ISU researchers awarded nearly $250,000 in CAES Seed Grants

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – Idaho State University researchers are getting a jump start on their projects thanks to nearly $250,000 in seed grants.

Recently, ISU awarded $243,030 in Center for Advanced Energy Studies Seed Grants to 10 faculty members to research microreactor designs, resilient power grids and water storage. While researchers work on their projects, they’ll collaborate with colleagues at other Idaho universities and Idaho National Laboratory.

"These grants focus on two research themes - the generation and delivery of clean energy, and the analysis of "big" data sets, said Dr. David Rodgers, ISU’s Associate Director of CAES. “ Both themes contribute to maintaining a strong and secure infrastructure across the nation."

Annually, each of Idaho’s public universities is allocated $950,000 by the State of Idaho for CAES research activities. These funds support students, research staff, and equipment, and ISU is the only university to set aside a portion of the funds for seed grants.

“These seed grants are intended to initiate new research partnerships across the state,” Rodgers said. “We have every expectation that the research teams will leverage these funds to attract much larger grants from federal agencies, leading to new research discoveries and a more highly trained workforce.”

A complete list of research projects funded by a CAES Seed Grant is below.

• Performance optimization of MARVEL Microreactor power conversion system: Amir Ali, Department of Nuclear Engineering, and Yasir Arafat, Idaho National Laboratory
• Application of Advanced Computational Theory to Facilitate Efficient Solutions to Real-World Combinatorial Problems: Paul Bodily, Department of Computer Science and Rajiv Khadka, Idaho National Laboratory
• A Neutron Generator for Materials Testing: Tony Forest, Department of Physics and Chutiing Tan, Idaho National Laboratory
• Smart Analytics of Biomass Images: Mostafa Fouda, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Ahmed Hamed, Idaho National Laboratory
• Virtual Reality for Dynamic Data Visualization of Analytical Chemical Data: John Kalivas, Department of Chemistry and John Koudelka, Idaho National Laboratory
• Machine Learning-Aided Validation of a Sustainable and Highly Durable Construction Technology for the Containment Facility of Advanced Reactors: Mustafa Mashal, Department of Civil Engineering, Dan LaBrier and Jared Cantrell, Department of Civil Engineering, and Som Duhlipala and Amit Jain, Idaho National Laboratory
• Incorporation of Sterics in novel Phosphonium Ionic Liquid (PIL) and their Effect on Ligand Intermolecular Interactions and Chelation Properties: Srinath Pashikanti, Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Rene Rodriguez, Department of Chemistry, and Robert Fox and Donna Baek, Idaho National Laboratory
• Water Storage Infrastructure Viability using Repurposed Tires for Pumped Hydro: Bruce Savage, Department of Civil Engineering, Chikashi Sato, Jim Mahar and Mustafa Mashal, Idaho State University, and Karen Humes and Dakota Roberson, University of Idaho
• The Power Grid/Wildfire Nexus: Using GIS and Satellite Remote Sensing to Identify Vulnerabilities: Keith Weber, Idaho State University, Kathleen Araujo and Cassandra Koerner, Boise State University and Kelly Wilson, Ryan Hruska, Shiloh Elliot. and Chris Forsgren, Idaho National Laboratory
• Hearing Loss Prevention through Integrative High Performance Computing, Data Science, and Experimental Biology: Danny Xu, Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kenneth Cornell, Boise State University, and Eric Whiting, Idaho National Laboratory