 "Photo: Corliss Pauling/Echo staff photographer")
Alcohol can often be seen as a staple of American colleges and universities.
However, do students think about how alcohol can affect their bodies?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are around 23,000 alcohol-induced deaths each year and 50 percent of U.S adults are regular drinkers.
N.C. Central University has been given a $4.3 million grant to research the problem.
Alongside the University of North Carolina system, NCCU will conduct research for five years to better understand the pathological aspects of alcoholism.
The funding will support three main research projects.
The first project will be headed by biology professor and lead researcher of the grant Gregory Cole.
His focus will be researching the idea that heavy drinkers are more susceptible to oral cancer than those who don't drink.
"This type of research is exciting," said Cole.
"For NCCU to receive this size of a grant being an HBCU is a great honor."
The second project will be lead by Luke Chen, of the Biomedical/ Biotechnology Research Institute.
This project will focus on birth defects that can occur in children when mothers consumes ethanol alcohol during pregnancy.
"I look forward to finding substantial research that will help make a difference", said Chen.
The third project deals with the loss of neurons in the brain.
It will examine the brains ability to develop new neurons after alcohol consumption has destroyed them. Chemistry professor Somnath Mukhopadhyay will oversee this project.
Alongside the projects, the grant will fund all the necessities of the lab research, alcohol research seminars, and provide nursing students with internship opportunities at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The research seminars will help students to learn new information about the findings from the projects.
Guest speakers featured at these seminars will provide helpful insight into new and developing research that is concerning this topic.
The grant will fund these events that students as well as the community are encouraged to attend.
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