Thirteen faculty teams from PVAMU, Texas A&M receive PRISE grants

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PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Sept. 6, 2024) - Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University announced the awarding of $520,000 to 13 teams of faculty investigators as part of the 2024 Panther Research and Innovation for Scholarly Excellence grant program. Now in its fourth year, this initiative continues to foster collaborative research addressing complex national and global challenges.

The PRISE grant program is a joint effort by PVAMU and Texas A&M, the two land-grant universities in Texas and members of The Texas A&M University System. The program is designed to stimulate collaborative proposals from both institutions in six strategic research themes: Community and Economic Resilience, Emerging Technologies and Innovations, Health and Quality of Life, National Security, Space Exploration and Sustainability and Environment.

"Collaboration among our faculty-researchers is a powerful driver of advanced discovery and innovation," said Dr. Jack G. Baldauf, Texas A&M's vice president for research. "The PRISE grants enable our faculties to come together and tackle the significant challenges of our time, fostering advancements that benefit society as a whole."

A panel of PVAMU and Texas A&M faculty members reviewed a total of 57 proposals. Each selected proposal will receive $40,000 for one year, enabling the investigator teams to make substantial progress and submit strong proposals to external funding agencies for continued research.

"The PRISE program is a testament to the strength and potential of collaborative research across institutions," said Dr. Magesh Rajan, PVAMU's vice president for research and innovation. "These projects not only foster lasting professional relationships but also open new avenues for innovative research and discovery made possible by advancements in current technologies."

The selected teams and projects are:

• Dr. Jorge Alvarado, professor, Department of Engineering Technology, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Ziaul Huque, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Numerical and experimental characterization of low-noise vertical axis wind turbine."
• Dr. Spencer Behmer, professor, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M and Dr. Charcacia Sanders, assistant professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, PVAMU: "RNAi as a novel method for controlling grasshoppers and locusts."
• Dr. Faruque Hasan, associate professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Nabila Shamim, assistant professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Exploring ionic liquids as sustainable solvents for ambient temperature carbon capture."
• Dr. Sheng-Jen Hsieh, professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Richard Griffin, professor, Department of Agriculture, Nutrition and Human Ecology, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Just-in-time and precise irrigation of specialty crops for water conservation."
• Dr. Sungmin Lee, assistant professor, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M and Dr. Ling Wu, assistantprofessor, Department of Justice Studies, College of Juvenile Justice, PVAMU: "Understanding heat-aggression dynamics: Crafting adaptive strategies through data-driven approach and master planning."
• Dr. Dongying Li, associate professor, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M and Dr. Xiaobo Peng, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Developing and evaluating scalable digital twin therapeutic interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders."
• Dr. Tie Liu, professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Lijun Qian, professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Leveraging generative AI technologies for trustworthy offline optimization."
• Dr. Zhipeng Lu, assistant professor, Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Texas A&M and Dr. Huiyi Xu, assistant professor, Department of Architecture, School of Architecture, PVAMU: "Examining the influence of environmental interventions on health and behavioral outcomes of children with autism."
• Dr. Tapasree Roy Sarkar, assistant professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas A&M and Dr. Gururaj Neelgund, assistantprofessor, Department of Chemistry, Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences, PVAMU: "Nanoengineered materials to target cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)-associated tumor progression."
• Dr. Manish Shetty, assistant professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Emmanuel Dada, assistantprofessor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCS) for tandem polyolefin depolymerization."
• Dr. Jian Tao, assistant professor, Department of Visualization, School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, Texas A&M and Dr. Ripendra Awal, professor, Cooperative Agricultural Research Center, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, PVAMU: "Development of a digital twin model for optimizing sorghum cultivation."
• Dr. Shiren Wang, professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Lai Jiang, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, PVAMU: "Flexible and recyclable printed electronics on nanopapers."
• Dr. Feng Zhao, associate professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M and Dr. Yunxiang Gao, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences, PVAMU: "Utilizing liquid crystalline elastomer for anisotropic tissue engineering innovations."

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