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Multiple images of researchers working in the field. The first image shows two student researchers, looking at a laptop by a stream in their high boots and weighters. The second image is a close up shot of a student researcher looking at creatures in glass containers. The third image shows two professors, wearing safety glasses, about to pour liquid nitrogen. The fourth image shows a researcher in the lab. The fifth image shows a group of researchers looking at foliage in plastic bags. The sixth image shows two researchers taking images for the library archive, one is standing on a stool while the other holds books open.

Research Centers & Institutes

Solving the most challenging problems of the day requires innovation and collaboration. Research centers and institutes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provide the infrastructure and support services necessary to help scholars and scientists produce their best work.

When they join a center or institute, faculty members typically retain their appointments in discipline-based departments, continuing to teach students and mentor graduate students. By carrying new knowledge back to their home departments, these faculty members help keep their disciplines on the cutting edge.

Research centers and institutes also help the state’s economy. Their ability to address real-world problems in a comprehensive manner attracts external funding and helps North Carolina compete for economic-development opportunities. A thriving research center or institute is a powerful force for new ideas and beneficial change.

News

  • Triangle Research Data Center logo

    Collaboration with federal agencies brings new data opportunities for Carolina researchers

    The new Triangle Research Data Center housed in the Carolina Population Center presents a wealth of otherwise unavailable microdata from various federal statistical agencies.

  • Jay Aikat and Stan Ahalt

    RENCI Leaders to Oversee New School of Data Science & Society

    RENCI Director Stan Ahalt and Chief Operating Officer Jay Aikat will take on leadership roles as secondary appointments for the launch of the School of Data Science and Society, planned for Fall 2022. Ahalt will serve as the school’s inaugural … Continued

  • handshake

    RENCI and RTI Expand Partnership

    RENCI and RTI International have established a strategic partnership to build on the success of existing collaborations and jointly seek out new research opportunities in areas such as data modernization, data science, and team science solutions.

  • use cases show translator's potential to expedite clinical research

    Expediting Clinical Research

    RENCI researchers are contributing to the creation of Biomedical Data Translator, an easy-to-use tool that can quickly respond to biomedical research queries by synthesizing relevant data from a wide variety of sources and could expedite the clinical research process.

  • Glenn Wright gives the keynote at the UNC Clean Tech Summit

    UNC Hosts Eighth Annual Clean Tech Summit

    The 2022 UNC Clean Tech Summit, themed “Transitioning to a Low Carbon Economy,” took place in-person on March 29-30, drawing more than 800 industry leaders, students, and policymakers from across the Southeast to UNC-Chapel Hill.

  • busy street in New Yrok City

    Reducing Air Pollution Deaths in NYC

    A UNC Institute for the Environment study estimates reducing emissions in New York City could save more than 400 lives every year. Researchers modeled five sustainability policy scenarios and found a significant reduction in health risks associated with a decrease … Continued

  • drawing of a brain surrounded by a circuit board

    Using Data to Predict Disease

    Finding patterns in data is central to all research, especially when using biological samples to predict a patient’s risk for disease. RENCI researchers helped develop a new method for finding patterns in such data that surpasses current approaches.

  • starfish

    Temperature’s Impact on Galápagos Marine Ecosystems

    UNC-Chapel Hill researcher John Bruno and Margarita Brandt of USFQ are partnering on a three-year, $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to untangle the interactive roles of temperature, nutrient flux, and predation in structuring the Galápagos marine food … Continued

  • a DNA strand

    New Data Format Aids Evolutionary Biologists

    DNA sequencing helps evolutionary biologists track emerging diseases, control invasive species, and protect at-risk ecosystems. RENCI researchers helped develop a new data format to make clade definitions used by these scientists readable and interpretable by computers.

  • toddler-napping-with-teddy-bear

    How Parenting Impacts Children’s Sleep

    Lead author Cathi Propper — an advanced research scientist at the UNC-Chapel Hill Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute — found the ways in which infants at 6 months of age are parented influences children’s sleep quality at 18 months which, … Continued

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