Prompted by the inherent complexity of nature and the need to address society’s grand challenges, researchers and scholars at NC State are increasingly working in interdisciplinary teams. The Research Development Office provides tools and services to support interdisciplinary endeavors.
REACH NC is an expertise profiling system that can be used to locate research experts by concept, last name, or full text search. In addition, experts can also be located by navigating through colleges and departments or other unit structures. The Research Development Office coordinates development of REACH NC with UNC-CH, Duke University, RENCI, and UNC GA. While the pilot currently includes only select colleges of NC State and UNC-CH, all NC State colleges, Duke University and five additional UNC institutions will be included by the end of 2011. The system has been designed to support the inclusion of all institutions in the UNC system and (ideally) all research-intensive organizations in NC.
SciVal Funding is a tool that provides funding opportunity recommendations based on research profiles, allowing teams to find funding for their interdisciplinary research.
The Research Development Office manages the competitive Research & Innovation Seed Funding program, which assists NC State researchers in developing innovative interdisciplinary research that has strong potential for significant future support from government agencies, corporations, industrial consortia, or foundations.
The Proposal Development Unit (PDU) has extensive experience with facilitating project team meetings to clarify project goals, implementation plans, and budgets. The PDU can also help locate additional faculty expertise and resources.