Research

Goal 

  • Achieve preeminence in discovery and innovation to address global challenges in food, life and natural resource sciences.
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Key Characteristics

  • Basic research advancing its impact on the world.
  • Leadership in interdisciplinary and collaborative research expanding the research footprint and impact on the frontiers of knowledge and applications.
  • Innovative applications meeting challenging societal needs as a leading contributor toward advancing quality of life, livelihood and the environment.
  • Global recognition for driving discovery toward solutions to challenges of food, life and natural resource systems.
  • Accomplishments that raise the distinction, stature and world rankings of the College.
  • Success in garnering significant investments from public and private entities at state, national and international levels, thus advancing the global visibility and competitiveness of the College.

Key Strategic Initiatives

  • Drive discovery
    • Seek solutions that address challenges of food, life and dimensions of natural resource systems and the environment.
    • Conduct basic research that creates fundamental knowledge to broaden discovery pathways.
    • Enable data science and digital technologies for the next generation of decision-making for food, life science and agriculture.
  • Address global challenges through discovery and innovation
    • Invest in people:
      • Promote leadership in interdisciplinary research to expand the College's research footprint and impact on the frontiers of knowledge and applications by facilitating connections and creative collaborations.
      • Champion accomplishments that raise the distinction, stature and world rankings of the College.
      • Recruit, retain and promote world-class faculty, staff and students.
      • Maximally engage the next generation of thinkers and problem-solvers to be future-ready through innovative graduate programs.
      • Empower a working and learning environment that welcomes, values, supports and promotes diversity, inclusion and equity for all persons.
  • Modernize facilities and resources
    • Design and refresh facilities with people-centric designs that promote socialization within (and between) research groups.
    • Identify and invest in unique facilities that promote discipline convergence in addressing multifaceted research problems.
    • Plan new research workspaces for greater flexibility and adaptability.
    • Align resources to pivot to match new research needs.
  • Create and leverage strategic alliances
    • Attract significant investments from public and private entities at state, national and international levels.
    • Identify and seek unconventional partners and alliances while remaining connected to current stakeholders.
  • Conceive and develop disruptive frameworks and technologies for agriculture, food and life sciences
    • Engage in creative activities (e.g., Hackathons and Ag-Eng days) that hasten ideation and team formation.
    • Promote and recognize team efforts that expand the reach of agriculture and life science discovery.
  • Promote an "ideation-to-outcomes" approach to science
    • Develop innovative applications in meeting challenging societal needs as a leading contributor toward advancing quality of life, livelihood and the environment.
    • Foster, recognize and reward entrepreneurship in research and graduate education.