Here are three recent grants awarded to Illinois State University facutly and staff.
Appears InArt professor receives grant for sustainable ag project
Wonsook Kim School of Art Assistant Professor Ruth Burke has received a nearly $50,000, two-year grant from North Central Region SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) for her proposal “Re-Integration of Mixed-Power Systems in Agroecological Intensification.”
Burke will collaborate with farmers to use mixed power (draft animal plus tractor power) to establish two pollinator plots and two pollinator-friendly earthworks in McLean County. She is also holding two public field day events related to the project.
The research’s goal is to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and healthy food systems in Central Illinois, create pollinator food-habitat, enhance soil health, and foster resilient community infrastructures that exist beyond the project duration.
NSF grant funds math professor’s power grid research
Dr. Mehdi Karimi, assistant professor of Mathematics, has received a two-year, an approximately $197,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project titled “Intelligent Modeling and Parameter Selection in Distributed Optimization for Power Networks.”
This proposal aims to tackle the main challenges of distributed optimization for the operations of power systems, by introducing innovative techniques for modeling and parameter selection methods.
The optimization problems required for the efficient functioning of modern power systems grow increasingly complex and challenging to solve with the increasing integration of renewable resources although though those advancements promise a more sustainable and resilient power grid.
$600K NSF grant to boost ISU’s digital capabilities for research and teaching
A group of Illinois State researchers and networking experts have received a two-year, approximately $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a new cyberinfrastructure project that is poised to transform research and educational processes on campus through its advanced digital capabilities.
By upgrading the campus network to a 100G capacity, integrating a 100G Science DMZ, and establishing a 100G Software Defined Networking (SDN) enabled testbed, the project will significantly boost the speed and efficiency of research activities. The project enables the rapid processing and sharing of large datasets, facilitating real-time machine-learning analysis in collaboration with external partners. This enhancement in infrastructure also supports advanced methodologies that were previously unattainable, promoting more innovative and exploratory research.
The research group is composed of lead investigator Dr. Yongning Tang, a professor in the School of Information Technology, and co-investigators Dr. Olcay Akman, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and director of the Center for Collaborative Studies in Mathematical Biology; Dr. George Barnes, chair of and professor in the Department of Chemistry; Charles Edamala, Illinois State’s chief information officer and associate vice president of Technology Solutions; and Craig Jackson, director of Infrastructure Operations and Networking in the Office of Technology Solutions.
