The Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado hosted its Fall 2025 Innovation Talks: The Future of Local Manufacturing, bringing together over 100 community members, faculty, and students to explore how innovation, creativity, and collaboration are shaping Colorado’s manufacturing landscape.
The inaugural Industry Research Summit brought EMERGE members together at Kettering University to enhance partnerships between Kettering University and industry stakeholders. Insights and recommendations from summit participants will be compiled into a blueprint for Kettering University’s Year 2 plans for the NSF EPIIC grant.
University of the Incarnate Word engineering students placed sixth of 40 teams in the American Control Conference Self-Driving Car Student Competition, held July 12-14, 2024. Competing teams programmed vehicles to effectively comply with a number of routine road standards. UIW was one of only two teams composed of undergraduates, and the first-ever UIW team to participate in the competition.
The National Science Foundation has awarded Dr. Javad Baqersad, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University, a Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant of $577,750 to acquire a 3D scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (3DSLDV).
Representatives of EMERGE consortium member universities met on the campus of UIW on April 23-25, 2024, to formally kickoff the NSF-sponsored project. EMERGE member universities are recipients of NSF EPIIC (Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity) awards. The team reviewed the project timeline and deliverables including the launch of the EMERGE website.
The University of Northern Colorado Monfort College of Business, in collaboration with the City of Greeley (Colorado), sponsored Innovation Talks, with the theme of “Venture Funding and Alternative Financing.”
Western Carolina University faculty recently hosted CLEANcarolina representatives for a tour of WCU’s Rapid Center and to discuss WCU’s EPIIC grant. CLEANcarolinas is an NSF-funded development engine aiming to catalyze an innovation ecosystem specific to clean energy, with the goals of fostering innovation, driving economic growth, and enhancing the region’s competitiveness.
As part of the 2023-24 Engineering Capstone Program, Western Carolina University School of Engineering + Technology students put their engineering education and project management skills to the test. Interdisciplinary teams tackled open-ended, real-world problems for partners representing the automotive, aerospace, military, medical, and outdoor gear industries, to name a few.
Western Carolina University was successful in its request for funds for a new engineering facility and program expansion from the North Carolina General Assembly, for the recently approved 2023-2025 biennial state budget.
The University of Northern Colorado has received a three-year, $400,000 NSF EPIIC (Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity) grant designed to encourage emerging research institutions to participate in and strengthen regional innovation ecosystems. The award resulted in the forming of the EMERGE cohort.
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced the first-ever Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) investment of $19.6 million to US institutions of higher learning including EMERGE members. The EPIIC program supports recipients in developing capacity and institutional knowledge to build new partnerships, secure external funding, and tap into regional innovation ecosystems.