Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Professor John Morgan is part of a Purdue University team of scientists that has upended a long-held assumption about how plant volatile compounds, the chemicals that are responsible for scent, move to the outside of the cells to attract pollinators, defend the plant and perform other key functions.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering researchers are part of a collaborative effort to develop rechargeable batteries based on potassium, a potential alternative to lithium that is less expensive and far more plentiful. Graduate student Ryan A. Adams led much of the research. His research is co-directed by Dr. Vilas Pol, associate professor of Chemical Engineering and Dr. Arvind Varma, R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Purdue University ranked 12th in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents in 2016, according to a new report released by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), up from 15th in 2015.

Dr. Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, is leading a team of researchers proposing a system that would use the entire solar spectrum to maximize resource production from a given land area. The concept is described in a paper appearing on Friday (June 9) in the journal Scientific Reports.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering undergraduate student Jacob Crislip is working with an NSF-funded international research team focused on meeting the global challenges of health research.

Crislip, along with student researchers from three other universities, is spending eight weeks in the Department of Molecular Biology at Aarhus University in Denmark. The research team is part of the International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program.