NSU’s Center for Collaborative Research will officially open its doors Sep. 21.
Located on the Fort Lauderdale main campus, the 218,000 square foot research facility is one the largest in the state of Florida, equipped with wet and dry labs, state-of-the-art research equipment and a number of other resources. NSU students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to tour the facilities on Sep. 21 from 12:30- 3:00 p.m.
Appu Rathinavelu, executive director of the Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research, said, “The Center for Collaborative Research is going to be the hub for discovering new therapeutics and new diagnostic methods for curing chronic and acute diseases.”
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies NSU as a “high research university.” Rathinavelu said the opening of the Center for Collaborative Research will enhance NSU’s status as a research university.
He said, “This is going to elevate the status of our university to the next level. Pretty soon our research is going to draw attention from many scientists in this region, and we are going to be compared to University of Miami or University of Florida one day.”
NSU has established a number of research institutes and centers within the Center for Collaborative Research, including the AutoNation Institute for Breast and Solid Tumor Cancer Research, the Institute for Natural and Ocean Sciences Research, the Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine, the Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research, the Emil Buehler Research Center for Engineering, Science and Mathematics, and the Cell Therapy Institute, a partnership with researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
Rathinavelu said, “All of these institutes are going to be working very actively in finding new cures for diseases.”
Because of this wide variety of research institutes, researchers at the Center for Collaborative Research will be involved in a wide scope of research, including studies on various forms of cancers, cardiovascular disease, stem cells and coral reef restoration. There are currently over 200 ongoing research studies at NSU.
“The Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research is going to be discovering new therapeutics for treating different kinds of cancers, like breast, prostate or ovarian and lung cancers,” said Rathinavelu.
The Center for Collaborative Research will open up a plethora of research opportunities for NSU students, both undergraduate and professional. According to Rathinavelu, participating in research at the Center for Collaborative Research can be a one-of-a-kind opportunity for students.
“Undergraduate students can come to the Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute and take an independent study course where they work on a project for the whole semester and submit a report of their work for a grade,” he said. “These are a few of the different avenues we use for taking students from having no experience in research ventures to having a good level of experience.”
Sarah Maroney, senior marine biology and biology double major, said, “I think it’s going to open a lot more research opportunities for students and help them get hands-on experience in their field of interest.”
Rathinavelu said he believes that by presenting students with opportunities like those available at the Center for Collaborative Research, NSU will be able to enhance the caliber of education that NSU students are receiving.
He said, “[The opening of the Center for Collaborative Research] is going to elevate our research to the next level, and by elevating our research, we are going to be elevating the quality of the education that we are going to be providing to our students.”
Reservations are not required for tours of the center. For more information about the Center for Collaborative Research, visit nova.edu/research/ccr.
