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March 6th, 2025
The Midwest Entrepreneurship Case Competition (MECC), now in its second year, has quickly gained recognition as a unique and valuable learning opportunity for undergraduate students across the Midwest. Setting itself apart from traditional business case competitions, MECC challenges participants to think critically, conduct independent research, and develop their strategies—skills essential for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
This competition isn’t just about solving hypothetical problems—it’s about fostering real-world entrepreneurial thinking and innovation. MECC provides an excellent platform for students to push the boundaries of creativity while honing the skills needed to succeed in the fast-paced business world.
This year’s challenge
The 2025 competition featured the “When Solutions are in Search of Problems: New Venture Creation in the Booming Market of Digital Speech Recognition” case from Sage Business Cases. The prompt, written by the event organizer, asked participants to utilize speech recognition technology developed by Witlingo to create a new or improved voice-operated service or application, with the Founder and CEO of Witlingo, Ahmed Bouzid participating as a distinguished judge in the final round.
Given the increasing demand for digital voice assistants and voice-controlled applications, this year’s challenge focused on the vast opportunities within the speech recognition market. Participants were asked to think beyond conventional uses and creatively apply Witlingo’s technology to develop innovative business solutions.
A total of 27 teams registered for the case competition. Competing teams represented five top universities: Purdue University, Michigan State University, Indiana University Bloomington, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Illinois Chicago. With so many talented teams involved, the event showcased the ingenuity and business acumen of students eager to make their mark in entrepreneurship.
Judges and feedback
The competition featured a panel of judges from leading academic institutions, each bringing their unique expertise to the table. In the first round, judges included:
The final round of judging featured:
These experienced judges provided valuable feedback to the teams, elevating the competition by ensuring that solutions were evidence-based and carefully scrutinized by subject-matter experts. Their insights were crucial in guiding participants as they refined their ideas and business strategies.
2025 winners
After a competitive and rigorous competition, the top teams were recognized for their outstanding innovation and business strategies. Congratulations to the following winners:
Partnership with Sage Business
The competition was proudly sponsored by Sage Business, whose support went beyond providing funding for the top teams. Sage’s contribution was significant as they offered invaluable resources to all participating teams, including access to Sage Business Cases, Sage Business Foundations, and Sage Data—essential tools for exploring multimedia case content, developing new business skills and knowledge, and conducting market analysis using real-world data.
Sage’s contribution extended to organizing training sessions for both teams and librarians, ensuring participants had the necessary resources to succeed. A special thank you to the Sage team: Rebecca Frankel, Rachel Taliaferro, Laura Berg, Maureen Adams, Emily Smith, Diana Aleman, Nicole Wu, and Jennifer Bourque, whose dedication helped ensure the competition’s smooth execution and success.
Looking ahead
The MECC’s success would not have been possible without the tremendous efforts of its planning committee. Congratulations to Zoeanna Mayhook (committee chair), Annette Bochenek, Liz Grauel, Terence O’Neill, and Ilana Stonebraker on planning a successful event. Their hard work, strategic planning, and attention to detail ensured the competition was an engaging and enriching experience for everyone involved.
As the MECC grows in participation, it remains a vital platform for students to hone their entrepreneurial skills. The 2025 competition was a testament to the participating teams’ talent, creativity, and collaboration.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 26th, 2025
Rachel Fundator, clinical assistant professor at Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, was named a 2025 Project Information Literacy Research Scholar. The Research Scholars program is organized by Project Information Literacy (PIL), a renowned non-profit research institute that conducts large-scale studies about how individuals conceive of and use information to solve problems in their lives. Since 2009, PIL has published studies about information use, including tracking news coverage during the first 100 days of the COVID-19 pandemic, student experiences with news and information in the age of algorithms, and how recent college graduates use information in the workplace.
Founder Alison J. Head developed the Research Scholars Program for mid-career librarians to advance their research practices while developing research projects that build upon PIL research studies within a collaborative, cross-institutional research community. The 2025 Research Scholars cohort will design new research studies that build upon PIL’s latest study, titled “How information worlds shape our response to climate change.” The study found that despite a growing consensus that climate change is real and that the United States population is experiencing extreme climate events more frequently, differences in people’s engagement with information about climate change are associated with differences in their beliefs and attitudes about how to respond to climate change.
Fundator shared her early plans for her research proposal, in which she will work with Purdue undergraduate researchers to conduct a study that addresses remaining questions that emerged from the PIL climate study findings:
“Through the PIL Research Scholars program, I aim to develop a qualitative interview study that investigates the experiences of college students who are knowledgeable and concerned about climate change as they engage in dialog about climate change with others who have different views than their own. As an information literacy researcher and educator, I of course want to know more about the various ways college students use information to have these conversations, as well as how those information practices shape their perceptions that the conversations are productive or unproductive. Knowing more about how information can shape conversations about sensitive topics, like the climate crisis, can inform recommendations for incorporating information literacy into relevant courses, climate change related organizations and programs, and more.”
