Amelia Earhart’s connection to Purdue University and its renowned aviation history will be recognized with the naming of the to-be-constructed Amelia Earhart Terminal at Purdue University Airport. Purdue trustees approved the naming today. Construction on the Earhart terminal is scheduled to start in June and be completed in August 2025.

The Purdue Board of Trustees ratified a faculty naming and approved a new degree program, resolutions of appreciation and work related to the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business building.

In his report to the Board of Trustees, President Mung Chiang led a discussion providing an update on Purdue University in Indianapolis, Purdue’s first comprehensive urban campus, which bookends the Hard-Tech Corridor. He also shared key findings and next steps from the Purdue West Lafayette transportation and pedestrian safety study. Chiang acknowledged faculty who received sponsored research awards from September 2023 through January 2024 and thanked friends of the university for their recent generous contributions – highlighting Lilly Endowment Inc., whose recent gift is the largest ever given to Purdue.

In his presentation to the Board of Trustees, J. Paul Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Cytometry in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Basic Medical Sciences and professor of biomedical engineering in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, provided an overview of how advancing detection technologies have enabled development of portable foodborne pathogen detection approaches. These technologies have been supported by Purdue and have made the university well recognized in this field. In addition, he described the move toward quantum cytometry, where highly complex detection for blood-based diseases is an emerging area. This is also a focus area of Robinson’s lab and his associated Purdue Research Park company, Miftek Corp. Robinson was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2022.

Purdue Global Board of Trustees members learned of progress updates to Purdue Global Moves from Chancellor Frank Dooley. Purdue Global Moves, the strategic initiatives for the university, include Student Success, Professional Skills, Classroom of the Future, and Equity Task Force – all with the goal of having a focus on addressing student success equitably. Highlights included the establishment of various partnerships to enhance the initiatives. Dooley provided information on the recent launch of the Purdue Global Learning Assistant, an AI tool developed for students with faculty input to provide personalized assistance with academic content. The PG Learning Assistant was launched to almost 800 students across four classes on Jan. 31, following months of testing and development. The PG Learning Assistant functionality and feature set will increase over 2024, with expected rollout to more courses occurring in 2025.