The NC State Office of Research and Innovation (ORI), and KIETS developed the RISF program to offer a special funding opportunity for research initiatives that are at an early stage, but have great potential for leveraging university resources in the near future with much greater support from industrial, Federal, State, and non-profits. Typically, these projects are multi-disciplinary, involving investigators with various areas of expertise, and from different colleges. FY 2022-23 marked the second and final year of an expanded RISF program that included two special topic areas: Global Health and Climate Change. These topic areas were featured in the FY 2022 and FY2023 funding cycles due to their societal significance and the opportunities each provides for innovation. These research areas are also likely to be dominant national research themes for the foreseeable future and targets for significant amounts of federal research funding. The ORI and KIETS investment plays a role in raising NC State’s visibility as a key contributor to solving some of society’s grandest challenges. FY 2023 projects began on February 1, 2023 and will end on January 31, 2024.
The next FY 2023-24 will see a return to standard RISF program guidelines, as well as a solicitation that is distributed only once per year. Consistent with pre-pandemic RISF guidelines, FY 2024 proposals may encompass research focused on any topic area. FY 2022-23 RISF Global Health / Climate Change projects in progress include the following:
- Dr. Marcelo Ardon, College of Natural Resources, Hydroclimatic Change and the Structure and Function of Streams in the Galapagos Archipelago;
- Dr. David Eggleston, College of Sciences, Using the Underwater Soundscape to Assess the Interacting Effects of Climate Change, Ocean Management, and Biodiversity;
- Dr. Fernando Garcia Menendez, College of Engineering, Supporting Climate Change Mitigation in Latin America by Linking Reduced Deforestation Policies to Air Quality and Public Health Co-Benefits;
- Dr. Rebecca Ward, College of Sciences, Promoting Climate Literacy Through Teacher Training;
- Dr. Shu Yang, College of Sciences, Harnessing Data Science to Drive Precision Policy for Marine Protected Areas;
- Dr. Jingjie Hu, College of Engineering, Transcatheter Injectable Biomaterial for Next Generation Tumor Embolization;
- Dr. Andrey Kuznetsov, College of Engineering, Computational Models to Understand and Optimize Biomaterial Cell Factories;
- Dr. Marie Muller, College of Engineering, Modeling Mechanisms for Ultrasound Simulation of Platelet-like Particles.