N77ND, UND's Citation II research jet, gains altitude above the Grand Forks International Airport. It's work has often involved the research of "engagement", helping to address specific and current problems of society at large. (Photo: Chuck Kimmerle/University Relations)

Welcome to this second issue of UND Discovery! In this bicentennial year marking the voyage of “discovery” by Lewis and Clark, it is fitting that this state’s largest and oldest university is taking “discovery” to a new level. As UND’s president, I couldn’t be more pleased that we have, in just a few short years, doubled, and nearly tripled, our externally sponsored program funding. The scope and magnitude of our research and creative work have never been greater.

The credit goes to lots of people. The North Dakota Legislature and the State Board of Higher Education have given the University the flexibility to embark on a significant effort to enhance research development and commercialization efforts. The Higher Education Roundtable even went so far as to suggest that economic development derived from research will be THE economic engine for the reshaping of North Dakota. Our congressional delegation, most notably Sen. Byron Dorgan, has provided significant help to the University through the Red River Valley Research Corridor concept. Federal support through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), going back nearly two decades, also has served as an impetus for these developments. Our governor, John Hoeven, and the Legislature have given even further impetus by helping universities throughout the state build on areas of strength and achievement through a “Centers of Excellence” program.

Here on campus, the credit goes to the many outstanding faculty and staff who generate a solid, continuous base of scholarly and creative work and have taken up several notches the effort to secure outside funding. During the most recent fiscal year, proposals went out to various funding agencies to the tune of about $200 million, which resulted in the largest annual total of sponsored programs in the history of the University.

Although this effort is broadly based, much of the credit for bringing in external dollars continues to go to our Energy and Environmental Research Center, our School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences/Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium. Fortunately, we’ve been able to support the efforts of faculty and staff in these internationally recognized Centers of Excellence with new facilities made possible by the gifts of benefactors such as Mr. James Ray and Mr. Ray Rude.

Since the range of our scholarly and creative work and our research, development, and commercialization portfolio now literally includes hundreds and hundreds of separate projects carried out by our faculty and staff, we can’t possibly describe them all in this issue of UND Discovery. We do hope you enjoy this small sampling. Many of the articles illustrate the “research of engagement” that is especially important to our state. Thank you to all who helped make our success possible.

Charles E. Kupchella
President