John Martinson Honors College awards six Breakthrough Research Awards to Purdue faculty for 2024-25

Purdue’s John Martinson Honors College has awarded six Breakthrough Research Awards to Purdue faculty in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. These projects include 24 Purdue faculty from West Lafayette and Indianapolis serving as principal or co-principal investigators across seven different colleges and nine departments. As part of these projects, 34 JMHC students will be recruited as undergraduate researchers to conduct high-impact research related to health and well-being.

Conducted through December 2025, each of these six projects will be led by Purdue faculty members in collaboration with a team of 5-10 honors college undergraduate researchers. Projects include public health interventions with service animals, machine learning in medical imaging, AI and rural health services, well-being in student pilots, healthcare interventions for diabetic adults and drug development, and manufacturing value chain.

According to Priyanka Brunese, director of research development for the JMHC, the Breakthrough Award bridges Purdue’s mission to deliver high-impact, experiential education with its mission to conduct cutting-edge research. A total of $310,000 in award funds were committed to the JMHC’s mission of providing its students immersive research experiences.

Brunese said the JMHC received high-quality applications from 57 faculty serving as principal or co-principal investigators from 11 colleges and 25 departments across Purdue’s West Lafayette and Indianapolis locations. “These applications were reviewed by Purdue-wide experts using a double-blind process on their research quality, broader impact and their strategies for undergraduate students to engage meaningfully in the research.”

Below is a list of award winners and projects:

Project: A study of robust neural rendering fields for medical imaging    

Researcher: Dr. Hu

Hu, from Purdue Polytechnic Institute in Indianapolis, will work with a team of five JMHC students to advance medical imaging methods from 2D medical images to 3D by developing a robustly optimized medical image with neural radiance fields, reducing the need for multiple or high-resolution scans, thus limiting patient exposure to harmful ionizing radiation.

Project: Enhancing rural healthcare by incorporating generative AI and machine learning: building stronger communication networks

Researchers: Dr. Johnson-Sheehan, Dr. Rickert

Johnson-Sheehan and Rickert, from the College of Liberal Arts, will lead a team of five JMHC students to tackle challenges in rural healthcare clinics in North Central United States. The research will focus on Indiana, where geographic isolation, financial constraints, and limited resources drive healthcare disparities. The team will assess current communication practices, develop AI tools to enhance them, and train healthcare professionals on using AI. Their goal is to support rural healthcare delivery, ease the burden on healthcare professionals, and improve the quality of life for rural residents.

Project: Psychiatric service dogs for sexual assault survivors

Researcher: Dr. Nieforth

Nieforth, from the College of Veterinary Medicine, will work with a team of five JMHC students to address challenges faced by sexual assault survivors such as depression, anxiety, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by exploring psychiatric service dog partnership as a complementary intervention. The project seeks to develop a well-rounded understanding of how PTSD service dogs may influence sexual assault survivors’ day to day psychosocial well-being.

Project: Home-based heat therapy in older adults with type 2 diabetes

Researchers: Dr. Roseguini, Dr. Gavin, Dr. Fernandes, Dr. Hirai, Dr. Song

Drs. Roseguini, Gavin, Fernandes, and Hirai, from Health and Kinesiology, and Dr. Song, from Statistics, will lead a team of six JMHC students to study home-based leg heat therapy (HT) for older adults with type 2 diabetes. They aim to test HT as a non-invasive alternative to improve metabolic health and physical function. The team will conduct a pilot randomized, sham-controlled trial to evaluate compliance, safety, and changes in glucose regulation, body composition, blood pressure, muscle strength, and physical function.

Project: Drug Development and Delivery of Biopharmaceuticals

Researchers: Dr. Vlachos, Dr. Li, Dr. Bilionis, Dr. Ardekani, Dr. Wagner, Dr. Matosevic, Dr. Ristroph, Dr. Ladisch, Dr. Scheebeli, Dr. Meyers, Dr. da Cunha

Vlachos, Bilionis, Ardekani, Ristroph, Ladisch, Wagner, Meyers, and da Cunha, from the College of Engineering; Matosevic, Schneebeli (also College of Science), and Li from the College of Pharmacy —all members of the Eli Lilly and Purdue Research Alliance Center (LPRC)—will work with a team of 10 JMHC students. Together, they will research the physical processes in biopharmaceutical drug development and manufacturing. Their methods will include computational drug discovery, drug characterization and production, and experimental approaches to drug delivery mechanics.

Evaluation of Fatigue in Student Pilots

Researchers: Dr. Wilson, Julius Keller, Debra Henneberry, Sudip Vhaduri

Wilson, from Health and Human Sciences; Keller and Henneberry, from Aviation Technology; and Vhaduri, from Computer and Information Technology, will lead a team of six JMHC students. They will study fatigue and stress development in student pilots and professional flight instructors in an aviation program. The team will measure subjective fatigue and stress levels, gather physiological data, and record noise and heat exposure, which may contribute to stress and fatigue. This research aims to improve pilot well-being as part of the National Occupational Research Agenda for Healthy Work Design and Well-being.