Save the date: Discovery Park's Convergence Conference set for Aug. 29

Discovery Park will hold its fourth annual Conference on Convergence and the Future of Research on Aug. 29. The event, which is free and open to the public, will run from noon to 5:30 p.m. at the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

The conference will include a series of Voss Talks (TED-style talks) presented by the teams that submitted project ideas to Discovery Park's Big Idea Challenge 2.0. The event also will include a poster session highlighting the projects of Discovery Park Undergraduate Research Internship (DURI) students, and a reception celebrating the kickoff of the Big Idea Challenge 2.0 projects will follow.

Discovery Park’s fourth annual Conference on Convergence and the Future of Research will be part of Purdue University’s 150th anniversary celebration. The anniversary theme is “Giant Leaps,” inspired by Neil Armstrong’s historic statement on the moon, and includes a yearlong Ideas Festival.

“The Discovery Park Big Idea Challenge was launched in May 2017 with the purpose of bringing together interdisciplinary teams that would develop convergent approaches to solving grand challenge problems,” says Sasha Boltasseva, professor of electrical and computer engineering and inaugural Discovery Park fellow. “We are excited to begin the second round of Big Idea Challenge projects and are delighted to be able to offer a forum to showcase many of the excellent submitted ideas.”

The Voss Talks topics and speakers include the three winners of the Big Idea Challenge 2.0:

• "From Cell Cultures to Community Cultures: Bringing Precision Health to Autism," Bridgette Tonnsen, College of Health and Human Sciences.
• "Revolutionizing the Development and Manufacturing of Next-Generation Biologics," Rainer Fischer, College of Science.
• "Solving Problems Previously Reserved to Quantum Computing with Purdue’s P-Bits and How These Future Computational Capabilities Will Impact Security, Politics and the Society as a Whole," Joerg Appenzeller, College of Engineering.

Participants in the Big Idea Challenge 2.0 request for proposals also will be presenting. Speakers will explore a wide variety of novel, multidisciplinary topics.

The Voss Talks are named in memory of Purdue alumna Janice Voss, a pioneer in space travel for women. Logging five flights, she spent a total of 49 days in space and traveled 18.8 million miles in 779 Earth orbits.

Register here to attend and to find more information and an updated schedule.

About Discovery Park

Discovery Park is a place where Purdue researchers move beyond traditional boundaries, collaborating across disciplines and with policymakers and business leaders to create solutions for a better world. Grand challenges of global health, global conflict and security, and those that lie at the nexus of sustainable energy, world food supply, water and the environment are the focus of researchers in Discovery Park. The translation of discovery to impact is integrated into the fabric of Discovery Park through entrepreneurship programs and partnerships.

Writer:  Elizabeth Harwood, 765-494-7324, eharwood@purdue.edu

Source: Sasha Boltasseva, 765-494-0301, aeb@purdue.edu