An agreement will establish formal research collaborations and exchanges of researchers, students and faculty between Purdue University and Indian institutions.
Mayank Chhaya
WEST LAFAYETTE: In a university where one out of five international students is from India, the country has never really been far from its management’s consciousness. But now Purdue University, one of America’s most respected institutions, is going all out to engage India, which many of its faculty members describe as “one of the two most exciting destinations.”
Set amid America’s heartland and known particularly for its excellence in teaching engineering, agriculture and pharmacy, Purdue has traditionally drawn a large number of students from India. Currently, of the 4,831 international students enrolled at Purdue in the academic year, 1,021 are from India. China with 782 and South Korea with 680 complete the top three countries from international students come to study in large numbers. The university also has more than 85 faculty of Indian origin, mostly in engineering, management and science.
After Purdue president Martin C Jischke visited India in November 2004, he came back convinced that the university’s Asia focus should be on India and China. Charles Rutledge, vice-president for research, who is leading a delegation to India from January 29 to February 7, says: “I believe Purdue with its expertise in agriculture, pharmacy and engineering can contribute a great deal to India.”
An organic chemist, Rutledge is particularly excited about a research agreement with India’s Department of Science and Technology scheduled to be signed in New Delhi on February 5. “We hope this visit and this agreement with the Indian government’s leading science and technology agency will boost Purdue’s visibility at the highest levels of India and at the grassroots level, where the seeds of cutting-edge university research are being planted,” Rutledge said.
“By expanding the bridge between India and Purdue’s Discovery Park, we look to become a preferred US institution for research collaborations with India,” he said.
Apart from Rutledge, the four-member delegation will consist of Alan H. Rebar, executive director of Discovery Park; Pankaj Sharma, assistant director of Discovery Park; and Jay P Gore, interim director of Discovery Park’s Energy Centre and Purdue’s Vincent P Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering and associate dean of the College of Engineering.
“The time has never been as opportune as it is now for India and Purdue to work together,” Sharma said. He said that officials in Amethi had announced plans to open a 60-acre Discovery Park research complex, modelled after Purdue’s Discovery Park with a focus on health, education and agribusiness. The Purdue delegation’s week-long visit will feature meetings with academic and political leaders in the research areas of nanotechnology, entrepreneurship, energy, life sciences, IT, health care, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and the environment, according to Rutledge.
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