Office of the Provost

Innovation Hub

The Innovation Hub at Christopher Newport University serves as the gateway for industry and research institutions to collaborate with our faculty and students. We welcome partnerships for applied research projects that advance your interests while enriching our academic community. Please reach out to us with ideas to forge impactful partnerships and ignite scientific innovation.

The Innovation Hub is receiving funding from a National Science Foundation EPIIC grant (award 2331430) from 2023 to 2026.

Vision

We aspire to create a seamless exchange of knowledge, enrich career opportunities, and pave the way for innovative research and development by involving faculty and students in projects with industry and other research institutions.

Sponsored Projects

• I.Panayotova (CNU, Mathematics), Dr. M. Fabrizio (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, VIMS) and Dr. V. Savatorova (Central Connecticut State University)
  • Title: "Data-driven Mathematical Modeling of Climate Change Effects on Chesapeake Bay Fishes"
• K.Perkins (CNU, Physics, Computer Science and Engineering) and P. Hennis (Width.AI)
  • Title: "Developing an Efficient Vector Database System for Legal Document Retrieval"

For Industry and Other Institutions

We want to leverage our faculty expertise with your industry skills to foster research through use-inspired research project collaborations. We have particular faculty expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. Contact us with your ideas to explore possibilities for collaboration with our faculty in these or any related areas. There is no cost for external partners to participate in our current pilot research collaborations.

Our faculty have expertise in the following areas:

• Applied Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• Data Science
• Data Mining
• Database Design
• Statistical Inference
• Software Development
• DevOps
• Scientific Visualization
• Robotic Controls and Systems
• Unmanned Aerial Systems
• Smart Grids
• Web Services

Reach out to us for further information or to discuss potential collaborations.

For Our Faculty

We seek to expand the horizons of your research and help you establish collaborations with industry and other external institutions. If selected for our pilot partnership program, you will be provided with a stipend to support the exploration of a research project with an external partner. We are also facilitating finding stipend support for a student assistant for each pilot partnership. You can browse the list of external institutions below. Contact us if you want to explore possibilities with them...or others you know might be interested (we are always looking to expand our list of collaborating institutions).

For Our Students

Our research partnerships can provide you with opportunities to work with both CNU faculty and external research partners in industry and at research institutions.

Media and Communications

• Participation at the National Science Foundation showcase to the US Congress caucuses on Artificial Intelligence. Washington, DC., September 19, 2024. We presented our achievements during the first year of the EPIIC grant
• T. Swaak, "Spotlight: From Strangers to Partners." In "Adapting to AI", The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 2024, pp. 37- 38'.
• Christopher Newport University. Press release "National Science Foundation Grant Cultivates Student-Industry Collaboration." October 13, 2023.

Roberto Flores

Director

Associate Professor
Luter Hall 326

Lynn Lambert

Co-Director

Associate Provost for Research
Dean of Graduate Studies
Christopher Newport Hall 412

Ryan Fisher

Co-Director

Associate Professor
Luter Hall 317

Anton Riedl

Co-Director

Associate Professor
Department Chair
Luter Hall 313A