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Everything is up at North Carolina Central University The five largest grants this year:
Sponsored research at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) has increased 97.4% to $53.1 million for the 2022-2023 school year, up from $26.9 million in the prior school year. DEEPAK KUMAR, PH.D. associate provost and dean BBRI
CAESAR JACKSON, PH.D. professor Mathematics and Physics
The reasons are many, said Deepak Kumar, Ph.D., associate provost and dean of sponsored research, and director of the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Institute (BBRI). Most of the funding is through federal grants. For example, both the White House and National Institutes of Health have issued grants to research inequities that became apparent during the COVID pandemic. “Health equity has been front and center,” Kumar said. “It has really taken off. Workforce development and diversifying the workforce. Getting students into science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers has helped a lot. Also, [there were] a couple [of] opportunities around digital and data equity.”
6 I NCCU NOW I SPRING 2024
_______ Hernan Navarro, Ph.D., past director of the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE), received a $6.19 MILLION GRANT from the U.S. Department of Commerce to study workforce equity in biomanufacturing. _______ Kumar received a $3.33 MILLION GRANT from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to boost primary health care access for underserved, uninsured and underinsured communities throughout North Carolina. He also received a $1.99 MILLION GRANT from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study COVID and long-COVID infections. _______ Jon Gant, Ph.D., library and information science professor, received $2.92 MILLION from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Digital Equity Leadership Program, an effort to bridge the digital divide (Siobahn Day Grady, Ph.D., assistant professor and program director of information science/systems has since taken over as principal investigator.) _______ Caesar Jackson, Ph.D., professor of physics in the department of mathematics and physics, received a $1.19 MILLION GRANT from the National Science Foundation for the DREAM STEM Project which aims to advance research, academics and entrepreneurship in STEM student success.