UNC-Chapel Hill Research: ‘We’ve seen powerful results’
H. Jared,
Wednesday, October 19th, 2016
Story and video by Higher Education Works Foundation
Chancellor Carol L. Folt calls them “zingers” – imaginative ideas that, when coupled with years of fundamental research, produce enormous breakthroughs in science.
And in just the past three years, Folt says in the accompanying video, UNC Chapel Hill has made extraordinary research advances in fields such as biomedical engineering, cancer and Big Data.
“We’ve become a real innovation center, with students, faculty, staff, the community all interested,” she says. “We’ve seen powerful results.”
The University now ranks sixth among all U.S. universities for receipt of federal research dollars. It attracts close to $1 billion a year for research, generating almost 100,000 jobs in North Carolina and a $7 billion economic impact.
A former professor of biology and environmental science, Folt is particularly pleased with the involvement of students.
"At this year’s University Day, we are focusing on that second vital calling: research. I think of that famous Charles Kuralt line, “what is it that binds us to this place?” We are the university of the people, and that mission unites us around a common purpose. But the glue that binds us is a curiosity about the world – a desire to learn and to know more. That curiosity finds its purest expression in research, pushing the boundaries of human knowledge."