NDSU announces faculty research fellows

The NDSU Office of Research and Creative Activity announced 11 faculty research fellows who will serve as strategic connectors and thought leaders on NDSU’s four emerging research priority areas.

The four emerging research priorities are the result of work done this past summer by the NDSU deans and RCA leadership team, and are focused on visioning and collaborative strategies to support and expand research and scholarly activity at NDSU in areas that already had existing momentum among faculty. They are materials research and development; precision agriculture/agriculture tech; rural and community health and biomedical sciences; and stewarding the stories, places, and people of North Dakota

The following faculty members will serve as fellows in a one-year term:

Rural and Community Health and Biosciences

• Mukund Sibi, University Distinguished Professor, chemistry

• Elizabeth Skoy, professor, pharmacy practice

• Akshaya Bhagavathula, associate professor, public health

Materials Research and Development

• Chad Ulven, University Distinguished Professor, mechanical engineering

• Erik Hobbie, professor, physics

• Ali Amiri, associate professor of practice, mechanical engineering

Humanities and Cultural Stewardship in North Dakota

• Meghan Duda, associate professor, School of Design, Art and Architecture

• Magda Marchowska-Raza, assistant professor of practice, management and marketing

• Jiale Xu, assistant professor, environmental engineering

Precision Agriculture/AgTech

• Ahmed Rabia, research assistant professor, agricultural and biosystems engineering

• Joao Paulo Flores, assistant professor, agricultural and biosystems engineering

The fellows will engage across departments and colleges to leverage these priorities in ways that create new opportunities for NDSU researchers. Their work will include promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, encouraging innovation and translating the emerging research priorities into actionable investment areas.

Each team will be allocated a pool of funds for a one-year term to support the responsibilities outlined in the application.

“This past summer, the Research and Creative Activity office partnered with all Deans to develop a crucial playbook for aligning strategic investments in research and creative activity. We identified four high-level areas of strength and growth opportunities for the university,” said NDSU interim vice president for research and creative activity Heidi Grunwald. “To capitalize on these opportunities, we are launching teams of Research Strategy Fellows, composed of faculty from across the various thematic areas. The group’s mission is to identify specific, cross-disciplinary opportunities — spanning colleges and departments — that will secure internal resources to attract substantial external funding.”

Grunwald cited several examples of high-potential interdisciplinary themes: food as medicine; healthy soil, healthy gut; aging in place and rural access to care; addressing chronic disease burdens in rural communities; computational materials science for national defense or precision agriculture; and storytelling as a tool for cultural stewardship in North Dakota and the Great Plains Region.

“This is a collaborative effort. We urge faculty across the university to engage with these teams and bring forth new, compelling ideas,” Grunwald said. “Our work is intentionally timed to integrate with NDSU’s new five-year strategic planning efforts. The current environment demands that we think collectively to raise our profile, amplify our core strengths and design clear growth roadmaps that benefit both faculty and students.”

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