DENTON (UNT), Texas - The University of North Texas will invest at least $25 million in collaborative research in a sweeping effort to strengthen the state's economy, bolster research and develop technology vital to addressing today's most pressing needs.

The investment begins this year with the development of six collaborative research clusters and the recruitment of world-renowned faculty. The clusters will enhance and expand the innovative research already underway at UNT by bringing together faculty from across colleges and disciplines to work together, exchange ideas and explore solutions.

As the main thrust of the plan, the university expects to hire several new faculty members for each cluster. Many of the new faculty hires will be senior level researchers with national and international reputations.

"UNT is well-known for its excellence in the arts. Through this investment, we will expand our research excellence and raise our reputation as a public research university that competes at the top-level in everything we do," said President Gretchen M. Bataille, who publicly announced the investment plan Tuesday during the university's annual convocation.

Among the clusters' wide-ranging and high-profile initiatives will be discovering more effective ways to treat conditions such as autism, cancer and heart disease; developing more durable jet engines; investigating molecular plant signals that could lead to innovations impacting many different industries and needs; and exploring new ways to support and improve environmental sustainability.

UNT's first six clusters capitalize on the national reputation and expertise of researchers in several important areas.

Bio/Nano Photonics will explore how light can be used in extremely small dimensions to develop new nano-devices with applications in medicine, communications, energy and a number of other fields. This cluster builds upon the expertise of 15 faculty members from nine departments including some from the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth.
Materials Modeling will produce predictive tools for creating next generation materials that will help scientists reduce greenhouse gas in the environment, develop better jet engines and discover new therapies for serious battlefield injuries. The cluster includes 11 faculty members from three departments and will expand UNT's national leadership role in computational chemistry to other research areas.
Developmental Physiology and Genetics will explore developmental biology at the molecular, cellular and physiological levels, which will contribute to scientific advances for human conditions, such as tissue trauma, clotting disorders and heart disease. This cluster will build upon the established expertise of six UNT faculty members in different areas of life sciences and will collaborate with UNT Health Science Center researchers.
Signaling Mechanisms in Plants will study the molecular signals of plants that control growth, crop yield, defense against pathogens and responses to stress. Advances in understanding of plant metabolism have stimulated new technologies in agriculture, human nutrition and medicine. The cluster will include seven UNT faculty members across two departments who are recognized as national leaders in this field and will work closely with the Noble Foundation (Ardmore, Okla.), a leading research group in this field.
Autism Spectrum Disorders will expand field-based research and training programs in education, behavior analysis and learning technologies for autism, which affects one percent of children, or about 800,000 children each year in the United States alone. Currently, 17 faculty members across eight departments have made innovations in applied autism research.
Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts will investigate the ways advances in sensor technologies and other engineering innovations can change and enhance the production and delivery of art. The cluster will expand the work being done at the nationally-acclaimed Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia, and 15 faculty members across seven disciplines now contribute to this area.

In addition, two areas of interdisciplinary research will receive seed funding to encourage further development: Human Health and Sustainable Environment, which will research how environmental risks accumulate and affect health; and Multi-Scale Damage, Lifetime Prediction and Design of Materials, which will study damage caused by aging in various physical materials in hopes of creating new, more resilient materials for aerospace applications, automobiles and prosthetic devices.

Also, as part of the plan, UNT will create a new multi-institutional research center focused on immigrant studies.

UNT took an unusual approach in allocating its resources to these interdisciplinary research areas. Rather than administering a top-down approach, UNT called for faculty to develop and submit proposals last January that laid out plans to address specific research problems by working across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The UNT Office of Research and Economic Development directed the cluster selection process and 11 faculty members served on a review committee chaired by Vish Prasad, vice president for research and economic development. The committee assessed 37 proposals and recommended to Provost Wendy K. Wilkins that six clusters receive full funding, that two receive seed funding and that a third be considered for center development.

"We're focusing our investment in areas that will produce results," Wilkins said. "UNT will be the leader in these areas, and we're confident enough of our ability to succeed that we are willing to invest millions of dollars."

The clusters are an integral part of UNT's comprehensive effort to expand research across the university. "We are very committed to expanding UNT's research contributions and I am grateful to the committed faculty members who helped make successfully launching this plan a reality," Prasad said. "This initiative will attract premier research faculty to UNT and allow us to dramatically improve our already significant contributions to advances in knowledge as well as our research funding."

Clusters will take advantage of and expand the university's research infrastructure, such as the Center for Advanced Research and Technology, a $15-million, federally-funded collection of rare, high-powered microscopes and other high-tech materials characterization equipment at Discovery Park, UNT's 290-acre research park that opened in 2004. Research in many of these clusters will lead to new technologies contributing to incubation and start-up of new companies at Discovery Park.

In recent years, UNT has made significant strides to support science and research, including the opening of a 105,000-square foot Chemistry Building in 2004 and next month's ground breaking of the new, 81,000-square-foot Life Sciences Complex, which will house biochemistry, molecular biology, plant science and developmental physiology and genetics.

UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Sarah Bahari (940) 565-4835
Email: sarah.bahari@unt.edu

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