7. Elevate the National and Global Reputation and Visibility of NC State
NC State is committed to leading and supporting universitywide systems and efforts that elevate regional, national, and international awareness and impact of our university's differentiators, competitive advantages and broad excellence. ORI helps position NC State as a national and international leader in key areas of strength and opportunity that advance the brand and reputation of the university.
National Academy of Inventors Annual Conference (NAI)
NC State hosted the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Annual Conference, a national event that recognizes academic inventors and celebrates the impact of their research discoveries, with a focus on translatingresearch into real-world solutions. The conference featured panels, presentations, and the induction of new NAI Fellows — including two NC State faculty inventors — and also highlighted student inventors and STEM education initiatives.
Digital Timeline and Peer Push
The Research Marketing and Communications team created a custom-coded, illustrated digital research timeline, which highlights important milestones in the history of NC State research and ORI. The unit also developed a promotional email and print piece, which were sent internally and to external peer institutions, in October 2024.
The team mailed a promotional print piece with a QR code linking to the digital timeline, then sent an email the following week. The emails and print pieces were sent to 346 research vice presidents or vice chancellors at identified peer institutions, including ACC schools, UNC System schools, APLU schools, and the Top 30 HERDresearch-funded schools. They were also sent to 287 executive-level peers at NC State. This initiative drove a 54% open rate on the external email, resulting in 95 total clicks converted to the digital timeline. The internal email had a 71% open rate (36 total clicks), while the print piece QR code attracted a total of 187 sessions, from 115 unique users.
The print piece also won a Silver award at the 40th annual EduAD Awards in the Direct Mail category.
Results Digital Magazine
ORI’s Research Marketing and Communications continued to publish work aimed at potential and current funding partners, as well as secondary audiences that include the general public, in Results Digital Magazine. The team published 19 stories in Results in FY25, increasing our number of published articles by over 18% in comparison to FY23 (the last year we were fully staffed prior to FY25). Story topics ranged from advancements in biomedical engineering, to AI’s expanding role in research across disciplines, to new forms of precision medicine and precision agriculture, and a groundbreaking technique to noninvasively collect DNA from medieval-era manuscripts.
Envisioning Research
Envisioning Research — NC State’s annual research image contest for faculty, staff, grad students, and postdocs — is sponsored by ORI, University Communications, The Graduate School, NC State University Libraries, and the Office of Undergraduate Research. FY25 marked the 10th anniversary of this contest. We had a record number of submissions for 2025, driven by an increase in faculty and staff participation.
| Entry Type | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UG Student | – | 6 | 9 | 15 | 37 | 22 |
| Grad Student | 146 | 108 | 143 | 124 | 159 | 151 |
| Faculty | 24 | 23 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 46 |
| Total | 170 | 137 | 168 | 154 | 207 | 219 |