Georgia State University will launch a new Research Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) challenge to address complex societal problems through interdisciplinary collaboration. The initiative aims to foster an innovative research ecosystem at the university and leverage the strengths of the Georgia State research community to address complex problems.
Georgia State President M. Brian Blake announced a $2.5 million one-time investment to jumpstart up to five research projects as part of the initiative.
“Georgia State’s research and innovation are so important to the state, region and world,” Blake said. “The RISE challenge will provide resources for teams to develop even more transformative research at the university and help cultivate the next generation of innovative thought leaders.”
The RISE challenge will be led by Georgia State Vice President for Research and Economic Development Tim Denning and Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicolle Parsons-Pollard.
“Through the RISE challenge, Georgia State is extending its work in interdisciplinary research and scholarship into its next phase,” said Parsons-Pollard. “This initiative takes the firm foundations of previous efforts that looked externally and applies this spirit and the lessons learned toward harnessing the university’s unique, existing strengths in exciting new directions while enriching and growing our faculty toward new research goals. While the RISE challenge looks to internal strengths, it also has a major external component, as successful teams will be charged with proactively engaging students and the larger community outside of Georgia State.”
RISE teams will receive one-time seed funding of up to $500,000 over the course of one year. Recipients will be notified May 16. The teams will be expected to take new approaches to some of today’s most pressing societal challenges.
“Over the past decade, Georgia State has risen as a dynamic research institution, and the university is now poised to build on that growth. This initiative is about accelerating interdisciplinary research and innovative thinking,” said Denning. “We are excited to bring together Georgia State’s research community to meet some of society’s toughest challenges and produce tremendous outcomes.”
— Andrea Jones, VP, Public Relations & Marketing Communications
Originally published at https://news.gsu.edu/2022/02/03/georgia-state-announces-new-rise-challenge-to-fund-transformative-research/.