49. The next giant leap

A law signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 created the cornerstone for America’s leadership in engineering and agriculture. Known as the Morrill Act, the law established land grant universities in states across the country, including Purdue University in Indiana. Since the university’s launch in 1869, it has become a research powerhouse becoming the only university in the country to have both a top 10 ranked college of agriculture and college engineering. Its graduates include 27 astronauts, 3 World Food Prize laureates, 2 Noble Prize winners and the pace continues to quicken. Today we are joined by Purdue’s Executive Vice President of Research, Dr. Karen Plaut, to share how the university is building on its momentum to advance research and create the economy of the future. 

Asking “what if” has been the cornerstone of Karen’s career and she talks all things innovation at Purdue and where they see their greatest opportunities for impact – from agbioscience to aerospace. As the former dean of the College of Agriculture,  she explores the idea that technologies across different disciplines have meaningful effect on food. Karen also talks research influencing legislation, commercializing and conducting basic research that will drastically improve lives in the future. 

So, what are the next gigantic leaps for Purdue? Karen talks about students being at the core of the university’s success, new intersections for driving change and agbioscience’s critical role in the future.