The sky’s the limit for four interdisciplinary teams awarded planning grants through the New Frontiers Grant Program

The Research & Innovation Office (RIO) and New Frontiers Grant partners—the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the School of Education—announced planning grant winners in the inaugural round of the New Frontiers Grant Program, a novel initiative designed to foster new, interdisciplinary research directions for CU �鶹ӰԺ.

The four selected projects seek to better understand and address some of society’s most pressing challenges by sparking the formation of diverse teams of research leaders and perspectives from colleges, departments and research institutes spanning the campus.

These New Frontiers Planning Phase Awards provide two grants of $50,000 one grant of $35,000 in funding to three of the teams. A fourth team will receive $50,000 from CU �鶹ӰԺ’s commercialization arm, Venture Partners at CU �鶹ӰԺ, because of its extraordinary commercialization potential.

The four teams were chosen from a pool of 26 submissions and following 14 in-person pitches, all by teams aiming to address important societal problems through broad, interdisciplinary approaches. Developing new research strengths for CU �鶹ӰԺ, the program embodies interdisciplinarity by requiring teams to include two different colleges or schools and at least one institute.

“The excellence and collaborative spirit of our campus really shone through in the quantity and quality of submissions and the creativity of the approaches of the teams that presented,” said Massimo Ruzzene, vice chancellor for research and innovation and dean of the institutes. “This is just the first round of this pilot grant program. We’re excited to see what these four teams can accomplish this year, and also to offer the opportunity again in January.”

What’s next?

The awarded teams will use the next year to further develop their projects, build their teams and conduct preliminary data collection to inform their efforts. The teams will then compete for the single Launch Phase Grant of $200,000, which will be awarded in June 2025.

A second round of the competition will begin seeking new ideas in January 2025.

Selected projects

New Frontiers in Bio-Integrated Organic Computing & Low-energy Innovative Carbon-based Manufacturing (BIO-CLIC)

Extraordinary commercialization potential

Lead/PI: Jeff Cameron—Biochemistry; Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI)
Team includes: Physics; Mechanical Engineering; Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering; BioFrontiers; National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Overview: Global challenges in sustainability and computational efficiency demand the development of energy-efficient, unconventional computing approaches that utilize renewable sources and carbon fixation processes, thereby addressing urgent climate change and energy concerns. This project will harness CU �鶹ӰԺ's expertise in physics, lasers, optics, materials science, and biology, creating a novel interdisciplinary domain that integrates neuromorphic computing with biophotonics and manufacturing.

Empowering Newcomer Students: A Multifaceted Approach to Culturally Sustaining STEAM Education and AI Integration

Lead/PI: Tania Hogan—Bueno Center (School of Education)
Team includes: Psychology & Neuroscience; Institute of Cognitive Science (ICS); Renée Crown Wellness Institute; School of Education; Chicano and Latino History Project
Project overview: AI is increasingly used in education, raising concerns about the need for human mediation to ensure unbiased and stereotype-free materials. The project will address how to leverage AI tools to mediate and support educational experiences for minoritized populations through a community cultural wealth lens. This interdisciplinary team will integrate families' STEAM knowledge and experiences into a new educational model to promote culturally sustaining pedagogies through artistic expression, storytelling, creativity and healing.

Exposure to and Health Effects of After-wildfire Toxicants (ExHEAT) Consortia

Lead/PI: Cresten Mansfeldt—Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
Team includes: Chemistry; Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES); School of Education
Project overview: In addition to direct destruction, large wildfires mobilize and produce chemicals that pose diffuse risk to a much wider population than those within the burn area. Toxic chemicals end up in the air, soil and water, with urban wildfires potentially exposing people to toxicants derived from burned homes, furniture and vehicles. CU �鶹ӰԺ will benefit the research and broader community by translating its renowned wildfire expertise into use-inspired, community accessible fire research and education covering human health risks associated with fire-produced contaminants.

Polymers for a Sustainable Earth (POSE)

Lead/PI: Wei Zhang—Chemistry
Team includes: Chemical & Biological Engineering, Political Science, Economics, Leeds, RASEI
Overview: Climate change and polymers in the environment are two key long-term challenges impacting humanity today. Currently there is a greater mass of polymers—including the incorporated “forever chemicals”—in landfills alone than the total mass of all human beings on earth. The Center for Polymers for a Sustainable Earth (POSE) will bring together a diverse and interdisciplinary cohort of expert with knowledge of polymers and policy to create a community for facilitating collaborative extramurally funded activities at a scale to effectively address this critical problem.

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