News by Topic: Grants

The DeafTEC program at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf has received a renewal grant for $1.6 million to continue its work serving as a resource for high schools and community colleges that educate deaf and hard-of-hearing students in STEM-related programs and for employers hiring deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. 

The Battery Prototyping Center at RIT was awarded nearly $2.2 million through the Empire State Development Grants program to expand its facility. Upgrades and expansion of the center will nearly double its current space, add new equipment, and increase training capacity in the areas of lithium-ion battery research, manufacturing, and development.

Emiliano Brini, assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, has received an award from the National Institutes of Health to support his research on building the next generation of drugs. Brini and his team of students will develop computational tools that can predict the strength of the interaction between two proteins and how drugs will modify this interaction.

Faculty in RIT’s Modern Languages and Cultures department received an International Research and Studies grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund the development of new materials and curricula for Chinese, Italian, and Spanish courses that focus on STEAM. Associate Professor Zhong Chen, Principal Lecturer Elisabetta D’Amanda, and Department Chair Sara Armengot will spend the next three years developing, testing, and implementing the new materials in the classroom.

Astrophysicist Jason Nordhaus is breaking cultural and disciplinary boundaries by helping to grow the number of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and Hispanic researchers. And, in doing so, he is enabling these future scientists to drive discoveries in one of his areas of expertise—neutron star astrophysics.

Lucia Carichino, assistant professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, has received a Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) award from the National Science Foundation for her research in computational modeling of the interaction between the eye and a contact lens.

RIT researcher Bolaji Thomas is leading a $650,000 study to compare the genetic response in cattle in sub-Saharan Africa to the parasitic disease Trypanosomiasis, or “sleeping sickness,” that attacks their blood and brain. As parasites adapt to a warming world, the biting fly that transmits Trypanosomiasis could someday migrate to northern climates.

RIT and NTID researchers have identified a critical gap between emergency services and the needs of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Now with a $1 million grant, they are working to bridge that divide.

The low-cost multispectral imaging system MISHA, or the Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts, was developed by RIT experts to uncover object details that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

A team of scientists at RIT will expand its work after receiving a large grant from the National Science Foundation to make chemistry more accessible for students who rely on American Sign Language interpreters in class. The team has been awarded nearly $380,000 for its proposal to transform chemistry for deaf and hard-of-hearing students via the design, implementation, and evaluation of a descriptive sign language lexicon.

Michael Zuzak, a faculty-researcher at RIT, is one of a growing field of engineers looking to improve computer chip security during manufacturing. Zuzak received a two-year National Science Foundation grant to use the developmental practice of logic obfuscation to enable system-wide security during the manufacturing and testing of integrated circuits.

The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute has announced selections for its 2023-2024 Community Grants Program. The program provides nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and local governments both financial and technical assistance for projects that promote and implement pollution-prevention practices at the community level.