Sponsored Research garners $73 million in funding

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Ryne Raffaelle

Rochester Institute of Technology’s sponsored research portfolio grew by almost 18 percent in fiscal year 2016, reaching a record $73 million in funding.

RIT received a record 358 new awards during that time period from a variety of state, federal, corporate and foundation sponsors. Included in that funding was a record $15 million from the National Science Foundation, an increase of $2 million, and $3 million from the National Institutes of Health.

“We continue to grow RIT’s reputation as a research university, with ever higher new awards and record funding, especially impressive given that many funding opportunities are in decline,” said Ryne Raffaelle, RIT’s vice president for research and associate provost. “This reflects the university’s continuing strength in areas we’ve defined as strategic research initiatives.”

Also, this year, Amlan Ganguly, associate professor of computer engineering at the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, received a CAREER Award from NSF, the seventh RIT faculty member to do so in the last three years. CAREER Awards are offered to support faculty who are early in their careers and exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Among the 2016 award highlights:

• $1.33 million from NSF to Don Figer, professor of imaging science and director of RIT’s Center for Detectors, for “New Infrared Detectors for Astrophysics;”
• $820,504 from NSF to Brian Trager, faculty in information and computing studies at National Technical Institute for the Deaf, for “RoadMAPPs to Careers: A New Approach to Mobile Apps Education featuring a Mapp for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students;”
• $666,960 from NSF for Shanchieh Yang, professor of computer engineering at the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “TWC: TTP Option: Small: Automating Attack Strategy Recognition to Enhance Cyber Threat Prediction;”
• $552,000 from NIH to David Borkholder, professor of microsystems engineering in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, for “Enabling Microsystem Technologies for Advanced Drug Delivery;”
• $548,321 from NSF to Denis Defibaugh, professor of photographic arts and sciences in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, for “Rockwell Kent and Early 1930s Greenland: A Comparative View of Environmental, Social and Cultural Change in Contemporary Greenland.”

For more information, go to www.rit.edu/research.