July 2025 Grants and Awards
Insecticide Resistance Monitoring Program for Red-Headed Flea Beetle Adults
Principal Investigator:
Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia
Assistant Professor
Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$15,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association
Gordon Research Conference on Photochemistry
Principal Investigator:
Amanda Morris
Professor
Department of Chemistry
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$12,000
Sponsor:
United States Department of Energy
Survey for Freshwater Mussels in the Middle Fork Holston River at Route 679, Smyth County, Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Scott D. Klopfer
Director, Conservation Management Institute
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$4,068
Sponsor:
Virginia Department of Transportation
Microstructural Characterization of Iron Sulfide Mineral Oxidation in Aggregates Used in Concretes
Principal Investigator:
Alexander S. Brand
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$78,000
Sponsor:
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Strengthening the Behavioral Health Workforce in Southwest Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Laura E. Welfare
Professor
Office of Educational Research and Outreach
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$1,399,999
Sponsor:
Health Resources and Services Administration
Thalamo-Hippocampal Interplay in Early Life Trauma-Induced Aggression
Principal Investigator:
So Ra Shin
Assistant Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$3,178,195
Sponsor:
National Institute of Mental Health
Evaluating Cover Crop Termination Timing for Enhanced Nutrient Cycling, Reduced Slug Damage, and Improved Soybean Yields
Principal Investigator:
Mark S. Reiter
Professor and Director
Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$25,342
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Supporting Military Family Cybersecurity With an AI-Infused OSINT Tool
Principal Investigator:
Kurt Luther
Associate Professor
Institute for Advanced Computing
Total Anticipated:
$59,815
Sponsor:
Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Southwest Virginia Node
Acquisition of a Gas Source Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer and a Thermal Conversion Elemental Analyzer for the Biogeochemistry Stable Isotope Lab at Virginia Tech
Principal Investigator:
Benjamin C. Gill
Professor
Department of Geosciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$333,263
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
AI-Driven Decision Optimization for the Effective Management of Wavyleaf Grass Invasions in Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Esra Buyuktahtakin Toy
Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$70,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Department of Forestry
Artificial Intelligence for Public Resource Allocation
Principal Investigator:
Sanmay Das
Professor
Institute for Advanced Computing
Total Anticipated:
$1,199,808
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Prefabricated Approaches and Volunteer-Based Enhancements (PAVE) for Virginia Non-Profit Builders
Principal Investigator:
Andrew P. McCoy
Professor
Housing Research Center
Myers-Lawson School of Construction
Total Anticipated:
$400,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Housing
High Temperature Dynamic Pressure Sensor Testing
Principal Investigator:
Joseph Meadows
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$40,470
Sponsor:
Pratt and Whitney Corporation
Multi-Omics and Synthetic Biology Approaches for Exploring and Exploiting Rhizosphere Microbial Ecology in Ipomoea Batatas
Principal Investigator:
Alexandria Igwe
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
144,564.96
Sponsor:
United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Virginia Turfgrass Foundation Graduate Research Assistantship
Principal Investigator:
David S. McCall
Associate Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$500,000
Sponsor:
The Virginia Turfgrass Foundation
Virginia Management Fellows Program 2025-2027
Principal Investigator:
John D. Moore
Research Scientist
Institute for Policy and Governance
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$571,462
Sponsor:
Virginia Department of Human Resource Management
Wall Similarity of 2D and 3D Non-Equilibrium Rough Wall Boundary Layers
Principal Investigator:
William J. Devenport
Professor
Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$815,736
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
4 the Soil and the Future: Strengthening Agriculture, Health, and Community From the Soil Up
Principal Investigator:
Eric S. Bendfeldt
Area Specialist
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$15,000
Sponsor:
Agua Fund Inc.
Multi-Scale, Multi-Proxy, Integrative Investigation of Functional Biodiversity on a Changing Proterozoic Planet
Principal Investigator:
Shuhai Xiao
Professor
Department of Geosciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$933,365
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
National Pork Board's Real Pork Scholar (Lydia Oaker)
Principal Investigator:
Nataliya D. Brantly
Assistant Professor
School of Public and Internat Affairs
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$30,000
Sponsor:
National Pork Board
Serving Communities Through Agriculture Nutrition and Food
Principal Investigator:
Azenegashe O. Abaye
Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$10,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Testing Viability of Solid Amine-Based Adsorption Methods for Carbon Scrubbing on Space Habitats
Principal Investigator:
Stephen M. Martin
Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$3,425
Sponsor:
Virginia Space Grant Consortium
Increasing the Scale of Red Spruce Ecosystem Restoration in the Central Appalachian Highlands
Principal Investigator:
Scott D. Klopfer
Director, Conservation Management Institute
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$2,000,000
Sponsor:
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Fairfax County FY 2027-2031 Consolidated Plan
Principal Investigator:
Melissa Jones O'Brien
Research Associate
Housing Research Center
Myers-Lawson School of Construction
Total Anticipated:
$83,322
Sponsor:
Fairfax County
National Science Foundation SWIFT/NewSpectrum Principal Investigator Meeting for 2025
Principal Investigator:
Yiwei T. Hou
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$28,451
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Development of Two-Rowed Winter Malt Barley Cultivars for the Eastern United States
Principal Investigator:
Nicholas Santantonio
Assistant Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$5,000
Sponsor:
American Malting Barley Association Inc.
