November 4, 2009
Cockrell School of Engineering researchers have received more than $7 million in research funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to the university’s Office of Sponsored Projects.
The awards continue to arrive, but currently 18 engineering professors have been named principal investigators and received funding for 23 projects.
Recovery Act projects involving infrastructure improvements, scientific research and the expansion of broadband and wireless service, are expected to contribute to economic growth for many years.
All projects will serve to stimulate the economy by providing both graduate and undergraduate students jobs to assist in the research. As well, the funds spent to purchase equipment and supplies necessary to conduct the research supports local and national vendors. In addition, the funding moves many of these projects closer to commercialization and transfer into the private sector for further job creation.
Principal investigators and their projects by department appear below.
Aerospace Engineering
Rui Huang will study “Nonlinear Mechanics of Graphene-based Materials” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $380,130.
Biomedical Engineering
Orly Alter received funding for two projects. She will study “Integrative and Comparative Tensor Algebra Models of DNA Microarray Data from Different Studies of the Cell Cycle” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $400,053.
Alter will also study “Tensor Computations for Modeling Large-Scale Molecular Biological Data” with a grant from the National Institutes of Health of $244,339.
Stanislav Emelianov will study “Combined Intravascular Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging of Atherosclerosis” with a grant from the National Institutes of Health of $729,588.
George Georgiou, a professor in both biomedical engineering and chemical engineering, will study “Renewable Synthetic Antibodies for Epigenomics” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $367,430.
Laura Suggs will study “Dual Growth Factor Delivery to Achieve Therapeutic Neovascularization” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $299,993.
Chemical Engineering
David Allen will study “Alternative Energy Fuels Analysis” with a grant from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory of $250,000.
Roger Bonnecaze will study “Flow, Memory and Aging of Soft Particle Pastes” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $280,000.
Electrical Engineering
Sanjay Banerjee will upgrade microelectronics research equipment with a grant from the National Science Foundation for $525,000.
Chad Landis will conduct a study on the “Materials World Network: Experimental Observation and Theoretical Modeling of Domain Evolution in Ferroelectrics” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $250,000.
Gustavo De Veciana will conduct a study on “NeTS: Dynamic Coupling and Flow-Level Performance in Data Networks: From Theory to Practice” with a grant from theNational Science Foundation of $399,971.
Sriram Vishwanath will conduct two studies: “NeTS Medium: Collaborative Research: Secure Networking Using Network Coding” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $382,355.
Vishwanath will also study “Aerial and Terrestrial Testbed for Research in Aerospace, Computing, and Mathematics” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $122,244.
Mechanical Engineering
Adela Ben-Yakar received two grants. She will study “Microfluidic-microtiter Interface for Rapid Large-scale Screenings of C. elegans” with a grant from the National Institutes of Health for $185,734.
Ben-Yakar’s work already in progress entitled “Femtosecond Laser Axotomy for In Vivo Nerve Regeneration Studies in C. elegans” received a supplementary grant from the National Institutes of Health for $42,742.
David Bourell received two grants. He will study “Electrochemical Infiltration of Selective Laser Sintered Preforms” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $300,000.
Bourell’s work in “Freeform Fabrication of Porous Metallic Structures” received support from the National Science Foundation totaling $58,000.
Alexandre Da Silva will study “Multiphysics Development of Self-powered, Controlled and Reconfigurable Bio-inspired Cooling Systems Embedded in 3-D IC Chips” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $424,840.
Arumugam Manthiram will study “Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes for Electrochemical Capacitors” with a grant from the National Science Foundation for $50,000.
Elmira Popova will study “Decision-dependent Stochastic Processes-inference and Optimization” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $311,473.
Rodney Ruoff received two grants. He will study “Graphene-based Materials for Ultracapacitance Applications” with a grant from the National Science Foundation for $633,687.
Ruoff also received funds for the “Exploration of Graphene-Nanocrystal Metamaterials” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $228,672.
Li Shi will study “High Throughput Nanoimprint Manufacturing of Shape-Specific, Stimuli-Responsive Polymeric Nanocarriers for Drug and Imaging Agent Delivery” with a grant from the National Science Foundation of $900,000.
For more information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, see www.recovery.gov/About/Pages/The_Act.aspx.
About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators working for the betterment of society.