{"id":78161,"date":"2025-02-05T16:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/?page_id=78161"},"modified":"2026-05-10T19:14:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:14:31","slug":"n-c-psi-bridge-symposium","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/psi\/education\/n-c-psi-bridge-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"N.C. PSI BRIDGE Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

The N.C. PSI BRIDGE (“B<\/strong>ringing together R<\/strong>esearch Id<\/strong>eas for G<\/strong>reater E<\/strong>xtension”) Symposium, held each spring, features presentations from teams of graduate students and postdocs who have built collaborative bridges across disciplines to offer innovative solutions to improve the economy, environment and people\u2019s lives. Directly following the symposium presentations, all participants and attendees are invited to participate in a networking session with industry judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrating the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, the goals of this symposium are to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of research at NC State and to encourage students to think creatively in terms of who they could work with and more broadly about the applicability of their research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Real-World Impact<\/strong><\/h2>

The BRIDGE Symposium is a catalyst for students to transform their ideas into reality and develop innovative solutions that cross disciplines.\u00a0 <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Networking Opportunities<\/strong><\/h2>

Participants can connect with industry professionals during the event, as these experts are invited to both mentor and judge during the competition.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Prizes<\/h2>

If bragging rights are not enough, multiple prizes for winning teams in each presentation category are awarded at the end of the event.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Grad Students Build Bridges for Agricultural Innovation<\/h2>

The N.C. PSI’s BRIDGE Symposium provided a window into the bold ways graduate students are collaborating across academic fields to solve a range of agricultural challenges.<\/p>\n

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Symposium participants, including Lemor Carlton and Teague McCracken, shared ideas for advancing plant sciences that improve agriculture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2026 BRIDGE Symposium<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 BRIDGE Symposium included TWO categories of presentations: Existing Collaborative Research and Theoretical Collaborative Research. Industry experts evaluated the presentations in both categories and awarded $4,800 in prize money to top teams in both categories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation Categories:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Existing collaborative research<\/strong> – for students and postdocs from different disciplines who are currently<\/strong> collaborating will present on their active research project<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Theoretical collaborative research<\/strong> – for students and postdocs from different disciplines who are not<\/strong> currently collaborating on research; each presenter explains their own research and propose how they could potentially<\/strong> collaborate on a research project.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Presentation Format:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Each team had 6 minutes to explain their individual research, how they could collaborate or are collaborating across disciplines, and how this connection might translate to the needs of growers and those who work in Extension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n