Research Areas of Focus & Distinction

Artificial intelligence (AI) enables machines to perform difficult tasks, interface and collaborate with humans and augment human capabilities. AI impacts almost every area of our lives, from finance to medicine to consumer electronics, and the associated innovations are expected to transform how the world does business, translating into a global market that exceeds $700 billion by 2027.

UNC Charlotte faculty expertise touches on a range of emerging AI-focus areas, including machine learning and data mining methods; robotics and autonomous systems; human-assistive AI; high-performance AI; and ethical, explainable and trustworthy AI.

University researchers develop foundational techniques and apply them to address problems across a broad range of interests, including computing infrastructure and cybersecurity, energy, climate change, health care, scientific discovery, smart cities, personalized education and defense. The work is advanced through a network of collaborative national partnerships with private industry and government agencies.

Climate change affects every aspect of life on Earth. Understanding, communicating, and addressing its complex consequences requires a concerted, integrated effort by teams of faculty researchers with diverse perspectives, tools and methodologies. At UNC Charlotte, researchers from fields ranging from geology to genetics, to arts and architecture, employ comprehensive, multidisciplinary approaches to study past, ongoing, and future impacts of climate and pursue innovative solutions for mitigation, adaptation and resilience. University researchers study how climate change affects natural systems and phenomena, such as paleo-climate and -fires, rock landslides, water chemistry and microbial genomics, and storms and atmospheric heating. They also study and communicate — through arts, humanities, and community engagement — climate change interactions with human systems, including natural hazard impacts, food supply robustness and fragility, energy and transportation and socio-spatial economic and health disparities.

Bridging the natural, social and behavioral sciences, engineering, arts, humanities, and policy studies, these collaborations and research thrusts have gained local and national attention and inform the work of policymakers and practitioners charged with advancing and implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies and solutions.

Science and engineering conducted at the nanoscale — a scale that is 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair — is driving a revolution in the creation of new solutions to worldwide problems, particularly in energy, health and medicine and the environment.

UNC Charlotte nanoscale researchers work toward the development of novel materials, devices and structures to address these problems and challenges. University researchers are developing RNA nanoparticles for immunotherapies and vaccines that target antibiotic-resistant pathogens and cancers, and developing nanosensors for the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. They investigate novel organic molecular dyes and polymers for use in solar energy conversion, generate inorganic nanomaterials to build efficient energy storage devices and develop sustainable methods to decontaminate water.

Others on campus are applying a wide variety of interdisciplinary experimental approaches to gain molecular-level insights into biological systems, with significance for cancer research, immune responses, neurodegenerative diseases and other important areas of research.

Online misinformation, disinformation and deception spread by humans or bots are designed to mislead users, organizations and societies, serving to promote dangerous, socially destabilizing ideas through fake news, conspiracy theories, rumors, fake consumer reviews and spam blogs. UNC Charlotte researchers from multiple disciplines investigate online deception; build systems that automatically identify, weed out and minimize the ways these schemes and systems spread lies online; and analyze how misinformation and online deception compromise the ability of individuals to make informed decisions.

To restore confidence in the online information environment and promote trusted, fact-based information sources, University faculty use novel tools and design and develop innovative, interactive visual interfaces that enable the automatic detection of misinformation, facilitate the systematic investigation of misinformation sources and prevent the propagation and dissemination of fake news.

As the world continues to urbanize, cities must address the impacts of growth on infrastructure, the environment and public health. With nearly 70% of the world’s population projected to live in cities by 2050, UNC Charlotte research that contributes to strategic, sustainable growth and safe, healthy urban environments is crucial. Teams of University researchers tackle the challenges of an urbanizing world in diverse ways. Some harness vast amounts of data or advances in artificial intelligence to guide sustainable urbanization or address complex challenges in public safety and transportation, while others create cost-effective technologies that reduce building energy-use and produce clean power.

The University’s multidisciplinary teams include engineers, architects, inventors and experts in transportation, public safety, land use, urban design, city management and housing. Existing campus assets include extensive experience in urban data curation, expertise in geoanalytics and collaborative partnerships with local and regional community-based organizations, agencies and industries.

Lack of socioeconomic mobility and income disparities profoundly shape access to health, education, housing, employment and other key aspects of life and well-being. UNC Charlotte researchers from psychology, sociology, social work, public policy, public health, geography, and anthropology study the complex factors that affect children’s and families’ prospects for upward mobility. Factors such as education opportunities, financial stability and health care access often intersect to facilitate or hinder socioeconomic mobility. University researchers partner with external organizations and agencies to identify these factors and to map policy and systems approaches intended to facilitate socioeconomic mobility.

Data-driven expertise partnered with community expertise results in a shared commitment to address problems such as early childcare and education, college and career readiness, child and family stability and inequities. In one targeted approach, the Social Aspects of Health Initiative focuses on social, institutional and environmental contexts to identify and address health inequities in urban regions.

Transportation and mobility issues are among the most critical to social mobility, and related infrastructure can represent expensive public and private assets. As vehicles continue to evolve into autonomous, smart and connected machines, UNC Charlotte faculty are harnessing sensors, data analytics, artificial intelligence and predictive modeling to transform mobility systems for people, materials and products.

The University’s interdisciplinary teams are generating innovative ways to improve, operate and maintain critical physical infrastructure, while addressing societal needs, optimizing the use of constrained resources, and maintaining safety and privacy.

Existing expertise includes data analytics in transportation, airport/aviation infrastructure and materials research; smart and efficient multimodal transportation systems; connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs); transportation operations; and technology readiness and security. Life-cycle management experts use advanced techniques to assess impacts on economies, regional connectivity, workforce development and land use.

Research suggests one’s residential address has as dramatic an effect on health as genetic code. UNC Charlotte experts work in North Carolina’s largest city and beyond on the social determinants of health to solve real-world challenges. With populations expanding rapidly in metropolitan areas, University researchers study how urban environments affect the health of residents.

Issues unique to urban communities, such as traffic patterns, school districting, affordable housing, wage policies, pollution and access to healthy food are among the many underlying causes of health inequities. Interdisciplinary teams from public health, data science, biostatistics, psychology, anthropology and social work use a variety of research methods, including action research, community-based participatory research and clinical research, to identify practical health promotion solutions, implement community-based chronic disease prevention and management programs, advance health policy reform, promote racial equity, improve health outcomes and minimize health disparities.