A merger of academic and industrial minds is fueling vibrant new research efforts at the University of Houston.

When professionals from academia and commerce come together for joint research projects, the results can be limitless.

Such collaborations are at the heart of the UH System Center for Industrial Partnerships (CIP/UH), which creates joint research enterprises between commercial industry and the university.

“The types of partnerships this center will facilitate to speed the translation of research into commercial applications are of the type being stressed by national research funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health,” said Donald Birx, vice president for research for UH.

As director of the Center for Industrial Partnerships at the University of Houston, Emmanuelle Schuler helps pair faculty with companies who are interested in, and can help support, their specialized research.

"I am the faculty broker," Schuler said. "The end goal is to partner with industry to help faculty gain some more funds for their research, and help them build new relationships."

For more information about CIP/UH, please visit the CIP/UH website.