Replacement of Multidisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratories with a Center for Interdisciplinary Research

北卡罗来纳州明廷瓦农工州立大学在培养理工科有才华的少数族裔学生方面有着悠久而杰出的记录，包括学士学位和硕士学位。为了在科学和工程领域取得卓越的学术成就，该学院最近设立了一个电气和机械工程领域的博士项目。这一计划将极大地促进该大学在科学研究方面的进步，并提高受过科学和工程训练的学者的生产力。为了帮助支持博士项目和扩大其研究项目，该大学将创建跨学科研究中心(IRC)，这是一个单一的设施，将允许在六个主要推动领域合并多个多学科实验室：材料、制造、系统工程、计算系统、农业科学和社会科学。该中心将支持工程技术学院和文理学院的教职员工和学生开展的跨学科研究活动。这项奖励将为IRC的研究和研究培训空间的翻新提供资金。空间将被重新配置，以容纳定义明确的跨学科研究，这些研究目前正在狭窄的条件下进行。配套设施将通过公共通道垂直布线，并横向分布到各个实验室，并将安装新的固定设备。改进后的设施将扩大从事研究活动的研究人员和学生的能力，刺激技术创新和21世纪国家战略学术学科的培训。由于北卡罗来纳农工州立大学是一所历史悠久的黑人学院和大学，翻新后的设施将对增加少数族裔和女性进入攻读工程和科学高级学位的途径产生重大影响。

Mtingwa North Carolina A&T State University has a long and distinguished record in graduating talented minority students in science and engineering, both at the baccalaureate and masters levels. In its quest to achieve academic excellence in science and engineering, the institution recently established a doctoral program in the fields of electrical and mechanical engineering. This program will significantly enhance the university's progress in its relation to scientific research excellence and the productivity of scholars trained in science and engineering. To help support the doctoral programs and expand its research programs, the university will create the Interdisciplinary Research Center (IRC), a single facility that will allow for the merger of several multidisciplinary laboratories in six major thrust areas: Materials, Manufacturing, Systems Engineering, Computing Systems, Agriculture Sciences and Social Sciences. The Center will support interdisciplinary research activities by faculty and students from the Schools of Engineering and Technology and the College of Arts and Science. This award will provide funding for the renovation of research and research training space for the IRC. Space will be reconfigured to house well-defined interdisciplinary research that is currently ongoing in cramped conditions. Supporting utilities will be routed vertically through common chases and distributed horizontally to the various laboratories, and new fixed equipment will be installed. The improved facility will expand the capabilities of researchers and students engaged in research activities, stimulating technological innovations and training in nationally strategic academic disciplines for the 21st century. Since North Carolina A&T State University is an Historically Black College and University, the renovated facility will have a substantial impact on increasing the number of underrepresented minorities and women entering the pipeline leading to advanced degrees in engineering and science.