2026 Seed Grant Winners
2026 Seed Grant Winners
The 2026ÌýResearch & Innovation Seed Grant program awarded approximately $872K across 16 new projects.
2026ÌýFunded Projects
| PI Name | PI Department | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| William Chapman | Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences | If Forecasts Could Talk: Prithvi WxC–LLM Downscaling for Actionable Predictions |
| Ramin Ayanzadeh | Computer Science | Application Runtime and Resource Estimation in a Novel Quantum Architecture |
| Danna Gurari | Computer Science | Vision Canceling Technology for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injuries |
| Valerie McKenzie | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Refining a New Wildlife Trafficking Forensics Tool Using Microbiome Profiling |
| Taylor Barton | Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering | Microwave System Design for Green Plasma Catalysis |
| Sara Tabatabaie | Environmental Design | Shade Planning for Sun Safety and Heat Resilience: Institutional Roles and Policy Pathways |
| Riley Mulhern | Environmental Studies | Backcountry Water Purifiers as Sentinels for PFAS in the Environment: Partnering with the Outdoor Recreation Industry to Test and Deploy a Novel Method for Water Quality Monitoring in Remote Areas |
| Patrick Greaney | Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Humanities Program | How to Keep an Artist Alive |
| Amir Behzadan | Institute of Behavioral Science | Human-AI Interaction in Disaster Communication: A Multimodal Framework for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) Community |
| Jillian Turanovic | Institute of Behavioral Science / Sociology | The Safer Colorado Initiative: Leveraging Government and University Partnerships to Reduce Violence |
| Nicholas Weadock | Materials Science | Developing Advanced Electron Probes for Nanoscale Engineering of Emergent Materials |
| Nicole Xu | Mechanical Engineering | Engineering Functional Sea Sponges: Biophysical and Biochemical Regulation of Sponge Stem Cells for Tissue Morphogenesis and Whole-Body Regeneration |
| Maureen Lynch | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanically-Activated Breast Cancer Signaling Impairs Osteocyte Mechanosensing in a Subtype-Specific Manner |
| Gang Cao | Physics | Chiral Orbital Currents:Ìý Engineering a New Platform for Quantum Transport and Orbitronics |
| Ryan Bachtell | Psychology and Neuroscience | Unraveling the Gene Transcriptional Basis of Sex Differences in Oxycodone Use |
| Emmanuel David | Women & Gender Studies | Penitensya: Documenting Folk Religion in the Philippines |
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