Two research teams from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington were selected for the first NCInnovation Pipeline Grants, according to a March 26 announcement. The grants are part of a new initiative launched by NCInnovation in 2026 to support early-stage projects and help them move toward commercialization.
The selection of these UNCW programs is significant as both projects come from the Department of Computer Science and use artificial intelligence technology with potential applications in various industries. The funding aims to help promising ideas reach proof of concept and prepare them for future funding opportunities.
One funded project, Cybersecurity Resilience AI-driven Test-bed (CRAIT), is led by Associate Professor Yi Liu, with collaboration from Assistant Professor Kasey Miller. CRAIT is an AI-based surveillance tool designed for data governance that uses large language models to automatically detect vulnerabilities, policy violations, and unusual behaviors across enterprise data environments. This system differs from traditional audit analyzers by applying contextual language understanding to identify security risks in different types of data sources.
Another funded project is TerraSense: An Integrated AI Framework for Non-Invasive Plant Nutrient and Soil Assessment, led by Assistant Professor Laavanya Rachakonda. TerraSense offers a multi-platform analytical framework that non-invasively diagnoses plant nutrient status and predicts yield potential using only image data. Unlike conventional methods that require expensive sensors or destructive testing, TerraSense interprets visual cues from plants into quantitative agronomic information.
NCInnovation describes itself as a public-private partnership based in North Carolina that seeks to accelerate commercial innovation originating from the state’s research universities.
