WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue University researcher is looking for adults to participate in a speech perception study in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

Participants will participate in a listening session that is one to three hours, and the compensation is $10 per hour. People interested in participating must be 18 years or older, be native speakers of American English, have normal hearing and normal or corrected-to-normal vision.

Karen Iler Kirk, professor of speech, language and hearing sciences, is leading the study. To participate, or for more information on the study, contact Lindsay Prusick, a graduate research assistant, at (765) 494-0948 or lprusick@purdue.edu

The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. The Department of Speech, Languages and Hearing Sciences is housed in the College of Liberal Arts.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Tippecanoe County remains under a Level 3 hazardous travel watch.

Purdue University is operating on a normal schedule today, including teaching and research functions, said Carol Shelby, senior director for environmental health and public safety.

Main roads are wet, with patches of ice and snow. Secondary roads are still snow covered but passable. Beware of drifting on county roads, especially at the south end of the county.

Shelby said that Purdue employees who choose not to report for work should follow departmental leave policies with regard to notifying their supervisor, and students should follow any notification policy required by their professors.

Everyone should dress appropriately for the current conditions and review their winter preparation procedures. The Ready.gov Web site provides winter weather preparation information at http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/winter.html

On campus, underground walkways also are available at various campus locations. Those walkways connect the Northwestern Street parking garage to the Materials and Electrical Engineering Building; University Street parking garage to the Steven C. Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education; and Purdue Memorial Union, the Krannert Building, Young Hall and the Marsteller Street, Wood Street and Grant Street parking garages. Enclosed bridges from the Krannert Building to Rawls Hall and from Discovery Park’s Birck Nanotechnology Center to the Bindley Bioscience Center also are available.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s College of Liberal Arts is offering a program on language and translation services to help non-English speaking individuals and organizations in the Greater Lafayette community starting this month.

The Community Assistance Program, part of the College of Liberal Arts’ engagement office, also is available to collaborate with other Purdue colleges and schools in their language outreach initiatives.

Purdue University student David Lubowski works at a Lafayette Head Start location in 2008 to help Hispanic children communicate with staff and learn English. These types of language and translation services will be available through a new College of Liberal Arts program aimed at helping non-English speaking individuals and organizations in the Greater Lafayette community. The Community Assistance Program, part of the College of Liberal Arts' engagement office, also is available to collaborate with other Purdue colleges and schools in their language outreach initiatives. (Photo provided)

“There is a great need in the eight-county Greater Lafayette community for an innovative translation and interpretation services program, especially for Latino children and their families as they approach health care, legal and educational institutions,” says JoAnn Miller, associate dean for interdisciplinary programs and engagement. “The College of Liberal Arts is home to a number of language resources, especially through the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, so the Community Assistance Program will continue to expand its services as needs are identified.

“The program provides valuable experiential learning for students who are studying languages, as well as those pursuing careers in the field.”

The program will offer intercultural celebration programs for the community and assist with education events, public service announcements and small-business development. The Community Assistance Program also is partnering with local organizations to identify and address cultural and language needs related to the Hispanic and Latino populations.

Cecilia Tenorio, director of the Community Assistance Program and a certified Spanish translator and interpreter, teaches a class in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures that prepares students to offer interpretation and translation services to community health and legal organizations. Tenorio and her students have consulted with the Department of Communication on its new TV newsmagazine in Spanish, as well as assisted the Purdue Technical Assistance Program’s projects in health-care education and language services for companies with Hispanic or Latino employees.

“The Community Assistance Program will enable us to reach more people in the community,” Tenorio says. “We plan to establish a center for training students and community volunteers to learn the art and skill of interpretation. The Community Assistance Program begins as the Latin American and Latino Studies program is launched. Together these programs will make the College of Liberals among the leading sources of advanced learning and practice in the Midwest.”

Individuals or groups interested in more information about the program can contact Tenorio at (765) 494-5641, ctenorio@purdue.edu

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Students interested in living on campus at Purdue University in the 2009-2010 academic year may reserve accommodations or renew their housing contracts between Jan. 20 and March 31.

Purdue University Residences are popular among students due to award-winning dining courts, community-building activities, proximity to classes and various housing choices. Last year, 41 percent of continuing students reapplied for on-campus housing.

This year, students can be the first to choose Purdue’s newest housing option, First Street Towers, which offers 356 single rooms with private baths.

Registration for First Street Towers, scheduled to open next fall, starts Jan. 27.

“The hall’s combination of single bedrooms with private bath, communal living and study spaces is a unique configuration available for the first time on-campus,” said John Sautter, vice president for Housing and Food Services. “At home, students have their own room, often with their own bathroom, and they expect it here, and we are happy to accommodate that.”

Students may sign up to live in First Street Towers as well as the other residential halls online at http://www.housing.purdue.edu/contractrenewal. The renewal process is divided into five phases. Complete information is available at the Web site.

Registration for housing closes at 11:59 p.m. March 31, when all contracts become legally binding. Until that point, students may change their contracts an unlimited number of times.

