A scientist harnesses CRISPR to create tools that can edit genomes in everything from bacteria to humans.

Research

Centennial Campus is a hothouse for innovation within NC State, and one of the premier research campuses in North America.

A Community of Thinkers and Doers

Centennial Campus is a leading research park with an essential difference: proximity to talent. Unlike other university research campuses, we’re inseparable from the university we serve — and from the wider Research Triangle.

We’re home to key NC State academic units, to labs, companies, core facilities, amenities and one of the world’s most advanced libraries. Students, faculty, university staff, and corporate and public-sector partners rub shoulders and cross paths as part of a vibrant community.

NC State is a national research powerhouse renowned for its real-world focus and its success in partnering with industry and government. We excel at both basic and applied research — at breaking new ground and bringing new products to market.

Scientists inside the IBM Q computation center, which houses IBM’s most advanced quantum computers, accessed via IBM Cloud by the IBM Q Network.

A World-Class Research Environment

Centennial Campus houses leading-edge facilities and laboratories for engineering, agriculture and life sciences, and textiles, as well as a host of acclaimed centers and institutes.

The Office of Research and Innovation also oversees six Shared Core Research Facilities that offer cutting-edge equipment and instrumentation — as well as project consultation and hands-on training. Half of these core facilities are physically located on Centennial.

NC State is one vertex in the Research Triangle, maintaining close ties to UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University. We’re also close to a host of other universities in North Carolina and along the Eastern Seaboard, as well as Washington, D.C. and nearby government agencies.

The Eastman Chemical (Kodak) dye lab on Centennial Campus.

#7 for Industry Expenditures

Among public universities without a medical school, NC State leads in research sponsored by the private sector.

A Home for Top Researchers — and Emerging Talent

New and established faculty from around the world are attracted to NC State’s top-tier research enterprise. Centennial Campus offers opportunities to engage with a wealth of minds tackling the world’s most pressing problems — and it fosters collaboration between faculty, student talent, government agencies and the best in business.

NC State is renowned for its cross-disciplinary approach. Nature ranks us among the top contributors to highly collaborative journal publications and our interdisciplinary faculty cluster program is held up as a national model.

Within North Carolina, we’re the flagship university for startups and entrepreneurship. In 2018, 28 startups and spinoffs launched from the UNC System — and 21 of them came from NC State. We’re known for our excellence in turning new ideas into products and services, and our flexible approach makes things straightforward for researchers and partners alike.