An Emerging Preeminent Program is a collaborative endeavor with high potential to be designated preeminent. With strategic support, an Emerging Preeminent Program could potentially build upon its distinctive merits, strengths, and successes to earn the Preeminent Program designation.
Brain, Behavior and the Environment Program
The Brain, Behavior and the Environment Program is a trans-disciplinary initiative at FIU that unites the dynamic and diverse neuroscience community at FIU toward three goals: to create and empower research programs focused on environmental causes of neurological disease, to devise strategies and develop treatments for neurological disorders using novel neuroscience and engineering tools as well as pharmacological approaches, and to establish a rich educational resource in South Florida to educate students, faculty, clinicians, the public, and health officials on the role that environmental factors play on neurological disease.
Cybersecurity@FIU
Cybersecurity@FIU focuses on digital defense and protection issues that impact the global cyber landscape and examines complex human and social questions related to privacy policies and trust. Taking a multi-faceted approach, the university combines technical cybersecurity strength in areas such as cyberphysical systems, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing and storage with complementary expertise in international and public affairs, business and law.
These competencies together establish a comprehensive foundation for the continued advancement of research, education, workforce development and international capacity-building activities. Collaborative efforts that draw upon a wide variety of disciplines contribute to the kind of innovative, integrated exploration needed to both move forward and secure the world’s rapidly evolving digital technology arena.
Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center
The Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center promotes the study of Latin America and the Caribbean in Florida and throughout the United States. By forging linkages across the Americas through high- quality education, research is aimed at better understanding and addressing the most urgent problems confronting the region.
The center, funded by Title VI, is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Resource Center on Latin America, recognizing it as one of the top Latin American and Caribbean Centers in the world. The Center draws upon the expertise of one of the largest concentrations of Latin American and Caribbean Studies scholars of any university in the country.
This Emerging Preeminent Program will continue strengthening its partnerships with other units throughout the university, such as the Digital Library of the Caribbean, to expand and deepen FIU’s strengths in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Translational Molecular Discoveries Program
The Translational Molecular Discoveries Program builds upon the university’s existing Biomolecular Sciences Institute to integrate basic and applied research in support of human health and wellness. It comprises the work of dozens of faculty in institutes, centers and laboratories across the university as well as collaborations with health organizations, research centers and universities in Florida.
Areas of focus include drug discovery to meet the urgent need for new therapies against cancer, antibiotic-resistant superbugs and neurodegenerative diseases; predictive biomarkers for personalized medicine and wellness; and control of mosquito-borne diseases by novel molecular approaches. State-of-the art research and collaborative engagement with the local and global communities is complemented by the high-level training of students in areas such as the use of mass spectrometry, animal models, bioinformatics and computational biology, among others, to ensure a talent pool critical for the growth of the biotechnology industry in South Florida and beyond.