News + Events
UNC Charlotte advances to Semifinalist in second nsf regional innovation engines competition
We are excited to announce that UNC Charlotte is one of 29 semi-finalists chosen to move to the next round in the U.S. National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) competition. You may recall we shared back in October that UNC Charlotte was invited to submit a full proposal to this competition that started with nearly 300 letters of intent and panel-reviewed pre-proposals, then 71 full proposals (again, panel-reviewed), and now 29 semifinalists.
The Engines proposal is titled “Carolinas Engine for Grid Modernization.” The Principal Investigator is UNC Charlotte Vice Chancellor for Research, Dr. John Daniels, who observed: “We have further competition ahead of us, but this is a major step forward and it signifies UNC Charlotte’s progress in catalyzing an energy innovation ecosystem. Such innovation is a key driver for economic development in Charlotte’s North Tryon Tech Hub as well as North and South Carolina more broadly.” Stay tuned!
highlighting unc charlotte as a commercialization & startup leader
“UNC Charlotte has always had an entrepreneurial mindset,” shared Division of Research Vice Chancellor, Dr. John Daniels, in this Inside Charlotte article that highlights significant strides in research innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship designed to address real-life scenarios. Central to this focus is the Division’s Office of Research Commercialization and Partnerships (ORCP) which supports faculty and student inventors by protecting their intellectual property, helping bring their ideas to market, and fostering startup ventures. As ORCP Executive Director Laura Peter shared in the article, UNC Charlotte researchers are “building the technologies of tomorrow.”
With 200+ patent filings and 17 startups in the past five years, UNC Charlotte is proving to be an innovation hive. You can find the full “Commercializing Charlotte Research” story here.
The article also showcases the campus to commerce story of Dr. Jennifer Pagan, Chief Technology Officer of AquiSense and former UNC Charlotte PhD student. You can read her featured story here.
RESEARCH NEWS ACROSS CAMPUS
Summer Research Symposium Recap
More than 140 undergraduate researchers from disciplines and colleges across campus shared their work at this year’s Summer Research Symposium sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR).
Read the full story here.
AI & Copyright: The Future of Creativity
The Division of Research Office of Research Commercialization and Partnerships and the College of Arts & Architecture explored the impact of AI on creative works and copyright with the Director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Read the full story here.
Pivotal UNC Charlotte Research on the Bird Flu
The Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has discovered evidence the the avian influenza has a “growing ability to infect mammals” including humans.
Read the UComm story here.
Featured event
BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES SYMPOSIUM
To kick-off North Carolina Life Sciences Week, UNC Charlotte, in collaboration with NCBiotech, is hosting “The Biomedical Sciences Symposium: Presenting New Breakthroughs and Exploring New Horizons and Collaborations in Biomedical Sciences” on September 15th at the Dubois Center. Learn more here.
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Celebrating a UNC CHARLOTTE RESEARCHER WHOSE INVENTION IS DISINFECTING WATER AROUND THE GLOBE
While a post-doc researcher here at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Jennifer Pagán invented a water disinfection technology using UV-C LED light. Now that system is being used to disinfect water on every continent, and even supplies clean water on the International Space Station.
Dr. Pagán’s revolutionary work has been featured in the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s 2025 “Faces of American Innovation” report – an annual report that honors a prestigious group of researchers, entrepreneurs, and administrators whose groundbreaking work, made possible by the Bayh-Dole Act, has changed the lives of millions in the United States and abroad. You can find the press release here.
On June 4, Dr. Pagán and four other innovators will receive the 2025 Bayh-Dole Coalition American Innovator Award.
Dr. Pagán’s water disinfection technology using UV-C LED light was also featured in the National Academy of Inventors and the US Patent and Trademark Office “Campus to Commerce” video series.
Explore her journey from a small UNC Charlotte start-up to founder and CTO of the multinational company, AquiSense.
honoring unc charlotte researchers
It was an evening of excitement and recognition at the Leaders in Research Celebration on March 27th, where researchers from across campus were honored as part of UNC Charlotte’s Million Dollar Research Circle. The event also honored the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal awardee for outstanding scholarship, creativity and research among the University’s senior full-time faculty members. You can find more on each of these stories below.
reaching r1: advancing research, elevating impact
UNC Charlotte has achieved the Carnegie R1 designation, placing us in the top tier of ‘very high research’ universities. We are so excited to celebrate the hard work of our entire campus research community, including faculty, staff, students, and our community-industry partners. We’re also excited about positively impacting our communities, region, and the world.
Research Strategic plan
We are thrilled to announce the release of Research Shaping What’s Next: UNC Charlotte’s Research Strategic Plan 2022-2032 (RSWN)!
