Purdue collaborating with Indiana research universities and industry to solve critical measurement science challenges

With a grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers from Purdue, the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University have formed the Center for Bioanalytic Metrology (CBM), which will work to solve ongoing and emerging industry-relevant challenges in measurement science.

Garth Simpson, professor of analytical and physical chemistry and associate dean for research and partnerships in the College of Science, is the Purdue site director. He says, “Precise chemical measurements inform critical decisions in health care, business, energy, defense and environmental impact. This center will partner with industry to develop instrumentation and methods for better informing these decisions, with a special emphasis on integrating data science tools with new measurement science capabilities.”

The center will team with companies and institutions from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agriculture, energy and analytical instrumentation sectors to deliver best-in-class molecular measurement tools and expertise. The CBM will combine new measurement techniques with the latest advances in artificial intelligence while also tackling problems such as detecting chemicals at low quantities and creating tools that can be used outside traditional laboratory settings.

Measurement science is a multi-billion-dollar industry that is key to both U.S. and international economies. “We are bringing together the research expertise of three of the best analytical programs in the country and focusing it on delivering solutions that advance industry capabilities and competitiveness,” said Paul Bohn, principal investigator of the center and the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Notre Dame.

Through the CBM, each university will offer extensive, industry-relative training to interested graduate students. The students will gain hands-on experience, which they can, in turn, apply to future career development and advancement in the measurement science field.

The CBM is funded through the NSF’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers program, which enables industrially relevant, pre-competitive research through multi-member, sustained partnerships among industry, academia, and government. The NSF provides a financial and procedural framework for the center’s operations, which frees the center’s members to fund and guide the direction of center research through active involvement and mentoring. The development of the center was supported by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and the Indiana Consortium for Analytical Science and Engineering.

Sources: Garth Simpson, gsimpson@purdue.edu, 765-494-7915
Jennifer Jeffries, communications and media coordinator, College of Science, jcjeffries@purdue.edu, 765-496-1682
Brandi Wampler, communications specialist, Notre Dame Research, brandiwampler@nd.edu, 574-631-8183