Purdue CS continues to rise in rankings
In U.S. News & World Report's 2025 rankings, Purdue’s undergraduate computer science program is ranked #16 in the nation, reflecting its excellence in curriculum design, research opportunities, and the preparedness of its graduates for the tech industry.
AI-driven conversational VR interfaces to digital twins in agricultural research data sets
Modern agricultural sensors gather vast 3D data, aiding research on plant growth and biological systems. This data helps create realistic digital twins for plant phenotyping, yet up to 80% remains unexplored. Unused data might hold answers to key research questions, offering potential breakthroughs in agriculture.
Raising robots: Teaching robots things humans learn, including navigation, movement, dance, spatial reasoning
Purdue AI urban tree monitoring and analysis initiative to improve city life
With 89% of the U.S. population and 68% of the world population projected to live in cities by 2050, concerns mount about how to address health and environmental issues such as excessive heat, poor air quality and rainwater runoff. Urban trees have the potential to improve these issues, but first, accurate tree inventories and information must be obtained, analyzed, shared and regularly updated to make effective data-driven decisions.
Taram's Novel Research Wins Multiple Prestigious Awards in Hardware Security
Assistant Professor Mohammadkazem Taram’s paper in collaboration with co-authors from UT Austin, UC San Diego, Intel Labs, Google, Fastly, and Rivos, "Going Beyond the Limits of SFI: Flexible and Secure Hardware-Assisted In-Process Isolation with HFI," has garnered significant recognition in the field of computer architecture and hardware security for its groundbreaking impact.
Purdue's IDEAS Lab Secures Funding for Smarter Robotic Dogs
Aniket Bera and the Purdue IDEAS Lab received a Department of Defense grant to develop terrain-sensing and autonomous navigation for robotic canines. The project enhances navigation, threat awareness, and safety in challenging environments, integrating aerial and ground data. This research advances military operations and offers applications in disaster response and environmental monitoring.
Students are headed back to school armed with AI. Here's how some colleges are adapting.
- In an article discussing the adaptation of schools to novel AI resources, Purdue CS Professor Tianyi Zhang's research about the accuracy of Chat GPT is cited. According to this research, the tool is wrong 52% of the time.
AI-generated images passed off as 'unknown creatures caught by Papuan fishermen'
- Shu Hu, head of Purdue's Machine Learning and Media Forensics Lab identified visual inconsistencies in AI-generated images falsely claimed to depict giant axolotls, confirming the images were fake through expert analysis of details like mismatched limbs.
AI transforms learning and sparks new debates
- By 2024, 65% of organizations and 86% of students used AI tools. A Purdue study by Tianyi Zhang found ChatGPT provided incorrect information 52% of the time, raising concerns about accuracy in education.
- Purdue and the University of Arizona are developing VR-Bio-Talk, an AI-based VR platform enabling natural language interaction with agricultural data. This technology will bridge gaps between data science and research, revolutionizing plant phenotyping.
Indiana Universities Shine in 2025 U.S. News & World Report Rankings
- Purdue University, ranked 46th nationally, continues to be Indiana’s highest-ranked public university. It also placed 18th among public universities. Notably, Purdue has been named one of the top 10 Most Innovative schools for seven consecutive years. Purdue earned high marks for graduate earnings and faculty resources. The university’s engineering programs, including industrial and civil engineering, are consistently ranked among the top 10 nationally.
Purdue lands $5M for semiconductor research
- Purdue received over $5 million in federal grants to enhance semiconductor performance and energy efficiency. The funding supports research in advanced materials, defect detection, and manufacturing improvements, solidifying Purdue's leadership in semiconductor innovation.
Climbing in the rankings
As Purdue CS’ undergraduate program climbs to #16 in the nation, we are proud to see our continuous drive for excellence acknowledged,” said Lucy Flesch, Frederick L. Hovde Dean, College of Science.
This achievement is a testament to the dedication of our faculty and the curiosity of our students. Initiatives like Purdue Computes, help to meet the growing demand for expertise in computing, and ensure that we continue to lead in education, research, and innovation.”