Fundator will work closely with information literacy experts Alison Head, Kirsten Hotstetler, and Stephan Geofry, who developed and facilitate the Research Scholars program, as well as fellow PIL Research Scholars, Heather Ganshorn at the University of Calgary and Stephanie Founds at The Ohio State University.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 21st, 2025
On Thursday, February 20, Douglas Rushkoff, an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy, gave a talk titled “Program or Be Programmed: The Biases of Digital Media.” Melissa Chomintra, a Libraries faculty member, hosted the event co-sponsored by Purdue University’s Tech Justice Lab.
About the talk
Throughout the talk, Rushkoff referenced his book “Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age,” providing a blueprint for navigating the challenges of the modern digital era. The book presents guidelines for using technology to empower individuals rather than diminish their agency. Rushkoff’s “Ten Commands” serve as a framework for maintaining autonomy in an increasingly digital world.
Rushkoff began his talk by discussing the history and evolution of digital technology. Initially, digital tools seemed ready to open up a world of potential and promised to unlock creativity, novelty, and a sense of freedom for its users. But over time, the vision and focus changed.
“We turned the Internet from a space of infinite possibility into one of probability,” Rushkoff said, reflecting on how commercialization shifted the focus of the digital world. The Internet, once a place for exploration and experimentation, has increasingly been used to guide behavior and influence actions in specific, profit-driven ways.
He also addressed the darker side of digital technology. “If you analyze how technology is being used today, it’s largely about domination, subjugation, and control,” he explained, setting the tone for a deep dive into how our digital landscape shapes—and limits—our autonomy.
Rushkoff urged the audience to evaluate the technologies we use daily: “When you look at a new piece of technology—an app, a platform—ask yourself, ‘Is it creating new possibilities, or is it shepherding?’” He also discussed the often-overlooked issue of labor behind technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting how these systems rely on invisible, often exploitative work.
The central theme of Rushkoff’s talk was the growing acceptance of new technologies without a true understanding of how they work and impact us. He emphasized that while we eagerly adopt new devices, we often fail to learn how they are programmed or how they program us in return. Most people don’t know how to code their computers, and even fewer are concerned with the underlying systems that govern these tools. Instead, we spend our energy using these technologies to manipulate and influence each other.
Rushkoff cautioned that this lack of awareness could be a serious mistake. By blindly adopting digital technologies, we surrender control over our autonomy.
Just as the invention of written language reshaped society—detaching us from much of our traditional ways of life—Rushkoff believes that our shift to the digital realm requires a new framework to preserve our humanity. He argued that understanding the biases inherent in digital media is key to ensuring that we use these tools to support, rather than undermine, our collective well-being.
About Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff, named one of MIT’s “world’s ten most influential intellectuals,” is an author, documentarian, and expert on digital age autonomy. His twenty books include “Survival of the Richest” and “Team Human,” and he has produced PBS Frontline documentaries like “Generation Like” and “The Persuaders.” Rushkoff has coined terms such as “viral media” and “social currency” and advocates for using digital media for social justice. A professor at CUNY/Queens and research fellow at the Institute for the Future, he is also a columnist for Medium, with his novels and comics in development for film.Visit Rushkoff’s website to learn more about him and his work.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 20th, 2025
On Wednesday, February 19, Purdue Libraries and the Black Cultural Center hosted a lecture by Georgetown Professor of Law and author Sheryll Cashin titled “Residential caste: How West Lafayette can transcend segregation and opportunity hoarding” in honor of Black History Month.
About the lecture
How does a community with a history of segregation and disenfranchisement move forward to heal, repair, and transform?
West Lafayette is similar to other cities where Black migrants have settled. As a law professor at Georgetown University, Cashin applied her theories to the specific contexts of various communities, drawing on examples of hope, transformation, and healing from different cities.
“America is where the residential caste is destroying opportunity, if high opportunity is sequestered only in certain places. Neither cities, nor struggling suburbs, nor far out rural hamlets are an engine of opportunity of this country anymore. We’re not the land of opportunity in this system of residential caste,” said Cashin in the lecture’s introductory video.
Cashin discussed Indianapolis and West Lafayette, and how both cities are affected by the residential caste system—a system of segregation that separates wealthy white neighborhoods from impoverished Black neighborhoods. This system creates inequality and opportunity gaps that are passed down through generations. She also talked about “redlining,” the illegal practice of denying financial services to neighborhoods based on race or ethnicity. Her lecture took a deep dive into the history of these practices and how they appear now in the 21st century.
