Up to date information on COVID-19
 
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March 24, 2020

The Purdue Research Community:

We appreciate your dedication to advancing Purdue’s research mission in a safe and responsible way during this unprecedented time, including transitioning to remote work whenever possible.  Thank you for your efforts!

Yesterday, Governor Holcomb’s office released an executive order for Hoosiers to remain in their homes except when they are at work or for permitted activities, such as taking care of others, obtaining necessary supplies, and for health and safety.  The order provides an exception for “[e]ducational institutions . . . for purposes of  . . . performing critical research or performing essential functions,” provided that social distancing practices continue to be followed.  The order is in effect from March 25 until April 7.

Research performed on the Purdue campus and at our locations across the state must comply with the Governor’s order. This means that laboratories should safely and responsibly ramp-down noncritical research in a manner that allows for all of our research activities to quickly ramp back up when restrictions are lifted. 

When current social distancing (6 ft) and density (1 person per 120 sq. ft.) can be maintained, critical research and support functions in campus laboratories, agriculture centers, and field sites are defined as follows:

Critical Research 
  • Work that is directly related to preventing, containing, or treating COVID-19.    
  • Work that is directly related to national security. 
  • Work that if discontinued would pose a safety hazard.
  • Laboratory or field work that if discontinued would result in significant data or sample loss.
  • Longitudinal or seasonal work that if discontinued would result in significant data or sample loss.
  • Clinical trials or human subject research that if discontinued would result in significant negative impact on patient care or human health. 
  • Seasonally dependent agricultural research that would have critical implications for human and animal health as well as food security.
Support Functions
  • Research administration, regulatory, and support functions that are required by law.
  • Work that maintains critical animal populations.
  • Work that maintains critical plant populations, cell lines, and other living organisms.
  • Work that maintains critical samples, materials, and reagents.
  • Work that maintains critical equipment in facilities and labs, whether operational or in stand-by mode.
  • Work necessary to ramp-down noncritical research after March 25.
To continue these critical research activities in Purdue campus laboratories, agriculture centers, or field sites after March 25, principal investigators or facility/site directors should complete a brief online Critical On-Campus Research Continuity Information Form available on the Purdue COVID-19 Research website. 

All personnel should follow previously announced guidance on social distancing/safety hygiene practices, human subjects and animal research, use of proper lab and safety equipment, and use of buddy system in labs with hazardous materials. Additionally, researchers and staff who are sick, have returned from travel outside of the state, or have concerns over their personal health and safety should not come to campus. 

Research and support functions that fall outside of this definition should be safely and responsibly ramped-down using the Research Laboratory Ramp-Down Checklist by March 27. Removing university chemicals, materials, equipment, or animals to recreate experimental laboratories at off-site locations is not permitted.

Sign templates that should be completed and posted on all laboratory doors are also available on the website.

During this time, we strongly encourage you to continue all possible research and scholarly activities remotely. This includes work such as data analysis, writing projects, literature reviews, or online learning (coding, statistics, etc.).  Be sure that group members are well equipped to work remotely (VPN, Duo, etc.), and that special accommodations and approvals are obtained for use of proprietary or protected data and computing resources. 

Purdue and Indiana University are issuing similar research guidance at this time.  It is our hope that this consistency will help to support our researchers who are collaborating across our universities, including critical research that is addressing the COVID-19 crisis. 

Please know that we are here to support you. Our sponsored programs, regulatory affairs, program development, and many other teams have remote plans in place and remain operational. Feel free to contact us by e-mail with questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Theresa Mayer
Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships

Jay Akridge
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
 
Research-related information

Research-related information is located on the Covid-19 website for the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships.

Please check the website frequently for updates.
 
Campus-wide information

You can find the most recent campus-wide guidance on COVID-19 on Purdue's dedicated website. 

Please check the website frequently for updates. 
 
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Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships: www.purdue.edu/research/
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