The Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to share our monthly report listing new grant awards USC faculty researchers across the university system received between September 1 and September 30, 2023. Please note that some awards received toward the end of that period might have missed the reporting cut-off. In such cases, the award will be listed in the next monthly report. Our office is proud to share these successes with the university research community. Please join us in congratulating our excellent researchers on their new grant awards.
Summary of Large September 2023 New Grant Awards
PI Name |
PI College/Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Fridriksson, Julius |
Arnold School of Public Health Communication Sci & Disorders |
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending ‐ Construction (Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias in South Carolina) | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS | $7,750,000 |
| Donaldson, Bobby |
College of Arts and Sciences History |
Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium Building Restoration Project | National Park Service (NPS)/DOI | $5,000,000 |
| Cutler, Stephen |
College of Pharmacy Pharmacy - Dean's Office |
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending ‐ Construction (Shared Biomedical Research Instrumentation Core) | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS | $4,500,000 |
| Wang, Qi |
College of Arts and Sciences Mathematics |
RII Track-1: ADAPT in SC: AI-enabled Devices for the Advancement of Personalized and Transformative healthcare in South Carolina | Clemson University/NSF | $3,416,272 |
| Donaldson, Bobby |
College of Arts and Sciences History |
Cooperative Agreement between the Department of the Interior/National Park Service and the Center for Civil Rights History and Research: Strategic Planning and Implementation for the CRC | National Park Service (NPS)/DOI | $3,362,100 |
| Porter, Dwayne |
Arnold School of Public Health Environmental Health Sciences |
Operational Support of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Centralized Data Management Office and Enhancements to the System-Wide Monitoring Program | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/DOC | $3,076,550 |
| Sen, Souvik |
School of Medicine Neurology |
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending ‐ Construction (Stroke and stroke related diseases in South Carolina) | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS | $2,505,000 |
| Tang, Chuanbing |
College of Arts and Sciences Chemistry & Biochemistry |
CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Polymers from Waste | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $1,800,000 |
| Weist, Mark |
College of Arts and Sciences Psychology |
Improving Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Academic Functioning of Elementary School Students through the Interconnected Systems Framework | East Carolina University/IES/USDE | $1,756,552 |
| Li, Jie |
College of Arts and Sciences Chemistry & Biochemistry |
Expanding Natural Products Chemical Diversity by Big-data Analysis and Novel Biosynthesis | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)/NIH | $1,579,485 |
September 2023 Awards by College
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Gillam, Pamela | Applied Research & Evaluation (CARE) | DDSN TBI Needs Assessment | SC Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (SC DDSN)ACL/HHS |
$99,938 |
| Macauda, Mark | Applied Research & Evaluation (CARE) | Spartanburg 7 Consortium Implementation of YRBS, School Health Profiles, and Sexual Health Curricula - Year 6 | Spartanburg School District 7/Mary Black Foundation/CDC |
$21,600 |
| Fridriksson, Julius | Communication Sci & Disorders | Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending ‐ Construction (Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias in South Carolina) | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS | $7,750,000 |
| Neils-Strunjas, Jean | Communication Sci & Disorders | SC CREATE 2024 | SC Department of Education (SCDE) | $309,996 |
| Baalousha, Mohammed | Environmental Health Sciences | Rapid: Concentration and Form of Metal and Metal-Baring Nanomaterial Contamination in Maui Fire Ash and Soil | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $200,000 |
| Kenne, Gabriel | Environmental Health Sciences | Multimedia Campaign to Promote Climate Smart Agriculture and Soil Health Education in SC. | Natural Resources Conservation Service(NRCS)/USDA |
$192,623 |
| Porter, Dwayne | Environmental Health Sciences | Operational Support of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Centralized Data Management Office and Enhancements to the System-Wide Monitoring Program | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/DOC |
$3,076,550 |
| Porter, Dwayne | Environmental Health Sciences | Future Earth Coasts - Tour des Côtes | Future Earth Coasts (FEC)/International Project Office (IPO)/East China Normal University |
