(Sponsored) Investing in Research At Our State Universities Pays Benefits

by | May 14, 2015 | Ads

A great news article in last Monday’s News & Observer showcased the research being conducted at UNC Chapel Hill and NC State University to help stroke victims improve their mobility with an ground breaking exoskeleton that attaches to the limb.  The new medical device will offer hope to countless patients suffering from spinal injuries to cerebral palsy.

The team of biomedical engineers led by Dr. Greg Sawicki,  and Dr. Bruce Wiggin from NC State and Dr. Steven Collins from Carnegie Mellon University developed the light carbon frame that has been through initial test stages but still will need up to five years before it is ready to take to market.

This research conducted in our university labs will lead to a better way of life for hundreds if not thousands of patients across the country and possible the globe.

These research projects are funded with our tax dollars.  This is the important work that professors are doing in our universities.  This new device was part of a multi-year effort involving classes of engineers and medical students looking at how they can improve the lives of their fellow North Carolinians.

The research lab at NC State’s Centennial Campus has been led by a respected group of professors and post-graduate students.

This research effort has already brought a great deal of prestige and notoriety to the state’s two flagship universities in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.  If the research and device are commercialized, then the university will further reap financial rewards through a shared patent with the scientists.

It is imperative that we foster this type of research in our universities.  These discoveries in our laboratories will one day be the job creator for our high-tech manufacturing sector.

Funding university research, whether it is for healthcare, agriculture, textiles, or any other industrial and commercial sector is good business for our state. These research dollars will lead to jobs, economic growth and a higher quality of life for every single citizen in our state.  It is an investment that will provide tremendous returns for our state and her citizens.

It is critical that we harness the economic energy from our universities.  We need to capitalize our brain-power and put it to good use on our farms and in our businesses both large and small. Our State Legislature should support university research projects because failing to do so will be a costly mistake.

We should welcome and encourage a new era of collaboration and cooperation between our universities and our business community.  Their efforts to drive technology will pay off for North Carolina for generations to come.

State Representative Michael Wray (D-Halifax & Northampton)

NC Main Street Democrats

AUTHORIZED AND PAID FOR BY THE NC MAIN STREET DEMOCRATS PAC

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