The Office of Research Innovation and Economic Impact, is delighted to announce the results of the 2022 ORIEI Seed Funding Initiative.
In January 2022, ORIE released a Call for Proposals for two new seed funding opportunities:
- Building the Foundation – Early-Stage Research to stimulate the development of new research and scholarship initiatives; and
- Take It to the Next Level to advance scalable multidisciplinary projects for research and scholarship in Sustainability, Biohealth or Digital Innovation
We had an overwhelming response to the call for proposals, receiving 60 applications (39 Building the Foundation and 21 Take It to the Next Level) which were externally reviewed by over 50 reviewers. A total of 10 applications were selected for funding.
The awarded teams PIs and Co-PIs (in no particular order), and their project titles, are noted below:
Building the Foundation
- Quantifying the Potential For SARS-Cov-2 Transmission Between Humans and Wildlife in Urban and Suburban Landscapes, PI: Travis Gallo, Environmental Science and Policy, College of Science; Co-PI: Taylor Anderson, Geography and Geoinformation Science Department, College of Science
- Developing carbon/small sulfur composites and fluorinated ionic liquid-based electrolytes for high-mass loading and lean electrolyte Li-S batteries, PI: Chao Luo, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Science
- Towards an Efficient, Secure and Robust Quantum Neural Network for Drug Discovery via a Full Design Stack Exploration, PI: Weiwen Jiang, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing
- Active Biomonitoring for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Occoquan River Watershed, Virginia using the invasive Asian clam Corbicula fluminea, PI: Amy Fowler, Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP), College of Science
- Exploring How Cues to Age-Related Dependence Foster Learning in Childhood, PI: Sabine Doebel, Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- George Mason University Virtual Crime Scene (VCS) Platform, PI: Stephen Burmeister, Forensic Science Program, College of Science; Co-PI: James Casey, Virginia Serious Game Institute, College of Visual and Performing Arts
- Quantifying the phenome using full-spectrum photogrammetry for national history collections, PI: Daniel Hanley, Department of Biology, College of Science; Co-PI: David Kepplinger, Department of Statistics, College of Engineering and Computing
Take It to the Next Level
- Developing the Future Generation of Contrast Agents for Photoacoustic Imaging, PI: Remi Veneziano, Bioengineering, College of Engineering & Computing; Co-PI: Jeffrey L. Moran, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering & Computing
- Improving Human-Machine Collaborations with Heterogeneous Multiagent Systems, PI: Elizabeth Phillips, Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Improving Quality of Public Service to Citizens by Scaling Information Processes of Public Service Organizations using Citizen-AI Collaboration Networks, PI: Hemant Purohit, Information Sciences and Technology, College of Engineering & Computing; Co-PI: Ray Hong, Information Sciences and Technology, College of Engineering & Computing
We want to thank all the teams that participated in the competition and congratulations to the teams selected for funding.
Andre Marshall, Vice President, Research Innovation and Economic Impact