SEAS research expenditures reach record $107 million

By Elizabeth Egan 

SEAS faculty have served as the principal investigator on over 130 projects awarded during the past fiscal year, including 10 grants of more than $1 million. The rise in research funding has helped to fuel unprecedented growth in the school, which has also experienced record levels of faculty hiring.

“We take immense pride in the exceptional achievements of our SEAS researchers, whose efforts have led to a second consecutive year of record growth in external funding,” said Jun Zhuang, SEAS associate dean of research and Morton C. Frank Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. “This remarkable accomplishment is a testament to the unwavering dedication of our faculty, staff, and students to advancing research and innovation that positively impacts the world.”

The funding allocated to SEAS researchers will contribute to advancements in artificial intelligence and clean energy, as well as modernizing the nations power grid, mapping healthy brain tissue, training future cybersecurity experts, and more.

Part of the record research expenditures includes over $4 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to eight SEAS faculty who received NSF CAREER Awards, the NSF’s most prestigious award in support of early career researchers. Their research spans from supporting speedy and reliable data analytics to promoting the wider adoption of direct current (DC) microgrids and using protein analysis to understand levels of harmful material in wastewater.

The grants and contracts are provided to SEAS by a range of institutions, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the National Security Agency, the U.S. Department of Defense, and more.

Some of the largest awards granted in the 2024 fiscal year include:

• $3.4 million from the NSF to Shambhu Upadhyaya, professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, to continue CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service, a program that is aims to train the next generation of cybersecurity experts.
• $3 million from the NIH to Wenyao Xu, professor and associate chair in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, for a four-year project to develop AI technologies that could allow patients to monitor chronic wounds on their smartphones.
• $2.9 million from the NIH to principal investigator, Stelios Andreadis, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, to continue investigating the practice of injecting shear-thinning hydrogels into the brain to protect stem cells in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
• $2.8 million from the DOE to principal investigator Uttam Singisetti, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, to advance semiconductor technology that will help to modernize the nation’s power grid.
• $2 million from the DOE to principal investigator Ian Bradley, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, to make farming biofuel more efficient and affordable.
•  $2 million from the NSF to principal investigator Pinar Okumus, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, to assess the risk to buildings that have been corroded by saltwater in areas with frequent seismic activity.
• $1.7 million from the NIH to principal investigator Junghun Cho, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, to create a tool set for oxygen metabolism mapping that can help doctors to identify healthy brain tissue when treating neurological disorders.
• $1.25 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to Krishna Rajan, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation, to establish The Center for Accelerated Innovation through Materials at UB, which will promote clean energy research in upstate New York.