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Office of Research and Innovation
Centers and Institutes

Our Centers and Institutes

These unique organizations work on incredibly diverse topics to drive important scholarship and research that advances their fields. Take a look at the centers and institutes behind this important work.

Centers and Institutes Categories

Use these links to view centers and institutes in each category.

NC State Centers and Institutes

Planned Centers and Institutes

Center of Excellence for Regulatory Science in Agriculture, The (CERSA)

  • Administrative Unit: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • Request to Plan
  • Establishment Proposal Due Date: 2024-01-21

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National Science Foundation (NSF) Supported Centers

Industry University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC)

I/UCRCs for which NC State is the Lead Institution:

Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics (CDP)

  • Director: Gregory Parsons
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering

The CDP aims to provide international leadership and train next-generation scientists in the fundamental science and engineering that underpin dielectric and piezoelectric materials. The center supports industries based on capacitor and piezoelectric materials and devices through the development of new materials, processing strategies, electrical testing, and nanoscale characterization and modeling methodologies.

I/UCRCs for which NC State is a Research Site:

Broadband Wireless Access and Applications Center (BWAC)

  • Site Director: Ismail Guvenc
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering
  • Lead Institution: University of Arizona

This Center focuses on broadband wireless technology access and its applications.  
BWAC collaborates with industry research partners to create flexible, efficient, and secure wireless networks that satisfy broadband communication needs in businesses, in the home, and in the lives of individuals. 

Center for Accelerated Real Time Analytics (CARTA)

  • Site Director: Rada Chirkova
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering
  • Lead Institution: University of Maryland Baltimore County

The Center’s research is focused on cutting edge inter-disciplinary research in real time analytics using next generation accelerated hardware.

Center for Advanced Electronics through Machine Learning (CAEML)

  • Site Director: Paul Franzon
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering
  • Lead Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

CAEML will pioneer the application of emerging machine-learning techniques to microelectronics and micro-systems modeling and will develop new domain-specific machine learning algorithms to extract models using limited training data.

Center for the Integration of Composites into Infrastructure (CICI)

  • Site Director: Rudolf Seracino
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering
  • Lead Institution: West Virginia University

The primary objective of CICI is to promote applications of composites in civil and military infrastructures to the next level through collaborative efforts between West Virginia University, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, NC State University and the University of Miami, Florida. The Center’s research focus capitalizes on synergies between fibers and polymers to create new application areas and expand market potential.

Resources:

Engineering Research Centers (ERC)

ERCs for which NC State is the Lead Institution:

Advanced Self Powered Systems of Sensors and Technologies Center (ASSIST)

  • Director: Veena Misra
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering

The mission of ASSIST is to transform health informatics, electronics, and biomedical engineering; to develop nanotechnologies for energy harvesting, battery-free energy storage, and ultra-low-power computation/communication; to integrate low power physiological and environmental nanosensors using biocompatible materials; to empower personal environmental and health monitoring.

The Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management Center (FREEDM) – graduated from NSF support in 2019

  • Director: Iqbal Husain
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering

Center partners with universities, industry, and national laboratories in 28 states and nine countries to develop technology to revolutionize the nation’s power grid and speed renewable electric-energy technologies into every home and business.

ERCs for which NC State is the Partner Institution:

Engineering Research Center for Precision Microbiome Engineering (PreMiEr)

PreMiEr’s vision is to develop an integrated framework that enables the bioinformed design of smart and healthy built environments while also broadly advancing microbiome engineering technologies, with researchers from five NC State colleges contributing their expertise.

  • Site Director: Jennifer Kuzma
  • Administrative Unit: Office of Research and Innovation
  • Lead Institution: Duke University 

Resources:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centers

AI Institute for Engaged Learning

  • Director: James Lester
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering

Science and Technology Centers

Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS)

  • Director: Jacob Jones
  • Administrative Unit: College of Engineering

Oceans and Human Health Center

North Carolina Center for Coastal Algae, People, and Environment (NC C-CAPE)

  • Directors: Astrid Schnetzer and Scott Belcher
  • Administrative Unit: College of Sciences

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National Institute of Health (NIH) Supported Centers

Center for Environmental and Health Effects of PFAS

  • Directors:  Carolyn Mattingly and Detlef Knappe
  • Administrative Unit: College of Sciences

The mission of this cross-disciplinary Center is to advance research, technology development, training and community engagement about exposure to a class of ubiquitous environmental compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The long-term objectives are to assess PFAS 1) exposure in impacted areas, 2) toxicity and underlying mechanisms of thyroid and immune function, 3) bioaccumulation potential, and 4) remediation.

Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE)

  • Director:  Sue Fenton
  • Administrative Unit: Office of Research and Innovation

The mission of CHHE is to serve as the nexus of environmental health science research at NC State by providing focus and leadership for interdisciplinary research aimed at understanding how human health, at both the individual and population levels, is impacted by environmental factors and to utilize this understanding to reduce the adverse impacts of environmental factors on human health.

