Seven faculty members from Purdue Polytechnic Institute have received the 2025 Acorn Award. The university-level honor recognizes researchers who serve as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on a sponsored project with a total budget of $1 million or more for the first time.
The six recipients were spread across many disciplines within the college. These faculty have seen success in securing significant funding from federal agencies, state departments and international organizations.
Two faculty members from the School of Construction Management Technology received the award for their work with the Indiana Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Soowon Chang and Yunfeng Chen were recognized for a project focused on applying solar power systems within Indiana's right-of-way areas and state-owned facilities.
Feng Li, from the School of Applied and Creative Computing, was honored for securing a grant of nearly $3 million from the National Science Foundation. His project, "CyberCorps SFS," aims to build the next generation of the cybersecurity engineering workforce. Alejandra Magana DeLeon, the W.C. Furnas Professor in Enterprise Excellence of Applied and Creative Computing, was recognized for a $1.2 million project with the National Science Foundation titled "VR-Bio-Talk." This collaborative research focuses on developing a voice-controlled visual analytics platform for plant digital twins.
In the School of Engineering Technology, Xiaonan Lu received the Acorn Award for a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. His research focuses on the implementation of dynamic, modular microgrids to improve energy systems.
Two faculty members from the Department of Technology Leadership and Innovation were also recognized. Sabine Brunswicker and Damon Lercel received awards for their work with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology. Their project establishes the Center of Operation and Research for Industrial Advancement (CORIA) at Purdue.
The recipients were recognized at a recent ceremony attended by university leadership.
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