The Nagoya University – NC State Joint Seed Fund aims to foster sustainable research collaborations between faculty members at both universities while promoting peer-reviewed publications and expanding opportunities for external funding, industry partnerships, and student engagement.

For the 2026 funding cycle, proposals were invited under the theme "Building Resilience in a Changing World for People, Institutions, and Society." Priority research areas included: (1) Shaping and Adapting to New Technologies, Data, and Materials, (2) Adapting to Climate Transitions, and (3) Navigating Evolving Cultures and Societal Landscapes, and related fields.

Following a competitive review process, three collaborative research teams from Nagoya University and NC State were selected for funding:

A Low-Cost High-Throughput Phenotyping Platform to Accelerate Crop Improvement
NC State: Amanda A. Cardoso (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

Nagoya: Daisuke Sugiura (Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences)

Communication Resilience in the Age of Generative AI: Trust, Emotional Reliance, and Psychological Wellbeing Across Japan and the United States
NC State: Yang Alice Chen (College of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Nagoya: Sangmi Kim (Graduate School of Humanities)

Scalable ITO-Free OPVs with Natural Polymer-Functionalized SWCNT Electrodes
NC State: Harald Ade (College of Sciences)

Nagoya: Yutaka Matsuo (Graduate School of Engineering)

Each research team received $7,000 from NC State University and ¥1,000,000 from Nagoya University to support the launch of their early-stage collaborative research projects.