May 09, 2011 –
Four multidisciplinary projects boasting ambitious agendas recently achieved a boost in their quest to obtain funding.
Microfluidic systems for biochemical sensing. Low-energy recycling of water runoff. Advanced hybrid desktop manufacturing systems. Game-based asthma self-management. All four were awarded $36,000 in seed funding as winners of the second annual Large-Scale Interdisciplinary Research Ignition Initiative.
Sponsored by CALIT2, and the UC Irvine engineering and computer sciences schools, the Ignition grants are intended to stimulate development of comprehensive, externally funded research through the creation of interdisciplinary research teams that will submit extramural research proposals.
Two groups – the iMove Center and the iScience initiative – last year were the first recipients of the program’s grants.
This year’s winners span the research spectrum. They include:
• The Science and Technology Center for Integrated Microfluidic Systems for Biochemical Sensing. Led by Abe Lee, engineering professor and chair of the biomedical engineering department, this six-person research team seeks to develop microfluidic chips and platforms for use in low-cost bio-sensing and analysis, specifically for mobile human health and environmental applications. Team members include engineering professors Michelle Khine, Elliot Hui and Mark Bachman; chemistry professor Robert Corn; and Gisela Lin, development manager of MF3 and the Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility.
• Environmental, Engineering and Human Dimensions of Low-Energy Treatment Technologies for Recycling of Runoff in Southern California and Melbourne, Australia. This international effort, led by 11 UCI professors, as well as UCLA, UC Davis and UC San Diego professors, and Australian researchers, will conduct multidisciplinary research on energy-efficient and sustainable water recycling in arid and water-stressed communities. UCI faculty include engineering professors Stanley Grant, Jean-Daniel Saphores, Said Elghobashi, Brett Sanders, Bill Tang, Diego Ross, Sunny Jiang and Russ Detwiler; social ecology professor David Feldman; and physical science professors James Famiglietti and Diane Pataki, who also holds an appointment in the School of Biology.
• Center for Advanced Hybrid Desktop Manufacturing Systems. This effort includes mechanical, electrical, chemical and civil engineers from five universities whose goal is to bring advanced manufacturing and education about manufacturing back to the U.S. Professors Maria Feng and Marc Madou are UCI’s principal investigators. Other participating universities are Georgia Tech, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Texas at Austin.
• BREATHE – Better Resource Environment for AsThma Health. This project aims to develop a game-based ehealth environment for asthma self-management and create a prototype to attract additional funding. The effort is led by informatics professors Yunan Chen and Alfred Kobsa, nursing professors Jill Berg and Jung-Ah Lee and Walt Scacchi, research scientist at the Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds.
“We are pleased to be in a position to offer researchers this opportunity for a second year,” said CALIT2 Irvine Director G.P. Li. “This type of multidisciplinary research has the type of wide-ranging implications that CALIT2 seeks to support, and we look forward to great results.”
