Academic and Research Excellence Update
May 6, 2024
Dear colleagues,
In our pursuit of academic and research excellence at Purdue, we are providing you with updates on key developments, initiatives and tools to support our faculty and staff as well as updates on important faculty recognitions.
Thanks,
Karen Plaut, Executive Vice President for Research
Chris Ruhl, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Patrick Wolfe, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity
Key Initiatives, Updates and Investments
1. Faculty Enhanced Research Appointment Program. Purdue is renewing and expanding the pilot Faculty Enhanced Research Appointment Program (FERAP) to include tenured/tenure-track faculty, clinical faculty, and faculty subject to an NIH or other agency salary cap. Under FERAP, qualified faculty members from all Purdue campuses may be eligible for a new concurrent faculty appointment. This could allow for up to 0.75 FTE to be established in a separate research appointment at a salary up to 25% higher than their current institutional base salary. Eligible faculty can apply for a FERAP appointment if they are dedicating 0.25 FTE or greater to externally funded grants and contracts and have qualified external funding sources in place that cover the appointment during the academic year.
Applications for the 2024-25 academic year faculty must be received by May 31, 2024. Details of this initiative, including program guidelines, qualifications and the application process, are available at the FERAP webpage.
2. Purdue Excellence in Research Administration (PERA). Preparations for the PERA system to begin its rollout this fall are in full swing. The first PERA modules - Grants (pre/post), Agreements (contract negotiations and tracking) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) will be introduced in October 2024. These will be followed by modules for Institutional Biosafety Committee, Export Control, Conflict of Interest, Conflict of Commitment (Reportable Outside Activity) and Institutional Review Board (IRB). PERA is expected to be fully implemented by October 2025.
The first round of PERA information sessions was recently completed with more than 680 researchers and research administrators attending. In coming months, there will be ample new opportunities to learn more about PERA. We encourage you to bookmark the PERA website to stay informed about upcoming PERA information and training sessions and important updates.
3. Important technical reporting reminder. The National Institutes of Health, Office of Naval Research and the US Army recently postponed or withheld awards for an entire institution because of a principal investigator’s failure to submit final technical reports (see related article). The National Science Foundation has taken a slightly different approach, but all these actions are clear indications of how seriously federal agencies view the timely submission of these reports.
We encourage all Purdue principal investigators to review their deadlines for technical report submissions to ensure timely delivery. Fortunately, despite having some outstanding technical reports, Purdue has not experienced any withheld awards or delayed payments. Also, we are pleased to share that one advancement of the new Purdue Excellence in Research Administration (PERA) system will be to deliver system-generated 90-, 60-, 30-day notices to Purdue researchers reminding them to submit technical reports on their grants.
4. New research security training and certification. As we continue working to safeguard Purdue-led research against inappropriate interference by foreign entities, we have introduced a new online learning module for research security training that addresses contemporary issues and satisfies new federal requirements. We ask that all researchers within the colleges of agriculture, engineering and science and the Purdue Polytechnic Institute complete this training by Sept. 1, 2024. We will communicate about specific training deadlines for other colleges later in the year. Additionally, all faculty who apply for federal funding from NSF or DoD will be required to certify that they do not participate in a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program in order to submit their proposals.
5. IRB open office hours for summer. Since January, the chairs of the institutional review board (IRB) for human subjects and its associated processes have held regular open office hours to assist faculty and graduate students with submission processes and answer questions. Chairs Jeff Haddad and Dan Foti will continue these sessions throughout the summer. Walk-in sessions will take place Mondays and Wednesdays 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Tuesdays 1-2:30 p.m., and Thursdays 10-11:30 a.m. in Hovde 328.
6. Major capital projects. Last year we shared updates about several major capital projects. These are part of the university’s investment of more than $1.3 billion to support academic and research efforts with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. Some recent additions are:
- Max W. & Maileen Brown Family Hall first floor renovation: addition of modern instructional and research labs (planned completion May 2024).
- Mechanical Engineering building renovation: modernization of entire original section of the mechanical engineering building (planned completion April 2025).
7. Funding from Purdue life and health sciences summit has enabled development of a new audiology research center. On May 1, Purdue announced plans for the new Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center (APARC) in Indianapolis. Led by director Michael Heinz of the College of Health and Human Sciences, the center will use AI-enabled analysis tools to improve current audiology testing methods and address the urgent need for precision audiology, especially among underserved populations.
8. Research credit card trial. This pilot credit card program for externally funded research project purchases was launched in March 2023. Based on observations made during the pilot, there is a need for some researchers to be given individual purchasing cards. The revised program will be available beginning July 1. Interested individuals can work with their business offices to participate.
9. One Less Signature initiative. This initiative was recently launched to create greater efficiencies across campus on administrative processes and forms by eliminating unnecessary or redundant approvals. So far, the ideas submitted and under review pertain to improved workflow for purchasing and employee separation. Ideas from all areas of the university, including student and academic areas, are welcome. Please submit suggestions to: finprocess@purdue.edu.
Notable Faculty Achievements
10. Datta elected Member of National Academy of Sciences. Supriyo Datta, the Thomas Duncan Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Election to NAS membership is recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original research and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.
11. Four faculty members elected American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. Congratulations to four Purdue faculty members who were recently elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The new fellows are Trevor Anderson (chemistry), Songlin Fei (forestry and natural resources), Tesfaye Mengiste (botany and plant pathology), and Ronnie Wilbur (speech, language, and hearing sciences and linguistics). Elected by the AAAS Council, fellows are recognized for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching, and technology to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public.
Faculty members who wish to be nominated for a recognition or to nominate another faculty member can request assistance here. Faculty Recognition Program staff will begin outreach in May to department heads to encourage and support applications for Sloan Research Fellowships and Guggenheim Fellowships.
12. Purdue faculty authors. The number of books authored by Purdue faculty members continues to increase. In the first four months of 2024, 17 new books hit the shelves. The Faculty Recognition Office maintains a list at Purdue-authored books (source: Academic Analytics). We congratulate all our Purdue authors!
AI Platforms, Tools and Resources
13. National AI Research Resource Pilot (NAIRR). As part of the launch of the NAIRR pilot, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy are collaborating to create an opportunity for the research community to request access to a set of advanced computing resources. Purdue will join the NAIRR pilot as a resource provider in NSF’s call for the next round of allocation requests in May 2024. Find more information about NAIRR at https://nairrpilot.org or by contacting Carol Song, cxsong@purdue.edu.
14. Library Guide on Artificial Intelligence. Purdue Libraries recently published a new Library Guide on Artificial Intelligence designed to equip Purdue faculty, staff and students with a range of AI resources carefully selected for their relevance and effectiveness. It serves as a toolbox for research, teaching and learning purposes, and image creation. The guide offers access to diverse AI tools and provides materials on citing AI-generated content, crafting effective prompts, and exploring the relationship between AI and ethical considerations. For more information, contact Jing Lu, lu59@purdue.edu.
15. Scite.ai. An innovative research tool recently acquired by Purdue, scite.ai is now available for use by faculty, staff, and students through the Purdue Libraries. Scite.ai is an AI platform for discovering and evaluating scientific articles. It allows users to see how a publication has been cited and to explore literature quickly and effectively. The Purdue Libraries team has developed a Scite.ai user guide and will offer Scite.ai workshops in May and June. For more information about this tool or about upcoming workshops, contact liaison librarians.
