Award & Investment Overview
Purdue University’s Purdue Innovates Awards program has allocated more than $250,000 in funding to support four early-stage translational projects that span concrete imaging technologies, soil moisture sensing, semiconductor test chip design, and augmented reality surgical navigation.
The awards reflect Purdue’s active internal commercialization ecosystem, which deploys gap funding to help university researchers generate prototype data, refine use cases, and position breakthroughs for external investment or industry partnerships.
Approach & Ecosystem Context
Purdue Innovates Awards are competitive internal grants that support early translation of research toward tangible technologies. This staged funding mechanism provides targeted capital, expert mentoring, and ecosystem connectivity to help investigators and teams reduce risk, validate feasibility, and prepare for downstream funding opportunities.
By funding multiple projects across distinct technology domains, Purdue is applying a portfolio approach that expands the number of promising innovations poised for commercialization pathways.
Innovation & Technology
The selected projects combine imaging systems, advanced sensors, semiconductor design, and interactive visualization to address challenges in construction safety, environmental monitoring, chip validation, and surgical guidance. Each initiative bridges academic discovery with defined practical applications, demonstrating Purdue’s emphasis on research with clear real-world impact potential.
Potential Market Applications (Project-Level Detail)
• Advanced concrete imaging system, Dr. Mark Alexander (School of Engineering Education): Developing a novel imaging approach to detect internal concrete defects, with applications in infrastructure inspection and structural safety assurance.
• Soil moisture and environmental sensor platform, Dr. Maria Smith (Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering): Prototyping a cost-effective, high-accuracy moisture sensor to improve irrigation management and agricultural productivity.
• Semiconductor test chip design innovations, Dr. Kevin Chen (School of Electrical and Computer Engineering): Advancing specialized test chips that improve performance validation and yield optimization in semiconductor manufacturing.
• Augmented reality surgical navigation system, Dr. Laura Ramirez (College of Health and Human Sciences): Creating AR-assisted visualization tools to enhance precision and safety during minimally invasive procedures.
Read the Full Story:
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2026/Q1/purdue-innovates-awards-funds-to-develop-concrete-imaging-and-semiconductor-innovations/
