Research Roadmap Update: Research Areas of Excellence

Carolina has once again solidified its position as a leading research institution. As we announced in December, our research activity has surged to over $1.55 billion, placing us back in the top 10 highest ranked research institutions in the U.S. Considering that we only broke the billion-dollar threshold for research activity in 2017, this is a remarkable accomplishment.

Our new position as the 9th highest ranked research institution for research expenditures reflects the immense talent of our workforce. We have world-class faculty spanning disciplines who are pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation. The Research Roadmap will be instrumental in guiding our continued and growing success, enabling us to build upon our existing strengths and achieve even greater impact.

We have made considerable progress with the priorities set out in the Research Roadmap, which I will be highlighting throughout the spring semester in this blog. For this post, I will focus on our work to identify Carolina’s areas of research excellence that draw on the breadth of scholarship across the University and position us for continued growth.

This effort to identify areas of research excellence was spearheaded by the Roadmap’s Promote Growth & Opportunity working group, which includes representation from critical stakeholders across campus, including faculty, research deans, school deans, and other leaders.

Carolina’s great strength lies in our extremely collaborative campus. Our institution fosters a cooperative environment, enhanced by the physical proximity of departments and the absence of systemic obstacles to interdisciplinary research. It is this culture that allows us to leverage talent from all disciplines across campus to build multifaceted teams ready to tackle the biggest societal challenges.

Specifically, competencies in cross-cutting domains of excellence across Carolina are put into play to create synergies that fuel breakthroughs. Excellence in the domains listed in the figure to the right provide the capacities, skills, and methods-based foundation for strategic growth when they are applied to societal and biomedical challenges.

Addressing grand challenges demands interdisciplinary collaboration. This involves uniting our discovery scientists, humanities scholars, and field-specific experts to leverage diverse perspectives and expertise.

Identifying Carolina’s areas of research excellence

The first step in identifying Carolina’s unique areas of excellence was to categorize the scholarship on our campus. Our researchers and scholars are working in four key areas to create meaningful impact across the state and world.

Synergies between our cross-cutting domains and these four areas of scholarship have resulted in areas of excellence where Carolina is currently leading and has potential to lead. Details on the four areas that categorize Carolina research are shown below along with a few select examples of the areas of identified excellence.

As we identify strategic priorities from within the broader categories (like the examples shown above), we will use the following criteria:

1. Compelling societal or research focus: Prioritize areas that address compelling societal or research challenges.
2. Carolina excellence: Emphasize areas of true Carolina excellence in scholarship or research.
3. Critical mass: Ensure areas have critical mass at Carolina to reflect centers of excellence.
4. Unique advantage: Select areas where Carolina has distinct advantage in terms of talent, infrastructure, or location.
5. Funding potential: Prioritize areas with high potential for significant funding.
6. Pan-campus alignment: Focus on areas with strong pan-campus alignment and shared priority.

A $1.55B research enterprise is inherently diverse, so we have many points of true excellence and leadership across the full enterprise. Carolina’s strengths in transdisciplinary, collaborative science are where the magic happens. In the examples provided in the table above, our strengths in the cross-cutting domains are applied to societal and biomedical challenges for novel solutions and impacts.

Our research areas of excellence are dynamic, in that new initiatives and opportunities may result in new areas being added to the list, while other areas may be removed. Similarly, new initiatives and opportunities may lead to elevation of priorities to capitalize on those new growth possibilities for investments.

To guide future investment strategy, we will prioritize return on investment by asking key questions:

• Will this investment be meaningful in terms of moving the needle to true impact?
• Will this investment enhance Carolina’s reputation?
• Can this investment be leveraged for exponential impact and growth?

These questions will continue to guide our resource and time allocation decisions for pan-campus strategic initiatives.

Integrating AI research strategy

Last year, Chancellor Lee Roberts formed working groups to evaluate four areas of focus. The Generative AI workgroup identified the transformative potential of AI toadvance research as a crucial factor in setting the University apart. That group has developed a Carolina Research AI Strategy to enhance AI infrastructure, optimize AI expertise and application, and foster AI research growth. These goals align with our strategic prioritization and other efforts within the Roadmap.

Key actions of new strategy include developing a secure AI platform for electronic health records, integrating AI into the new Translational Research Building (TRB), leveraging existing resources like the Research Data Management Core and the Biostatistics AI Core, and translating AI research into real-world applications. Additionally, the strategy includes pursuing business and proposal development, cultivating philanthropic support, and forging external partnerships to expand AI research at Carolina.

Incorporating areas of research excellence into TRB planning

With groundbreaking planned for later this spring, the TRB will propel advancements across all areas of excellence with exponential benefit to campus that transcends the building’s walls.

Located next to the Bioinformatics and Genetics Medicine buildings, it will feature the latest imaging technologies, advanced robotics, and state-of-the-art wet labs. Engineers will design groundbreaking medical tools, while AI researchers will push the boundaries of all aspects of translational science and big data from imaging, genetic, molecular, cellular, and chemical discovery and innovation. Collaborative spaces will foster interdisciplinary research and accelerate breakthroughs.

The TRB will position our scientists to revolutionize health research. By providing state-of-the-art equipment and resources, we will leverage AI to seamlessly translate groundbreaking research into real-world clinical applications, unlock the mysteries of the brain, and transform cancer detection, treatment, and prevention. It is an incredibly exciting time for research as the TRB prepares to come online!

Where we go from here

We are committed to advancing pan-campus interdisciplinary research that addresses the world’s greatest societal and biomedical challenges. Carolina’s most transformative breakthroughs have emerged from a shared spirit of unity. When we pool our collective vision and resources, extraordinary things happen. I am excited to share more about our progress in future blog posts as we continue implementing our Research Roadmap.