The Office of the Vice Chancellor
Welcome back, Pirates! Midway through the start of the new semester, we have much to be excited about. Our new research faculty are beginning their careers on campus, students are participating in undergraduate research programs and competitions, and our community has rallied to help one another after the devastating effects of Hurricane Florence. It’s truly an inspiring time to be a Pirate!
Before we get into this edition of our faculty newsletter, I first want to recognize the more than two dozen new faculty members joining the university this year with focused research projects in mind. These faculty members are strengthening our commitment to research, helping ECU reach its goal of securing a top-3 ranking among all UNC System institutions in research expenditures. Additionally, during the 2017-18 academic year, the Office of Undergraduate Research funded 56 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Awards, giving students an opportunity to work with faculty members on mentored research in biomedical sciences, STEM fields, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. ECU has made it a priority to double research achievements by 2022 and the efforts our faculty members and students are putting in across campus to reach that goal has been impressive. Congratulations on the work you’ve accomplished thus far and for your continued work in helping ECU reach its research goals!
In this edition of our newsletter, we take a closer look at recent grant awards by some of our faculty members in just the first two months of the fiscal year. This is just a snapshot of the wonderful research being conducted on campus, but it shows a variety of endeavors undertaken in the sectors of nursing, health and human performance, biology, and public health, to name a few. We also share stories of our thriving innovation initiatives at ECU, including our newly created Office of Innovation and New Ventures and ECU’s Horizon Living and Learning Community. This new office and living and learning community focus on developing microenterprises, allowing students and faculty members to explore ways to develop creative, innovative and entrepreneurial ventures in the region. Finally, we update you on some of our Rural Prosperity Initiatives. ECU’s research clusters are continuing their mission to fight health, education and economic disparities in eastern North Carolina, while the university has announced two new hires that will affect water and coastal research in the state.
I hope that the semester has brought new ideas and innovative strategies as we support eastern North Carolina. It continues to be an honor to be of service to ECU. Go Pirates!
SAMPLING OF RECENT RESEARCH AWARDS BY PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI)
Donna Roberson, Advanced Nursing Practice and Education, College of Nursing: $880,387 Health Resources & Services Administration
Damon Swift, Kinesiology, College of Health & Human Performance: $735,787 National Institutes of Health
Doyle Cummings, Department of Family Medicine, Brody School of Medicine: $504,999 National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute
Fadi Issa, Biology, Thomas Harriot College of Arts & Sciences: $470,000 National Science Foundation
Ruth Schwalbe, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Brody School of Medicine: $438,010 National Institutes of Health
Crystal Chambers, Education Leadership-College of Education: $200,000 Carnegie Corporation of New York
CREATIVE ACTIVITIES
Michael Crane, Fine Arts and Communications: South Arts Dance Touring
CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION
Across our university, ECU units are working together to grow a culture of innovation to create solutions that improve our region.
ECU is expanding its innovation space on campus and, through the generous donation of Van and Jennifer Isley, we’re developing a 25,000-square-foot innovation hub currently known as Building 43. The hub will provide an exciting collision space where students and faculty of different disciplines and backgrounds from across campus can come together and collaborate on developing a new generation of innovative technologies and microenterprises. The building includes a 5,000-square foot space where up to 300 students can bring their interdisciplinary innovations to life. The hub will serve as the home of the Miller School of Entrepreneurship and feature world-class fabrication and rapid-prototyping technologies to support the innovation process.
As part of the university’s commitment to innovation, the Horizon Living and Learning Community was launched at the beginning of the academic year. The community, which includes 18 first-year students in its inaugural class, allows students to explore opportunities to develop creative, innovative and entrepreneurial activities that result in new microenterprises launched in eastern North Carolina.
To help support and grow these many efforts, REDE has launched the newly created Office of Innovation and New Ventures aimed at cultivating this ambitious spirit. The office, led by executive director Mark Wdowik, consolidates existing ECU assets, including licensing and commercialization programs. This consolidation will effectively coordinate the university’s rapidly expanding innovation efforts to discover, develop and deploy new ideas and inventions cultivated by ECU’s students, faculty, staff and partners. As the office’s executive director, Wdowik provides leadership to ECU in its mission to become a national model of how to support student creativity and innovation.
Additionally, Wdowik will explore the potential of an ECU impact investment fund to further support the development and commercialization of ECU’s innovations. In 2016, at least 44 college-focused funds had been established nationally.
RESEARCH INSTITUTES, CENTERS AND CLUSTERS UPDATES
Research Cluster Sees Success
ECU’s Health Behavior Research Cluster has seen early success with its health promotion and risk reduction mobile application. The smartphone app, designed to address substance misuse and sexual risk behavior, targets adolescent groups through the use of real-life scenarios via information streams with peers and individuals in their social circle. A pilot study featuring the app has been launched and is led by an interdisciplinary team with members from the College of Nursing and departments of Human Development and Family Science, Addiction and Rehabilitative Sciences, Marketing and Instructional Technology.
ECU’s Integrated Coastal Programs
The new semester has brought incredible excitement and opportunity for impactful coastal research at ECU. In August, professor Reide Corbett was named the inaugural dean of Integrated Coastal Programs and director of the Coastal Studies Institute. Spanning 213 acres of marshes, scrub wetlands, forested wetlands, and sound ecosystems, ECU’s Outer Banks Campus houses both the multi-institutional Coastal Studies Institute and the university’s newly approved Department of Coastal Studies.
Water Resources Research Center
ECU’s Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences announced in August that Stephen Moysey has joined the Department of Geological Sciences and will serve as director of the college’s Water Resources Center. Moysey joins ECU from Clemson University where he co-directed the Center for Geospatial Technologies. As director of the cluster, Moysey will define the future direction of water-related research while working closely with ECU’s Natural Resources and the Environment research cluster.
Rural Education Institute
ECU’s Rural Education Institute – which has been elevated to a college-level research institute at the university – has continued to pursue its mission of eliminating educational disparities in eastern North Carolina. In August, institute director Kristen Cuthrell, in partnership with collaborators from 11 other states, submitted more than $11 million in federal grant proposals to research and design innovations in rural education. Additionally, the institute announced that it will host the Rural Practitioner – an online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that will be published twice a year. The journal focuses on the unique needs of rural students, educators and schools, including student access to education and educational success.
Rural Data Available for ECU Researchers
In support of Chancellor Staton’s Rural Prosperity Initiative, the Division of Research, Economic Development and Engagement has developed an interactive database for ECU faculty and researchers. The database initially contains Excel files, geographic information system maps and formatted presentations. This data will be expanded to include interactive maps at the county level, as well as aerial and satellite imagery. This on-going project is designed to provide researchers at ECU with a broad suite of regionally-specific data spanning health, education and economic disparities at the eastern North Carolina county level, state level and national level. The data collected through this project is classified into six categories including: agriculture, economic development, education, energy resources, public health and social demographics. REDE has also developed data sheets to provide general knowledge of the Eastern North Carolina-29 region. One of ECU’s primary goals is to service the 29 counties that make up this region which face greater economic, education and health disparities. The data sheets provide a brief history of the county, population demographics and education, health, and economic statistics for the county.
Keep up to date with REDE at rede.ecu.edu and on our social media channels.