purdue News Now’

After a record-setting year of applications, Purdue University is welcoming its most selective incoming class yet. Trevor Peters has that story plus details about getting to and around campus in this week’s edition of “Purdue News Now.”

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

History takes flight as new Amelia Earhart Terminal opens at Purdue University Airport and United Express flights by SkyWest begins operation

History took flight Aug. 8 with a special ceremony marking the opening of the new Amelia Earhart Terminal at the Purdue University Airport and the enhancement of commercial air services. The terminal was named for Amelia Earhart to honor her historic connection to Purdue. Earhart was an advisor and counselor in careers for women at Purdue from 1935-37. She focused on vocational aptitudes, goals and careers for women. She also flew out of Purdue University Airport in the 1930s when it became the nation’s first university-owned airport.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, ermurphy@purdue.edu

Purdue picked as a host institution for prestigious 51 Pegasi b postdoctoral fellowship

Purdue University has been selected to serve as a host institution for the prestigious 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellowship, awarded by the Heising-Simons Foundation to give scholars the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge theoretical, observational and experimental research in planetary astronomy. The annual 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellowship, named after the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a sunlike star, recognizes promising early-career investigators in the field of planetary astronomy, which brings together research efforts to characterize planetary objects within the solar system and beyond to exoplanetary systems.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, ermurphy@purdue.edu

New method probes cancer cell messengers that weaken immune system

Certain types of biochemical processes can impair the immune system’s ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Purdue University’s W. Andy Tao and his associates have developed a new way to study these processes. They demonstrated the validity of their method in experiments involving leukemia and rare liver cancer cell lines. Tao and 10 co-authors published the details of their new method Aug. 1 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Their work provides a system for tracking and identifying the various types of proteins and an unheralded but widely secreted class of bioparticles called extracellular vesicles that can compromise immunotherapy.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, ermurphy@purdue.edu

AP video — How AI is transforming education

William Watson is a professor of learning design technology in the College of Education at Purdue University. In this video, he explains how AI is being used in education today and what parents, teachers and students should know as this technology continues to develop. Watson believes AI has the potential to completely transform education through personalized learning. In schools today, AI can be used to spark creativity by brainstorming ideas for papers and projects. Students can turn to AI tutors to ask questions if a teacher is busy with another student. Watson says schools need to create policies around how AI should be used in classrooms. AI has the potential to help drive creativity and elevate the learning experience, but it can also be used to stifle it. If used appropriately, AI can enable students to accomplish things they were never able to do before.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

Chipshub wins NSF award for Chip Design Hub to help ease urgent national semiconductor workforce shortage

Addressing a crucial national need and marking a major advance for Purdue University’s semiconductor leadership, the National Science Foundation has selected Purdue Engineering-led Chipshub as its Chip Design Hub.

Media contact: Erin Murphy, ermurphy@purdue.edu

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About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its comprehensive urban expansion, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.