Inspired by the successful partnership between Purdue Polytechnic’s Department of Computer and Information Technology and the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s office, Governor Eric Holcomb signed the High Tech Crime Unit Bill, which will lead to the creation of 10 civilian-based high-tech crime units around Indiana.

Tatiana Ringenberg, a Purdue Polytechnic doctoral student, researches how online predators communicate with their victims, including children, through language, and how those communications may be different when the victim is actually a law enforcement officer posing as a child. She’s working to improve law enforcement training and effectiveness by identifying differences in communication between decoys, victims and law enforcement in online grooming conversations.

Purdue Polytechnic’s Marcus Rogers, Umit Karabiyik and Fahad Salamh earned a patent for their method of automating the collection of cloud-based digital forensic evidence.

Purdue Polytechnic’s Byung-Cheol “B.C.” Min is leading a team designing SMARTBoat 5, an unmanned surface vehicle that removes harmful algae blooms from shorelines and waterways. The vehicle’s lightweight frame was built from 3D-printed parts and can be used in a variety of environments, from small, shallow ponds to large lakes.

Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar, associate professor of computer and information technology, fights crime using cyberforensics, a branch of digital forensic science pertaining to evidence found in computers and digital storage media.

Eric Dietz, professor of computer and information technology, was working to provide new opportunities for graduate students when he hosted Hyun Gun Song, the superintendent of South Korean police, in Greater Lafayette. This evolved into a partnership that has helped agencies in South Korea improve how they handle domestic violence calls.

Purdue Polytechnic’s Sabine Brunswicker, Soowon Chang, Dominic Kao and Alejandra Magana participated in short-term research projects related to how universities adapted to the pandemic.

Fahad Salamh, Marcus Rogers and Umit Karabiyik have developed a cloud forensic model using machine learning to collect digital evidence related to illegal activities on cloud storage applications like Dropbox and Google Drive.

The same technology that connects schoolchildren to their friends poses problems to student victims and their parents when it is used for cyberbullying, according to Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar, assistant professor of computer and information technology.

A new summer workshop at Purdue hopes to strengthen the pipeline of students interested in a college degree in computing.

Coordinated by the Department of Computer and Information Technology, the Tapestry Workshop invites high school computing teachers to campus to help them with strategies to get students interested in computing courses.