Research pumps millions into North Carolina economy: faculty discoveries have created 25 spinoff companies that are creating jobs and attracting new investments.

• Position: UNC-Chapel Hill - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conduct research that creates knowledge and useful technologies as well as pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the North Carolina economy. These advances, combined with teaching and public service, make the university an educational and economic beacon for the state.

Faculty are leading a partnership with Brunswick County's schools and community college to improve science education and help attract business. They are working with community leaders in Spindale, where the former Stonecutter Mills closed. They are monitoring water quality in the Neuse River. And they are training the state's future leaders and work force. "Among the university's greatest responsibilities is to translate the faculty's research into new jobs, improved health, education and well-being for the state's people and a larger tax base for North Carolina's economy," says Chancellor James Moeser. "These efforts represent an excellent return on the historically generous investment our state has made in the university."

Research funding has risen steadily at UNC-Chapel Hill for two decades, making it one of the top U.S. public universities in research support. Faculty secured $537 million in 2003, ranking among the leaders in grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Faculty discoveries have created 25 spinoff companies that are attracting new investments and creating jobs. Examples of commercialization include therapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease, industrial applications for carbon nanotubes and gene-therapy treatment for diseases such as muscular dystrophy.

Scientists are tackling challenges such as the emerging field of genome sciences, which is unraveling the mysteries of DNA. UNC has committed at least $245 million over the next decade to be at the forefront of the genomics revolution. Led by renowned genetics scientist Terry Magnuson, the initiative represents a public-private investment that includes a $25 million anonymous gift creating the Michael Hooker Center for Proteomics to study a specialized area of genetics. One result of the initiative is the School of Public Health's selection by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to house one of three U.S. centers for excellence for genomics and public health.

The interdisciplinary Renaissance Computing Institute, based at UNC in partnership with Duke and N.C. State universities, explores the...