External Awards Received
The Office of Research is pleased to announce and would like to congratulate our Dearborn faculty members on receipt of the following external funding:
U-M Principal Investigator: Zhi Zhang
Project Title: Understanding cell chirality and cell-cell interactions at neurovascular unit after brain injury
Direct Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Award Amount: $465,752
A brain injury causes significant changes to the neurovascular unit, which is a complex network of brain cells and blood vessels that work closely together. These changes can lead to inflammation and brain cell damage. This project focuses on studying how traumatic brain injuries affect the way cells in the neurovascular unit behave and interact with each other. The goal is to use this knowledge to create precise treatments tailored to specific cell types, potentially offering new solutions for various neurological disorders.
U-M Principal Investigator: Amanda Esquivel
Project Title: IPA Agreement
Direct Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Amount: $218,336
Esquivel is currently serving at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) as the Program Director for the Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering Program (DARE) in the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division within the Engineering Directorate. As a Program Director, she will be responsible for carrying out NSF’s overall mission to support fundamental, highly innovative research that contributes to the technological strength of the nation. She will solicit and review research proposals and then make funding recommendations for projects where the goal is to conduct fundamental engineering research that improves the quality of life of persons with disabilities.
U-M Principal Investigator: Kalyan Kondapalli
Project Title: Elucidating the role of luminal pH in regulating phagosome transport
Direct Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Award Amount: $468,000
Macrophages are immune cells that capture microbial pathogens in vesicles called phagosomes. As these phagosomes move toward the center of the cell, they fill with acid and eventually merge with other vesicles called lysosomes, which contain digestive enzymes to break down the pathogens. The goal of this project is to elucidate how the acid in the phagosome lumen governs the movement of the phagosome. Pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (which causes tuberculosis), Legionella pneumophila (responsible for Legionnaires disease, a severe form of pneumonia), etc., have developed ways to subvert this acidification process. Therefore, insights gained from this study will have significant implications for developing therapeutics to combat these dangerous microbes.
U-M Principal Investigator: Jian Hu
Project Title: Managing Distributional Ambiguity in Stochastic Optimization through Statistical Upper Bound Frameworks
Direct Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Amount: $400,438
In both engineering and management, effective decision-making often hinges on the ability to navigate through uncertain parameters. Stochastic optimization offers a modeling framework representing the uncertain parameters as random variables, complete with their respective probabilistic information or distribution. Despite this theoretical foundation, real-world applications grapple with challenges such as limited data, incomplete information, and the inherent complexity of the systems being modeled. As a result, the exact estimation of probability distributions becomes a formidable task. This discrepancy between theoretical models and practical constraints introduces distributional ambiguity — a pervasive challenge in decision-making scenarios. Effectively managing distributional ambiguity is essential for enhancing the reliability, efficiency, and sustainability of decision policies across a wide range of engineering and business domains. This project is motivated by the critical real-world need to improve electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, where limited data often complicates the understanding of complex uncertainties involved.
U-M Principal Investigator: Youngki Kim
Project Title: Charge Domain-Based OCV and eSOH Estimation for Li-ion Batteries under Dynamic Operation
Direct Sponsor: LG Energy Solution
Award Amount: $150,000
The market share of electric vehicles (EVs) is rapidly increasing, but challenges such as accurate mileage management and battery performance deterioration persist. Accurate estimates of an EV's remaining mileage depend on precise battery state-of-charge (SOC) measurements, typically derived from the open circuit voltage (OCV) versus SOC curve. However, as lithium-ion batteries age, their capacity and power fade, impacting the OCV-SOC curve and EV driving range. A reliable battery management system, therefore, requires accurate OCV and state of health (SOH) information. To address these issues, this project will develop a novel model-based and data-driven method for onboard battery OCV and SOH estimation, capable of functioning without relaxation time during any random test cycle, making it practical for real-life applications. This approach will identify battery internal resistance, time constant, cell capacity, and electrode electrical parameters, encompassing both cell-level and electrode-level SOH information.
U-M Principal Investigator: Probir Roy
Project Title: Collaborative Research: EduPerf: Integrating Software Performance Analysis into CS Education
Direct Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Amount: $99,983
This project focuses on improving how computer science (CS) students learn to write efficient software. While CS education traditionally emphasizes making sure programs work correctly, this project aims to teach students how to make their code run faster and use fewer resources. The team is developing a tool called EduPerf to help students and teachers analyze software performance in different CS courses. By doing this, the project hopes to produce software engineers who are skilled at writing high-performance code, benefiting industries across the country.
