UTC announces launch of new research institute

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga announced on Monday that it will launch the UTC Research Institute, a new strategic initiative that will focus on developing multidisciplinary solutions to complex problems at the local, state and national levels.

At a news conference, UTC Chancellor Steven Angle introduced the initiative and announced the institute’s initial focus areas will be transportation and quantum technologies. Some issues falling under these focus areas are electric vehicle and battery technologies, automation, infrastructure, and computing.

According to a news release sent out by UTC, some of the key responsibilities of the institute include developing research facilities and testbeds, developing strategic partnerships, and engaging the community.

In the news release, Angle stated the UTC Research Institute will benefit both UTC and the city of Chattanooga.

“This new institute will help UTC move forward and realize our research goals,” Angle said in the release. “The heart of the UTC Research Institute is impactful and broad crossdisciplinary research that will help fast-track Chattanooga’s place as a hub for mobility electrifications, connectivity and automation.”

Also announced was the appointment of UTC’s Mina Sartipi as executive director of the institute. Sartipi is a professor of computer science and engineering at UTC as well as the founding director of the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress, a smart city and urbanization research center that studies ways in which technology can help cities become safer, smarter and healthier.

Sartipi’s work has served a pivotal role in the research and development of smart city technologies such as M.L. King Boulevard’s smart corridor, a project which studies how to use technology to promote a smoother, safer flow of traffic and greater pedestrian safety as well as how to address other issues that arise in an urban environment such as air quality and noise levels.

Sartipi said the UTC Research Institute provides the opportunity for faculty and students at UTC to work on research projects in collaboration with local businesses and communities to study new methods of using technology in ways that will benefit Chattanooga.

“We choose the projects that come from community, come from local industry; that’s the force behind (the institute’s research),” Sartipi said. “We always say that we do not do research for the sake of research. We want to work on research projects that have a meaning and would have an impact.”

Once it begins its work, the UTC Research Institute will operate out of the university’s Multidisciplinary Research Building on M.L. King Boulevard.