Spend any time at all roaming the labs and libraries at Purdue, and you’ll come away with a sense that Purdue faculty are studying just about everything. From basic research on tiny cells to analysis of the most fundamental laws of the universe, faculty are hard at work, solving the most challenging problems and puzzles imaginable.

And that research includes issues that affect you — yes, you — every single day. The potholes that wreck your commute, the “out of storage” message that pops up on your smartphone at the worst possible time, and the frustrating weekslong wait you might have to see a doctor? Purdue researchers are on the case here, too. 

We asked around, and we found more than a dozen researchers whose practical research is designed to make daily life a whole lot better. Here’s how.

Life will be better without potholes

Why the roads have so many potholes. We demand a lot of asphalt — the material found on more than 90 percent of the 2.7 million miles of US roads and highways. Not only must it stand up to millions of buses and semis hurtling over it daily, it also has to withstand temperatures that climb past 100 degrees and dip into double-digit negatives. And the weather is unforgiving of even the tiniest flaws on the surface, says research engineer Reyhaneh Rahbar-Rastegar. “All potholes begin with small cracks in the asphalt, which let in water from the rain and snow,” she says. The water seeps beneath the pavement, and then it freezes and expands. Once the ice melts, it leaves gaps that weaken the pavement. Vehicles’ heavy weight, salt, and the regular freeze-thaw cycles of spring and fall speed the process.

It’s more than just a nuisance. According to data collected by AAA, all those pothole-caused tire punctures and bent wheels cost drivers a cool $3 billion every single year. In some cases, the impact can be even more serious, says Rahbar-Rastegar. “If drivers lose control because of potholes, they could cause an accident where someone is hurt or even killed.”

A cheaper, longer-lasting solution. To prevent the cracking that leads to potholes, Rahbar-Rastegar works on developing more flexible and durable asphalt mixtures, using a combination of crushed rock, sand, gravel, and a binder, which is the expensive material that holds the aggregates together. Over time, she and her team have been able to improve the performance of these mixtures. They’ve also minimized the amount of binder that is needed — even as traffic loads and vehicle weights have skyrocketed. “Asphalt mixtures are incredibly complicated, and improving them is an ongoing process,” she says. “But hopefully someday we will find the solution that will lead to no potholes at all.”

Life will be better when ‘not enough space’ on our smartphones becomes a thing of the past

It’s a now-familiar factoid that the phones in our pockets have more firepower than the computers that guided Apollo 11 to the moon. But for electrical and computer engineering professor Saurabh Bagchi, “more” definitely doesn’t mean “enough.” 

Many apps — like certain mobile video games or software that can detect diseases — require more storage space than a phone might have. That was a problem Bagchi thought that he and his team could solve. “We wanted software to be able to operate reliably even when it’s running on a resource-constrained device,” he says.

To address the issue, Bagchi and his team of colleagues and students developed software that allows apps to be streamed; it’s called AppStreamer. Think of it like Netflix for your phone’s apps.

If commercialized, AppStreamer would likely mean that you would never have to worry about storage space on your smartphone again. “This is technology that can deliver content and apps to a large part of the world without them having to spend money on the latest and greatest [phone upgrade].”

It also opens up new possibilities for the future. For example, such software might allow warehouse robots to work more quickly and safely or provide support for a self-driving car to avoid a mishap by downloading necessary information “just in time.” 

Life will be better when everyone can get the mental health care they need

The national statistics are grim: About seven percent of American adults experienced a depressive episode last year, and another 18 percent have anxiety disorders. For nursing professor Nancy Edwards, those numbers feel conservative. “I work one day a week in a community clinic, and one-third to one-half of my patients present with a mental health concern,” she says.

To say the need for more robust and integrated mental health care is acute is to understate the obvious. Even mild cases can lead to missed work, flagging productivity, and isolation. 

A pair of new collaborations among Purdue’s School of Nursing and a handful of clinics and health centers statewide will help fill that need.

The programs will provide funding and education so that nurse practitioners have the expertise they need to screen and treat many uncomplicated mental health conditions in a primary care setting. The added support will be a boon for many patients, who will be able to get the care they need without waiting months for an appointment with a psychiatrist or mental health counselor. 

The programs are tailor-made to support underserved populations in rural and urban locations, says Edwards. “Our graduates feel much more confident in being able to manage [patients’] depression, anxiety, and bipolar than before, and they’re also more confident knowing when to refer [to a specialist],” she says. “Access to mental health care has been a huge problem, and these programs are going to help so that people can get the care that they need.”

