Latest Grant News
The College of Science is very proud of its faculty and their research initiatives. Below is a list of some of the latest grant recipients:
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION AWARDS $309K TO EXPLORE NEW GENERATION OF EFFICIENT ELECTRONICS The National Science Foundation has awarded physics Professor Swastik Kar and mechanical and industrial engineering Professor Yung Joon Jung a $309,000 grant to explore a phenomenon they discovered that could afford a new generation of extremely efficient electronics. |
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROSTATE CANCER RESEARCH PROGRAM AWARDS $560K TO PROF. SRIDHAR, DANA-FARBER The United States Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program awarded Physics professor Sri Sridhar’s interdisciplinary group a three-year $560,000 grant for his project titled “Nano-Coated Brachytherapy Spacers For Biological In Situ Image Guided Radio Therapy.” This project is a joint collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. According to Prof. Sridhar, a number of prostate cancer patients are treated with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. The method developed by Prof. Sridhar and the team at Dana-Farber could make the combination therapy less toxic and possible more effective at curing prostate cancer. The grant will allow Prof. Sridhar’s team to pursue this work in preclinical trials. The proposal beat out more than 900 others for one of 60 grants focusing on prostate cancer research. |
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NSF AWARDS $565K TO ONDRECHEN, BEUNING FOR ENZYME RESEARCH Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Professors Mary Jo Ondrechen and Penny Beuning were recently awarded a $565,418 grant from the National Science Foundation for their project entitled “Understanding Extended Active Sites in Enzymes.” This research examines how individual amino acids in a protein molecule that are not in direct contact with the reacting substrate molecule still participate in enzyme catalysis. The goals of this study are to validate that their computational method accurately predicts the role of individual amino acid residues in the reaction and to understand how remote residues participate in the catalytic process. Results from this research will help in the development of cleaner industrial processes, sustainable methods for enzymatic biofuel synthesis and protein engineering for drug synthesis and delivery. |
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NSF AWARDS $24K FOR AUSLANDER CONFERENCE The National Science Foundation awarded $24,000 to Gordana Todorov, Alexander Martsinkovsky and Kiyoshi Igusa in the Department of Mathematics for the Maurice Auslander International Conference. The Auslander conference will be held on April 25, 2012 through April 30, 2012 at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod. The year's distinguished speaker will be Ragnar-Olaf Buchweitz from the University of Toronto. The conference is expected to attract visitors from Argentina, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, and Russia. The Distinguished Lectures are sponsored by Bernice Auslander, and the Conference is sponsored by National Science Foundation. |
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EMRI SIGNS 3-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH US ARMY RESEARCH LABORATORY The Electronic Materials Research Institute at Northeastern University has signed a three-year cooperative research agreement with the United States Army Research Laboratory at Adelphi, MD., to design graphene-based technology for use in low-cost infrared imaging applications for the military. The project is in collaboration with DARPA. Read more. |
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NORTHEASTERN LEADS INTERNATIONAL TEAM IN $960K DEPT. OF ENERGY GRANT Northeastern University and College of Science professor Arun Bansil are leading an international research team recently awarded $960,000 by the Department of Energy to develop a new generation of theoretical tools to understand and model what happens when photons (light) are smashed into materials to obtain exotic new forms of matter. The project includes 30 top-tier scientists from major universities and national labs such as Stanford, Berkeley and Princeton. The research conducted with this grant is vital for fundamental science and impacts wide ranging applications to problems in energy, sustainability and the design of use-based materials with desirable properties. |
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UNDERSTANDING INTERDEPENDENT NETWORKS
FOR REAL-WORLD APPLICATION Summary: Northeastern University professors Alex Vespignani (College of Science) and David Lazer (College of Computer and Information Sciences) have received $1.1 million of a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the complexity in natural, built and social systems. Vespignani and Lazer will be the first multidisciplinary group to study interdependent networks and develop new mathematical models and theories for these dynamic and ever-expanding systems. Vespignani and Lazer hope that information collected during this study will help address the consequences of disruptions and failures that could occur simultaneously in different critical infrastructures. This issue was recently addressed in a US Scientific Congressional Report. Boston University is also involved in this study. |
 DETECTING MINES WITH PROGRAMMABLE BACTERIA Prof. Joseph Ayers, Biology Department & Marine Science Center Office of Naval Research, August 2011 Summary: Northeastern University Prof. Joseph Ayers, working jointly with Boston University, Harvard Medical School and MIT, has been awarded a Multi-University Research Initiative grant from the Office of Naval Research to use principles of synthetic biology to create programmable bacteria that can operate as smart sensors to better detect agents of harm underwater. This research project will use Ayer’s already famous robotic lobsters as chaperones as well as directly interface them to microbiorobots– giving them the ability to “smell” explosive materials seeping from compromising underwater devices. This added sense is designed to help these robotic crustaceans detect, locate and destroy mines lurking on the ocean floor, without putting humans in harm’s way. |
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Prof. David DeSteno, Psychology Department National Science Foundation, August 2011 Summary: Northeastern University College of Science psychology professor David DeSteno has just received a four-year, $925,000 National Science Foundation grant to design and evaluate social robots to enhance language learning among preschool-aged children. Paul Harris of the Harvard School of Education and Cynthia Breazeal of the MIT Media Lab are co-PI's for this study. |
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Prof. Don King and Prof. Bob Case, Mathematics Department National Science Foundation, July 2011 Summary: Professors Bob Case and Don King have received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to help students with heavy financial need pursue degrees -- and ultimately careers -- in math and science. (Read more.) |
