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Office of Research and Innovation Fellows

The Office of Research and Innovation is dedicated to encouraging cutting-edge faculty research leadership. Our fellows are selected by their commitment to constant improvement in identifying strategic opportunities, innovation, and enhancements to research administration. ORI Fellows are given access to the highest level of research decision making and planning at the university.

Opportunities

Opportunities undertaken by fellows typically fall into two categories:

Project Focused

  • Development of strategic research leadership skills through planning, implementation and participation in project-based fellowship
  • Project developed in collaboration with ORI
  • VCR and/or AVC(s) as a sponsor(s)

Strategic Research Focused

  • Research and business development-based fellowship in support of NC State’s strategic research areas.
  • Fellows identified based on their research expertise
  • VCR and/or AVC(s) as a sponsor(s)

How to Apply

Eligibility

Applicants must be full-time faculty at the rank of associate or full professor in any track. Applicants must have the written support of their department head to apply and must be willing to commit approximately 10-25 percent of their time over the course of the fellowship period to fellowship activities, including their project.

Application process

The Fellows Program doesn’t operate on a predefined schedule. Applications are accepted throughout the year. The selected applicants receive a salary supplement that is dependent on the time commitment to the Fellowship. 

Applicants should submit a single file (Word, PDF, or Google Docs files are all acceptable) via email to ncstate-research@ncsu.edu The submission should contain the following:

  • Current CV with contact information (name, title/faculty rank, department, email, phone)
  • Fellowship category (project focused or research development)
  • Description of potential project idea(s) that are of interest to the applicant (limited to one page for each project) and timeframe for the proposed fellowship
  • Statement of career goals and interest in research leadership (limited to one page)
  • Brief letter of support from the department head including an acknowledgment that participation may require temporary reassignment of duties

Reach out to Genevieve Garland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Operations and Communications and Chief of Staff via email with questions.

Meet our Fellows

Daniela Jones, Ph.D.

Dr. Jones will be expanding the data science academy’s initiatives to answer research questions in agriculture posed by academic researchers, extension agents, government and/or industry partners. Jones’ primary appointment is as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering with expertise in supply chain management and operation research. She holds a joint appointment with the Operations Research and Analysis group at Idaho National Laboratory. She developed, implemented and coordinates the Graduate Agriculture Data Science Certificate, is a graduate faculty in the Operations Research Program, and a faculty fellow in the Center of Geospatial Analytics at NC State. She runs the Intelligent Data for Energy and Agriculture Logistics and Supply Chain (IDEALS) Lab at NC State and uses data science and operations research to improve our food, feed, and energy production systems.

She earned her Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University and her M.S. and B.S. in Industrial Engineering at Mississippi State University. Before her current role, she was a postdoctoral associate at Duke University and an analyst of biofuels and renewable energy technology at Idaho National Laboratory.

Veena Misra, Ph.D.

Dr. Misra will be working on launching a new campus-wide initiative on sensor systems that support a variety of applications ranging from health, agriculture, smart infrastructure and more. Misra is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Founding Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center of Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST)

She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from NC State University. She was the recipient of the 2001 NSF Presidential Early CAREER Award, the 2011 Alcoa Distinguished Engineering Research Award, the 2007 Outstanding Alumni Research Award and the 2016 R.J. Reynolds Award, the highest award given by the College of Engineering. She has contributed to more than 200 publications, holds 14 patents and has been involved in two startups.

Branda Nowell, Ph.D.

Dr. Nowell will be working on interdisciplinary research initiatives. She will conduct an internal assessment and benchmark peer institutions and organizations for best practices and models for launch and sustainability. Dr. Nowell is an organizational-community psychologist specializing in institutional design, particularly in the context of multi-stakeholder/multi-disciplinary collaboration, inter-organizational relationships, social networks, and network governance within complex problem domains.

Dr. Nowell is an NC State University Faculty Scholar. Her research has received awards from both the APA Society for Community Action and Research as well as the Academy of Management Public and Nonprofit Division. Her published work appears in journals such as the American Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Management Review, Perspectives in Public Management and Governance, and Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Nowell consults with organizational leaders on strategic planning, organizational development, change management, and organizational design. Dr. Nowell is an affiliated faculty in the College of Natural Resources and professor in the School of Public and International Affairs.