University News – December 11

IUPUC honors Amy Hunter

A Columbus native has been selected as employee of the quarter at IUPUC.

Amy Hunter, an enrollment coordinator and webmaster in the division of University College, was picked to receive the designation for the fourth quarter. The school started recognizing one employee each month starting in 2010 to show appreciation for their dedication and effectiveness, with supervisors and other staff members nominating employees.

Hunter, who grew up in Columbus, lives in Seymour with her two children.

Purdue Polytechnic Columbus professor presents at conference

A professor at Purdue Polytechnic Columbus and Purdue University recently presented at a conference in New Zealand.

Jon Padfield, an assistant professor of organizational leadership, presented at the eighth annual Asia Pacific Innovation Conference that was held Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 at the University of Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand. Padfield presented a research paper on “The Use of Crowd Funding Analytics as a Predictor for Innovation Market Demand.”

Padfield also spoke at the American Society for Quality’s fifth annual Innovation Division Conference in Dayton, Ohio, in October. He serves as serves as president of Proffer Brainchild Analytics & Innovation, an Indianapolis-based training and consulting company focused on helping clients improve their quality and productivity.

Purdue accepts applications for academy program

Purdue University is accepting applications from high school juniors, seniors and secondary education teachers for its summer academy program.

The week-long academy, scheduled for June 18 to 24, focuses on energy sciences and engineering and is free to participants. Students and teachers will explore the field of energy through a series of laboratory research, classroom lectures and hands-on activities.

They also will tour a solar farm and the Duke Energy Generation facility in southwest Indiana.

Participants in the program also will learn about topics in energy such as drone policy and their usages in monitoring infrastructure, which will be followed by a drone demonstration and related hands-on activities in an event led by Lawrence Fabina, manager of continuous improvement and coordinator of the USA Energy Reduction Program for global steel and mining giant ArcelorMittal in Chicago.

Teachers work on STEM-based energy lesson plans for their classrooms throughout the week. Fifty students and 34 teachers are selected each year to participate in the academy, which awards a $400 stipend to teachers who successfully complete the program.

The deadline to register is Jan. 16. For more information or to register, visit purdue.edu/discoverypark/energy/programs/energy-academy/index.php.