Solving Critical Problems

UNCW has a strong portfolio of diverse research innovations, both existing and in development, that is impacting society by solving critical problems.

The MORPH Longitudinal Database developed by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Identity Sciences (I3S) is the largest longitudinal facial recognition database in the world and recently doubled in size. MORPH contains 400,000+ images of nearly 70,000 subjects, taken over time, and includes metadata for age, gender, race, height, weight and eye coordinates.

Beyond intellectual property, UNCW has an assortment of products available for sale. These include oyster seed from the Shellfish Research Hatchery, black sea bass from the Finfish Aquaculture Facility, cultures from the Algal Research Collection and ELISA test kits for the harmful toxins these algae produce.

The university also has several new and exciting innovations underway. Researchers are developing a method to keep mRNA therapeutics stable at room temperature for extended periods of time; investigating how to inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungus and other microbial life that infect millions of people every year; creating technology to better assess emotional health; producing more effective cannabinoid compounds; and building marine sensors – one to track CO2 and another to report real-time environmental change during extreme weather events.

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship launched the Alliance for the Blue Economy, a multidisciplinary initiative to establish southeastern North Carolina as a national and global leader in the Blue Economy. The group debuted at “All Blue Week” with more than a dozen events explaining and exploring its goals – to support local entrepreneurs and innovators, promote the region as an innovation hub, assist in the creation of infrastructure and attract investment capital in the Blue Economy.

The CIE also co-sponsored the Coastal Entrepreneur Awards with the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The event celebrated 11 standout startup companies and nonprofits, of which several recipients are alumni of UNCW or have ties to the university and the CIE. A common thread across the flourishing biotechnology sector in Wilmington is the presence of UNCW graduates. Wilmington’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is vibrant and growing, and critical to the success and economic development of the region.

Jennifer McCall, assistant professor in the Clinical Research Program in the School of Nursing, and Susan Niven, research specialist at the Center for Marine Science, are collaborating with Mote Marine Laboratory, in partnership with FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, to provide better real-time information to shellfish farmers during harmful algal blooms (HABs) of Florida Red Tide. McCall’s lab at CMS is one of the only labs in the world that can provide the suite of toxins needed to ensure accurate field testing of Mote’s on-the-boat toxin test kits. Their work also prepares and protects North Carolina as HABs become a greater possibility in our region.

The Regional Economic Development Scorecard was created in 2015 by the Wilmington Chamber’s flagship initiative, Cape Fear Future, to provide a baseline to develop goals that will encourage economic progress. The scorecard is an objective depiction of where our region stands against peer cities, and this fifth edition contains data from key areas of economic development: human capital, innovation, entrepreneurship, quality of place and traded sector. The research, conducted by Professor of Economics Adam Jones and the UNCW Swain Center for Executive Education and Economic Development, reflects data collected from Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties. The key takeaway is that the region has consistently maintained a slight edge, and the community is incrementally growing, which makes a big difference over a long period of time.

Previously, only a small number of automated radio tracking towers tied into the Motus Wildlife Tracking System existed in North Carolina. Thanks to a partnership between Cape Fear Audubon Society, Audubon North Carolina and the lab of Biology Assistant Professor Raymond Danner, a new Motus tower was installed on Lea Island south of Topsail. The towers assist with tracking migration and conservation efforts by uploading real-time data when a tagged bird flies nearby.

UNCW, in collaboration with more than 25 North Carolina-based academic, industry, nonprofit and state government organizations, has joined the North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance, a new consortium tasked with developing world-class human performance solutions for the nation’s military. NC-COMP will focus on interdisciplinary and holistic research and development to address three main areas: preventing injury and speeding recovery, maintaining performance in multi-stressor environments and enhancing baseline physical and mental performance for service members. Karl Ricanek, professor of computer science and director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Identity Sciences, serves as UNCW’s liaison to NC-COMP.

As part of continued scholarship around teaching 1898, Watson College of Education faculty members Cara Ward, Donyell Roseboro and Denise Ousley-Exum have investigated using a history lab and children’s literature with grades 4 through 8 and interdisciplinary place-based experiential learning with grades 9 through 12. Results have been published in the NJCSS journal Teaching Social Studies, by the Taylor & Francis Group in the journal Whiteness and Education, and presented at the 4th Annual Teaching Black History Conference.

The Teagle Foundation has funded UNCW to develop the Fragility, Resilience and Engaged Education in Democracy (FREED) Project, a university-wide program to enhance civic education through the integration of coursework, applied learning and community-engaged research and learning. Students will explore what it means to participate in a democracy, how that participation is activated through civic engagement and how fragile that participation may be under certain circumstances. The project will focus on Wilmington’s history, including the 1898 coup d’état and massacre.

Chris Prentice, professor of public and international affairs, co-developed spatio-temporal mapping for estimating real-time characteristics of the coronavirus in the U.S. The statistical model was used to create several visualization dashboards for both fellow researchers and policymakers in the region. Findings about the effectiveness of state-issued, stay-at-home orders were co-published in Scientific Reports. Sabrina Cherry, associate professor of public health in the School of Health and Applied Human Sciences, is featured in Vaccination from the Misinformation Virus. The documentary aims to help address vaccine concerns by explaining why vaccines are safe, crucial to community health and save millions of lives.