Dear Colleagues,

For the 2025-2026 Kresge Challenge, 21 proposals were received, with $523K total support requested. Below is the list of 13 proposals chosen for support. The total amount of Kresge support provided is $292.5K.

	PURPOSE	PROPOSER(S)	AREA(S)
1	M-Tec connect® duo-mix 3DCP+ system to upgrade the material preparation and pumping stage of Purdue University’s existing robotic-arm–based 3D concrete printing (3DCP) platform	Pablo Zavattieri, Jan Olek, Sogand Hasanzadeh, Jeff Youngblood	MAT, CON
2	XGRIDS L2Pro 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) Scanner	Jinha Jung, Ayman Habib, Ayesha Shah, Hubo Cai,Phillip Dunston, Ming Qu, Nusrat Jung, Sogand Hasanzadeh, Songlin Fei	GEM, CON, ARC
3	Portable Spectroradiometer for Proximal Sensing of Reflectance in Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments	Melba Crawford, Cary Troy, George Zhou, Jinha Jung	GEM, HYD, ENV
4	Lumencor Spectra III Light Source + Fluorescence Components + Software	George Zhou, Amisha Shah, Chip Blatchley, Inez Hua, Nadezhda N Zyaykina, Larry Nies, Andrew Whelton, Melba Crawford, Cary Troy, Ming Qu	ENV, GEM, HYD, ARC
5	Shimadzu (model number: LC- 2070C), a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analytical instrument + computer to run using associated software	Amisha Shah, Bob Jacko, Chip Blatchley, George Zhou, Larry Nies, Inez Hua	ENV
6	A handheld spectrophotometer (Gigahertz CSS-45), a prototype low-cost mobile spectrophotometer (nanolambda), and a luminance spot meter (Konica Minolta CS 150)	Thanos Tzempelikos, Sam Labi	ARC, TRA
7	Chlorophyll and Nitrate Sensors for Water Quality Measurements	Cary Troy, Melba Crawford, George Zhou, Rao Govindaraju	HYD, GEM, ENV
8	For manufacturer-level service & maintenance of the IONICON PTR-TOF-MS (proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer)	Nusrat Jung	ARC
9	Expanding Experimental Methods Course Equipment (DAQ, Sensor interface, strain sensors, supplies for 10 test specimens)	Arun Prakash, Ayhan Irfanoglu, Shirley Dyke	STR
10	BX-53 (Evident Scientific), upright optical microscope to conduct fundamental research on steel, concrete and related materials	Robert Connor, Amit Varma, Akanshu Sharma, Jungil Seo, Shivam Sharma, Aditya Jhunjhunwala	STR
11	A refrigerated water circulator to be operated in conjunction with an existing solar simulator instrument	Amisha Shah, Bob Jacko, Chip Blatchley, George Zhou, Larry Nies, Andrew Whelton, Inez Hua	ENV
12	A walk-in fume hood to house the infraTest Asphalt Analyzer, which is used to extract asphalt binder from hot-mix asphalt, using a chlorinated solvent, trichloroethylene (TCE)	Ayesha Shah, John Haddock, Jan Olek, Pablo Iglesias Orosa	MAT
13	One year subscription to the software PLAXIS 3D WorkSuite Academic SELECT	Antonio Bobet, Arun Prakash	GEO, STR

Sincerely,

Ayhan

Ayhan Irfanoglu

Professor and Associate Head of Civil Engineering

Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering

ayhan@purdue.edu | HAMP 4117 | x6-8270