Dear Friend of Clemson:
This is an exciting time to be associated with Clemson, and I am honored and humbled to be nearing the start of my 5th year as president of one of the finest universities in the world.
At Clemson, we – all of us, every day – work to better serve our students, employees, community and state. I am committed to doing more to communicate the university’s successes and the challenges we face with those who care deeply about Clemson.
In that spirit, this is the first of what will be a regular series of updates about issues and topics important to Clemson. The goal is not to clutter your in-box. Rather, I will strive to keep these notes succinct, topical and timely. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
As always, thank you for your support of Clemson University.
Jim Clements
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Clemson research: Joining elite company
Clemson enjoys a well-earned reputation for providing a premier undergraduate student experience where outstanding teaching, relevant degree programs and a family atmosphere combine to produce graduates who are prepared to make a positive difference in the world.
Our commitment to undergraduate education is unwavering, but today it is complemented by a large and growing research enterprise that has been recognized as one of the best in higher education. Indeed, Clemson’s inclusion as a Carnegie R1 “highest research activity” university in 2016 puts us among the nation’s top research institutions for the first time in our history.
The designation reflects the significant growth in Clemson’s research activities across the university. It also is reflective of a culture that encourages the pursuit of scientific discovery and a university where more faculty members and students than ever before are engaged in research. (For an example of the type of research opportunities afforded our undergraduates, I invite you to watch this short video.)
Signs of Clemson’s growing research enterprise also can be seen across the spectrum of our faculty, from the seven junior faculty members that received prestigious CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation in the past year – our highest total in five years – to the hiring last month of two of the country’s foremost geneticists by our College of Science.
Today, faculty are aiming higher when it comes to seeking research grants, working across disciplines more than ever and pursuing research that is relevant to the economy and well-being of the state South Carolina.
This work is being carried out at our main campus and at our innovation campuses in Charleston, Greenville, Greenwood and Anderson. It is exemplified by our well-established innovation clusters in advanced materials; cyberinfrastructure and big data science; energy; transportation and advanced manufacturing; health innovation; human resilience; and sustainable environment.
Here are just a few recent research-related highlights:
As we look for greater impact, our faculty members are leading multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research projects on issues of global significance. For example, Clemson joined researchers at nine other South Carolina universities in the new MADE in SC program supported by a recent $20 million federal grant – of which $6 million is earmarked for Clemson across six academic departments.
Discoveries from this program promise to boost the economy and support industry with the development of materials for next generation computing systems, materials that can self-heal, and biomaterials that can interact with the human body to improve health care outcomes.
This kind of interaction among academic disciplines is critical to creating high-impact research. In that spirit, our Division of Research, led by Vice President Tanju Karanfil, launched an Office of Research Development to mentor young faculty, increase our competitiveness for large grants and promote collaboration across all of Clemson’s campuses.
The office will be spearheaded by one of our star faculty members, Dr. Sez Atamturktur, a Provost’s Distinguished Professor in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. She is one of our most active researchers, having led Clemson teams that were awarded a number of multi-million dollar grants in recent years.
Thanks to the outstanding work of our faculty, administrative staff and students, our recent successes have laid the foundation for future growth in our research operation. This growth stands to help strengthen South Carolina’s knowledge economy, allow Clemson to help tackle some of the most challenging problems we face as a society and fulfill our mission of service as one of the nation’s foremost public land-grant universities.