Collaborative Research: Personalized and Collaborative Approaches to Integrating Data Science in Molecular Bioscience Education at PUI and R1 Institutions
Principal Investigator:
Anne M. Brown
Assistant Professor
Library
Dean of Libraries
Total Anticipated:
$367,086
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Utilizing Mother-Child Dance to Decrease Maternal Depression and Promote Mother-Child Synchrony: Evidence at the Level of Body and Brain
Principal Investigator:
Julia C. Basso
Assistant Professor
Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$45,000
Sponsor:
National Endowment for the Arts
CAREER: Transient Execution Attacks and Mitigations Across Different CPU Platforms
Principal Investigator:
Wenjie Xiong
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$601,266
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
A Real-Time / Security Co-Scheduling Framework for Time-Sensitive, Zero-Trust CPS
Principal Investigator:
Thidapat Chantem
Associate Professor AY
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$60,000
Sponsor:
Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Southwest Virginia Node
Collaborative Research: III Small: Towards Large Open-World Foundation Models: Construction, Adaptation, and Deployment
Principal Investigator:
Dawei Zhou
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$270,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Mary Louise Andrews Award
Principal Investigator:
Daniel G. Capelluto
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$6,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Academy of Science
Regulation of Canonical and Non-Canonical Substrates of Histone Lysine Methyltransferases
Principal Investigator:
Jia-Ray Yu
Assistant Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$2,213,750
Sponsor:
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
The Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON): Understanding and Responding to Complex Climate-Health Emergencies
Principal Investigator:
Eranga Galappaththi
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$928,001
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Identifying Longitudinal Trends in Psychological Safety and Correlation With Sense of Belonging and Success Beliefs
Principal Investigator:
Mark V. Huerta
Assistant Professor
Department of Engineering Education
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$20,954
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
National Forest Disaster Recovery Support
Principal Investigator:
Joel W. Snodgrass
Professor and Department Head
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$8,770,000
Sponsor:
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service
Mechanistic Studies of the Complex Regulation of the Signaling Histidine Kinase GacS From Pseudomonas Aeruginosa
Principal Investigator:
Florian D. Schubot
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$422,355
Sponsor:
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Survey for Freshwater Mussels in the North Fork Holston River at Route 631, Smyth County, Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Scott D. Klopfer
Director, Conservation Management Institute
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$5,231
Sponsor:
Virginia Department of Transportation
CAREER: Rethinking Advanced Threat Protection in the Era of Large Language Models
Principal Investigator:
Peng Gao
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$625,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Phenotypic Convergence at Mitochondria in Copy Number Variant Disorders
Principal Investigator:
Ryan H. Purcell
Assistant Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$427,209
Sponsor:
National Institute of Mental Health
CAREER: Automated, Quality, and Trustworthy Scientific Information Extraction From Massive Text Data
Principal Investigator:
Xuan Wang
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$400,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Assessing the Economic Benefits and Costs of Red Tide Control and Mitigation Strategies Along the South Florida Gulf Coast
Principal Investigator:
Klaus Moeltner
Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$1,045,630
Sponsor:
United States Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Prognostic Utility of Preoperative F-Wave Measurements in Paraplegic Dogs With Absent Pain Perception Due to Intervertebral Disc Extrusion
Principal Investigator:
Go Togawa
Assistant Professor
Veterinary Medical Research and Graduate Studies
College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$20,654
Sponsor:
American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation
School and Youth Garden Grant
Principal Investigator:
Shawn Jadrnicek
Extension Agent
Southwest District Coop. Extension
Director of Cooperative Extension
Total Anticipated:
$2,000
Sponsor:
Local Environmental Agriculture Project Inc.
Environmental DNA Metabarcoding for Stream Restoration Monitoring
Principal Investigator:
Paul L. Angermeier
Professor
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$49,832
Sponsor:
Chesapeake Bay Trust