$8,620 |
| Nolan, Melissa | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | CDC Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases: The Gateway Program (Subcontract to University of Florida) | University of Florida/CDC | $329,625 |
| Hirsch, Katie | Exercise Science | Utility and feasibility of urinary hormone analysis for characterization of the female hormonal environment: A pilot and feasibility trial | NSCA Foundation | $24,000 |
| Moore, Robert | Exercise Science | IPA Agreement with Dorn VA Medical Center - Adam Harrison | WJB Dorn VA Medical Center/VA | $74,405 |
| Ghattas, Hala | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | (PI: Tremaine T. Sails-Dunbar) Health Policy Research Scholars Cohort Seven - 2023 | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | $124,000 |
| Li, Xiaoming | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | R13 Big Data Health Science Conference Application | National Institutes of Health (NIH) | $100,000 |
| Yang, Xueying | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | Patterns and predictors of racial/ethnic disparities in HIV care continuum in the South | National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)/NIH | $398,744 |
| Giannouchos, Theodoros | Health Services Policy & Mgmt | Persistent Frequent Emergency Department Users in South Carolina: Who Are They and How Do They Use Other Cross-Sector Services? | Health Sciences Center at Prisma Health | $19,994 |
| Hair, Nicole | Health Services Policy & Mgmt | Childhood Measles Exposure and Later-Life Cognitive Function | University of Michigan (CAPRA)/NIA/NIH | $55,709 |
| Kenison, Kelli | Health Services Policy & Mgmt | Prisma HPHC Grant Evaluation | Prisma-Health Upstate/Duke Endowment | $9,967 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Li, Jie | Chemistry & Biochemistry | Expanding Natural Products Chemical Diversity by Big-data Analysis and Novel Biosynthesis | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)/NIH |
$1,579,485 |
| Sutton, Christopher | Chemistry & Biochemistry | Unraveling the Role of Cation Solvation in Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries: A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Approach | AFOSR/USAF/DOD | $600,000 |
| Tang, Chuanbing | Chemistry & Biochemistry | CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Polymers from Waste | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $1,800,000 |
| Dubinsky, Stanley | English | (PI: Lexington Whalen) Wordification: Reimagining How Spelling is Taught | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $6,000 |
| Kang, Yuhao | Geography | Characterizing and Promoting Cartography and GIS Graduate Programs through Research Theme Discovery and Online Seminars | The Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) |
$8,000 |
| Kang, Yuhao | Geography | Measuring Socioeconomic Impacts of A New Paradigm for Algae Monitoring and Control with Robotics |
Watabot Inc. | $3,000 |
| Donaldson, Bobby | History | Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium Building Restoration Project | National Park Service (NPS)/DOI | $5,000,000 |
| Donaldson, Bobby | History | Cooperative Agreement between the Department of the Interior/National Park Service
and the Center for Civil Rights History and Research: Strategic Planning and Implementation for the CRC |
National Park Service (NPS)/DOI | $3,362,100 |
| Matthews, Marty | History | THE PAPERS OF WILLIAM SHORT A DIGITAL SELECTIVE DOCUMENTARY EDITION APPLICATION for
October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024 |
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) | $110,000 |
| Wang, Qi | Mathematics | RII Track-1: ADAPT in SC: AI-enabled Devices for the Advancement of Personalized and Transformative healthcare in South Carolina |
Clemson University/NSF | $3,416,272 |
| Jin, Rongying | Physics & Astronomy | Directed Assembly of Metastable States for Harnessing Quantum Effects | Department of Energy (DOE) | $600,000 |
| Coffman, Donna | Psychology | Deconstructing food parenting approaches to obesity prevention for the highly food motivated child | Temple University/NIH | $24,802 |
| Goodrum, Nada | Psychology | SCRA Research Scholars Program 2023 - ImPACT: Improving health for Parents And Children Together |
Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) |
$6,000 |
| Hudac, Caitlin | Psychology | Reciprocity of Social Connection and Well-Being: Convergence of Temporal and Neural Underpinnings of Adolescent Social Connection Quality, Quantity, and Need |
Arizona State/NICHD/NIH | $1,559,591 |
| Kivita Zarrett, Nicole | Psychology | (PI: Olivia Staples) Health Policy Research Scholars | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | $124,000 |
| Weist, Mark | Psychology | Improving Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Academic Functioning of Elementary School Students through the Interconnected Systems Framework | East Carolina University/IES/USDE | $1,756,552 |
