Purdue Establishes Pillars Initiative to
Enhance Research, Graduate Education
Purdue University has established a new Pillars of Excellence in the Life Sciences
Initiative aimed at enhancing Purdue’s life sciences research and graduate education. The initiative comes as part of Purdue’s recently announced $2 billion “Ever
True” capital campaign.
The investment will result in cohesive efforts across several colleges and is designed
to produce preeminent contributions in the areas of integrative neurosciences and
inflammation and immunology and infectious diseases. Purdue’s total investment
in its life sciences program of more than $60 million will augment existing capabilities in people, programs and infrastructure.
Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships and the
Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, says the concept
for the Pillars of Excellence emerged from discussions with faculty over several
months and included a careful selection process that narrowed 17 proposals to the
final two.
“This idea has provided an unprecedented opportunity for our life sciences faculty
to organize around major themes that will help move Purdue life sciences forward,”
Garimella says. “The public presentations, which were a part of the selection
process, provided an exciting window into our faculty members’ visions for the
future of the biological sciences and their strategies for how Purdue could best
position itself to make major contributions to the evolving national and international life sciences agenda.”
A review committee comprising life sciences leaders from around the nation
including some at Purdue recommended the selection of two final teams to the
Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships (EVPRP) and the Provost:
the Center for Integrative Neurosciences, proposed by a team led by Donna Fekete,
professor of biological sciences; and the Institute for Inflammation, Immunology
and Infectious Diseases, proposed by a team led by Richard Kuhn, professor and
head of the Department of Biological Sciences and former director of the Bindley
Bioscience Center. Fekete and Kuhn both will serve as inaugural directors of their
respective Pillars, which will be established in Discovery Park, home to Purdue’s
large, interdisciplinary research efforts.
The Pillars of Excellence in the Life Sciences initiative will be implemented as a
partnership among pillar leadership teams and the offices of the EVPRP and Provost.
The initiative will support the hiring of high-profile, leading faculty, the purchase of
advanced instrumentation, and the establishment or upgrade of core facilities in the
life sciences, including the addition of highly trained technical staff.
Purdue to Invest $250
Million in Life Sciences
Purdue University is investing more than
$250 million in the life sciences over the
next five years to advance research that
both improves lives and supports Indiana’s critical life sciences business sector.
The investment will enable high-impact,
leading faculty hires as well as dozens
of new positions across six colleges,
advanced instrumentation purchases and
shared research facilities that enhance the
life sciences.
The funding includes Purdue’s recently
announced Pillars of Excellence in the
Life Sciences Initiative, with a $60 million
investment as part of Purdue’s $2 billion
“Ever True” capital campaign. The initiative
established the Integrative Neuroscience
Center and Institute for Inflammation,
Immunology and Infectious Disease,
which complement the Purdue Moves’
Drug Discovery and Plant Sciences initiatives.
The investment will support the immediate hiring of a director for Purdue’s new
Center for Integrative Neuroscience, as
well as a leading faculty hire in the area
of drug discovery. The additional faculty
in the Pillars program and the Center for
Drug Discovery will range from assistant
professors to distinguished professors
across six colleges.
The new faculty hires will support
Purdue’s major effort to coalesce faculty
from different disciplines and colleges
who are working in Purdue’s focus areas
of neuroscience, immunological sciences,
drug discovery and plant sciences.
A multi-million dollar investment in
high-throughput screening instrumentation and the establishment of a chemical
genomics facility for the Purdue Center
for Drug Discovery are planned, as are
new core facilities in the neurosciences
and upgrades to existing core facilities in
Discovery Park.
