Launch Director’s Report: Welcome to N.C. PSI

The North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI) is a fantastic story of what’s possible when a community of stakeholders, partners and faculty dream big.

N.C. PSI was envisioned by farmers, championed by state leaders, voted on by the citizens of our state through a bond referendum, and has been eagerly anticipated by stakeholders and partners.

To help address critical issues on farms across the state, our state’s farmers and partners turned to NC State for our help with:

• Developing new crop and plant varieties that are more tolerant to pest and environmental pressures
• Improving overall quality and marketability of crops while increasing yields and utilizing fewer natural resources
• Driving greater interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle the agricultural challenges of our state, the nation and the world
• Attracting, training and retaining the best scientific minds to revolutionize plant science research and provide a talent pipeline for our biotechnology partners
• Educating our students so they can become leaders in the growing workforce
• Maximizing the potential of agricultural, industry, academia, state and federal government partnerships to leverage ideas and resources

With the assistance of long-standing partner N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS), we conducted an economic feasibility study and confirmed what we already knew: N.C. PSI is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for advancing U.S. plant science research and innovation. No other U.S. region or state is as uniquely positioned as North Carolina to drive that innovation.

Work to make N.C. PSI a reality is already underway. We have broken ground on the NC State University Plant Sciences Building, the future home of N.C. PSI. We are actively recruiting more than 90 research faculty. And research teams from colleges across the campus are coming together to drive interdisciplinary team-science that will yield results.

Countless organizations have helped make this initiative possible, and to them, I say thank you.

If you are new to N.C. PSI, what are you waiting for? Join us as we partner together to improve the world through plant science innovation.

Sincerely,

Steve Briggs