Sustainability and energy topics bring together Purdue scientists and engineers from West Lafayette and Indianapolis

Faculty from Purdue University, Purdue University in Indianapolis and the Richard Lugar Center for Renewable Energy partner to address sustainability issues

INDIANAPOLIS – Purdue University scientists and engineers from both West Lafayette and the new Purdue University in Indianapolis came together in Indiana’s capital city on Thursday (Oct. 5) to participate in an inaugural workshop for Purdue collaborations on sustainability.

During The Future is Sustainable conference, Purdue colleagues shared their ongoing research in key areas of sustainability, with a focus on energy storage and electrochemical conversion, while examining the present and future challenges that exist in this critical area. 

“This inaugural workshop to bring our talented faculty from West Lafayette and Indianapolis together to tackle the critical issue of sustainability is just the tip of the iceberg in how we can grow Purdue’s impact and excellence at scale with the extension of Purdue University to Indianapolis,” said David Umulis, senior vice provost and chief academic officer for Purdue University in Indianapolis. “We look forward to more ways Purdue University will grow research impact at both locations by combining our resources, expertise and passions in research and teaching.” 

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The Future is Sustainable effort was spearheaded by Jay Gore, Purdue’s Vincent P. Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Razi Nalim, associate dean for research at Purdue University in Indianapolis; and Peter Schubert, professor at Purdue University in Indianapolis and director of the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy.

“The response from my Purdue faculty colleagues, the university leadership and research departments, and all of the deans’ offices for planning and execution of The Future is Sustainable workshop was overwhelming,” Gore said. “We intend to keep up the momentum over the coming months to successfully launch an externally funded project in sustainability.”

Purdue representatives from the offices of Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and Executive Vice President for Research; the colleges of Engineering, Agriculture, Liberal Arts, and Health and Human Sciences; the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, School of Mechanical Engineering, the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, the Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, the School of Materials Engineering; and the Institute for Global Food Security and the Climate & Weather and Water Challenges Research Areas of the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future were all in attendance from West Lafayette. They collaborated with colleagues from Indianapolis in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology and Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy. Purdue University in Indianapolis leadership enthusiastically supported the workshop as Dan Hasler, chief operating officer, addressed the latest developments for Purdue’s new urban extension and Umulis underlined the importance of expanding the scope and scale in sustainability research afforded by the increased capacity and support for efforts in both Indianapolis and West Lafayette. Mohan Gupta, a sustainability scientist from the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C., also provided an invited talk entitled “Addressing Sustainability Comprehensively Through an Integrated Academic and Solution-oriented R&D Framework.”

“Professor Jay Gore and I have been collaborating for almost 25 years, so we thought of this workshop to bring together researchers from Purdue University in Indianapolis and at West Lafayette to exchange ideas and begin new partnerships around the theme of sustainability,” Nalim said. “Along with Peter Schubert and the Lugar Center for Renewable Energy, we plan to organize future workshops on other topics such as manufacturing, transportation, AI and digital transformation, nanotechnology, material science, motorsports, biomedical engineering, and other areas where our faculty have significant impact.”

Thanks in part to the efforts in sustainability from Nalim and Schubert, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has previously earned high marks in sustainability, ranking No. 8 in the U.S. in 2023’s Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for delivering on the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, which incorporate 17 global calls to action leading to a better world for all. 

About Purdue University in Indianapolis

Purdue University in Indianapolis is a new, fully integrated extension of the West Lafayette flagship campus, expanding the academic rigor and accessible excellence that Purdue is known for to Indiana’s industrial and technological center. As the only public top 10 university, most trusted university and most innovative university in the state of Indiana, Purdue is focused and committed to strengthening its presence in the capital city. Purdue University in Indianapolis will reimagine a collaborative platform that connects students, faculty and local businesses to promote breakthrough discoveries and create a new and direct talent pipeline. Realignment of the existing IUPUI partnership is expected to be completed by the start of the fall semester in 2024. Learn more about Purdue’s latest giant leap at https://www.purdue.edu/campuses/indianapolis/.

Writer/Media contact: Derek Schultz, dcschultz@purdue.edu 

Source: Jay Gore, Razi Nalim, David Umulis