| Will, Elizabeth | Psychology | Early Developmental Determinants and Pathways in Down syndrome - R00 phase | National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD)/NIH |
$744,713 |
| Bourbonnais, Annie | School of Earth, Ocean & Env. | Collaborative research: Deciphering the mechanisms of marine nitrous oxide cycling using stable isotopes, molecular markers and in situ rates | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $467,675 |
| Ryker, Katherine | School of Earth, Ocean & Env. | Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEM Ed IPRF: Increasing geoscience enrollment and engagement by transforming perceptions of geoscience among students and the general public | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $332,472 |
| Ziolkowski, Lori | School of Earth, Ocean & Env. | Intergovernmental Personal Act (IPA) Assignment for Dr. Lori Ziolkowski (UofSC) to the National Science Foundation (NSF) |
National Science Foundation (NSF) | $169,666 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Plotner, Tony | Educational & Developmental Science | Project FUSION: Preparing Special Education Leaders with a Focus on Research to Practice in Transition 2023-2024 | Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)/USDE |
$1,244,392 |
| Tang, Hengtao | Educational & Developmental Science | Preparing empathetic engineers via an empathy-oriented smart manufacturing curriculum |
National Science Foundation (NSF) | $399,930 |
| Tran, Henry | Leadership, Learning Design, & Inquiry | Does the Diversity Perspective of R1 Institutions matter for the workplace inclusion of their Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty? |
National Science Foundation (NSF) | $399,997 |
| Yao, Christina | Leadership, Learning Design, & Inquiry | Collaborative Research: Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences (ACE-MCS) | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $375,552 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Peng, Zhenmeng | Chemical Engineering | EFRI E3P: Nonthermal Plasma-Assisted Hydrogenolysis of waste Plastics to Value-Added Chemicals and Fuels NSF - 2132178 | University of Akron/NSF | $457,196 |
| Peng, Zhenmeng | Chemical Engineering | CAS: Dual-site Relay Catalysis in Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Reducible Metal Oxide Heterojunction Structure | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $350,817 |
| Ritter, James | Chemical Engineering | Development of a Continuous Cost Effective Kr Xe Capture Process for Nuclear Fuels Reprocessing | Tetramer Technologies, LLC/DOE | $60,000 |
| Uline, Mark | Chemical Engineering | UofSC Biomedical Engineering Center for Acute Stress and Credibility Assessment | AFOSR/USAF/DOD | $1,368,819 |
| Chaudhry, M. | Civil & Environmental Eng. | CIROH: ML-based Flexible Flood Inundation Mapping and Intercomparison Framework | University of Alabama/NWS/NOAA/DOC | $265,876 |
| Goharian, Erfan | Civil & Environmental Eng. | CIROH: Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operation for Flooding Risk Reduction and Post-Flooding Season Water Conservation | University of Alabama/NWS/NOAA/DOC | $196,078 |
| Goharian, Erfan | Civil & Environmental Eng. | CIROH: Novel Geospatial Architecture of Channel and Floodplain Morphological Attributes within the OWP Hydrofabrics |
University of Alabama/NOAA | $185,000 |
| Goharian, Erfan | Civil & Environmental Eng. | ML-based Flexible Flood Inundation Mapping and Intercomparison Framework | University of Alabama/NWS/NOAA/DOC | $265,876 |
| Ahmad, Iftikhar | Electrical Engineering | PFI-TT: High-Power Electronic Chip Devices Using Novel Materials and Innovative Strategies | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $549,940 |
| Mandal, Krishna | Electrical Engineering | Self-biased wide bandgap semiconductor detectors for real-time monitoring of environmental UV light index |
College of Charleston | $25,000 |
| Matolak, David | Electrical Engineering | Mosaic ATM: A Toolkit for UAM Communications Management | Mosaic ATM/NASA | $200,000 |
| Nasiri, Adel | Electrical Engineering | Phase II: Development of Ultra Compact AC/DC Converters for Low Power Applications | DEFENSEWERX - ICWERX | $225,000 |
| Wang, Xiaofeng | Electrical Engineering | Collaborative Research: SLES: Guaranteed Tubes for Safe Learning across Autonomy Architectures | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $500,000 |
| Banerjee, Sourav | Mechanical Engineering | Development of a novel sensor for rapid onsite detection of microcystin in rural livestock ponds: A seed grant to support sensor development | Clemson University/USDA | $153,227 |
| Downey, Austin | Mechanical Engineering | (PI: David Wamai) Discretized FPGA-based NMR System for Spacecraft Deployment | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $7,500 |
| Gross, Andrew | Mechanical Engineering | DAPRA: Extraction of many material properties from analysis of a few data rich experiments | DARPA/Defense Sciences Office/DOI | $500,000 |
