U of A Faculty and Staff Invited to Preview New I³R Building

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The Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I³R) at the U of A invites faculty and staff to preview its new home from 9-11 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15. The event marks the first of the celebrations highlighting the grand opening of I³R's convergence and innovation hub, located at 793 W. Dickson St.  

U of A faculty and staff will get a first look at some of the specialized technical capabilities and collaborative meeting spaces, including advanced manufacturing, whole body calorimetry and the Magnetom Cima.X 3T MRI, Siemens' most powerful commercially available MRI.   

Attendees will also experience demonstrations from I³R faculty and student researchers. Demonstrations will showcase various robotics and telepresence projects; the Neural-Enabled Prosthetic Hand study, which aims to restore meaningful touch for individuals experiencing limb loss; the Extended Touch project, which explores the use of electrical stimulation to extend the sense of touch into virtual environments; and Cultivate IQ, an AI data insights software platform funded by the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator award, which is designed to connect food distributors and the farms they support, with new market opportunities and improved analytic capacity.

"Faculty and staff are the university's best ambassadors, and they are essential to our pursuit of research excellence. This event offers our colleagues an opportunity to engage with I³R's mission and explore possibilities for collaboration," said Ranu Jung, associate vice chancellor, Distinguished Professor and I³R founding executive director. "We're eager to share the people, purpose and place that are I³R, and the many ways we can work together to advance the university's land-grant mission of enhancing quality of life for all Arkansans."  

All U of A faculty and staff are invited to attend the morning preview from 9-11 a.m.