A strategic Spire of Excellence for growing research, scholarship, and innovation at CEMS is in the field of complex systems: highly dynamic, non-linear systems demonstrating emergent properties and behaviors. With the establishment of the CEMS Complex Systems Center— strategically focused on multidisciplinary research strengths in environment, transportation, and bioengineering — and a continuing influx of world-class faculty and top students, the College is poised to be a national and international leader in the field. CEMS' vision for the future is also entirely consistent with that of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Complex systems is a research thrust and long-term investment priority identified by the NSF in their 2006-2011 strategic plan, Investing in America's Future.

Partnering with the Vermont Law School, JRI serves as the Research Hub for the Vermont Law School's National Center on Restorative Justice. The National Center focuses on engaging criminal justice professionals, community members, educators, and social service providers with incarcerated individuals to broaden their understanding of the justice system and restorative justice.  The JRI supports the research mission of the National Center and serves as an incubator for data-driven approaches focused on reducing social disparities for justice-involved populations. This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Vermont’s Transportation Research Center (TRC) is a hub for innovative and interdisciplinary research, education and outreach on sustainable transportation system solutions. The TRC focuses on transportation planning as it relates to resilience, energy and health.

Our goal at the Vermont Advanced Computing Core (VACC) is to facilitate research and aid in educational advancement by providing high-performance computing and other services, allowing faculty and students to focus on their research rather than system administration. Our systems enable larger, broader and more complex computation than ever before.

The Vermont Space Grant Consortium (VTSGC) is an organization consisting of academic institutions, private industry, and public entities. Funded in part by a grant from NASA’s National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, key goals of the VTSGC are: to build aerospace-related research infrastructure within the state; to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education among Vermont students; and to train and encourage students to pursue careers in aerospace-related areas.

UVM’s Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) is a hub for design, development, and testing of biomedical devices and systems with a focus on rural healthcare. The center supports and trains inventors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who will bring advanced biomedical technologies to the people of Vermont and the world. The CBI brings together students, faculty, and industry through shared programming and an interactive space for applied research, technology development, and education.

Led by Dr. Josh Bongard of the University of Vermont and Dr. Michael Levin of Tufts University, the Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms will gather a multidisciplinary team of researchers drawn from artificial intelligence, machine learning, developmental biology, bioengineering and related disciplines. Together, they will lay the groundwork of a new field where life and machine intersect. By creating machines that can move, repair, locate targets, and work together to achieve complex goals, the ICDO will bring us closer to some truly extraordinary—and now quite achievable—goals.