Technology will serve as the cornerstone of a future unlike any we have experienced before. Organizations that use technology to create deeper and more meaningful human relationships will rise to the top.

On the morning of my second day as chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, I had the opportunity to address a campus-wide gathering of faculty and staff, the traditional start of the school year we call Faculty/Staff Institute.

It was my first chance to see most of my new colleagues, and they, me. While such events are often lighthearted and enthusiastic, it didn’t take long for us to get down to more serious business: the vision we are now developing for North Carolina A&T – a university distinguished by some of the most interesting, unique and exciting characteristics in all of American higher education. If I could boil my message down to two ideas, it would be these:

• Our perspective will expand, from national to global as we leverage new opportunities that the university’s evolution over the past 133 years now places within our reach.

• Our journey toward our goals will move at an exponential pace, driven not just by new and emerging technology, but by our ability to leverage people and partnerships and intersect information flows in ways that create new opportunities for our success at one of the most exciting doctoral research universities in America.

That might sound like a tall order. To understand it, we need to look beyond the “what” and examine the “why.”

First, North Carolina A&T is ranked the No. 1 public historically Black university in America by The Wall Street Journal with the second highest peer score among all HBCUs in U.S. News & World Report. We are also the largest HBCU in America for the past 11 consecutive years; more than 47,000 students sought admission to our university this academic year. We stand for something that students want: Outstanding academic preparation in a diverse, inclusive, cultural environment different from most other institutions of our size and stature.

Second, while we are currently designated an R2-High Research Activity institution, we surpassed criteria for the R1-Very High Research Activity classification in 2023-24 and will add to those qualifications this academic year. Over the past two years, our faculty have earned $250 million in contracts and grants and are rapidly expanding our capacity with new centers of excellence and partnerships with other research universities, corporations and federal agencies.

Third, our impact already reaches well beyond the United States. More than 100 nations are represented in our student body of 14,311 – 28 of them on the African continent. We are increasingly invested in important, consequential research that advances the human condition in Africa, from understanding the impacts of climate change and environmental pollution to enhancement of food supply chains to get sustenance more efficiently from suppliers to the starving and food insecure. Our foundation on a continent whose working-age population will grow by 450 million people over the next 10 years is exceptionally strong.

These characteristics might not be that noteworthy, were it not for new technologies that are shrinking the world and speeding the pace of innovation – technologies we are investing in as a university from instructional and research standpoints. Consider three recent examples:

• A&T is the lead institution in a new center of excellence in air mobility and drone innovation with initial funding of $2 million from the N.C. Dept. of Transportation.
• An interdisciplinary team of A&T researchers recently landed a $4.5 million U.S. Dept. of Education grant to expand our university’s research and teaching capacity in the biomedical life sciences.
• And in November, the UNC System Board of Governors approved our new B.S. in Artificial Intelligence – the first such degree in our state and one of only a handful nationwide.

There’s more – much more – and it all adds up to an unmistakable conclusion: A&T is emergent as an exponential university and has the cultural, academic and research bona fides to move intentionally in an exciting new direction that holds dramatic promise for our university and our students. While technology will serve as a cornerstone of that movement, our human and knowledge infrastructure and capacity to establish consequential relationships will be what sets us apart. 

We live in a rapidly changing, dynamic world, one in which the importance of technological infrastructure has evolved to pay enormous rewards to those who understand that intersecting flows of information are the arena for game-changing innovation. A revolutionary future beckons, one unlike any we have ever experienced. We embrace the opportunity to lead in that new reality, from technological and human perspectives, mens et manus, mind and hand. 

James R. Martin II, Ph.D., is the 13th chancellor of North Carolina A&T State University, America’s largest HBCU and one of the top three public research campuses of North Carolina.

North Carolina A&T’s national leadership in graduation of African American students at the undergraduate and graduate levels has grown further, according to new U.S. Department of Education data published in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education’s annual “Top 100” rankings.

