In the century since it opened its first store in North Wilkesboro, Lowe’s — now a global Fortune 50 company —  has shown a fervent and steadfast commitment to serving its communities, especially in its hometown region.

That impassioned support will extend to UNC Charlotte through a new $1.5 million gift to the University’s College of Computing and Informatics (CCI). This donation will strengthen UNC Charlotte’s position as a leading technology hub and talent provider for Lowe’s, the Charlotte region and beyond.

“Lowe’s entire mission is that we are home to any possibility, which works so well with renowned academic institutions like UNC Charlotte,” said Seemantini Godbole, executive vice president and chief information officer at Lowe’s. “Because CCI is the top producer of computer scientists in the region, it was clear that CCI is a great partner for us as we continue to establish ourselves as a tech player.”

The gift from Lowe’s will propel UNC Charlotte’s technology research forward by establishing the Lowe’s Endowed Chair in Computer Science, enabling the University to recruit a nationally recognized teacher, scholar and computer science leader whose research focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

From smart home hubs to voice-activated digital assistants, AI and similar technologies provide tremendous opportunities to augment human capabilities.

“We are so thankful to Lowe’s for its continued commitment to strengthening research and creative expression across our University,” said Fatma Mili, dean of the College of Computing and Informatics. “This partnership is aligned with the shared commitment between UNC Charlotte and Lowe’s to make a significant impact through the continued innovation of our faculty and students and the education of the next generation of computer scientists.”

The Lowe’s gift will also establish the Lowe’s Technology Innovation Fund, which will provide $50,000 annually to support innovative research in these areas, and the donation will directly support the UNC Charlotte CCI Fund.

Now, one of the major obstacles that might have prevented CCI students, faculty and staff from being able to focus solely on innovation — financial hurdles — will be reduced.

The two-story, central atrium in Woodward Hall – home to CCI – will be named to honor Lowe’s.

The partnership between Lowe’s and CCI has also led to the development of a series of Lowe’s Technology Day seminars to be hosted each semester at CCI.

“I am always amazed by how much change we can effect when we start with an alignment of values and passions,” said Mili. “This all started with a conversation about what we can do to use artificial intelligence for the betterment of society and the reduction of inequity.”

The first Lowe’s Technology Day seminar, an interactive virtual conference on April 9, featured Godbole and Mili discussing the latest advances in development by CCI and Lowe’s. A broader panel discussed the outlook on employment and post-COVID technology trends with Lowe’s executives, including David Shoop, senior vice president of technology stores and corporate services; Neelima Sharma, senior vice president of technology ecommerce, marketing and merchandising; and B.K. Shepard, vice president of technology infrastructure and operations.

“Events like this allow students to get a peek inside a corporation, which can help them decide on their future career direction,” said CCI Associate Professor Mohamed Shehab. “For faculty, the engagement can result in grants and collaborations on projects with the partners. It was also very interesting to learn how Lowe’s has evolved into a technology company and how technology enabled it to succeed during the pandemic.”

CCI leads transformational research through its undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in computer science, bioinformatics and genomics, cybersecurity, data science and business analytics, health informatics, and software and information systems.

Within CCI, faculty also perform AI research across a vast spectrum of perspectives, leveraging innovative computing hardware informed by and optimized for the fundamental principles and algorithms of AI.

Key AI Research Areas

Faculty utilize these advances to address problems within a range of domains, including computing infrastructure, cybersecurity, climate change, health care, smart cities, personalized education and defense. Research innovations have been supported by over $40 million in external funding over the last 5 years,  from a variety of federal  funding agencies along with support from regional partnerships in energy, transportation and health.

The fastest-growing college in the UNC System, the largest computing college in North Carolina and one of the largest computing colleges in the nation, CCI has more than 7,400 alumni.

Many of those talented graduates find their way to Lowe’s, and if Godbole has her wish, many more will do so in the future.

“I really hope that I get to work with some of you,” Godbole said, addressing student attendees at Lowe’s Technology Day. “Whether it’s when you visit our Lowe’s office or when we come here to campus, perhaps when we are able to be physically doing joint research. Hopefully, some — or many — of you will become Lowe’s associates. That would be fantastic.”

To date, more than 660 UNC Charlotte alumni are employed with the home improvement company. Madlen Ivanova, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at CCI (’16, ’17, ’22), is now the senior manager of data science at Lowe’s. In her current role, she manages a team of 17 data science engineers charged with decreasing friction on the Lowe’s website.

Four years ago, Ivanova established the University’s Women in Data Science (WiDS) initiative as part of the worldwide WiDS initiative. She has been selected and served as a WIDS ambassador for Charlotte since 2018.

This March, Lowe’s served as the title sponsor for the fourth year of the WiDS Charlotte Conference, which aimed to inspire, educate and engage current and future data scientists in the Carolinas, regardless of gender, and to support women in the field by providing training, networking and mentoring opportunities.

Sharma was a featured speaker and was included on the “Inspiring and Leading Through Change” panel, along with Ivanova.

“The University plays a big role on many levels,” said Ivanova. “It has built great relationships with both big and small Charlotte companies and leads in terms of social responsibility.”

A longstanding partnership with UNC Charlotte and CCI’s broad expertise and large talent pool are among the reasons Lowe’s selected the Charlotte region for the Lowe’s Tech Hub and its expanded technology presence.

