Purdue Polytechnic welcomed more than two dozen new faculty and staff members for the 2021-22 academic year who have diverse backgrounds and a wide variety of research interests.

Purdue Polytechnic researchers are using the Toolbox Dialog Initiative (TDI) to improve their cross-disciplinary collaboration. The TDI team from Michigan State University facilitates collaborative partnerships and investigates the practice of collaborative research.

Since 2018, scientists in Purdue Polytechnic’s strategic research impact areas have been working to solve challenges in cybersecurity and critical infrastructure that affect global economics, security and health. Faculty members in the Holistic Safety and Security team are building on research that has received national attention and funding.

Student pilots don't have the typical on-duty/off-duty workday that is typical in the airline industry, so Purdue Polytechnic’s Julius Keller and a team of faculty and graduate students are researching ways to mitigate fatigue amongst collegiate aviators.

Purdue Polytechnic’s Anthony Sparkling and Ramyani Sengupta are studying how virtual reality technology could help experienced professionals and potential retirees in the construction industry more efficiently transfer knowledge to next-generation workers.

Colin Gray, assistant professor of computer graphics technology and director of Purdue’s UX Pedagogy and Practice Lab, and a team of researchers including Shruthi Chivukula, a doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant, are studying practitioners’ experiences and attitudes around ethics in the design of technologies. They’re also aiming to help future designers and technologists be more effective “everyday ethicists.”

Gianna Lint, a student in Purdue Polytechnic’s Doctorate of Technology program, is applying her expertise in process improvement towards human trafficking research.

Purdue Polytechnic’s Marcus Rogers and Umit Karabiyik are developing technology that could help parolees avoid recommitting crimes and better reintegrate into general society.

Mythra Balakuntala, a graduate research assistant in Purdue Polytechnic’s Collaborative Robotics Lab, won the Amazon Research Award in robotics.

Hersh Rai, a graduate student in Purdue Polytechnic’s Dept. of Computer and Information Technology, worked with Nicholas Toan-Nang Vu, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, and Eric Dietz, director of Purdue Homeland Security Institute and professor of computer and information technology, to redesign an N95 mask’s headband and the way it is attached. The new design can help overcome limitations that cause masks to become useless when their elastic headbands deteriorate during long-term storage.