N.C. A&T now ranks among the top 10 producers of Black graduates in 14 undergraduate disciplines and in all disciplines combined and is among the top 30 in 21 disciplines. A&T is the No. 1 HBCU producer of Black graduates in eight disciplines, as well as in all disciplines combined. Among master’s programs, A&T ranks in the top 10 in six disciplines, as well as No. 1 in engineering doctoral programs. The new data is drawn from the 2022-23 academic year.

More than ever, the data document A&T’s unparalleled contributions to the representation of African Americans in the knowledge economy, including major contributions in STEM disciplines. A&T continues to lead all American universities in production of Black bachelor’s degree graduates in engineering and agriculture students, the latter a position it shares this year with Tuskegee University.

A major force behind this growth is A&T’s status as America’s largest HBCU – a position it has held for 11 consecutive years. “Combined with our standing as America’s most affordable doctoral research university and as one of the nation’s top 40 national universities in social mobility, North Carolina A&T’s prominence as a top-choice institution for outstanding students, especially African American students, continues to grow,” said Chancellor James R. Martin II.

Researchers at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University landed a highly competitive award from the state Department of Transportation recently to establish the Center of Excellence for Advanced Air Mobility and Unmanned Aircraft Systems, underscoring the university’s leadership in developing drones, air taxis and craft that work together in teams.

The initial award of $2 million covers two years. North Carolina A&T will lead research in “multimodal transportation, emergency response, regional air mobility and preparing the infrastructure and workforce needed to make new aviation technologies a success.” North Carolina State University and Elizabeth City State University will play subordinate roles in the center.

A&T’s Abdollah Homaifar, Ph.D., will lead the center as principal investigator, bringing decades of leadership and research bona fides to the role as Samuel P. Langley Distinguished Professor and Duke Energy Eminent Professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Electrical Engineering.

“Our research will not only position North Carolina at the forefront of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system advancements, but also create pathways for students to develop the skills and expertise needed for careers in this transformative industry,” said Homaifar.

The new center becomes A&T’s second center of excellence and fifth center overall dedicated to transportation autonomy in all its many forms.

After several relatively quiet years, the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s Center for Outreach in Alzheimer’s, Aging and Community Health (COAACH) is reinvigorating its image as the nation’s leading higher education research center focused heavily on African Americans who suffer from the disease.

Last month, COAACH announced a prestigious National Institutes of Health R01 award of $4.8 million over five years to study Alzheimer’s disease in middle-aged African Americans. COAACH Director Travonia Brown-Hughes, Ph.D., is principal investigator on the project. Highly competitive, R01 grants support health-related research development based on independent research projects.

Despite experiencing a disproportionately high incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias - African Americans are about twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to develop Alzheimer’s  – Black patients and their caregivers are significantly underrepresented in research related to the condition.

“This grant will allow us to conduct research focused on biopsychosocial factors impacting cognitive outcomes in 600 Black participants ages 55 and over,” said Brown-Hughes. The list of collaborating institutions on the project is as prestigious as the grant itself: Johns Hopkins University, Clemson University, Michigan’s William Beaumont Hospital and the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Founded in 2014 by its original director, Dr. Goldie Byrd, COAACH developed a strong national reputation by the mid-to-late 2010s. An influential, in-depth feature in a June 2017 issue of the Washington Post Magazine, “African Americans are more likely than whites to develop Alzheimer’s. Why?,” focused heavily on Dr. Byrd and COAACH, especially their unheard of success in attracting Black research participants.

When Byrd left COAACH and A&T in 2018 to lead Wake Forest’s Angelou Center, the center struggled to find its footing. After two leadership changes, COAACH landed Brown-Hughes earlier this year. The appointment was a coup, given Brown-Hughes' standout background in Alzheimer’s research.

She previously held faculty and research positions at Hampton University’s School of Pharmacy, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, its Alzheimer’s Disease and Research Center and its Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiatives in Alzheimer’s, which she directed.

“Dr. Brown-Hughes’ background, record of community-based research, vision and commitment to increasing diversity in the clinical and aging research workforce make her the ideal candidate for leading COAACH to be a center of excellence in community outreach, research and education,” said Abdellah Ahmidouch, Ph.D., dean of the A&T College of Science and Technology, where Brown-Hughes also serves as an associate professor.