Grainger Engineering-Morgan State University Faculty Exchange

The Grainger College of Engineering and Morgan State University (MSU) Mitchell School of Engineering are partnering to create solutions to critical higher education diversity challenges. Together, through the Grainger Engineering funded “Jumpstart Deep Research Engagement” project, Grainger Engineering and MSU aim to engage faculty, develop systemic and sustainable initiatives, strengthen inter-institutional partnerships, foster inclusive environments, and increase the diversity of graduate student, postdoc, and faculty populations. Through facilitated faculty exchanges that explore research collaborations and synergies, the project serves to:

• Jumpstart research exploration and relationship building between UIUC and MSU faculty during summer 2023
• Demonstrate evidence of ongoing work and commitment to the UIUC-MSI collaboration
• Build a stronger case for new center proposals that expands this model to include additional MSIs

Through this project, three Grainger faculty will visit MSU for a week and three MSU faculty will visit Grainger. Each faculty member will learn about the partner institution's engineering landscape through conversations with engineering faculty, leaders, and students, explore research facilities and present a research seminar to initiate possible collaborations.

Participating in this program are MSU faculty members Dr. Onyema Osuagwu (Illinois ECE '15), Dr. Petronella James, and Dr. Oludare Owolabi, and UIUC faculty members Dr. Brad Sutton, Dr. Eleftheria Kontou and Dr. Chrysafis Vogiatzis. Sustained relationship-building will continue beyond the summer to deepen the research engagement and collaboration. 

Learn more about the faculty participants, and their seminars below. We invite all to attend (in-person or virtually) and engage in discussions as we strengthen this partnership.