National Science Foundation Awards $499-K Grant to Alabama State University's Engineering Program
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Posted By: Reginald Culpepper on April 25, 2024 By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU The National Science Foundation (NSF) has just awarded Alabama State University's Dr. Vineeth Vijayan -- an assistant professor in the University's engineering department -- a grant of $449,973. He is the principal investigator of the grant project; Dr. Derrick Dean.is the co-principal investigator. Vijayan explained that the grant is one of the most prestigious research grants from the engineering directorate of the NSF, as part of its "Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI)" program within the agency’s chemical, bioengineering, environmental and transport system. "This NSF-RUI grant is one of the most competitive research grants awarded by the National Science Foundation to undergraduate institutions in an effort to improve the quality of their research and provide research-integrated undergraduate education," said Vijayan. "ASU should be very pleased with this award, in that within the past five years, this is the first NSF-RUI grant awarded to a college or university in the state of Alabama.” ABOUT ASU'S GRANT PROJECT Dr. Vijayan shared that the grant project focuses on nanoparticle-modified polymeric materials that have a wide utility for several biomedical applications, including drug delivery and tissue engineering. The research involves the development of processes that are safer to use than current ones and will utilize a combination of 3-D printing of polymers with a greener method of plasma processing. "The work we will conduct at Alabama State will investigate the capability of gold and silica nanoparticle-modified polymers for bone-forming potential and by doing so provide new insights into the relationship between the material properties of nanoparticle-modified polymers and their biological responses, which will positively impact the clinical success rate of hybrid materials for applications like bone tissue engineering," Vijayan stated. "An important component of this project is the focus on training underrepresented minority engineering students at Alabama State University, so they may increase the diversity in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce nationwide, which currently has a small ratio of minority-students." If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Reginald Culpepper
President, Fulfillment and Web Services, HBCUCONNECT Clark Atlanta University class of 1998 Member Since September 2000 |
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