Feature Stories

Taking the Land-Grant Model Global

Friday, May 31st, 2019

Were there challenges?” Haley Oliver, associate professor of food science, asks, reflecting on her experience establishing a food technology degree program at Herat University in Herat, Afghanistan. “The real question is: Where weren’t there challenges?”

An Inside Take on Agriculture

Friday, May 31st, 2019

Krishna Nemali, assistant professor of horticulture and landscape architecture and one of the leaders of the department’s controlled environment agriculture initiative, is working up a sweat tending a few small trays of seedlings — primarily lettuce and other green vegetables. Nemali and a team of researchers and Extension specialists are doing more than growing plants here; they’re nurturing an entire industry.

When They Speak, Policymakers Listen

Friday, December 14th, 2018

Assessing alternatives and consequences The “alternatives and consequences approach,” pioneered in the 1930s by Department of Agricultural Economics faculty members John Kohlmeyer and J. Carroll Bottum, infuses much of Tyner’s teaching. It’s also a mindset the department is passionate about passing on to junior faculty and students. “I tell my students that our job is…

Climate Change Comes to Campus

Thursday, December 13th, 2018

Heat’s impact on health The consolation for students of the 2050s is that all residence halls are likely to have air conditioning by then — and they’ll have to, for several health reasons. “Those move-in weeks can be hot,” says Barb Frazee, executive director of University Residences. “But because we’re building two new halls and…

a glass of beer in the 1869 Tap Room at Purdue

Helping Breweries Tap into Their Potential

Friday, April 27th, 2018

Something’s brewing in Indiana Brewers Association statistics recorded 63 breweries in the state in 2013. Three years later, that number had more than doubled. Brewing has become a multimillion-dollar industry in Indiana, and while it may never reach the scale of industries like production agriculture or advanced manufacturing, Farkas saw an opportunity to support this…

Our Surprising Strength: Cancer Research

Friday, April 27th, 2018

Shape-shifting RNA For many years, most scientists have been focused on the role DNA plays in cancer cell formation. But there is growing emphasis on RNA, a chemical messenger that takes instructions from DNA to encode proteins. The shape of DNA can determine how and when genes are turned on or off in the cell….

collage featuring chorizo, a recycled chair, and a plant grown in a bottle

Using the Unused

Friday, April 27th, 2018

Trash or treasure? Liceaga isn’t the only faculty member in the College of Agriculture converting the useless to something usable. Researchers are tackling local, regional and global problems in new ways. Tamara Benjamin, assistant program leader and diversified agriculture specialist, had been brainstorming ways to get fresh fruits and vegetables into local food banks. The small…

A woman sells seeds in the Kimironko Market in Kigali, Rwanda. Purdue’s Postharvest initiative shares technologies and training that help dry, store, and process these grains important in local diets. Photo courtesy of J.C. Rubyogo.A woman sells seeds in the Kimironko Market in Kigali, Rwanda. Purdue’s Postharvest initiative shares technologies and training that help dry, store, and process these grains important in local diets.

Saving for the Future

Monday, November 20th, 2017

Historically, increasing crop production was the focus of agricultural research to feed the global population. The increased attention to postharvest loss reduction and processing grains into nutritious, value-added food products is relatively new, says Suzanne Nielsen, professor of food science and coordinator of Purdue’s Postharvest Initiative. That increased focus is important, because as the Food…

Three höömei (throat singers) from the Mongolian group Khusugtun ready their instruments, which mimic the sounds of wind, birds, and insects. The group, photographed in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park and featured in the film “Global Soundscapes! A Mission to Record the Earth,” is often referred to as the Beatles of Mongolia and performed on the television show “Asia’s Got Talent.”

Reverberations in the Landscape

Monday, November 20th, 2017

New frontiers in science As a pioneer and leader in the field of soundscape ecology, Pijanowski expands the frontiers of environmental research. His work has been covered by global media outlets such as CNN, NPR, and PBS, and was the basis of a feature film, “Global Soundscapes: Mission to Record the Earth,” shown at IMAX…

The PhenoRover’s height and width can be adjusted, as can the height of its boom and the number and types of sensors attached to it.

The Big Data Harvest

Friday, November 17th, 2017

“What we’re really developing is an IoT testbed for agriculture,” says Karen Plaut, interim dean of the College of Agriculture. “We want to bring advanced sensors together with weather data, drone data, and data collected by any other type of equipment farmers use in the field, so that they can make smart decisions in real…