Trustees ratify faculty, dean positions; approve new degree, resolutions of appreciation and namings

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Feb. 6) ratified faculty and dean appointments and approved a new degree and resolutions of appreciation and namings.

The newly ratified faculty are:

• Suzanne Bart as the Edwin F. Peters, Class of 1942, Professor of Chemistry
• Claudio Chamon as the Julian S. Schwinger Professor of Physics and Astronomy
• Shengwang Du as the Scifres Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Julia Laskin as a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
• David Simchi-Levi as a Distinguished Professor in the Mitch Daniels School of Business

Bart came to Purdue in 2008 as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry. She currently serves as the director of graduate studies, working to improve the graduate student experience and champion mental health initiatives. Bart’s research interests lie in understanding the fundamental chemistry of depleted uranium, thorium and the transuranic elements. Her work has resulted in significant discoveries in the field, including the first uranium tris- and tetrakis-imido complexes. Bart has more than 120 publications and is associate editor of Inorganic Chemistry. She has received several awards and honors in recognition of her work, including the 2024 American Chemical Society’s (ACS) F. Albert Cotton Award, the ACS Rising Star Award, the NSF CAREER Award, being named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar, becoming an ACS Organometallics Young Investigator Fellow and more. The Edwin F. Peters, Class of 1942, Professorship in the Department of Chemistry was established in 2023 by Peters’ son, Norman J. Peters, in recognition of his father’s legacy. Edwin F. Peters was a 1942 graduate of Purdue chemistry and an inventor and author of 44 U.S. patents.

Chamon joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy faculty in fall 2025 as part of Purdue’s Moveable Dream Hires initiative. An internationally recognized theoretical physicist, he is well known for predicting new classes of quantum states of matter through his work on topology in quantum many-body systems. His current research bridges condensed matter theory and quantum information science, with applications to topological quantum error correction and emerging quantum technologies. Chamon holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics, a master’s in electrical engineering and computer science, and a PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of fellowships from the Sloan and Simons foundations. Previously a professor at Boston University, he has held visiting appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, MIT, ETH Zurich and Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. The Julian S. Schwinger Professorship in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue was established in 2007 to honor Julian S. Schwinger, a faculty member of physics and astronomy from 1941-43. Schwinger shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in physics with Richard Feynman and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics.

Du joined Purdue in January 2025 as a professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics. He is serving as deputy director of the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute. Prior to Purdue, he held the Francis S. and Maurine G. Johnson Chair Professorship at the University of Texas at Dallas. Du had been at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2008-20, where he was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor to full professor. His research focuses on quantum optics and its applications in quantum networks, quantum computing, quantum sensing, optical neural networks for AI and optical microscopy. Du’s work in optical microscopy led to the establishment of Light Innovation Technology USA, a startup for commercializing cutting-edge optical microscopies and bioimaging techniques. He holds several positions within the scientific field, including serving on the editorial board of many journals and as an associate editor for Optics Express. He holds 12 patents and is a fellow of Optica, a fellow of the American Physical Society and an alumni member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences. The Scifres Family Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering was established in 2001 in honor of 1968 Purdue engineering alumnus Donald R. Scifres and his significant contributions as an engineering researcher, developer and entrepreneur.

Laskin joined Purdue in 2017 as the William F. and Patty J. Miller Professor of Analytical Chemistry. Her research program focuses on the development of unique mass spectrometry instrumentation and on elucidating the fundamental physical and chemical principles governing the analysis of large molecules in complex chemical, biological and environmental matrices. She is widely recognized for her work on ion-surface interactions, the invention of nanospray desorption electrospray ionization (nano-DESI), and for developing soft-landing of ions, a transformative approach to controlled surface modification. Laskin has more than 340 publications and 11 patents. She is past president of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), having previously served as president and vice president for programs. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Mass Spectrometry Imaging Society. Her work has been recognized with many prestigious awards and honors, including the Humboldt Research Award, the American Chemical Society Award in Chemical Instrumentation, an NSF Special Creativity Award, the Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) and the ASMS Biemann Medal. She has also been inducted into the Purdue Innovator Hall of Fame, among many other recognitions. She maintains active membership in several professional societies, including ASMS, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Simchi-Levi joined the faculty in January 2026 with a joint position in the Mitch Daniels School of Business and the College of Engineering’s Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering as part of the university’s Moveable Dream Hires initiative. He leads the Data Science for Decision Making Center. Simchi-Levi is considered one of the premier thought leaders in supply chain management and business analytics. He is the founder and co-founder of several companies, including LogicTools, which became part of IBM in 2009; OPS Rules, which became part of Accenture in 2016; and Opalytics, which became part of Accenture Applied Intelligence in 2018. He has published more than 200 papers in top academic journals and five books. His PhD students have accepted faculty positions in leading academic institutes including the University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon University; Columbia University; Cornell University; Duke University; the Georgia Institute of Technology; Harvard University; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the University of Michigan; Purdue; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is also the former editor-in-chief of INFORMS’ two flagship journals, Management Science and Operations Research, as well as for Naval Research Logistics. He is a fellow of INFORMS and the Production and Operations Management Society and a distinguished fellow of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. In 2023 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Simchi-Levi has received the INFORMS Impact Prize, INFORMS Koopman Prize, Ford Motor Co. 2015 Engineering Excellence Award, INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice and more.

Trustees also approved the previously announced appointment of Christopher Yeomans as the Justin S. Morrill Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

In other action, trustees approved the launch of a Master of Science in sustainability engineering, which will be offered online through Purdue beginning in fall 2026. Demand is rising for engineers who can successfully integrate sustainability into industry practices and solutions, driven by concerns over operational impact, regulatory uncertainty, insurance costs, reputational risk and shifting consumer preferences. With about 90,000 annual job openings in sustainability engineering and a projected market growth of 5.4% from 2023-27, Purdue is uniquely positioned to meet growing demand in a field with few online educational offerings. The program provides a broad, interdisciplinary curriculum drawing from the colleges of Engineering, Science and Agriculture as well as the Mitch Daniels School of Business. Graduates will gain high-demand skills in project management, process improvement, data analysis, new product development and change management. This program will prepare students not just to participate in the future of engineering but to shape it.

Trustees also approved resolutions of appreciation for friends of the university who recently contributed $1 million or more to Purdue. Those are:

• Brian and Selita Reichart, to support the Mitch Daniels School of Business
• AGE Fisher Foundation, to support the College of Engineering
• Patrick and Darcy Eib, to support the Division of Student Life
• Michael and Carolyn Ott, to support the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
• Paula Conroy, to support the Mitch Daniels School of Business
• An anonymous gift, to support the College of Veterinary Medicine

Additionally, trustees approved the following namings:

• Room 190 of the future Mitch Daniels School of Business building the Reichart Family Auditorium, in recognition of a gift by Brian and Selita Reichart
• Rooms 213A, 213B, 213C and 213D of the future Mitch Daniels School of Business building the Hayes Family Equipment Hub and the Hayes Leadership Coaching Institute — as part of the Daniels School Center for Working Well — in recognition of a gift by the Hayes Family Foundation, which was recognized at the December 2025 Board of Trustees meeting

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.