Life will be better with tourism that helps people and the planet

Jonathon Day, associate professor of hospitality and tourism management, knows tourism sometimes gets a bad rap from the communities where it is most prevalent. Locals worry about pollution, crowding, and bad behavior from those who don’t call the area home. That’s part of the reason he chairs the Travel Care Code, a network of academics and professionals who support responsible travel. Here are two ways to make your next trip more enjoyable for you and better for the community you visit.

1.Buy and live like a local. “We know that travelers are looking for more authentic experiences,” says Day. “When you go to a local restaurant to eat or an art gallery to buy your souvenirs, you’re getting something that isn’t just more authentic; it’s unique. And that will make your travel experience better.”

2.Bring your good habits with you. Hotels, restaurants, and attractions at your destination are ready to host you. Are you prepared to be a good guest? Vacations aren’t a free pass for bad behavior: You probably recycle, turn off lights, and pick up after yourself at home, so do the same at your vacation destination. “Bring your water bottle instead of buying them — don’t add a burden when you’re a guest,” he says.

Read the 10 ways to support responsible, sustainable travel at
travelcarecode.com.

Life will be better with fairer machine learning and AI

The problem: Humans may be capable of rational, logical decision-making, but plenty of details can derail the process, says Karthik Kannan, Thomas Howatt Chaired Professor in Management at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management. For example, prior research has shown that judges mete out harsher punishments when they’re hungry or tired — seemingly regardless of the merits of a given case.

The promise: Machine learning and AI offer a better approach, at least in theory. Create the right algorithm, and robots will churn out better answers. They’re endlessly productive, never get tired, and are logical by design.

Unintended consequences: Machines may have the benefit of being machine-like, but biases baked into the system can get compounded with machine learning. Karthik notes that Amazon’s machine-learning recruiting engine, for example, systematically penalized women applying for roles, even when engineers aimed to make the programs neutral to gender-related terms. In addition, algorithms typically aim for identical outcomes among specific subgroups — even if one subgroup has to work significantly harder to achieve the same outcomes as another. 

A new way forward: Kannan’s research focuses on improving AI and machine learning not simply by manipulating the criteria used to ensure fairness — like “color blindness” — but to focus on the process, including ways that people might adapt their behavior as a result. “AI-based tools won’t remove all problems,” he says. “They’ll take away some, but they’ll introduce different types of errors. Our goal is to minimize the problems that might occur because of machine learning.”

Life will be better with safe drugs that can replace our diminishing pool of effective antibiotics

A range of conditions that were once treatable with a simple course of antibiotics — certain strains of staph, gonorrhea, and C. diff, for example — have evolved to resist the antibiotics that once decimated them. It’s not just unfortunate. In thousands of cases, it’s proven to be deadly. This new reality puts doctors in a difficult bind.

But new research by professor of microbiology Mohamed Seleem is showing particular promise. Seleem and his team are screening more than 4,000 FDA-approved drugs to see if they might effectively treat certain antibiotic-resistant infections.

The benefit of such an approach is twofold, says Seleem. First, antibiotics act as something like a nuclear bomb to bacteria in the body, demolishing everything in their path. Other treatments are more likely to act as surgical strikes, zeroing in only on the harmful bacteria and leaving the rest unharmed.

Second, because Seleem is testing drugs that have already been approved by the FDA, any promising findings will likely see a smoother path for eventual use. “This is a safe, cost-effective way to repurpose a drug that has already been approved. It’s fast, efficient, and it could save lives,” says Seleem.

Life will be better when we reduce crime through a simple calendar hack

Call it a threadbare joke or a painful truth, but plenty of us find ourselves with too much month at the end of our money. That fact is particularly salient for those who receive modest incomes through cash and in-kind government transfers such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

That first-of-the-month timing for the distribution of some transfers can lead to surprising real-world problems. For example, grocery store thefts spike dramatically when people run out of benefits and food resources. (Among economists, it’s known informally as a “calorie crunch.”) 

New research by assistant professor of economics Jillian Carr suggests a surprisingly simple technique that could minimize the issue: staggering payments. “We found that when [one state government] started spreading out [SNAP] benefits over the course of the month, rather than giving benefits on the first of the month, there was a huge and immediate shift in the level of crime and theft in grocery stores,” she says. The declines measured 20 and 28 percent, respectively. While many states have already switched to a staggered system, the switch may make even more sense now.

Carr’s research indicates that when a person’s income gets smoothed out over time, it can lead people to balance out their spending and also reduce extreme behavior. That switch has the potential to create powerful ripple effects, because resource-stretched families feel the impact of the timing of benefits in countless ways. 

For example, early work indicates the students can see a five-point swing in SAT performance depending on the date that their families received benefits and the date of the test. “Crime, education, and many other outcomes are things that can flow from that calorie crunch,” she says. “Giving people twice-monthly benefits is one policy prescription that might [alleviate] the problem.”