McKelvey Engineering faculty members awarded Spring 2025 Here and Next Seed Grants

Nine faculty members from the departments of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Electrical & Systems Engineering (ESE), Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (MEMS) and Biomedical Engineering (BME) in the McKelvey School of Engineering are co-PIs on awarded projects during the Spring 2025 Here and Next Seed Grant cycle, sponsored by the Research Development Office, housed within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. 

The program’s broad goal is to encourage novel, innovative interdisciplinary research excellence among Washington University researchers. These programs aid researchers in laying the groundwork to be competitive and successful in submitting proposals to external funding opportunities, particularly complex, large proposals. Research must address five key areas of focus within the Here and Next agenda: public health, global health, environmental research, digital transformation and research impacting the St. Louis community.

McKelvey Engineering faculty are participating in interdisciplinary research that focuses on digital transformation, environmental research, public health and global health.

McKelvey Engineering faculty are co-PIs on the following awards:

Spring 2025 Transcend Initiative Grants (since Fall 2024) 

Transcend Initiative Grants provide infrastructure support to cross-school, interdisciplinary teams to grow the research enterprise around topics of broad societal concern and importance.  

• Robustness for Autonomy in Human-Systems Engagement (RAISE)

Here and Next Priority Area: Digital Transformation

Co-PIs: ShiNung Ching, McKelvey Engineering ESE; Jeffrey Zacks, Arts & Sciences; Bruno Sinopoli, McKelvey Engineering ESE; Chien-Ju Ho CSE, McKelvey Engineering

Spring 2025 Ignite Interdisciplinary Grant Awardees 

Ignite Grants provide pilot project support for new projects with the goal of allowing these teams to acquire subsequent funding. 

• Multimodal Reasoning and Reliable Language Models for Eviction Prevention
  Here and Next Priority Area: Digital Transformation
  Co-PIs: Jiaxin Huang, McKelvey Engineering CSE; Patrick Fowler, Brown School
• Synthetic Clinical Text Data: Using Large Language Models and Synthetic Data to Share Clinical Data Across Disciplines
  Here and Next Priority Area: Digital Transformation
  Co-PIs: Adam Wilcox, School of Medicine; Mackenzie Hofford, School of Medicine; Zachary Abrams, School of Medicine; and Chenyang Lu, McKelvey Engineering CSE

Spark Funding Grants  

Proposal Development Track (since Fall 2024)

Proposal Development Track grants provide support to teams as they prepare, write and submit large competitive grants to external sponsors. 

• Quantum-Enabled Sensing Technologies (QUEST)
  Here and Next Priority Area: Digital Transformation
  Co-PIs: Chuanwei Zhang, Arts & Sciences; Lan Yang, McKelvey Engineering ESE; David Piston, School of Medicine; Chong Zu, Arts & Sciences
• Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers
  Here and Next Priority Areas: Environmental Research and Digital Transformation
  Co-PIs: Li Yang, Arts & Sciences; Rohan Mishra, McKelvey Engineering MEMS; Erik Henriksen, Arts & Sciences; Sanghoon Bae, McKelvey Engineering MEMS
• Scaling the Lay Responder Model of Prehospital Care Education
  Here and Next Priority Areas: Public Health and Global Health 
  Co-PIs: Nathanael Smith, School of Medicine; Patricia Widder, McKelvey Engineering BME

See the full list of winners here.

Click on the topics below for more stories in those areas

• Research
• Electrical & Systems Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
• Computer Science & Engineering