September 2025 Grants and Awards
Department of Defense Cyber Service Academy 2025
Principal Investigator:
Ehren Hill
Director, Education and Outreach
Virginia Tech National Security Institute
Total Anticipated:
$2,790,030
Sponsor:
United States Department of Defense
Addressing Benefit Cliffs in Child Care Subsidy Programs: An Actionable Case Study of Virginia's Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Block Grant Program
Principal Investigator:
Le Wang
Professor
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$14,515
Sponsor:
University of Wisconsin Madison
Octop\US: Uncovering the Dynamics of Octopus Arm Behaviors Using Ultrasound Imaging
Principal Investigator:
Noel M. Naughton
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$624,646
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
CAREER: Synthetic Designs Toward Wavelength-Tunable Production of Reactive Intermediates for Selective Photooxidation
Principal Investigator:
Shabnam Hematian
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$650,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
JSA/JLab Graduate Fellowship
Principal Investigator:
Mark L. Pitt
Professor
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$12,000
Sponsor:
Southeastern Universities Research Association Inc.
SWVA – A Strong Workforce Is Vital to Appalachia
Principal Investigator:
Allison B. Mays
Director, Southwest Center
Virginia Tech Southwest Center
Total Anticipated:
$403,018
Sponsor:
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Underlying Vasculature and Perivasculature Direct Fluid Flow in and Around Tumors
Principal Investigator:
Jennifer M. Munson
Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$411,583
Sponsor:
National Cancer Institute
2025 Automated Detection of Diarrhea in Dairy Calves Using AI-Based Image Analysis
Principal Investigator:
Rebecca Cockrum
Assistant Professor
School of Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$10,000
Sponsor:
University of Illinois
CAREER: Placing Single Vinyl Ethers Within Synthetic Polymers
Principal Investigator:
Charles A. Figg
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$700,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Developing the Engineering Workforce: Examining Faculty Beliefs to Connect School to Work
Principal Investigator:
Marie C. Paretti
Professor
Department of Engineering Education
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$387,145
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Dangerous Harbor Implementation: Finding Escaped Unfree Laborers in the 17th-Century Chesapeake
Principal Investigator:
Jessica Taylor
Associate Professor
Department of History
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$349,999
Sponsor:
National Endowment for the Humanities
Accelerating Innovation in Distributed AI Applications Using an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) Testbed
Principal Investigator:
Narendran Ramakrishnan
Thomas L. Phillips Professor
Institute for Advanced Computing
Total Anticipated:
$199,636
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Generalized and Cancer-Related Episodic Future Thinking for Smoking Cessation: Proof-of-Concept and Feasibility Testing
Principal Investigator:
Jeffrey S. Stein
Assistant Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$395,248
Sponsor:
National Cancer Institute
Ultra-High Performance Quantum Memories Through Symmetries
Principal Investigator:
Arpit Dua
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$450,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
FY2025/2026 Mycotoxin Testing Services for Virginia Wheat and Barley
Principal Investigator:
David G. Schmale
Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$30,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Small Grains Board
Persistent Pollutant in Florida Recycled Organics and Fertilizers
Principal Investigator:
Austin D. Gray
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$5,000
Sponsor:
University of Florida
Collaborative Research: FDT-BioTech – Digital Twins With Statistical Topological Learning of Periodontal Diseases
Principal Investigator:
Yulia Gel
Professor
Department of Statistics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$650,892
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Creating an Improved Oncolytic Virus Through Directed Evolution and Virus-Driven Expression of a Cancer-Targeting Peptide
Principal Investigator:
James D. Weger
Associate Professor
Veterinary Medical Research and Graduate Studies
College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$414,482
Sponsor:
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
A Behavioral and Neural Investigation of Young Children's Attention and Comprehension on Interactive Video Viewing Platforms
Principal Investigator:
Koeun Choi
Associate Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Science
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$150,803
Sponsor:
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
CART II Signaling Effects on Escalated Alcohol Intake
Principal Investigator:
Cristina Miliano
Research Scientist
School of Neuroscience
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$849,915
Sponsor:
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Acoustic Wave Manipulation of Solder-Joint Defects in Reduced-Gravity Environments
Principal Investigator:
Zhenhua Tian
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$178,474
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Bridging the Gap II: Management of Postharvest Water in Produce Operations
Principal Investigator:
Laura K. Strawn
Professor
Department of Food Science and Technology
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$399,465
Sponsor:
United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Injection-Dependent Internal Optical Loss: A Critical Factor Controlling the Operation of Semiconductor Lasers
Principal Investigator:
Levon V. Asryan
Associate professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$323,800
Sponsor:
United States Army Research Office
Small Grains Variety Testing and Market Development
Principal Investigator:
Olga S. Walsh
Associate Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$25,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Small Grains Board
Species and Habitat Surveys at Naval Air Station Oceana/Dam Neck Annex/Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress and Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads – Northwest Annex and Naval Subbase New London (SUBBASE NLON)
Principal Investigator:
Verl R. Emrick
Research Scientist
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$445,750.05
Sponsor:
United States Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic Division
Improvement and Development of Barley for Use in Feed, Malt, and Food
Principal Investigator:
Nicholas Santantonio
Assistant Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$5,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Small Grains Board
Breeding, Mapping, and Genome-Enabled Selection for Scab Resistance in Barley and Wheat
Principal Investigator:
Nicholas Santantonio
Assistant Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$35,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Small Grains Board
Development of Specialty Wheat Varieties With High-Value End-Use Properties
Principal Investigator:
Nicholas Santantonio
Assistant Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$9,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Small Grains Board
Wearable Magnetoencephalography for Studying Parent-Infant Interactions
Principal Investigator:
Brittany R. Howell
Associate Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$2,284,705
Sponsor:
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Nurse Crops and Phosphorus to Improve Native Warm Season Grass Establishment and Offset Delayed Production
Principal Investigator:
Michael L. Flessner
Associate Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$4,666
Sponsor:
Virginia Cattle Industry Board
Soft Red Winter Wheat Cultivar Development
Principal Investigator:
Nicholas Santantonio
Assistant Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$65,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Small Grains Board
Discovering New Placental Markers Predicting Pregnancy Success for In Vitro-Produced Embryos
Principal Investigator:
Alan D. Ealy
Horace E. and Elizabeth F. Alphin Professor
School of Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$19,880
Sponsor:
Virginia Cattle Industry Board
Leveraging Mexican Millipede Secretions as Neuromodulators
Principal Investigator:
Emily E. Mevers
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$375,392
Sponsor:
John E Fogarty International Center