As the New American University, Arizona State University has designed an ecosystem for innovation and discovery called the Knowledge Enterprise. This environment enables lifelong learners to collaborate seamlessly across disciplines, engage with communities and organizations, and ultimately create solutions for global grand challenges. Our gifted students and faculty continually exceed our vision for research and innovation in the New American University. They demonstrate a combination of imagination and hard work that translates into groundbreaking discoveries. For example, an ASU graduate student scouring for fossils in Ethiopia found a jawbone that provides the oldest known evidence of the human genus. ASU scientists and engineers have designed, built and controlled instruments on multiple space missions, and now lead their own NASA mission. When the Ebola epidemic raged through Africa in 2014, a plant-based drug developed at ASU was given to two infected aid workers, who both recovered fully. In this book, we tell the stories of researchers and innovators who are moving ASU’s rich legacy of discovery forward through curiosity, creativity and collaboration. We offer a glimpse of how our researchers are leading the exploration of new frontiers, using new technologies as well as new ways of perceiving and approaching challenges. These are the results of building a knowledge enterprise driven by a focus on access, excellence and impact, and a commitment to engaging with local and global communities. We welcome your collaboration in working to shape a positive future and invite you to share your stories of innovation through discovery.
Sethuraman “Panch� Panchanathan Executive Vice President for the Knowledge Enterprise Chief Research and Innovation Officer Arizona State University
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