May 2026 Grants and Awards
Tribal Food Sovereignty and Wellness Action Team
Principal Investigator:
Elena L. Serrano
Professor
Department of Family Nutrition Program
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$115,998
Sponsor:
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
K63 Polyubiquitination as a Mechanism Linking Obesity and Age-Related Memory Decline
Principal Investigator:
Timothy Jarome
Associate Professor
School of Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$409,464
Sponsor:
National Institute on Aging
Examining How Nutrient Restriction Impacts Follicular and Oocyte Competence in Beef Cattle
Principal Investigator:
Alan D. Ealy
Horace E. and Elizabeth F. Alphin Professor of Dairy Science
School of Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$60,000
Sponsor:
United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Reimagining Camera Systems as Low-Power Monitoring Tools for Detecting Dystocia in Beef Cattle in Extensive Grazing Systems
Principal Investigator:
Chun-Peng Chen
Non-Instruction Part Time Temporary Faculty
School of Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$29,993
Sponsor:
Virginia Cattle Industry Board
Experiential Learning: Using an Agricultural Lens to Serve Virginia and Abroad
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
Incorporating Environmental Factors into Multi-Omic Modeling to Improve Soybean Breeding Selection
Principal Investigator:
Bo Zhang
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$80,468
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Comparative Analysis of Nitrogen Acquisition and Partitioning in High- and Low-Protein Soybean Lines
Principal Investigator:
Guillaume Pilot
Associate Professor
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$14,269
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Toward Improving Glomerella Leaf Spot Resistance in Gala Apple Through Precision Gene Editing
Principal Investigator:
Sherif M. Sherif
Associate Professor
Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$18,323
Sponsor:
Virginia Apple Research Program
Impacts of Exposure to Adult Spotted Lanternfly on Cabernet Franc Yield and Grape Composition—Year 2
Principal Investigator:
Andrew D. Harner
Assistant Professor
Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$59,373
Sponsor:
Virginia Wine Board
Addressing Management Options and Pathogen Dynamics of Glomerella Leaf Spot in Virginia Apple Orchards
Principal Investigator:
Mizuho Nita
Assistant Professor
Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$14,827
Sponsor:
Virginia Apple Research Program
Acoustic Metamaterial Enabled Measurements in Hydrodynamic Laboratory Facilities
Principal Investigator:
William N. Alexander
Associate Professor
Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$773,000
Sponsor:
Office of Naval Research
Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts–Academic Linkage 2026 Mars Pylon Network
Principal Investigator:
Kevin A. Shinpaugh
Collegiate Professor
Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$7,000
Sponsor:
National Institute of Aerospace
Collaborative Research: Conference: Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace: National Science Foundation Security, Privacy, and Trust in Cyberspace 2026 Principal Investigator Meeting Organization
Principal Investigator:
Danfeng Yao
Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$50,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Career: Foundations of Semantic Code Understanding by Large Language Models for Software Maintenance
Principal Investigator:
Muhammad Ali Gulzar
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$677,469
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Career: Scalable Techniques for Validating Broadband Infrastructure Availability and Performance
Principal Investigator:
Shaddi H. Hasan
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$699,938
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems Phase I: Toward a Community-Driven Flexible Emulator Ecosystem for Next-Generation Storage Systems Research and Innovation
Principal Investigator:
Huaicheng Li
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$299,946
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Conference: Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience Annual Principal Investigator Meeting in Alexandria, Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Rolf Mueller
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$81,113
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
New Strategies for Copper-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Alkyl Electrophiles
Principal Investigator:
Wei Liu
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$785,243
Sponsor:
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Investigating the Vegetation and Fire History of Buffalo Mountain, Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Rachel Reid
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Geosciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$14,670
Sponsor:
Virginia Native Plant Society
Collaborative Research: Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace: Research: Small: Post-Quantum Cryptographic Protocols with Advanced Functionalities
Principal Investigator:
Jason T. LeGrow
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$200,002
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Conference: Linear Algebra on the Blue Ridge: Panoramas of Theory and Application
Principal Investigator:
Mirjeta Pasha
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$25,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems: Phase II: Ecosystem of the Applications and Libraries for Physics Simulations
Principal Investigator:
Vito W. Scarola
Professor AY
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$1,490,730
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Major Research Instrumentation: Track 1 Acquisition of a Cryogen-Free Sub-Kelvin Variable-Temperature System for Electronic and Quantum Materials Measurements
Principal Investigator:
Jean J. Heremans
Professor
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$393,875
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Facilitation of the 2028–2032 Virginia Department of Health Cancer Plan
Principal Investigator:
Sophie G. Wenzel
Professional Lecturer
Department of Population Health Sciences
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$33,269
Sponsor:
Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health
Synaptic Signaling Mechanisms in Toxoplasma Infected Brains
Principal Investigator:
Ira Blader
Department Head Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology
Veterinary Medical Research and Graduate Studies
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$1,961,690
Sponsor:
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Identification of Commensal Skin Bacteria That Inhibit the Growth of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Their Associated Bacteriocins
Principal Investigator:
Jessica Gilbertie
Assistant Professor
Veterinary Medical Research and Graduate Studies
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$73,191
Sponsor:
American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation
Adeno-Associated Virus–Mediated PERM1 Overexpression as a New Therapy for Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction
Principal Investigator:
Junko Warren
Assistant Professor
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$3,169,150
Sponsor:
National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute
Career: Perceptual Modeling for Manipulative and Deceptive Patterns in Immersive Virtual Environments
Principal Investigator:
Brendan M. David-John
Assistant Professor
Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology
Total Anticipated:
$672,132
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Center for Construction Research and Training Small Study Program
Principal Investigator:
Ashtarout Ammar
Assistant Professor
Myers-Lawson School of Construction
Total Anticipated:
$29,918
Sponsor:
Center for Construction Research and Training
SPARK: Safe Parks and Roads for Kids: An Artificial Intelligence-Driven Citizen Science Co-Design Approach
Principal Investigator:
Junghwan Kim
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$119,719
Sponsor:
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
A Comprehensive Approach to Tracking Work-Based Learning at Virginia Tech
Principal Investigator:
Jill C. Sible
Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Vice President of Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Total Anticipated:
$99,031
Sponsor:
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
Food Insecurity Intervention in the Roanoke Valley—Building a Sustainable Partnership
Principal Investigator:
Kristofer Rau
Collegiate Associate Professor
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine - Instructional Programs
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$9,000
Sponsor:
Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society