Purdue joins national pilot program giving PhD students industry research experience

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University is part of the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership’s (UIDP) national pilot initiative called the Industry-Integrated PhD (I-PhD) Scholars Program. It is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

The goal of I-PhD is to strengthen doctoral education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by embedding industry research experience directly into dissertation-based PhD training. Participating doctoral students receive four years of coordinated support, joint mentorship from academic and industry researchers, and at least one year of dissertation-integrated research conducted at an industry site. Funding for I-PhD is shared by universities, NSF and industry partners.

“Purdue joining this innovative pilot reflects our long-standing commitment to preparing doctoral students for the full range of careers open to them,” said Preeti Sivasankar, Purdue’s vice president for research innovation. “We thank our founding corporate partners, Rolls-Royce and Procter & Gamble, for their leadership in this effort. We look forward to working with them and future corporate sponsors to provide our PhD students with rich academic-industry experiences.”

“Our doctoral students deserve pathways that connect rigorous scholarship to real-world impact,” said Haley Oliver-Jischke, Purdue’s senior vice provost for academic and student success. “The I-PhD program does exactly that — embedding a full year of dissertation research inside an industry setting, alongside mentors from both academia and the corporate world. It’s the kind of experience that shapes not just better researchers but better-prepared leaders, no matter where their careers take them.”

The program requires an established university-industry partnership prior to application. Faculty can then apply for support for doctoral students researching NSF-supported STEM disciplines, such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, physics and astronomy, and STEM education and learning research.

Any Purdue faculty member wishing to apply should first contact the Office of Research. Program materials are available through this I-PhD video and on the UIDP website. Please note that applications are open to faculty only and not doctoral students.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a research institution ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. As a land-grant university committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free.