U-M Principal Investigator: Lei Chen
Project Title: Development of a software tool to simulate Li dendrite-induced internal short circuit
Direct Sponsor: General Motors Company
Award Amount: $150,529
Electrification of transportation vehicles requires a significant increase in the specific energy density of current Li-ion batteries, but Li-dendrite formation severely limits the commercialization of such high energy batteries, either because dendrite pieces lose electrical contact with the rest of the electrode or because growing dendrites can penetrate the separator and lead to short circuits as well as thermal runaway. Dr. Chen’s project aims to develop a software tool to simulate the Li-dendrite-induced internal short circuit (ISC) by integrating a recently developed “in-house” dendrite (2D & 3D) simulation code in phase 1 and macro-scale full-cell ISC code. The developed computational framework can quantify the conditions triggering the Li dendrite and the resulting ISC/thermal runaway that will facilitate the design of Li-ion batteries to mitigate ISC/thermal runaway.
U-M Principal Investigator: Lei Chen
Project Title: Ultrasonic mixing to produce the electrode coating with novel binders
Direct Sponsor: Enpower Greentech Inc.
Award Amount: $16,157
Electrode microstructure is an important indicator for battery performance. This project aims to fabricate the electrodes with various binders using our unique ultrasonic mixing technique.
Announcements
Resources for Using SciENcv
NSF requires all biosketch and current & pending support documents for senior personnel to be prepared using SciENcv. SciENcv offers researchers the option to create a new Current & Pending form or Biosketch for proposals submitted after May 17, 2024. It will also allow you to migrate your data from the old form to the new form.
U-M Library Services has put together this guidance page to help you get started. You can also request a one-on-one Zoom session with Dearborn Office of Research staff to walk you through this process. Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) is a researcher profile system for all individuals who apply for, receive or are associated with research investments from federal agencies.
Any researcher can register for SciENcv and create multiple biosketches, for different research projects or different funding agencies. You can find much more information about how to use SciENcv on their FAQs page. The central Office of Research and Sponsored Programs has recorded workshops available on how to create a biosketch in SciENcv specifically focused on NSF and NIH. These resources are available linked below:
- NSF Biosketch and SciENcv Webinar (July 2020)
- Slide Deck (MLibrary Presentation)
- NSF Biosketch Webinar Transcript
- How to Create Your NSF Biosketch in SciENcv Step-by-step (MLibrary Handout)
- NIH Biosketch and SciENcv Webinar (May 2020)
- Slide Deck (MLibrary Presentation)
- NIH Biosketch Webinar Transcript
- Biosketch and SciENcv Step-by-Step (MLibrary Handout)
If you have questions about SciENcv, need additional support, or would like to schedule one-on-one assistance with setting up your SciENcv profile and documents, please email our office at [email protected].
Research Events in September
- Data and Safety Monitoring Boards and Data Safety Monitoring Plans
- Presented by IRBMED, a unit of the Medical School Office of Research
- This course will review when studies are required to have a DSMP or DSMB and how to develop an appropriate DSMP. A DSMB is an independent group that advises the study team regarding subject safety, study conduct, and efficacy.
- Virtual on Sept. 17, 2024 at 2 p.m.
- Waivers, Alterations, and Alternative Forms of Informed Consent
- Presented by IRBMED, a unit of the Medical School Office of Research
- This course offers an overview of some special situations relating to informed consent. Specifically, waivers and alterations of informed consent, waivers of documentation of informed consent, and obtaining consent from non-English speakers.
- Virtual on Sept. 10, 2024 at 9:30 a.m.
- IRB-HSBS Educational Sessions
- UM Research Ethics and Compliance is hosting a series of virtual educational sessions about the Institutional Review Board this fall, including: 1) Introduction to the IRB, 2) Program evaluation vs. research, 3) Umbrella Applications, 4) Exemptions, 5) Secondary use of existing data, and 6) Tips for preparing IRB applications in eResearch
- Virtual; Recurring
Research Resource Highlight:
Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool that is available for researchers. This month we are featuring two:
Digital Education Initiative from CASL: Digital Tools, Multilingual Sources, and Oral History.
Visit the webpage to view a recorded workshop to learn about Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) for curating digital collections, research, and teaching. Additionally, the workshop addresses a new digital tool, the Multilingual Indexing and Search Interface (MISI), that is being designed to make digital collections of multilingual sources more discoverable and accessible to researchers and communities that foster a bilingual or multilingual milieu.
Discover corporate R&D opportunities in Halo!
Halo uses AI to match companies and scientists who have shared interests accelerating research innovation. Using Halo, researchers can uncover new applications for their work, find funding, and identify new industry partners. Scientists from across the globe use the platform to connect with a range of companies, including Bayer, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, and others.
Researchers can create free accounts on Halo to highlight research accomplishments and interests. Users can view and apply to requests for proposals from dozens of companies.
Upcoming Funding Opportunities
The Office of Research publishes a list of selected funding opportunities, organized by college, every month on our website under Announcements. In addition, yearly grant calendars organized by subject area provided by Hanover Research are available there as well.
Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.
Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.
