App State has earned a Research 2 designation through the Carnegie Classification system for high research activity and doctorate production. App State’s research expenditures in fiscal year 2023 were more than $8.4 million and, in 2022–23, the university awarded 20 doctoral degrees.

Dr. Michael Gangloff and his team work to monitor the populations and habitats of the eastern hellbender, which was proposed for inclusion on the endangered species list in late 2024. The team’s efforts are part of nearly 20 years of research aimed at protecting N.C.’s giant salamanders.

A $641,951 NCInnovation grant awarded to App State’s Dr. Rahman Tashakkori and his research team will support the commercialization of four components of the team’s Beemon Hive Monitoring System — an innovative tool designed to decrease honeybee hive die-off and increase hive production.

App State’s Oral History Program conducts and curates oral history interviews, which are housed in the university’s Special Collections Research Center. The interviews range in date from the mid-1960s to the present day, with a focus on university and regional history.

App State will join six other UNC System institutions as a headquarters for NCInnovation’s applied research support. NCInnovation provides grant funding, mentorship and partnership development to university researchers to support innovative, real-world research at North Carolina’s public universities.

App State assistant professor Dr. Adam McKay has co-authored a new study, published in Nature Astronomy, that provides the first detection of carbon dioxide in the centaur known as 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. According to McKay, studying centaurs — ice-rich bodies that orbit the sun — can yield important insights into the formation and evolution of Earth’s solar system.

Dr. Brooke Christian, App State associate professor of chemistry, has received a $306,783 Research in Undergraduate Institutions Award from the National Science Foundation to support her research on biomolecule stabilization, which has important applications in numerous areas — from pharmaceuticals to the food industry. These awards support faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions in research that engages them in their professional field, builds capacity for research at their home institution and supports the integration of research and undergraduate education.

Construction for App State’s Conservatory for Biodiversity Education and Research — the first academic building of the university’s Innovation District — is set to begin in July. The facility, offering classroom, office, laboratory and event space, will be built to the rigorous sustainability standards of the Living Building Challenge.