====== Institute for the Science of Information======
 
Information is the basic commodity of our era. We propose a new interdisciplinary Purdue Institute for the Science of Information to advance a comprehensive science of information, offering a wealth of societal benefits in diverse engineering, scientific, and social applications.  We integrate research and teaching activities that investigate information from all angles:  from the fundamental theoretical underpinnings of information to the science and engineering of novel substrates, biological networks, chemistry, communication networks, economics, physics, and complex social systems. <float right>{{:shannon.png|Bell Labs scientist Claude Shannon}}</float>

In 1948, the Bell Labs scientist Claude Shannon proposed a foundational definition of information that serves as the backbone for the classical paradigm in digital communication. Shannon statistical information quantifies the extent to which a recipient of data can reduce its statistical uncertainty.  However, it does not yet  provide an adequate
formalism and overarching answers for extraction, comprehension, and manipulation of information in scientific and social domains. A comprehensive theory of information for complex systems like biological and chemical processes or social and communications networks has been elusive. Thus, while we can describe and design complex systems, we
still lack fundamental understanding of them.

As a result, we have yet to answer (or even productively formulate) fundamental questions such as: what is information in a broader sense?  how is information created and in what ways can it be transferred?  how can we incorporate space, time, semantics and context into formal measures of information? how much information is embodied in structures (of molecules or websites)? what is the value of information in financial transactions or social interactions?  Lack of
understanding of such questions  severely impedes the progress of science and engineering.

===== Our goals include the following:=====
	*advance our understanding of the science of information, by
		*extending information theory to spatio-temporal situations
		*creating measures to determine the amount of structure and organization embodied in natural objects and artifacts
		*studying the accessibility, timeliness, and control of information

	*develop algorithms and data structures for extraction and manipulation of information

	*impart a comprehensive understanding of the science of information  by creating new interdisciplinary courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels

	*establish scholarships and fellowships

	*organize workshops and seminars that encourage interdisciplinary collaborations among researchers at Purdue and partner institutions

	*coordinate large multi-institutional grant-supported investigations

The proposed Institute has significant, broader, and potentially transformative impacts beyond the basic science of information. This broad-based research effort will lead to the development of an active and thriving interdisciplinary
community of students and researchers. We will seek to foster such a community within academia, industry and commerce, and to broaden its scope to national and international levels. On the discovery side, the Institute aspires to help develop novel characterizations of biological networks and chemical processes directing self assembly of molecules,
to identify fraudulent financial transactions, and to create better search engine infrastructure.