April 2026 Grants and Awards
Assessing Red Wine Phenolics in Three Virginia Wine Varieties Over Three Vintages
Principal Investigator:
Dennis Cladis
Assistant Professor
Department of Food Science and Technology
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$42,758
Sponsor:
Virginia Wine Board
Characterization of Southern Apples for Cider Production
Principal Investigator:
Amanda C. Stewart
Associate Professor
Department of Food Science and Technology
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$63,406
Sponsor:
Virginia Wine Board
Understanding the Genetic Causes of Pregnancy Loss Using an Innovative In Vitro System
Principal Investigator:
Fernando H. Biase
Associate Professor AY
School of Animal Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$29,154
Sponsor:
Virginia Cattle Industry Board
Maintain Fungicide Resistance Testing Capabilities for Grape Diseases 2026–2027
Principal Investigator:
Antonius B. Baudoin
Associate Professor Emeritus
School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Total Anticipated:
$6,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Wine Board
Improve the Efficacy of Grape Downy Mildew Management in Virginia
Principal Investigator:
Mizuho Nita
Assistant Professor
Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$5,7162
Sponsor:
Virginia Wine Board
Efficacy and Return on Investment for Applying Fungicide with a Spray Drone
Principal Investigator:
Joseph C. Oakes
Superintendent EVAREC Associate Extension Specialist
Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$6,995
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center Soybean Research Support
Principal Investigator:
Joseph C. Oakes
Superintendent EVAREC Associate Extension Specialist
Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$12,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Developing Replacement Heifers on Alternative Forages
Principal Investigator:
Gabriel J. Pent
Superintendent EVAREC Associate Extension Specialist
Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$35,126
Sponsor:
Virginia Cattle Industry Board
Validating In-Season Potassium Management Opportunities in Virginia Soybean
Principal Investigator:
Carrie C. Ortel
Assistant Professor
Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$61,994
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Big Teams Collaborating on Big Soybean Problems (Deer and Slugs)
Principal Investigator:
Carrie C. Ortel
Assistant Professor
Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$70,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Comparing Integrated Pest Management Recommendations with Automatic Insecticide Applications in Virginia Soybeans
Principal Investigator:
Timothy B. Bryant
Assistant Professor
Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Agriculture Experiment Station
Total Anticipated:
$21,095
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Extending the Athlete Brand: Name, Image, and Likeness Endorsement Fit, Gender Expectations, and Brand Equity
Principal Investigator:
Mario Pandelaere
Director of Graduate Program and Associate Professor
Pamplin Innovation Campus
Pamplin College of Business
Total Anticipated:
$3,000
Sponsor:
Atlantic Coast Conference
Deep Sequence-Structure-Function Learning for Modeling and Characterization of Biomolecules at Scale
Principal Investigator:
Debswapna Bhattacharya
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$2,089,373
Sponsor:
National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health
A Study on Key Management Structure for Multi-Metaverse Avatar Authentication and Anonymization Assurance
Principal Investigator:
Taejoong T. Chung
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$100,000
Sponsor:
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
Career: Modern Aspects of Learning-Augmented Algorithms
Principal Investigator:
Ali Vakilian
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$711,498
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Career: Learning Quantum States: Robustness, Noise, and Novel Algorithms
Principal Investigator:
Jamie Sikora
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$721,412
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Artificial Intelligence-Driven Dual-Mode Strain Sensors for Enhanced Safety in High-Altitude Super-Pressure Balloons
Principal Investigator:
Tao Sun
Research Associate Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
College of Engineering
Total Anticipated:
$25,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Microelectronics Consortium
Investigating the Epigenetic Basis of Monocyte Exhaustion Memory Following Sepsis
Principal Investigator:
Liwu Li
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$112,256
Sponsor:
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Origination Selectivity for Body Size Among Marine Animals Since the Late Neoproterozoic
Principal Investigator:
Pedro M. Monarrez
Assistant Professor
Department of Geosciences
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$522,394
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Accurate and Efficient Solvent Models for Molecular Simulations: Methods and Biological Applications
Principal Investigator:
Alexey Onufriev
Professor
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$2,063,940
Sponsor:
National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health
Industry-Compatible Antiferromagnetic Media for Ultrafast Memories: Enhancing Stability and Readout via Machine Learning
Principal Investigator:
Satoru Emori
Associate Professor
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$33,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Microelectronics Consortium
Quantum Error Corrected Networks with Logically Encoded Photonic States
Principal Investigator:
Sophia E. Economou
Professor AY
Department of Physics
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$15,000
Sponsor:
Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Southwest Virginia Node
Navigating Trauma and Alcohol: The Role of Cultural Identity and Social Support Among Undergraduate Latina Sexual Assault Survivors
Principal Investigator:
Meagan J. Brem
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
College of Science
Total Anticipated:
$5,000
Sponsor:
American Psychological Foundation
Genomic Research Capacity Building for Cryptococcal Meningitis
Principal Investigator:
Kirsten Nielsen
Professor
Veterinary Medicine Research and Graduate Studies
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$1,673,700
Sponsor:
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health
Assessing Equity in Shared Decision Making, Utilization, and Outcomes of Lung Cancer Screening
Principal Investigator:
Jan M. Eberth
Department Head
Veterinary Medicine Research and Graduate Studies
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Total Anticipated:
$421,512
Sponsor:
American Cancer Society
Caroline County Healthy Communities Action Team Project
Principal Investigator:
LaWanda V. Wright
Extension Agent
Northeast District Cooperative Extension
Director of Cooperative Extension
Total Anticipated:
$120,000
Sponsor:
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
On-Farm Investigation and Evaluation of Soybean Production Strategies for 2026
Principal Investigator:
James S. Reiter
Extension Agent
Southeast District Cooperative Extension
Director of Cooperative Extension
Total Anticipated:
$11,250
Sponsor:
Virginia Soybean Board
Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Tobacco Use Disorder: High Resolution Targeting of the Human Insula / Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Chronic Pain: High Resolution Targeting of the Human Insula
Principal Investigator:
Michael J. Friedlander
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Total Anticipated:
$32,831
Sponsor:
Washington VA Medical Center
Collaborative Research: Conference: United States Advancing Leadership in Global Networking Standards Edit
Principal Investigator:
Lingjia Liu
Andrew J. Young Professorship - Professor
Institute for Advanced Computing
Total Anticipated:
$100,000
Sponsor:
National Science Foundation
Minnesota Department of Transportation Asset Management Strategic Implementation Plan (2026–2030) Gap Assessment
Principal Investigator:
Ashtarout Ammar
Assistant Professor
Myers-Lawson School of Construction
Total Anticipated:
$49,726
Sponsor:
Minnesota Department Of Transportation Business Services
Guam Avian Management Plan
Principal Investigator:
Haldre S. Rogers
Associate Professor
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
College of Natural Resources and Environment
Total Anticipated:
$101,560
Sponsor:
Tano Tasi yan Todu