UNL’s high energy physics team is leading a project to upgrade a vital component of the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. This instrument has helped answer fundamental questions about the nature of the universe, including finding the Higgs boson.

Our Extreme Light Laboratory made a major technological breakthrough, generating synchrotron X-rays using UNL’s powerful and compact Diocles laser, and the lab has a new specialized laser and multi-user facility that will expand the experimental possibilities.

One of our biggest investments, Nebraska Innovation Campus, is a rapidly growing innovation hub that is attracting private sector partners who want to share research, students and facilities. NIC’s first tenants have moved into the new Innovation Commons, and additional facilities under construction will enable our private sector scientist partners to work side by side with faculty and students.

UNL’s newly funded Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases through Dietary Molecules brings together experts in nutrition, genetics, biochemistry, food science, immunology and computer science to tackle one of society’s biggest challenges. This National Institutes of Health-funded center exemplifies the innovative work growing from our decade-long focus on building interdisciplinary research.

Our 2014 faculty retreat focused on our current collaborations among the physical, biological, social, behavioral and computational sciences. We discussed strategies that have enabled these collaborations – transdisciplinary cluster hires, creating shared facilities and developing new centers around major challenges – and announced the Big Ideas Grants Program to support innovative research teams.

At UNL our momentum is growing and we want to engage with others who are pursuing big ideas. I invite you to read this report and envision the power of partnerships forged from many disciplines and sectors. Together we can find solutions to the complex challenges facing our global community.

Prem S. Paul
Vice Chancellor for Research
and Economic Development