The Division of Research and Creative Achievement has announced the recipients of UMBC’s 2025 Strategic Awards for Research Transitions (START) grant award, and the summer 2024 Summer Research Faculty Fellowship (SURFF) grant award.
The 2025 START award recipients are:
- Ankit Goel (COEIT) for “A Novel Learning-based Quantum Control System"
- Cornelius Csar Jude H. Salinas (GESTAR II) for “Space Weather Effects on Ionospheric E-region Electron Density as Observed by Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation Missions”
- Denny Oliveira (GPHI) for “Benchmarking Satellite Orbital Drag During Extreme Magnetic Storms: A Look to the Future With an Eye in the Past”
- Henrique Barbosa (CNMS) for “Vegetation-Climate Dynamics in Africa Through the Lens of Machine Learning”
- Lei Zhang (COEIT) for “Fix Flakiness in Quantum Software using Large Language Models”
- Marie-Christine Daniel (CNMS) for “Targeted Nanotheranostics with High Payload for Metastatic Prostate Cancer”
- Michael F. Lane (CAHSS) for “Kopaic Cultures, Economies, and Landscapes: Integrating Chronologies (K-CELIC)”
- Molly Y. Mollica (COEIT) for “Sex and Hormone Effects on Platelet Mechanical Activation and Function”
- Soobum Lee (COEIT) for “Stretchable Electronics Design Strategy for Mechanical and Electrical Performance Enhancement”
- Tejas Gokhale (COEIT) for “A Framework for Quantifying Typicality of AI-Generated Images”
- Thu Thi Le Nguyen (CNMS) for “Deep Learning Based Techniques for Trauma Data”
- Weidong Zhu (COEIT) for “Dynamic Modeling, Analysis, and Testing of Tensegrity Structures”
- Weihong Lin (CNMS) for “An Innovative Organoid Approach for Investigating Taste Disorders Associated with Vaping”
The 2024 SURFF award recipients are:
- Alok Ghanekar (COEIT) for “Understanding Near-field Thermal Interactions in Space-time Modulated Metamaterials”
- Dustin Donahue (CAHSS) for “Recording and Release of ‘Labor, Dreams, Listen’”
- Enrico Berkes (CAHSS) for “The Decline of the Diffusion of Science”
- Eric Millikin (CAHSS) for “Symbiotic Robotic Performance”
- Eva Grandoni (CAHSS) for “Chincy Adams”
- Foad Hamidi (COEIT) for “Co-Designing Interactive Living Media Interfaces with Community Participants”
- Gerrad Taylor (CAHSS) for “Exploring the Dramatic Form Through an Afrocentric Lens”
- Kyung-Eun Yoon (CAHSS) for “Exploring Offer Sequences in Korean Interactional Discourse; Examining Learners’ Perspectives on Korean Language Learning through Engagement with Korean Popular Culture”
- Lara Martin (COEIT) for “Reinforcement Learning for Playing Dungeons & Dragons”
- Matthew Novak (CAHSS) for “Evidence-Based Performance Management for Substance Use Recovery Facility Staff”
- Molly Y. Mollica (COEIT) for “Sex and Hormone Effects on Platelet Mechanical Activation and Function”
- Nigel Semaj (CAHSS) for “The Serpent Under 'T': A New Shakespeare Adaptation”
- Sayantan Bhattacharya (COEIT) for “An In-Vitro Flow Loop Setup to Characterize Single-Ventricular Hydrodynamics”
- Tejas Gokhale (COEIT) for "Improving the Continual Learning Ability of Visual Recognition Systems via Targeted Unlearning"
Find more information on UMBC’s internal funding opportunities and open calls for proposals here.