“The online contract renewal system is user-friendly, and the process is simple,” said Bob Heitert, director of administration for University Residences. “It’s immediate: When students are finished signing up, they have selected their meal plan, room, roommate if they wish, and signed a contract all at one time.

“The selections are also easy to change. You simply re-enter the system, make the change and resign your contract.”

The ability to select one’s preferred hall, room and roommate leads to a greater satisfaction among students, Heitert said.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments will open with a reception from 3-5 p.m. Feb. 12 at Beering Hall, Room 3288.

The center, housed in Beering, Room 3288, seeks to encourage collaboration and establish a foundation for research at Purdue on serious games and virtual environments for learning and support innovative instructional practices, said the center’s director William Watson. The center will establish a framework for developing and implementing engaging and innovative instruction for both K-12 and higher education classrooms.

The center was established with the support of the Discovery Learning Center, the Office of the Vice President of Research and the College of Education. The center includes a lab for utilizing, designing, developing and evaluating serious games and virtual environments.

This reception is open to the public, but those interested should RSVP by contacting Watson at brwatson@purdue.edu.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The first tenant company of the Purdue Research Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis was announced by Purdue University officials Wednesday (Jan. 21) during a dedication ceremony for the 55,000-square-foot incubator that will help high-tech entrepreneurs create new businesses, develop new technology and expand life sciences research in Indiana.

“We chose to locate the research park in Indianapolis because it is in the center of our statewide technology highway,” Purdue President France A. Córdova said. “From northwest in Merrillville, to southeast in New Albany, our research parks continue to advance the state as a hub for innovation and discovery. This location near the new airport will provide additional incentive for national and international companies to choose Indiana as the place to do business.”

The Purdue Research Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis technology center, is located at 5225 Exploration Drive, near the Indianapolis International Airport. (Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock)

Córdova told the nearly 300 people attending the dedication that high-tech telecommunications company FlamencoNets Inc. will be the first business housed in the new research park.

FlamencoNets had previously be an affiliate company at the Purdue Research Park at West Lafayette, Ind. An affiliate company is one that is a member of the research park but is not physically based there.

“I joined the Purdue Research Park last year but I wanted to keep my company in the Indianapolis area, so I’ve been waiting for the new research park to open so I could move in,” said Raul Flamenco, founder and president of FlamencoNets. “I appreciate the amenities I’ve received like entrepreneurial conferences and marketing assistance that I’ve had from being affiliated with the Purdue Research Park, and I look forward to having office space in the new facility.”

The new $12.8 million technology center in the Purdue Research Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis will accommodate up to 75 businesses and create 1,500 jobs with an average annual salary of $54,000. Most of the new jobs will be in the life sciences and high-tech areas.

The new facility is located at 5225 Exploration Drive along the I-70 corridor and near the midfield terminal of the Indianapolis International Airport. The 78-acre site was purchased by the Purdue Research Foundation and Holladay Properties, a South Bend-based national real estate development company. The Purdue Research Park at Ameriplex-Indianapolis is the centerpiece of the latest 400-acre phase of AmeriPlex-Indianapolis, a nearly 1,500-acre development.

The city of Indianapolis provided a $5 million grant to support the development.

“Collaborative measures like the partnership with Purdue Research Park and Holladay Properties are key in cultivating economic development within our community and keeping Indianapolis competitive in the business world,” said Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. “This facility and the expected growth of the area in the wake of the opening of the new Indianapolis International Airport will set the stage for Indianapolis’ future growth.”

The Purdue Research Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis will include:

• A 100,000- to 150,000-square-foot industrial flex building.
• A 50,000- to 70,000-square-foot multistory office building.
• The potential for four additional buildings for companies to accelerate business opportunities.
• A 300-bed, six-story hotel with a 30,000-square-foot conference center.
• Three sites for restaurants or retail shops.

The university’s other established parks are the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Purdue Research Park in Merrillville and the Purdue Research Park in New Albany.

“The Purdue Research Parks are situated along I-65 from northwest Indiana to southeast Indiana,” said Joseph B. Hornett, Purdue Research Foundation senior vice president, treasurer and COO. “We anticipate the same level of success at the Indianapolis park as we have experienced at our other parks in the state. Combined, the parks support nearly 200 companies and provide jobs for more than 3,200 people.”

Purdue previously partnered with Holladay Properties to develop the Merrillville-based Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana.

“This is the second major partnership we have had with the Purdue Research Foundation,” said Doug Hunt, senior vice president of development for Holladay Properties. “With the additional plans to further develop the area with more business offices, restaurants and retail space, we know that this endeavor will not only strengthen our partnership with Purdue but also will support the economic development of the city and state.”

In addition to assisting with the Indianapolis site, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has worked with Purdue on its other technology parks around the state.

“Indiana has a strong commitment to economic development,” said Mitch Roob, chief executive officer for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. “We support the Purdue Research Parks and similar endeavors through the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund and Certified Technology Parks program. Both help attract high-tech businesses to Indiana.”