Welcome to DORED!

The Division of Research and Economic Development (DORED) is the administrative unit that manages N.C. A&T’s research enterprise. We invite you to learn more about how research at N.C. A&T advances education, fosters community engagement and catalyzes economic development.

Recent News

N.C. A&T Launches Southeast Urban Sustainability Summit Event

Dr. Vicki Foust at N.C. A&T has received a $50K NSF grant to fund an upcoming event to advance research in urban sustainability. The Southeast Urban Sustainability Summit (SEUSS) will develop a research network comprised of academics, municipalities, industries, and advocacy groups with the vision of advancing research in urban sustainability in the state of North Carolina. SEUSS will be held August 14-15, 2019 on the campus of N.C. A&T in Greensboro. SEUSS will convene a diverse network of stakeholders from across the state committed to identifying and addressing North Carolina’s most pressing sustainability and resilience issues related to energy, water, waste, transportation, housing, health/safety and food/agriculture. Read more…

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Six N.C. A&T Faculty Members Honored For Outstanding Research Contributions

The Division of Research and Economic Development at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is proud to announce the 2019 winners of the university’s research awards. Fifteen N.C. A&T researchers were considered for awards this year, with six faculty members being honored for their research contributions at the university’s annual Celebration of Faculty Excellence ceremony and banquet. Read more…

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Karimoddini Using Drones to Inspect Aging Civil Infrastructure

How do you inspect a bridge for signs of hazardous weakening or deterioration? It’s not easy! Chances are you’d need to close traffic lanes, lower inspectors on ropes, raise them on scaffolds or use specialized trucks or cranes with long, extending arms. The process of inspecting bridges is costly, dangerous and creates traffic disruptions. Labor costs, public inconvenience and the safety hazards of lane closures are only a few of the factors which had North Carolina’s Department of Transportation (NCDOT) looking for a better way. Read more…

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Collins Named Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor of Outreach and Economic Development

Please join DORED in congratulating Dr. Laura Collins on her new role as Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor of Outreach and Economic Development. She replaces Wayne Szafranski, who retired from N.C. A&T after 13 years of service. Laura has been N.C. A&T’s Director of Intellectual Property Development for eight years and spent the 10 prior years as a patent agent with an IP law group in San Diego, supporting patent litigation, patent prosecution, and IP business strategy counseling for clients. In her new Interim AVC role, Laura will lead the economic development and technology transfer efforts for DORED, including shepherding collaborations and agreements (e.g. NDA/MTA) with university collaborator and the business sector. Laura has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill, completed her post-doc at San Diego State University and taught as an adjunct professor at San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and San Diego Mesa College. In addition to her role on campus, Laura currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship.

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Anwar Harnessing Social Media to Study Opioid Epidemic in North Carolina

Dr. Mohd Anwar is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at North Carolina A&T State University. Dr. Anwar is a current RTI University Scholar who began collaborating with Dr. Kevin Conway (SRD) and Dr. Steven Cohen (DSDS) in the fall of 2018, to study the extent to which social media data can be harnessed as an indicator of the opioid epidemic. With more than 50,000 opioid-related overdose deaths estimated in 2017 in the United States, the opioid epidemic has emerged as a major health crisis. Read more…

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Ofori-Boadu Receives NSF CAREER Research Award

Dr. Andrea Ofori-Boadu, assistant professor of Construction and Construction Management in N.C. A&T’s Department of Built Environment within its College of Science and Technology, has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. The award period starts on March 15, 2019 and ends February 29, 2024, and is expected to total $559,991. The NSF CAREER award program is a foundation-wide activity that offers NSF's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty like Ofori-Boadu who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the missions of their organizations. Read more…

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Homaifar Named Langley Professor

Dr. Abdollah Homaifar, professor in N.C. A&T’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the newly appointed Samuel P. Langley Distinguished NASA Langley Chair Professor at the National Institute of Aerospace. The Langley Professorship, funded by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is dedicated to an N.C. A&T faculty member who works at the institute and leads university-based research and technology thrusts of substantial interest to NASA. Under this prestigious award, Homaifar will continue to focus his attention and research on the development of tools for Autonomous Unmanned Systems, bringing together top researchers to address grand challenges and investigate problems of significant national interest. Read more…

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 N.C. A&T Uses Drones to Bring “Smart Agriculture” to the Aggie Farm

A team of N.C. A&T researchers led by Dr. Ali Karimoddini received a three-year, $600K grant from the National Science Foundation to fly a team of drones above the university’s 492-acre farm, located off McConnell Road on the east side of Greensboro, for crop health monitoring, a revolutionary step toward smart agriculture. Unlike traditional crop management methods that use farmers or ground vehicles for assessing crop health status, using autonomous technology to perform aerial monitoring of agricultural fields saves time and money, while preventing damage to crops. Read more…

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Dr. Beni Using UAVs for Flood Mapping and Management

Dr. Leila Hashemi Beni, an assistant professor in the Geomatics Program in the Department of Built Environment in the College of Science and Technology, is using unmanned autonomous vehicles as remote sensing mechanisms to develop flood mapping in the state of North Carolina. Supported by a three-year, $300K grant through the National Science Foundation, Beni’s project is designed to gain a fundamental understanding of UAV data processing and to develop a research program on remote sensing data processing for environmental management. The NSF grant provides programming support for research experiences impacting both high school and undergraduate students, whose research will be further integrated into new undergraduate and graduate curriculum at the university. Read more…

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Other Resources

• The DORED Newsroom Blog
• 2018 News Archive
• 2017 News Archive
• The N.C. A&T Aggies News Room
• DORED Brochures