Mark Altman, an industrial engineering major pursuing a minor in Purdue Polytechnic's Supply Chain Management Technology program, recently concluded a prolific year of research that took him far beyond the typical undergraduate requirements.
Altman participated in Purdue's 2025-2026 Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Scholars program and partnered with data science major Jin Guo to investigate industrial pollution. The team tracked PFAS and total air emission levels pre- and post-pandemic among Indiana's fabricated metal and paper manufacturing industries.
Altman approached the project expecting to find robust data sets.
"As an industrial engineering student with a background in supply chain, I'm used to working on problems with solid, concrete evidence or data that I use to draw results and conclusions," Altman said. "The most unexpected and important takeaway that I have had has been that in reality, information is much scarcer than we think."
He discovered a significant gap in the available science regarding industrial chemicals.
"Despite the internet being so vast and the many articles describing the dangers of PFAS, there has been little to no research done on actual PFAS chemicals," Altman said.
The OUR Scholars program requires participants to present at campus poster sessions. Altman and Guo pushed beyond this requirement and sought out external and graduate-level audiences for their findings.
The team successfully submitted and presented their research at the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future research conference in the fall. They traveled to Indianapolis on April 2 to present at the Polytechnic Institute's Industry and Research Day. The researchers briefed regional industrial stakeholders on their emissions findings and advocated for companies to actively recruit undergraduate researchers.
The pair also secured acceptances for both poster and oral presentations at the Butler University Undergraduate Research Conference on April 10. They followed this with another oral presentation at Purdue's own spring research conference on April 15.
Jim Tanoos, a professor in the School of Engineering Technology and the students' faculty mentor, noted that taking research to external venues is a critical developmental milestone.
"Students who present their research beyond campus demonstrate that their work resonates outside our institution," Tanoos said. "Traveling to present research requires students to defend their ideas before unfamiliar audiences and respond to challenging questions."
Altman and Guo will cap off their academic year on the global stage. Tanoos included both students as co-authors on a paper accepted to a data science academic conference in Aalsmeer, Netherlands. The team plans to present virtually later this May.
The experience solidified Altman's plans for his future career.
"There is always something more to discover with air emissions and chemical research, especially as it relates to human health and safety," Altman said. "My goal in the future is to continue to fill in the gaps in my knowledge and in the information we have access to."
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