Purdue Computes in action: Institute for Physical AI
The Institute of Physical AI will couple scientists from across Purdue who bring interdisciplinary thinking and problem-solving to solve issues at the intersection of AI and a variety of critical functions, such as more efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing, digital forestry and more efficient transportation." - Karen Plaut, Executive Vice President for Research
Leveraging Purdue’s signature strengths in materials science, engineering, microelectronics, computer science, agriculture and life sciences, the Institute for Physical AI (IPAI) is committed to solving the world’s toughest challenges.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY IN INDIANAPOLIS
Announcing our next giant leap: a new extension of our flagship campus bringing the academic rigor and accessible excellence we’re known for to central Indiana.
Fueling a transformational growth, Purdue University’s first comprehensive urban campus will offer unique opportunities for Boilermaker students and faculty. We will expand enrollment. We will build startups. We will create new knowledge. We will connect talents and industry. We will maximize Indy’s unique strengths such as sports and biomedical technology. Purdue campuses now bookend the Hard Tech Corridor: 65 miles connecting Indy and West Lafayette with LEAP Innovation District at the midpoint. We will generate talents, jobs and innovation together in America’s heartland!"
Mung Chiang, President, Purdue University
Science at Purdue University in Indianapolis
Essential understandings of science and lifelong critical thinking skills are developed at Purdue University in Indianapolis’s College of Science. Computational, math and data sciences form the foundation for innovation and thoroughly prepare graduates for careers in dynamic and rapidly changing environments.
Science Majors
Computer Science - Join a legacy of innovation in both advancing scientific research and creating industry applications by learning computing fundamentals.
Artificial Intelligence - Explore the link among cognitive psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence — and investigate AI ethics — for a holistic understanding of how to build and understand systems.
Data Science - Discover the intersection of computer science and statistics in a field that uses quantitative and analytical methods to help provide insights and form predictions based on big data.
ISSTA
The ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA) is the leading research symposium on software testing and analysis, bringing together academics, industrial researchers, and practitioners to exchange new ideas, problems, and experience on how to analyze and test software systems.
Automated Deep Learning Optimization via DSL-Based Source Code Transformation | Ruixin Wang (Purdue University), Minghai Lu (Purdue University), Cody Hao Yu (BosonAI), Yi-Hsiang Lai (Purdue University), Tianyi Zhang (Purdue University)
Define-Use Guided Path Exploration for Better Forced Execution | Dongnan He (Renmin University of China), Dongchen Xie (Renmin University of China), Yujie Wang (Renmin University of China), Wei You (Renmin University of China), Bin Liang (Renmin University of China), Jianjun Huang (Renmin University of China), Wenchang Shi (Renmin University of China), Zhuo Zhang (Purdue University), Xiangyu Zhang (Purdue University)
ASE 2024
The ASE conference is the premier research forum for Automated Software Engineering. Each year, it brings together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to discuss foundations, techniques, and tools for automating the analysis, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance of large software systems.
ROCAS: Root Cause Analysis of Autonomous Driving Accidents via Cyber-Physical Co-mutation | Shiwei Feng (Purdue University), Yapeng Yev (Purdue University), Qingkai Shi (Purdue University), Zhiyuan Cheng (Purdue University), Xiangzhe Xu (Purdue University), Siyuan Cheng (Purdue University), Hongjun Choi (Purdue University), Xiangyu Zhang (Purdue University)
Proof Automation with Large Language Models | Minghai Lu (Purdue University), Benjamin Delaware (Purdue University), Tianyi Zhang (Purdue University)
PURDUE CS | BY THE NUMBERS
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
AN ERA OF GROWTH
In the field of computer science, there is a sustained and significant increase in demand for our academic programs. We are thrilled to announce that, once again, we have surpassed our previous records for freshman admission applications, with the total exceeding 11,000. At the start of fall classes, 1,001 freshman students joined our previous classes across two campuses for more than 3,500 undergraduates.
This year, freshman women students represent 22% of the undergraduate population and women are 23% among all undergraduate students.
US NEWS RANKS PURDUE
GRADUATE PROGRAM
Our graduate population has exploded with 538 MS and PhD students for the 2022-23 academic year. This represents a 26% increase in growth from the previous year.