Since 2013, Lowe’s has been a partner for CCI’s Business Partner program. The relationships and support provided by the members of the Business Partner program contribute greatly to CCI’s continued growth in emerging technologies, while providing access to real-world contacts and experiences for students. As a gold sponsor of CCI’s long-standing Cybersecurity Symposium, Lowe’s has empowered CCI’s ability to invite world-class speakers to campus to discuss cutting-edge security issues and best practices regarding the mitigation of security risks for businesses.

“I’m so excited that we are taking our partnership with UNC Charlotte to its next natural step,” said Godbole.

“In addition to its more tangible elements, this partnership opens up lots of possibilities for doing joint research and expanding equity, inclusivity and diversity in the fields of AI and machine learning.”

Harnessing academic innovation and progressive collaboration, UNC Charlotte is meeting the demands of our nation’s workforce head on. With a record-breaking 30,000 students and counting, this growing research powerhouse is responsible for developing and educating the region’s most robust talent pipeline, creating real-world solutions for today’s evolving business and community needs.

Case in point: The UNC Charlotte School of Data Science (SDS). Data is everywhere. In fact, more data was generated in the last two years than throughout the preceding entirety of human history. This reality is helping to fuel one of the country’s most burgeoning and critically important industries — data science.

Recognizing the opportunity, UNC Charlotte launched the first School of Data Science in the Carolinas, tapping the region’s expansive ecosystem of research, industry and community engagement to apply a visionary lens to the education and application of data science. Bringing together brilliant minds through interdisciplinary partnership, the University is bridging the gap between society and technology through hands-on programming and research.

Leverages its location in Charlotte — one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities — to foster engaged and strong community and corporate partnerships. Corporations such as Bank of America, Lowe’s Inc., Wells Fargo, TIAA and Microsoft, now more than ever, are relying on the School of Data Science to foster well-rounded leaders who are uniquely prepared to help drive data science innovation.

Brings academia and industry together to turn data into knowledge to address society’s most pressing issues. The initiative holds the promise of creating tools to understand and highlight misinformation in social media, develop models illustrating the disparate impacts of pandemics and advance remedies for longstanding city planning challenges — allowing students to make meaningful differences in their communities and society as a whole. 

Represents a unique, dynamic collaboration among four academic colleges. The School is an industry-university-state partnership, led by the College of Computing and Informatics, the Belk College of Business, the College of Health and Human Services and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This novel and hands-on programmatic approach allows the University to recognize the evolution of data science across multiple industries.

The School of Data Science represents UNC Charlotte’s far-reaching commitment to data science research and academic programming. Over the next several years, University leaders aim to further expand interdisciplinary research and diversify funding for it, and continue to focus on enrollment — in terms of overall numbers and diversity. As data science continues to influence innovation and decision making in business, politics, education, science and more, the School of Data Science at UNC Charlotte is poised to keep pace with this dynamic industry while preparing future data scientists to lead it. 

Fatma Mili, dean of the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI)—the fastest-growing college in the UNC System and most comprehensive technology program in North Carolina—is emphatic about the reason she came to UNC Charlotte.

“This is a university completely embedded in the community and takes its responsibility toward the community very seriously. Every time someone says ‘Charlotte does not have a research university,’ we must remind them otherwise.”

Through programs and partnerships, Mili plans to build on UNC Charlotte’s collaboration with the city to realize its urban mission completely and effectively as an estimated 3,500 new CCI graduates leave the University over the next five years to begin careers, contributing to the growth of Charlotte’s tech sector.

“We must embrace our role as change agents, especially at a time when our challenges require novel solutions that demand a long view.”

Mili believes those in her field have an opportunity to make higher education more relevant, reformist and responsive to the great needs facing society. She points out that research underway at CCI in cyber security, data analysis and robotics can be applied to addressing the needs of cities like Charlotte to make them more livable, commutable and resilient.

“We can’t do it alone with computing, but no discipline can do it without computing.”

Mili arrived at UNC Charlotte last August after a combined 30 years at Oakland University in Michigan and Purdue University. If you talk to her for any length of time, you realize quickly that she believes it is the responsibility of those in the computing and technology fields to consider the consequences of their work and related findings.

“Everything we do has ethical implications and we must own them.”

Mili’s own research covers broadening participation in STEM, making higher education sync with the needs and expectations of society, and evidence-based findings about human motivation and learning. She holds the view that colleges and universities are duty bound to lead the fight for gender, ethnic and socioeconomic equity—and is committed to finding ways to make computing and technology appealing to and inclusive of women and minorities.

This aligns with the goal of CCI’s Women in Computing Initiative to increase the number of women undergraduate majors to 450 students and grow proportionally the number of women graduates. CCI is a step closer to achieving that goal with support from the newly created NorthState CCI Mentorship Program  and others in Charlotte’s business community who understand the challenges of diversity.

“The College of Computing and Informatics relies on strong partners who share a common vision for the role of technology in society, understand the importance and challenges of broadening participation by women and minorities, and have a strong commitment to change the status quo.”

Mirroring a national trend, CCI enrollment has doubled over the past ten years with projections for further growth.

“UNC Charlotte has a mission that centers on access and excellence. We also have youth, speed, agility and innovation on our side. We may not yet be at the front of the race but we’re running the fastest.”