Research Programs

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Advanced Structural Systems

Lehigh's Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems Center (ATLSS), is internationally recognized for research on structural systems and materials essential to the civil infrastructure. ATLSS houses comprehensive laboratories for large-scale structural systems experimentation and simulation, with recent and ongoing research programs including orthotropic steel bridge decks, double-hull and fiber-reinforced composite ships, in-service infrastructure monitoring, non-destructive evaluation, and earthquake-resistant precast walls and steel frames.

Bioscience and Biotechnology

Lehigh University's interdisciplinary biological sciences faculty has research expertise that spans molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, integrative biology, and systems research. Active collaboration with faculty researchers in pharmaceutical chemistry, physics, and bioengineering fosters Lehigh's particular niche in cross-disciplinary areas such as systems biology, bioengineering, and nanotechnology. This synergy makes Lehigh an ideal partner in the development of biopharmaceuticals, drug delivery methods, biocommodities, medical devices, and related areas.

Environment

Lehigh professors are noted for their contributions to groundbreaking research on perplexing environmental issues—from groundwater cleanup of contaminants through the use of nanoparticles, to the conversion of paper mill pollutants to usable products, to a system that can remove arsenic from water. Scientists at Lehigh’s Energy Research Center are studying fossil fuels, alternative fuels, and renewable resources, and faculty members in the earth and environmental science department have joined an international team of researchers to study the interaction of erosion and tectonic processes in the Himalayas.

The Environmental Initiative at Lehigh coordinates research and education efforts related to the environment across a multidisciplinary group of departments.

Financial Services

To maximize the classroom experience and apply theory to actual business problems, the College of Business and Economics has developed a new laboratory that allows students and faculty members to test models and algorithms, share reseach, and use computer software to conduct simulated trading, portfolio management, deal capture, and pricing. The Financial Services Laboratory, opened in Fall 2004, provides a real-time link between world events and financial markets with software and data streams from Thomson Financial, Market News International, and Lava Trading, among others.

Nanoscience and Technology

Lehigh has an international reputation in electron microscopy, the technology that gives scientists the tools to image and manipulate single molecules and atoms. Lehigh’s Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology contains some of the best nanocharacterization equipment in the world. 

Optical Technology

Lehigh's Center for Optical Technologies, a multi-institutional, industry-led enterprise, is designed to advance research into optical technologies and convert it quickly into commercial products. Two main assets—interdisciplinary collaboration and close ties to industry—combine to foster Lehigh’s expertise in the fabrication of optical devices within many different academic departments.

Social Sciences

Faculty and graduate students in the social sciences are interested in how humans understand themselves, each other, and the world we live in. As we enter the 21st century, the increasingly global scope of human interactions is a particularly powerful force of change. Cross-cutting not only the social sciences but the humanities, education, natural sciences, and business and economics as well as interdisciplinary programs such as Women's Studies and Africana Studies, an emerging research focus at Lehigh is on social change in the context of globalization: How does change at the local level, such as information transfer and technology, create farther-reaching changes? How does the breakdown of national and international boundaries impact social change?

Special Education

Lehigh’s College of Education faculty is among the most research-active in the nation. Recent Congressional funding, for example, has chartered the Center for Promoting Research to Practice, a collaborative effort designed to bring together schools, families, and their communities to develop strategies that take discoveries about how children with disabilities learn and put them into practice.

Value Chain and Manufacturing Systems

Competitive firms seek ways to expand and configure their value network and supply chain for maximum strategic advantages. Lehigh is positioned to help companies meet these goals through the Center for Value Chain Research. The Center brings together the strengths of Lehigh’s highly respected Industrial and Systems Engineering program in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science with the Supply Chain Management program at the College of Business and Economics for an extraordinary cross-disciplinary effort.