Florida Atlantic University (FAU) has joined the international Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Consortium, becoming the first university in Florida to be part of this global network. The VIP Consortium includes more than 50 higher education institutions that focus on research-driven and cross-disciplinary learning.
This development is supported by a $2.2 million grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, which was awarded to FAU by the United States Department of Education in late 2024.
Four faculty-led teams have been chosen from 31 proposals to form FAU’s first official VIP teams. These projects involve collaboration among researchers and students from six FAU colleges, aiming to foster mentorship and innovation.
“Being selected as a member of the VIP Consortium and launching our first VIP teams is a proud and pivotal step in our continued R1 research designation journey,” said Donna Chamely-Wiik, Ph.D., principal investigator of the FIPSE grant and senior associate dean for undergraduate research and prestigious fellowships. “This achievement reflects not only the excellence of our faculty and the promise of our students, but also the university’s deep commitment to creating an interdisciplinary and impactful research environment.”
Each team will receive $46,500 in seed funding. The program encourages long-term research involving undergraduates, graduates, and faculty across various disciplines, with an emphasis on engaging freshmen and sophomores early in their academic careers. Students are expected to remain with their teams for multiple semesters, gaining experience in fields such as health, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and social science.
The selected projects address issues related to artificial intelligence in child welfare, Alzheimer’s disease research, coastal resilience through smart sensors, and aging in the central nervous system:
– The child welfare project aims to design an AI tool that helps social workers analyze complex case data using natural language processing.
– The Alzheimer’s disease project investigates how certain proteins affect cell energy production with hopes for early intervention strategies.
– Another team will use sensors and AI analytics to study crowd dynamics and environmental stressors in Florida’s beach towns.
– The final project examines brain support cells’ roles during aging using fruit flies as models.
These efforts align with FAU’s Road to R1 initiative by supporting faculty productivity and improving student outcomes such as graduation rates, job placement, retention, and external funding.
