Indiana’s Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN), whose mission is to boost the productivity and resiliency of farmers and manufacturers in its ten-county region, has received a $500,000 grant from Lumina Foundation to strengthen the relationship between local needs and a skilled workforce. 

WHIN’s Living Lab model allows more area farmers to use advanced ag technology including aerial imaging, robotic soil sampling, and onsite weather stations. With WHIN’s help, farmers and manufacturers are sharing data with researchers and educators, such as those at Purdue University and Ivy Tech, as well as those at area high schools. Several professors are already benefiting from access to WHIN’s large pool of rich, local, real-world data. 

Lumina’s grant will allow WHIN to serve even more students across a variety of disciplines to better understand digitalization, develop new foundational research in the Internet of Things (IoT), and prepare them for careers that increasingly require skill with digital technology and data. 

“We are grateful for the generous support from Lumina Foundation that will reinforce our existing efforts with researchers and educators, as well as help us build one of the largest and most innovative IoT living laboratories in the nation. Lumina and WHIN are like-minded in our desire to accelerate Indiana’s education innovation, and I’m excited for the partnership” says Johnny Park, CEO of WHIN.

The funds were a gift from the Herman Rubin estate to Lumina Foundation. Dr. Rubin was a professor of mathematics at Purdue and his generous bequest is to further his vision and support of innovative education and related initiatives.