The University of South Carolina announced May 15 it will invest $10 million over the next four years in five new interdisciplinary research institutes to address some of the state’s challenges, including health, education and water quality.

The institutes include:

  • USC Institute for Rural Education and Development – will seek better ways to teach math, science and engineering to rural students across the state.
  • USC Institute for Extreme Semiconductor Chips – will work to develop more powerful and efficient electronic and optical microchips which may be used for the electric grid, electric vehicles, aircraft and advanced health care applications.
  • USC Institute for Infectious Disease Translational Research – will study emerging diseases that may have the potential to develop into major public health threats, especially those spread by insects and those transferred from mother to child.
  • USC Institute for Clean Water – will explore novel ways to monitor water quality to ensure safe drinking water and to protect South Carolina’s waterways for use by humans and wildlife alike.
  • USC Institute for Cardiovascular Disease Research – will study the ways in which chronic stress leads to a host of physical ailments, including heart and kidney disease.

“These projects truly represent what a flagship research university does best: bring together experts from multiple disciplines to take on some of the biggest scientific and societal challenges of our time. I congratulate all the researchers involved and thank them for their dedication to our critical mission,” said USC President Michael Amiridis.

The institutes will each receive $500,000 per year over four years from USC’s Research Institutes Funding Program.

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