| Harik, Ramy | Mechanical Engineering | (PI: Victor Gadow): Augmented Reality Framework for Automated Fiber Placement Rework | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA |
$16,000 |
| Harik, Ramy | Mechanical Engineering | A Holistic Approach for Closed Loop Quality in Manufacturing Systems | Siemens Corporation | $100,000 |
| Hu, Ming | Mechanical Engineering | MRI: Track 2 Acquisition of a High-Performance Computing Cluster for Boosting Artificial
Intelligence Enabled Science, Engineering, and Education in South Carolina |
National Science Foundation (NSF) | $1,100,000 |
| Sockalingam, Subramani | Mechanical Engineering | ECP: Fundamental Studies of High Strain-rate Damage Propagation Mechanisms in Heterogeneous Anisotropic Meso-architectured Composites | US Army Research Office (ARO)/DOD | $358,991 |
| Sockalingam, Subramani | Mechanical Engineering | Tensile Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar for Design and Characterization of Next Generation Heterogeneous Meso-Architectured Composite Armor Materials |
US Army Research Office (ARO)/DOD | $275,316 |
| Wang, Yi | Mechanical Engineering | Configurable Parametric Aeroservoelastic Reduced Order Models for Aerostructural Sensing and Control | CFD Research Corporation/NASA | $300,003 |
| Yu, Lingyu | Mechanical Engineering | (PI: Andrew Campbell, Phd student) High fidelity nondestructive characterization and evaluation for composite structures using non-contact remote ultrasonic laser systems |
College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $16,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Sutton, Scott | Pharm - Clin Pharm & Outcomes Sciences | The advancement of rural pharmacy education infrastructure in South Carolina through clinical practice training and research: The UofSC College of Pharmacy & Tandem Health rural health pharmacy training model | SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare/SCDHHS |
$988,509 |
| Cutler, Stephen | Pharmacy - Dean's Office | Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction (Shared Biomedical Research Instrumentation Core) | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS |
$4,500,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Claypoole, Jack | Div of Business & Finance | SC Technology Hub BCG Project | SC Department of Commerce | $150,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Wenceslau, Camilla | Basic Science Research | Reprogramming endothelial cells to prevent and treat Alzheimer disease | Alzheimer’s Association | $199,930 |
| Al-hasan, Majdi | Internal Medicine | Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) | City of Columbia/HUD | $478,637 |
| Al-hasan, Majdi | Internal Medicine | Housing First Program for Persons with Disabilities | City of Columbia | $260,000 |
| Sen, Souvik | Neurology | Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction (Stroke and stroke related diseases in South Carolina) | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS |
$2,505,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Grier, Jennifer | Medicine Greenville | Countermeasures for Fatigue and Assessment of Functional Capacity in Residents | Prisma Health Upstate | $20,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Pappas, Lydia | Univ Libraries - Dean's Office | Preserving the Charleston Communication Centre Video Tapes: Digitizing and making accessible the Lowcountry folkarts of the 1970s | Council on Library and Information Resources | $29,988 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Shervette, Virginia | AK Biology & Geology | Enhancing U.S. Caribbean Deepwater Snapper Fisheries: Collaborative Research to Address Critical Information Gaps for Queen and Silk Snappers | US Department of Commerce (DOC) | $299,600 |
| Swain, Laura | AK Psychology | (PI: Harshi Rajmal Lodha Jain)The Relationship Between Impulsivity and the Attribute Framing Effect on Decision Making and P3 in Social Contexts | Psi Chi | $1,485 |
| Senn, Gary | AK Ruth Patrick Sci Ed | 2024 GenCyber Teacher Program | Maryland Procurement Office/ONR/NSA | $149,265 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Dudas, Kimberly | BFT Public Hlth & Human Services | USCB: Increasing Pre-Licensure Educational Capacity in the Lowcountry | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/HHS |
$1,000,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Criswell, Stephen | Lancaster | NAS Center Artist-In-Residence: Chief William Harris, Catawba Nation Potter | South Carolina Arts Commission | $6,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Burns, Francis | SA PALMETTO COLLEGE | USDA Forensic Lab 2 | Western Carolina Higher Education Commission (WCHEC)/USDA | $49,900 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Whitlock, Reta (Ugena) | UPS College of Education | SC Grow Your Own (SC GYO) State Innovation Grant | SC Department of Education | $100,000 |
| Herzberg, Tina | UPS Dept of Education | Orientation and Mobility Contract | SC Department of Education | $219,386 |
To request a PDF copy of this report, please contact Elizabeth Renedo at renedoe@mailbox.sc.edu