Top 5 stories from Purdue University

‘Purdue News Now’

Purdue is the top-ranked research university in the state, and big news is coming to Mackey Arena on Oct. 24. Derek Schultz has all the latest Boilermaker news in this week’s edition of “Purdue News Now.”

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

Purdue surpasses $1B in total research expenditures for the first time

Purdue University set a new research benchmark for fiscal year 2025, receiving resources that were spent on a record of over $1 billion on research, underscoring the university’s growing role as a national leader in critical fields such as life sciences, computing technologies, advanced manufacturing and AI. Owing to strong award funding levels across all sources, overall research expenditures for the fiscal year that ended June 30 rose 12% over the previous fiscal year and increased almost 40% over the past three years.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

Purdue to acquire Canal Square Apartments in downtown Indianapolis

Purdue University is continuing to enhance the urban experience for students in Indianapolis with the acquisition of a downtown apartment complex. On Oct. 10, the Board of Trustees approved the university’s intent to purchase Canal Square Apartments, located at 359 N. West St., from the Purdue Research Foundation, pending its successful acquisition. The four-story, 3.63-acre complex will continue to offer students and professionals the opportunity to reside in and enjoy one of the most vibrant and culturally significant areas in the entire city, located a short walk from academic buildings on the existing 28-acre footprint of Purdue’s expansion in Indianapolis. Current tenants’ leases will be honored through the transition.

Media contact: Derek Schultz, schul221@purdue.edu

AP video — Where do Halloween traditions come from?

Dorsey Armstrong is an English professor in Purdue University’s College of Liberal Arts. In this video, she explains how Halloween began and where certain traditions came from. Halloween originated from a mix of pagan and Christian traditions from the British Isles. A Celtic festival called Samhain (sow-wen) celebrated the end of the harvest season around Oct. 31. Several centuries later, the Christian church incorporated this holiday as Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1. What would become Halloween first came to America with Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 19th century. Going door to door, carving pumpkins, scarecrows, and the colors orange and black are a melting pot of traditions from a variety of people.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

Purdue-DARPA project explores plants as sentinels for chemical activity

Purdue University’s College of Agriculture has joined an effort to mobilize plants as chemical intelligence gatherers. Collaborating with STR, an information science company, the Purdue team will test whether plants exhibit observable responses to synthetic chemical exposures. This would include whether a corn plant exposed to a precursor of a chemical of interest responds the same way as it would to a pesticide. The effort is supported by a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program called eX Virentia, Latin for “from the greenery.” STR and Purdue are one of four teams nationally to receive DARPA funding for pursuing preliminary work on the project. The unclassified project focuses on plants already found in nature or agriculture; the work involves no genetically modified organisms or hazardous chemicals.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

CEO of leading transportation manufacturer Wabash to headline Presidential Lecture Series event in November

The top executive at Lafayette-based transportation manufacturer Wabash will headline Purdue University’s next Presidential Lecture Series event for a conversation on how industry and higher education can collectively advance innovation in manufacturing. Brent Yeagy, a Purdue alum who has been Wabash CEO since 2018, will join Purdue President Mung Chiang for the PLS event at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse. 

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

MORE: Recent AP video stories

The AP Newsroom (for AP members) and Purdue News YouTube channel (for all reporters) provide comments from Purdue experts on timely topics.

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 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations 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 integrated, comprehensive Indianapolis urban expansion; the Mitch Daniels School of Business; Purdue Computes; and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.