NASA Center For Aerospace Device Research And Education At North Carolina Central University

Submitted By droberts2014
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NASA Center for Aerospace Device Research and Education (CADRE) at North Carolina Central University (NCCU)

TRC Points of Concern
A lot of technical background was given during the virtual site visit
Final year of the grant should focus on building collaboration with various NASA centers, other government agencies and outside businesses
The final site visit should be conducted at Glenn, which would be highly beneficial to NCCU students and faculty (allow Glenn researchers (other than TRC) to learn the accomplishments of NCCU and the URC program.

Major accomplishments
Faculty published more than 300 peer reviewed papers (95 in year 5)
7 patents (2 this year)
Published 10 books chapters
Organized 3 international conferences
59 presentations this year at international conferences
Established domestic AND International partners
16 students received a Master’s degree this year
11 undergraduates graduated
Most students went on to Ph.D. programs and graduate schools
Established a tutor center and web tutoring center
Outreach program developed – includes local high schools, community colleges and universities.
Summer program was developed.

Background
CADRE is within the College of Arts and Science/PI Reports to the Dean of the College
Consist of 5 main research projects (see below)

History
First state-supported public liberal arts college founded for African Americans
$40M Townes Science Complex for multiple disciplines completed in 2005 (indicative of NCCU vision for research infrastructure improvement)
NCCU development of innovative, high quality academic and research programs across the sciences e.g. large-scale initiatives: Biomedical/biotechnology Research Institute (BBRI) and the Biomanufacturing Research Institute & Technology Enterprise (BRITE).
NCCU has made a significant commitment of cost-sharing over the five year award period. Each participating scientific department receives 70k per year for the purchase of scientific equipment (page 19 of proposal); will provide a tuition remission for graduate student research assistants up to an annual total of $130k, and will assume responsibility for the salaries of the NASA-CADRE center staff (academic year faculty salaries of the project director, two new full0time faculty positions, release time for other faculty serving as center personnel, and staff salary for an administrative assistant (40k annually).

Undergraduate and Graduate Training
All CADRE research projects have interdisciplinary education components based in real-world problem solving and apply a constructivist philosophy that emphasizes knowledge gleaned through experience and active participation in research – to empower students to progress and excel in computational and physical sciences.
Qualified undergraduates studying physical sciences will participate full time in the summer and part-time during the academic year, in one of the program research areas.
Activities will lead to published papers with the students as co-authors, and to presentations at national meetings and student conferences (a similar level but more rigorous approach is appied to graduate level research projects.
Participation in CADRE research provides exposure and interaction for students and faculty with NASA Centers, major research universities and laboratories around the nation.
Each student is assigned to a research mentor.
To ensure interaction between the student and mentor is productive, all students will be required to present their progress at least twice a year, during the weekly student seminar series, and will be encouraged to submit with their mentor, one publication per year.
All graduate students will be required to participate at the annual “NCCU Graduate Research Day” by submitting a poster or oral presentation.
Undergraduates will participate in the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium and will publish a paper in the NCCU Undergraduate Research Journal.
Students will