Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2024-11

Grant Opportunities for NJIT as HSI/MSI/AANAPISI Institution

NJIT now has the federal distinction of being a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI), Minority Serving Institution (MSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). In 2024 NJIT qualified as an HSI with the Hispanic undergraduate population at 25% in the Fall of 2022.  In 2023 NJIT qualified as an AANAPISI with more than 20% of undergraduate students identifying as Asian American or Pacific Islander.

The Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education confirmed the status recently in a letter indicating that for fiscal year 2024 NJIT has been designated as an eligible institution under Title III and/or Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.

NJIT faculty and staff can apply for external grant funding opportunities specifically designated HSI/MSI/AANAPISI institutional but can also mark NJIT as HSI/MSI/AANAPISI when asked in the proposal or grant application. If you have any questions or need additional clarification, please contact your college Director of Research (https://research.njit.edu/contact) or send an email to srard@njit.edu.

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2024 NJIT Research Institutes, Centers & Laboratory Showcase

and

National Academy of Inventors (NAI)-NJIT Forum on Sustainable Societies: Advances in Material Science & Engineering

March 21, 2024; 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.; Ballroom A/B, Campus Center, NJIT

Faculty, Students and Post-Docs are requested to join and register using the

2024 NJIT Research Showcase and NAI-NJIT Forum Registration Form.

Registration Deadline: March 14, 2024

The Office of Research hosts the NJIT Research Institutes, Centers and Labs (ICL) Showcase annually.  This year, the 2024 NJIT Research Institutes, Centers and Labs Showcase and the National Academy of Inventor (NAI)-NJIT Forum on Sustainable Societies: Advances in Material Science and Engineering will be held on March 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Ballroom A/B of the Campus Center.  Dr. Pradeep Fulay, Program Director, Accelerating Research Translation (ART), NSF and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh will give the Distinguished Keynote talk to start the forum and showcase.

NAI-NJIT Forum Abstract: Innovations in material science and engineering are fueling vital advances in diverse sectors, including healthcare, the environment, energy, infrastructure, computing and cyber-communications. Novel building materials that make us more energy-efficient and nanomodified, more sustainable concretes and infrastructure that enhance environmental resilience, for example, are emerging as important tools to manage climate change. Innovations that gave rise to smart implants, medical devices and sensors, and lab-on-a-chip technologies are revolutionizing health care. As we look to the future, quantum materials, plasma and energetic materials that can transform into other states of matter will potentially spur new, innovative technologies for a more sustainable world with precision healthcare, fusion energy, and secure data communication and advanced computing for artificial intelligence applications. To accomplish these technology innovation and translation goals, researchers will need to form transdisciplinary partnerships with collaborators in academia, industry and policy circles. This forum will bring these groups together to discuss new ideas, assets and capabilities and ways to share them most productively. It will also showcase select institutes, centers and labs in the broad spectrum of material science and engineering from leading universities in the region.

The event will feature:

• A Distinguished Keynote Talk by Pradeep Fulay, Program Director, Accelerating Research Translation (ART), National Science Foundation and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
• A Distinguished Panel Discussion on Material Science and Engineering Research for Technology Innovations Towards Addressing Global Challenges
• A Distinguished Student Panel Session on Translational Research in Material Science and Engineering
• e-Poster sessions on ongoing research at institutes, centers and specialized laboratories from leading universities in the region. The showcase will provide an open forum to discuss pathways for developing synergistic technology innovation partnerships involving material science and engineering.

Program Agenda

9.00 AM – 9.30 AM:       Registration, Breakfast and Electronic PPT Poster Set-up

9.30 AM – 9.40 AM:       Welcome Remarks:

                                         Atam Dhawan, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NJIT

                                        Teik Lim, President, NJIT

9.40 AM – 9.45 AM:       Program Agenda and Introduction to the Distinguished Speaker

                                         Atam Dhawan, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NJIT

9.45 AM – 10.20 AM:  Distinguished Keynote Presentation: Pradeep Fulay, Program Director, Accelerating Research Translation (ART), NSF and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

10.20 AM – 11.30 AM:   Distinguished Panel Discussion: Trends in Translational Research and Innovations in Material Science and Engineering

Judith Sheft, Executive Director, NJ CSIT

Emily A. Carter, Senior Strategic Advisor and Associate Laboratory Director for Applied Materials and Sustainability Sciences, Office of the Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab

Deirdre O'Carroll, Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director, Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University

Edward Dreizin, Director, Center for Energetics Materials, Distinguished Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, NJIT

Govi Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Phase Change Solutions

11.30 AM – 12.30 PM:   Distinguished Student Panel Session: Applied and Translational Research in Material Science and Engineering – Student Perspective

12.30 PM – 1.00 PM:      Lunch and Networking

1.00 PM – 3.00 PM:        NJIT-Rutgers-Princeton-Rowan-Stevens Centers and Laboratories Showcase in Material Science and Engineering: Networking and Electronic Poster Session

2.45 PM – 3.00 PM:        Concluding Remarks

NJIT will publish a booklet with summary descriptions of the NJIT research institutes, centers and labs similar to those published in the past and posted on the website: https://centers.njit.edu/research-publications.  

Please direct any questions to Kathy at kbosco@njit.edu.   

NSF: Computer Science for All; Improving Artificial Intelligence, Formal Methods, and Mathematical Reasoning; Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Computing in Undergraduate Education; Ideas Lab: Advancing Cell-Free Systems Toward Increased Range of Use-Inspired Applications; NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE): Approaches to Research & Development Strategic Visioning (RDSV); Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences; Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE); Ideas Lab: Use-Inspired Acceleration of Protein Design; Next Era of Wireless and Spectrum

NIH: Institutional Translational Research Training Program (T32); NIDCD Early Career Research(ECR) Award (R21)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Expeditionary Carbon Utilization for energy Resilience and Stabilization (ExCURSion); NRL Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Basic and Applied Research

Department of Commerce/EDA:  Measurement Science and Engineering (MSE) Research Grant Programs

Department of Energy: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program; STEWARDSHIP SCIENCE ACADEMIC ALLIANCES PROGRAM; Research on General Plasma Science Collaborative Research Facilities; Flexible and Innovative Transformer Technologies (FITT); Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science

NASA: ROSES - 2024: Early Career Investigator Program and Other Solicitations

Private Foundations: Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Marine Microbial Ecology

House Science chairman looks to pass quantum bill: House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., is looking to make a bill authorizing quantum computing research and development a priority for lawmakers. Following a unanimous vote out of committee with 19 amendments in November, the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act is ready to move to the House floor for a final vote. Lucas told Nextgov/FCW that, following the conclusion of appropriations talks, the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act can advance into a vote and future Senate negotiations. The National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act features updates that focus on moving beyond fundamental research in quantum mechanics and related technological systems to address things like developing a workforce fluent in quantum information sciences and building a bridge toward tech commercialization. The 2018 legislation that launched federal research into quantum expired at the end of fiscal year 2023. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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House Oversight leaders introduce government AI transparency bill: The top Democrat and Republican on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee want to beef up transparency requirements around the use of artificial intelligence in federal agencies.   The bill would set up requirements for agencies to notify individuals when certain government decisions are meaningfully influenced by AI and provide the option for an alternative review process via existing appeals channels.  It would also require agencies to publicly publish governance charters for AI systems deemed high risk or those that interact with records covered by the Privacy Act. Those charters — which would include information like the official responsible for the system and how the system was developed — would be stored in a single Federal AI System Inventory and updated over time. More information is posted on the NextGov website.