The goal of the Grand Challenges Research Expo “Inspiring Ideas, Creating Change” is to inform, engage, and inspire the University community – faculty, students, staff members – and its external partners about the opportunities for and major contributions of interdisciplinary research that addresses society’s most vexing challenges.

The Expo will begin with a public/private sector panel moderated by Provost Karen Hanson and featuring leaders of Ecolab Inc, the McKnight Foundation, and the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. The Expo will also feature keynote speaker Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, incoming dean of humanities at Arizona State University and co-president of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, a community partners panel, student presentations, and breakout sessions that provide opportunities to meet new colleagues across the University who share similar research interests.

The current Grand Challenges Research Call for Pre-Proposals is purposely aligned with the Expo. Small monetary incentives for pre-proposal development that meet Grand Challenges Research criteria will be provided to faculty who explore interdisciplinary ideas with new research colleagues during the day-long Expo.

More information on the expo agenda, speakers and registration can be found here.