Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has announced grants totaling $100 million from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment in support of the university’s integrated technologies strategic initiative and the revamping of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, each program receiving $50 million.

The combined grants will support the Purdue Computes initiative, which focuses on elevating the university’s computing, physical AI, semiconductor, and quantum physics research capabilities. To that end, the funds will bolster the initiative’s efforts to connect faculty and students from across the university and accelerate programs, including $20 million for the Birck Nanotechnology Center, which houses the Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory; $20 million to launch the Institute for Physical Artificial Intelligence; and $10 million to enhance workforce development efforts in the areas of semiconductors and physical AI. Funds directed to the Daniels School will be used to help construct a 164,000-square-foot building—expected to be completed in 2027—designed to deliver a STEM-infused, data-driven business education for the more than 3,500 business students at the university.

While given separately and for distinct purposes, the grants will operate together to help elevate the university and leverage new investments in the state’s economy. Both efforts will work to increase and improve Indiana’s pipeline of top students, position the university to stimulate economic development and prosperity, center ethical principles in all teaching and research activities, and build on Purdue’s reputation in key disciplines, especially STEM.

“These transformational grants from Lilly Endowment are historic in both magnitude and vision,” said Purdue president Mung Chiang. “Combined, the grants represent the largest gift in university history, injecting crucial momentum to [these] intersecting initiatives [that] will further elevate Purdue’s excellence at scale for Indiana’s job creation, workforce brain gain, and tech-driven prosperity.”

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