Features: Dec. 17, 2001

Office of Research Funds 16 Innovative, Interdisciplinary Research Projects

Rensselaer's Office of Research has provided $750,000 worth of grants for 16 research projects on campus. The projects cover a broad range of topics including information technology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology.

The funds were provided through the Exploratory Research Seed Program, created by the Office of Research earlier this year to stimulate exploratory research on innovative and interdisciplinary topics on campus.

Out of 70 proposals submitted, 16 projects were approved and include more than 50 investigators in five schools and 14 departments, including Rensselaer at Hartford.

The typical award given was $50,000, with emphasis on support for graduate students to develop ideas and preliminary results in pursuit of external funding. The funding included supplementary money made available by the schools of Engineering, Science, and Humanities & Social Sciences.

"There were many more innovative proposals than we were able to support with the funds available," said Arthur Sanderson, vice president for research. "We encourage faculty to contact the Office of Research to discuss opportunities for external funding for their creative programs."

A primary goal of the program is to fund new interdisciplinary research projects in areas of strategic interests and build new opportunities in disciplines that have a high probability of leading to major externally sponsored research programs.

The funded projects will be carried out in this and the next academic year. Reports tracking progress of the work and efforts to attract external funds are a requirement of the program. A second round of funding is being considered for next year.

To review the funded projects, go to http://www.rpi.edu/web/Campus.News/
dec_01/dec_17/projects.html.