Finding the right person
Porter maintains a searchable experts directory covering the university's applied strengths — manufacturing and automation, packaging, cybersecurity, design and human factors, education, business and supply chain, health and human performance, sustainability and energy, food science, and regional and economic development — with each faculty member's topics, recent work, and media experience. You can search it directly, or send University Communications a short description of what you need and a deadline and they will identify one or two people and make the introduction. For a research or testing collaboration rather than a comment, the research office or a center director is the better first contact.
For journalists
University Communications coordinates interviews around teaching schedules and can usually turn around a source within a day, faster for breaking news. Faculty comment within their expertise and will say when a question is outside it. Studio, lab, and b-roll access can be arranged with notice. There is also a ready list of faculty who can speak to seasonal and recurring stories (severe weather and infrastructure, holiday retail and supply chains, cybersecurity awareness, back-to-school), and a rapid-response note when Porter expertise is relevant to a national story.
For companies and community groups
Describe the problem, the outcome you want, your timeline, and what you can bring (data, materials, facility access, funding). That routes to the right path: a quick consultation or expert opinion, a fee-for-service test or analysis in a lab, a semester-long student project or capstone team, a sponsored research agreement, or a spot on a program advisory board. Confidentiality and IP terms are set in writing before substantive work begins, and first conversations are free and exploratory.
Questions?
See the full staff & office directory for any phone number or email. Because this is a fictional parody site, addresses and phone numbers are illustrative and do not reach a real university.