She also provided hope and ways to begin repairing the residential caste system. Repair involves forming a multiracial coalition that advocates for policies promoting and uplifting vulnerable populations. Dismantling and repairing residential caste necessitates perfecting local multiracial democracy, which W. E. B. Du Bois referred to as abolition democracy.
“The residential caste is born of a very peculiar history of anti-blackness. If you can set aside that decades-long pathologizing of those folks, it frees your focus on evidence-based strategies that work and actually cost a lot less than what the state is spending now for surveilling, containing, policing and incarcerating these people,” she concluded.
About Sheryll Cashin
Sheryll Cashin, a law professor at Georgetown University, authors works focused on race relations and inequality in America. Her most recent publication, “White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality,” released in September 2021, reveals how the government established “ghettos” and wealthy white neighborhoods, solidifying a system of residential caste in the U.S. that serves as a core element of inequality, while advocating for abolition.
Cashin is a prominent member of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council. She has served as an advisor on urban and economic policy during her time in the Clinton White House, focusing on community development in inner-city neighborhoods. Additionally, she was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, where her parents were political activists, she now lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two sons.
View her website to learn more about Cashin and her work.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 19th, 2025
On February 14, the Knowledge Lab celebrated its second anniversary with an exciting array of activities, including button-making, crochet, and origami. These hands-on crafts brought students together for a fun and festive day and provided a perfect opportunity to develop creative thinking skills while exploring new technologies and techniques.
Throughout the day, students were invited to express their appreciation for the lab by writing Valentine’s messages on paper hearts. Now displayed in the lab, these messages reflect the community the Knowledge Lab has fostered over the years. The anniversary event highlighted the lab’s mission to expose students to innovative offerings and showcased the lab as a space for exploration, experimentation, and skill-building.
About the lab
Located on the third floor of the Wilmeth Active Learning Center, the Knowledge Lab is a rapid prototyping space where the Purdue community can experiment with exploring and presenting their ideas using various materials, equipment, and software.
The space offers low-stakes resources such as a vinyl cutter, sewing machines, a Riso printer, a podcast booth, a heat press, yarns, cardboard, fabrics, and more. It serves as a first stop within a pipeline of opportunities on campus to actualize an idea and integrate the left-brain and right-brain.
Visit the Knowledge Lab website to learn more, borrow equipment, and view workshops and events.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 18th, 2025
Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist for university history and clinical assistant professor at Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, competed and placed third overall in “Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions” from January 27–February 13, 2025. She earned the Jeopardy! “super-champion” title and won a grand total of $351,600 during her initial 15-game winning streak.
What is “Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions?”
“Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions” is a yearly tournament featuring the top 15 players who won the most games from the previous season. The first six games are the quarterfinals, with three new contestants daily. The winners of these five games move on to the semifinals. The three semifinal winners move on to the finals, and the first finalist to win three games wins the overall championship. Adriana was seeded directly into the semifinals because she had one of the top winning streaks out of the super-champions, which began on February 4.
Adriana’s experience
For five consecutive matches, she competed against Isaac Hirsch, a customer support team lead from Burbank, CA, and Neilesh Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Lionville, PA. Adriana won the first game despite being tied with Nielesh and winning after the Final Jeopardy question. However, Neilesh won the second and third games, Isaac won the fourth, and Neilesh won the last, giving him three wins and the overall champion title. The final match was a close race between all three contestants, with multiple lead changes.
Adriana won $75,000 from her third-place win in the 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Reflecting on her experience, she said, “The Jeopardy Tournament of Champions was an incredible experience. I first went to Jeopardy months ago with no expectation that I would win one game, let alone win fifteen and have the opportunity to return to play again in the Tournament of Champions. It was a pleasure to meet and play alongside this year’s greats.”
Thank you, Adriana, for representing Purdue Libraries again with brilliance and grace. Congratulations on another remarkable run!
For detailed statistics on each match, visit The Jeopardy Fan website.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 16th, 2025
Parrish Library’s Featured Databases series will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of Purdue Libraries’ subscription resources. This edition will feature Sage Skills: Student Success brought to you by Sage Publications.
Sage Skills: Student Success empowers students to learn practical academic and personal skills needed to thrive in higher education and beyond through comprehensive modules on critical thinking, data literacy, research skills, and more.
The List of Business Databases is an alphabetical list of databases filtered to those most applicable to business, entrepreneurship, and hospitality and tourism management programs of study.
Click Getting Started with Sage Skills: Student Success to watch the basics of using this database.
Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu.
Want to see a specific database promoted in an upcoming edition? Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu and we will gladly promote it.
Filed under: database, general, MGMTFebruary 10th, 2025
Celebrate all things data with the 2025 Love Data Series, which features online collaborative sessions with Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies (West Lafayette) and Purdue Fort Wayne Libraries. The series will consist of five sessions on select Tuesdays, 3:00–4:00 P.M., from February through April.
