UNC General Administration has awarded grants totaling $1.7 million to support faculty research in areas of strategic importance to the state.
The largest of these UNC Research Opportunities Initiative grants will support the project “Advancing the Science and Practice of Metal-based Additive Manufacturing,” led by Christopher Evans, professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science and director of the Center for Precision Metrology. This project received $1,628,880 in funding.
Researchers from N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University will partner on this project, which “will bring together experts across North Carolina to develop new metal-based manufacturing methods with a goal of establishing North Carolina as the pre-eminent U.S. center of expertise for these processes.”
The project “North Carolina Consortium for Manufacturing Data Science,” led by Tony Schmitz, professor or mechanical engineering and engineering science, received a $50,000 planning grant to “establish a multi-university/industry consortium for optimizing manufacturing methods using data science tools.” UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University researchers will partner on this project.
UNC ROI grants are awarded through a competitive process and selected through a rigorous review process led by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This marks the second round of grant awards under UNC ROI, funded by a recurring $3 million annual appropriation from the 2014 General Assembly. First-round awardees have leveraged the $6 million invested to date to attract $7.5 million in additional external grants. They also have filed 11 patent applications and started two companies.
Priority research areas eligible for UNC ROI funding include advanced manufacturing; coastal and marine science; defense, military and security; pharmacoengineering; energy; and data sciences.