Partnership with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) to support
Canine College Internship

The Program of Animal Welfare and Science (PAWS) partners with CALS to operate the Canine College internship program. The internship program trains undergraduate students in the advancement of care for dogs housed within the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Laboratory Animal Resources. The internship offers pre-veterinary students hands-on learning experiences with laboratory animals. The PAWS team provides primary mentorship in laboratory animal medicine, laboratory canine behavior and welfare, and scientific study design to the Canine College interns. They are also involved in recruitment, onboarding, and executing and presenting student projects. The program has trained 28 students since it began in FY23.

Facilitating Student Training Grants and Workplace Experience

The Office of Research and Innovation supports the development and submission of strategic, impactful proposals for external funding. Most of these proposals include support for students and postdoctoral researchers to directly engage in leading research through faculty advisors, mentorships, networking, and professional development programs. Some proposals are primarily focused on student training. This past year, seven proposals were developed through our office, including:

• Two (2) NIH T32 training grants to support Ph.D. students in the Molecular Biotechnology and Comparative Medicine training programs.
• Two (2) NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) grants to provide support for Ph.D. students in the areas of Global Health and Climate Resilience.
• Two (2) NSF S-STEM proposals, which would provide financial need-based scholarships to academically talented undergraduate and graduate students in CALS and the College of Natural Resources.
• One (1) proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Safety Training and Workforce Development funding opportunity, which would provide scholarships to students seeking undergraduate degrees in fields related to nuclear power plant operations.

Additionally, the ORI/PSI Interdisciplinary Launch Director launched the newly awarded NSF Research Traineeship (NRT-AI) program, GRAD-AID for Agriculture. She led recruitment efforts for the inaugural graduate student cohort, the first of two cohorts that will collectively support 21 students over the five-year award period. Her efforts included building a strong partnership with Fayetteville State University to broaden student participation and impact: New Training Program Tackles AI and Plant Science Challenges.

Helping Students Bridge Disciplines for Creative Solutions

The ORI/PSI Interdisciplinary Launch Director facilitated the second annual N.C. PSI BRIDGE Symposium, designed to help train students how to talk about their interdisciplinary research and communicate its value and societal impacts: Bridging Disciplines for Creative Solutions. At this year’s symposium, 10 pairs of graduate students gave presentations describing actual or proposed interdisciplinary research to address complex problems. Topics ranged from automating plant disease prediction and treatment to using evidence-based communication strategies to enhance the adoption of biotech crops that improve environmental sustainability. Sponsored by Eastman, the second annual event was a joint effort of the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative and NC State’s Graduate School.

Experiential Education in Data Sciences and Linguistics with LAS

Students play an important role in research at the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences (LAS). In FY25, 33 students from NC State’s College of Design and Department of Computer Science earned academic credit for their semester-long projects with LAS. Thirty-two graduate students and research assistants from NC State and other universities worked on data science or LAS projects over the last year. The lab also engaged 10 Utah high school students in a linguistics project and hired 12 interns.
Fostering Student Innovation

Fostering Student Innovation

The Office of Research Commercialization (ORC) actively fosters student entrepreneurship through various programs. The NSF I-Corps Hub engaged 72 individuals and 32 teams in FY25. Historically, this program has led to the formation of 39 startup companies. Additionally, five (5) I-Corps Fellows (four graduate and one undergraduate) partnered with faculty for customer discovery. The Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization program involved 52 graduate students working on business plans for eight projects based on NC State intellectual property (IP). ORC also hosted 23 student interns during FY25, including graduate and undergraduate students from NC State and students from Campbell Law School. A new “Foundations for NC State Startups” training cohort is planned for FY26 to further train research innovators.