Research Reimagined
Krannert School offers insight into the world's greatest challenges
Fall 2019
By Eric Nelson
What comes to mind when you think of research?
As a central component to the work of higher education, research is often seen through the narrowly focused lens of academic publishing, sponsored funding and other traditional metrics for evaluating the output and advancement of university knowledge.
But research is about much more than publishing and funding. At its core, the process is driven by the unending desire to seek knowledge, understand the world and improve society. In this context, universities like Purdue have roles and impacts far beyond the pages of an academic journal or the bottom line of a research budget.
David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School of Management and a Distinguished Professor of Economics, describes research as “taking pieces of a puzzle — people with different skill sets, methodologies or ideas from different areas — and combining them in novel ways to create something better than what we had before.”
What does that mean in practice? Within Krannert, for example, academic and applied research is integrated directly into the curriculum through lectures, case studies and experiential learning projects with business, industry and government partners leveraged to build on Purdue’s strengths in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields and technology commercialization.
These consulting and engagement efforts are often driven by Krannert’s centers, including the recently endowed John and Donna Krenicki Center for Business Analytics and Machine Learning and similar research hubs for advanced manufacturing and supply chain management.
Beyond the transfer of knowledge and technology, research is equally vital to creating and assessing informed public policy initiatives, which serves as the mission of the rapidly growing Purdue University Research Center in Economics.
In addition to conferences, seminars and competitions sponsored by the Purdue Office of Undergraduate Research, students also contribute to the process through projects led by the Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management, Larsen Leaders Academy and related Krannert initiatives.
“With hundreds of faculty and staff and thousands of students, there are a lot of big brains at Krannert full of great ideas just waiting to be unleashed,” Hummels says. “That makes for a tremendously creative brew and level of complexity that sometimes can be challenging, but ultimately results in extraordinary outcomes.”
