Rensselaer Receives More Than $10 Million in Recovery Act Funding

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has so far received more than $10 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

This recovery act funding, granted competitively through the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other funding agencies, is expanding the research portfolio of Rensselaer and advancing the Institute’s goal of innovating solutions to the grand challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. To date 35 ARRA grants have been awarded to Rensselaer.

“An important goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is to promote economic recovery by investing in technological advances that increase economic efficiency, and promoting U.S. competitiveness in science, health, and other key areas,” said Francine Berman, Rensselaer vice president for research. “These goals are in strong alignment with the Institute’s mission of applying ‘science to the common purposes of life.’ The ARRA funding will result in work of high impact and great societal benefit.”

The ARRA was signed into law in February 2009, and has resulted in the largest increase in basic research funding in American history. The recovery act funding, intended to stimulate the domestic economy and invest in the nation’s scientific and technological prowess, is benefiting a wide variety of academic and research programs at Rensselaer. This funding will result in the advancement of ongoing research programs, the start of new research programs, the hiring of researchers, the support of graduate students, and the purchase of equipment and instruments.

Below is a list of ARRA grants recently awarded to Rensselaer:

• Peter Fox | Professor of earth and environmental sciences
  Deborah McGuinness | Professor of computer science
  NSF | $1.1 million
  A Semantic eScience Framework: Facilitating Next-Generation Data Intensive Science
• Boleslaw Szymanski | Professor of computer science
  Lee Newberg | Research associate professor of computer science
  Malik Magdon-Ismail | Associate professor of computer science
  NSF | $241,714
  Citizens Science: Enabling Computational Probabilistic Methods for Organism’s Transcriptional Regulatory Network Using Voluntary Computing Platforms
• Mark Wentland | Professor of chemistry and chemical biology
  NIH | $90,000
  Aminobenzomorphan: Potential Cocaine Abuse Medications
• Jie Lian | Assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering
  Department of Energy* | $650,000
  Actinide Material for the 21st Century
• George Xu | Professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering
  NIH | $224,092
  4-D Visible Human Modeling for Radiation Dosimetry
• Kristin Bennett | Professor of mathematical sciences 
  Bulent Yener | Professor of computer science
  NIH | $170,789
  Discovering Hidden Groups Across Tuberculosis Patient and Pathogen Genotype Data #2
• Susan Gilbert | Professor and department head of biology 
  NIH | $114,000
  Mechanistic Analysis of Microtubule Based Motors
• George Makhatadze | Constellation Chair and professor of biology
  NIH | $598,158
  Role of Helix Formation in Mediating Protein-Protein Interactions
• Jonathan Dordick | Howard P. Isermann ’42 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
  Robert Linhardt | Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. ’59 Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering
  NIH | $596,994
  An Artificial Golgi: Controlled GAG Synthesis and Screening
• Blanca Barquera | Assistant professor of biology 
  NIH | $73,337
  Na+-Pumping NADH: Quinone Oxidoreductase of V. Cholerae
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  Department of Education | $226,529
  Federal Work Study Program
• Jonathan Dordick | Howard P. Isermann ’42 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
  NSF* | $150,000
  STTR Phase II:  Development of a Lead Optimization Chip for Drug Discovery
• George Makhatadze | Constellation Chair and professor of biology
  NIH* | $144,256
  Structural Studies of Triple-helical Proteins
• Badrinath Roysam | Professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering
  NIH* | $ 369,992
  Functional Activity Mapping on Brain Works
• Robert Linhardt | Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. ’59 Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering
  NIH* | $ 300,000
  Characterization of Anticoagulant Heparin and Related Polysaccharides

• Parrtha Dutta | Professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering
  U.S. Department of Energy* | $161,485
  Photoluminescent Coatings for PV

Awards marked with “*” are subcontracts from prime ARRA grants awarded to other institutions.

Visit www.rpi.edu/news/arra for a complete list and current total of ARRA funding awarded to Rensselaer. This site also includes information on how to apply for ARRA funds.

For general information on the ARRA, visit: www.recovery.gov.

Contact: Michael Mullaney
Phone: (518) 276-6161
E-mail: mullam@rpi.edu