In view of the substantial contributions that Minority Institutions can make to aerospace research, the NSTI has established Research Clusters to increase the engagement of traditionally underrepresented communities in both NASA’s and the NRP’s mission. 

Through participation in the Research Clusters, opportunities to conduct mainstream NASA research will expand as the awardees’ research capabilities are enhanced through interaction with professionals from NASA and Silicon Valley. Likewise, the NSTI pool of traditionally underrepresented students with research experience and interest in pursuing advanced STEM degrees will increase through faculty support.  The overarching goal of the Clusters is to promote translational investigation that will positively impact on the production of market-based technologies.
 
Three Research Clusters were established in 2007, each focusing on a research discipline that will help to make NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration a reality:



UNCFSP-NSTI Information and Emerging Technologies Cluster (UNITE) will conduct research that addresses pressing challenges in the areas of Supercomputing, Networking and Intelligent Systems. This Cluster will also engage in nano-scale research to support Aerospace and Thermal Protection Systems as well human exploration of space.  UNITE is assigned to the NASA Ames Research Center.

UNCFSP-NSTI Energy and Environmental Cluster (UNEEC) will address energy and environmental issues as it relates to space travel and life on Earth. UNEEC is assigned to the NASA Glenn Research Center.

UNCFSP-NSTI Mission Enabling Technologies Cluster (UNIMET) will conduct human exploration mission-enabling research in the areas of Science Missions and Payloads, Bio-technology, Astrobiology, Human Factors, Advanced Life Support and Bio-nano-info fusion. UNIMET is assigned to the NASA Johnson Space Center.