Register now for the first session, “Love Data: Effective Research Data Management,” on Tuesday, February 11, 3:00–4:00 PM on Teams.
Be sure to mark your calendar with the full schedule, included below:
More details for each topic, registration, and guest speakers will be announced soon. For questions, contact Kelly Burns, research data management specialist, at burnsmk@purdue.edu, or Erika Mann, director of digital initiatives technology and scholarship, at manne@pfw.edu.
The Research Data Offices in STEW 242 will also have fun Love Data Week stickers available starting February 11. Be sure to stop by and grab some for yourself, your friends, or your students.
Filed under: general, News and AnnouncementsFebruary 7th, 2025
On January 30, Libraries Associate Professor Michael Witt, alongside Engineering Education Professor Sean Brophy, and their Engineering in the World of Data learning community enjoyed a discussion with Will Sheley, Purdue alumnus and former senior vice president of Visa and JPMorgan, as part of the Executive in Residence (EiR) program. This program is part of Residence Academic Initiatives, a subset of University Residences.
The Engineering in the World of Data learning community, now in its eighth year, offers a unique opportunity for 100 first-year engineering students and faculty to live together in Shreve Hall and take five courses as a cohort. The EiR program invites prominent executives and Purdue alumni to live on campus for a week. Students interact with executives in various mentorship settings, enabling executives to give back to their alma mater and forge meaningful professional connections with students.
Witt meets with the executives before their discussion with his learning community to craft scenario-based learning opportunities for his students. At this session, Sheley gave a chalk talk and engaged in a corporate earnings challenge involving the students picking an industry—operating at a $10 billion a year revenue scale—and having them identify opportunities to increase earnings by 17 percent next year. Data was provided as an example from one of the companies where Sheley previously worked. After the session ended, Witt, Sheley, and the students enjoyed an informal dinner at Wiley Dining Court.
About the program
Witt carefully selects the most relevant executives for each session from a list provided to him each semester. He then meets with the incoming executive to collaborate on learning outcomes and scenario-based learning, typically as a challenge for his students based on their professional practice and experience. He assigns two students to host the executive, participate in the call, meet the executive when they arrive on campus, and escort them to other parts of their itinerary.
“The learning objectives are customized for each executive, but I always prompt them to talk about their leadership style and give examples of it. Then, I always ask students to reflect on their own ideas about what their style may be, compare it with the executive’s, and ask questions,” Witt said. This process empowers students to recognize and develop their own leadership styles, fostering personal growth and confidence.
Witt selects 12–20 students from his learning community to participate in each session. After introductions, students are split into gold and black teams. The executive then presents the scenario, and the teams work together to address it and pitch their solutions to the executive, gaining feedback and eventually learning how the problem was solved in the executive’s career. At the conclusion, the session adjourns for an informal dinner, providing a relaxed setting for students to network and build connections.
Witt has hosted other sessions this year with a diverse range of executives, including NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, AT&T’s former distinguished network architect Margaret Chiosi, and Accenture’s managing director of the communications and media industry in the northeast market unit Todd Montabana.
Visit the EiR website to learn more about Will Sheley, and follow the learning community’s Instagram to stay updated on their latest activities.
Filed under: general, News and Announcements, UncategorizedFebruary 6th, 2025
In today’s world, information shapes every aspect of our lives—from driving technological innovation to fueling the spread of misinformation. Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies is proud to offer an undergraduate minor in Information Studies, providing a unique opportunity to learn how to navigate and critically engage with the complex information landscape.
“The minor focuses on preparing students for the informed workplace,” said Heather Howard, director of undergraduate education at Libraries and School of Information Studies. “It’s designed to complement any major, from business, to engineering, to liberal arts, and more,” she said.
The Information Studies minor embodies the historical, technical, cultural, and ethical dimensions of information, equipping graduates with the skills to navigate today’s information landscape. The minor welcomed its first students at the beginning of the fall 2024 semester.
“Using information is essential in all professions,” said Dr. Clarence Maybee, Libraries and School of Information Studies associate dean for learning. “Basic information literacy skills are not enough anymore. Every company has a unique information and data landscape that students need to be equipped to navigate,” he said.
About the minor
Course requirements for the minor cover trending topics in today’s interconnected, technology-driven world. Specifically, the minor involves coursework that focuses on preparing students to:
After completing an introductory course and choosing a required course on either information culture or data tools and applications, students select three courses in topics such as data ethics and management, artificial intelligence (AI), business and technical information, digital humanities, misinformation and conspiracy theories, online culture, and archives and rare books.
Visit the Information Studies website to learn more about the minor and view course requirements. Email infostudies@purdue.edu for minor-related questions and contact your academic advisor to officially enroll in the Information Studies minor.
Filed under: general, News and Announcements