Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2024-42

New Jersey Health Foundation Grant Programs

NJHF's Grant Programs support exciting research projects in the very early stages of development as well as a segment of funding for community health, social service issues and education projects.  As a nonprofit organization, our mission is to advance innovations in health for the benefit of society.  The funding NJHF provides is critical to advance ideas that have great potential to have a positive impact on human health and patients everywhere.  

Grants of up to $50,000 each for research projects with exciting potential are available. In addition, the hope is that this initial funding and related research will help applicants qualify for larger grants from other organizations in the future.​

Community Health, Behavioral Health and Social Science, Social Service and Education Grants

Grants of up to $35,000 each for projects addressing important health-related community, social and education issues impacting society are available.  Separate guidelines have been provided below for these grants and these applications are reviewed and evaluated using separate criteria.

Applications are being accepted through November 8, 2024.   Additional details, along with the link to the grant submission portal.

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Recent NJIT Patents Issued by US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Recent NJIT Provisional Patent Applications (Filed)

Issued Patents

Patent Title: Powder Blend Processability Improvements through Minimal Amounts of Synergistically Selected Surface Coating Agents

NJIT Ref No.: 22-020

Inventor(s): Davé, Rajesh / Kim, Sangah / Lin, Zhixing

Patent Application Status: Issued Patent

Patent Issue Date: 9/3/2024

Patent No.: US 12,076,440

Technology Licensing Status: Available

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Recent NJIT Provisional Patent Applications (Filed)

Patent Title:  SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPERSION OF OIL FROM BLOWOUTS

NJIT Ref No.:  25-001

Inventor(s):   Boufadel, Michel / Qu, Zhaonian / Farid, Tanvir Al

Patent Application Status:  Filed Provisional Patent Application

Patent Application Filing Date:  10/08/2024

Application Filing No.: 63/704,791

Technology Licensing Status: Available

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Patent Title:  Method for Private Generation of Code (PGCODE)

NJIT Ref No.:  25-002

Inventor(s):   Phan, Hai / Nguyen, Khoa / Ton, Khiem / Khalil, Issa / Jin, Ruoming / Thai, My

Patent Application Status:  Filed Provisional Patent Application

Patent Application Filing Date:  08/21/2024

Application Filing No.: 63/685,371

Technology Licensing Status: Available

NSF: Building Synthetic Microbial Communities for Biology, Mitigating Climate Change, Sustainability and Biotechnology (Synthetic Communities); Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowships (EAR-PF); Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open-Source Ecosystems (Safe-OSE); Molecular Foundations for Biotechnology (MFB); Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE)

NIH: Human Brain Single-cell Genomics Explorer (U24)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: FY25 Minerva Research Initiative University Research Program

Department of Energy: Request for Information (RFI) - Three-Dimensional Characterization of the Subsurface by Advanced Modeling and Sensing Techniques

NIST Awards Up to $1.5 Million to Support Development of Regenerative Medicine Standards Curricula:  The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded two organizations cooperative agreements of up to $1.5 million to create curricula and programs for training the current and future regenerative medicine workforce in standards implementation. The award recipients were selected following an open, competitive process announced earlier this year. Regenerative medicine, which includes cell therapy, gene therapy and therapeutic tissue engineering, aims to harness the body's innate ability to heal for regenerating and replacing damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs. The field provides unprecedented potential to treat previously intractable diseases, such as cancer and genetic disorders. More information is available on the NIST website.

Energy Dept. eyes hyperscalers as future leaders in carbon-free energy adoption: As the Department of Energy sets its sights on enhancing artificial intelligence research and development efforts, agency leadership is focusing on scaling clean power sources to meet the growth in energy demand more AI applications will exact on the U.S. energy grid. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm noted at NVIDIA’s AI Summit in Washington D.C. on Wednesday that the energy grid load is projected to grow by 15% as AI software continues to consume more power, adding that her agency is focusing on improving the infrastructure of carbon-free energy sources, including nuclear and geothermal power. “We're having conversations about next generation nuclear reactors, small modular reactors –– that's very exciting,” she said. “Some are partnering with big reactor companies to be able to power data centers, which is great.”

Granholm cited Microsoft’s recent partnership with Constellation Energy resulting in a 20-year power purchase to launch a new clean energy center and restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear reactor to support grid decarbonization efforts by pivoting to low-or-no emission power sources for needs like data centers. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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OMB releases AI procurement guidelines: The White House Office of Management and Budget’s new artificial intelligence procurement guidance, released Thursday, looks to bring a culture of risk management to the federal government’s AI and machine learning software buying.  In accordance with OMB’s previous directive on AI acquisition, which focuses on standardizing agency usage of AI tools, the new OMB procurement guidance provides requirements and guidance for federal agencies to help usher in “meaningful cross-functional and interagency collaboration to reflect new AI responsibilities, managing AI risk and performance, and promoting a competitive AI market with innovative acquisition.”

“This new memo provides agencies with the tools and information they need as they acquire AI, capturing its promise while managing its risks,” an administration official told reporters during a Thursday press call.  OMB’s guidance is another chapter in the Biden administration’s broader plan to leverage AI software carefully in government operations. The administration official noted that the AI used by agencies will likely be either built by contracting entities on behalf of a given agency or a commercial product purchased by an agency, and the new procurement guidance will promote responsible AI software acquisition, training and deployment. More information is posted on the NextGov website.