May 6, 2019 | SPARC News

SPARC ignites in the great north

Connecting the research communities of University of Minnesota


The University of Minnesota’s new innovation hub, the Special Projects and Research Collaborative (SPARC), is a system-wide resource sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance. Launched in January 2019, SPARC was created to support researchers and administrators that want to go after large, multidisciplinary opportunities. SPARC intends to bridge the research community across all the campuses to create the strongest teams to go after these types of opportunities, leading to a stronger and more diverse research portfolio for the university.

Part of the SPARC team headed to the great north last month to connect with researchers and staff on the University of Minnesota – Duluth (UMD) campus. As part of the Duluth launch, the team hosted two brainstorming sessions and met individually with researchers during the visit, including a tour of the Large Lakes Observatory.

“We were excited by the unique suite of work that is represented in Duluth,” said Dr. Katey Pelican, SPARC Co-Director. “There are some very important players there like the Large Lakes Observatory and the Natural Resources Research Institute.”

The unique skills and expertise of all the researchers at the Duluth campus can be leveraged for large awards and programs, particularly their work with engaging a wide variety of partners. The UMD research portfolio includes $20 million in external research funding each year for their colleges and institutions. A portion of that funding goes to research on natural resources. Discussions during the visit included how Minnesota’s natural resource studies can be leveraged in terms of relationships with industry and funders.