More than 100 people attended “Building Research Collaborations: UNL Athletics and Research,” a retreat at Memorial Stadium to explore ways to expand the growing and unique research collaborations between Athletics and UNL faculty.

Nebraska Athletics and the UNL Office of Research and Economic Development hosted the retreat Thursday (Aug. 23).

This emerging collaboration led to allocating space in the East Stadium addition for the proposed Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, which will use cutting-edge imaging technology to better understand the biological underpinnings of behavior and performance. The addition also will house the Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab, which will focus on areas critical to increased performance and health, including technology, nutrition, psychology and learning.

During the morning session, Tom Osborne, Nebraska Athletics director; Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and economic development; Psychology Professor Dennis Molfese, director of the proposed new Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior; and Doak Ostergard, outreach director for Nebraska Athletics, outlined the background, opportunities, programs and facilities that support this growing collaboration between Athletics and UNL research.

At lunch, UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman shared his vision for this unique partnership.

“I’m very excited about the prospects here,” Perlman said. “When you start collaboration, you never know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if linkages will be vague, but when you put a lot of good people who are comparable together, you do know that good things will happen. I think that’s the real power of this enterprise …”

In the afternoon, seven faculty discussed UNL research strengths and potential areas for collaboration through the partnership. The retreat wrapped up with discussions of opportunities, challenges and next steps. PowerPoint slides from several presentations are available.

Organizers called this retreat an important first step in discussions about how to move forward to make the possibilities outlined through the day a reality.