North Carolina Center for Coastal Algae, People, and Environment (NC C-CAPE)

  • Directors: Astrid Schnetzer and Scott Belcher
  • Administrative Unit: College of Sciences

The North Carolina Center for Coastal Algae, People, and Environment (NC C-CAPE) addresses critical public health and environmental challenges associated with harmful cyanobacterial algal blooms in North Carolina’s coastal waters. Our focus is on understanding the environmental drivers that lead to the proliferation of harmful algal blooms and the resulting human health risks. 

NC C-CAPE aims to guide efforts to implement effective monitoring approaches, inform guideline values for safe consumption of water and seafood, deliver predictive tools to assess emergent and future toxin exposure risk, and leverage community engagement initiatives to fill data gaps and improve oceans and human health.

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Department of the Interior (DOI) Supported Centers

Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC)

Interim Director:  Rebecca Irwin
Administrative Unit: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

NC State acts as the host institution for the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, providing organizational support to implement the Center mission to work with natural and cultural resource managers to gather the scientific information and build the tools needed to help fish, wildlife, and ecosystems adapt to the impacts of changing climate and land use.

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Multi-campus Centers and Institutes

North Carolina State University Lead Institution

Duke University Lead Institution

Research Triangle Institute Lead Institution

UNC-Chapel Hill Lead Institution

East Carolina University Lead Institution

Western Carolina University Lead Institution

UNC-Charlotte Lead Institution

* TUNL, RENCI and RTEC represent trans-institutional partnerships outside of the UNC centers and institutes policy.

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National Network of Manufacturing Institutes

The National Network of Manufacturing Institutes is operated by the interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO), which is headquartered in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in the Department of Commerce. The office is staffed by representatives from federal agencies with manufacturing-related missions as well as fellows from manufacturing companies and universities. The office operates in partnership with the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture. The office began as a pilot, recommended by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), but the overarching mission has not changed: “To convene and enable industry-led, private-public partnerships focused on manufacturing innovation and engaging U.S. universities. To design and implement an integrated whole-of-government advanced manufacturing initiative to facilitate collaboration and information sharing across federal agencies. By coordinating federal resources and programs, the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office enhances technology transfer in U.S. manufacturing industries and helps companies overcome technical obstacles to scale up of new technologies and products.”

Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA)

AFFOA’s mission is to enable a manufacturing-based revolution by transforming traditional fibers, yarns, and fabrics into highly sophisticated, integrated and networked devices and systems.

  • NC State Membership Level: Tier 1 Academic
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Xiangwu Zhang

Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI)

ARMI’s mission is to make practical the large-scale manufacturing of engineered tissues and tissue-related technologies, to benefit existing industries and grow new ones.

  • NC State Membership Level: Tier 2 Academic
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Rohan Shirwaiker

Bioindustrial Manufacturing Innovation Institute (BioMADE)

BioMADE’s mission is to enable domestic bioindustrial manufacturing at all scales, develop technologies to enhance U.S. bioindustrial competitiveness, de-risk investment in relevant infrastructure, and expand the biomanufacturing workforce to realize the economic promise of industrial biotechnology.

  • NC State Membership Level: Academic
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Gary Gilleskie

Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute called Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon (EPIXC)

The EPIXC mission is to conduct innovative and impactful research, development, demonstration and deployment (RD&D) and work-force training on electrified heating technologies and their incorporation into industrial processes; operational research on deep process-grid integration; and validation and characterization on large-scale test beds. The approach will be cross-cutting, leveraging the team’s exceptionally broad expertise in (i) electrified heating technologies, (ii) process engineering in the key sectors, (iii) automation and
controls, (iv) modeling and optimization of processes and clean electricity supply including digital twinning/emulation and (v) techno-economic, life cycle and supply-chain analysis.

  • NC State is one of the Key Partner Universities
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Lokendra Pal

National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL)

The NIIMBL mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical manufacturing innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry.

  • NC State Membership Level: Tier 1 Academic
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Ruben Carbonell

PowerAmerica , Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute (NGPEMII)

PowerAmerica is accelerating the adoption of advanced semiconductor components made with silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) into a wide range of products and systems.  Backed by $70 million from the U.S. Department of Energy over five years, we are working to make these wide bandgap semiconductor technologies cost-competitive with silicon-based power electronics and reduce the perceived risk in their adoption in numerous industries.

  • NC State Membership Level: Lead university
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Victor Veliadis

Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID)

RAPID is a Manufacturing USA Institute working to transform the process industries by advancing modular chemical process intensification technology.

Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII)

The Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute focuses on innovations such as smart sensors that can dramatically reduce energy expenses in advanced manufacturing.

  • NC State Membership Level: Academic
  • NC State Lead Faculty Contact: Phil Westmoreland

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