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. 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 2025 New Grant Awards |
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PI Name |
PI College/Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Stewart, Jill |
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Baruch Institute |
Eco-evolutionary dynamics of Escherichia coli in an island system: Environmental drivers of waterborne urinary tract infections | Fogarty International Center/NIH | $3,000,004 |
| Mustain, William |
Molinaroli College of Engineering & Computing Chemical Engineering |
Battery Innovation – UofSC | US Department of Energy (DOE) | $2,160,000 |
| Boghossian, Nansi |
Arnold School of Public Health Epidemiology & Biostatistics |
Impact of 12-month Postpartum Insurance Extensions on Maternal and Newborn Health | National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)/NIH | $1,664,038 |
| Ammons, Robert |
University of SC Lancaster LAN PALMETTO COLLEGE |
Student Support Services (Scholarships - Grant in Aid) | US Department Of Education (USDE) | $1,518,795 |
| Barfield, Reagan |
College of Pharmacy Pharm - Clin Pharm & Outcomes Sciences |
The advancement of a post-graduate outpatient pharmacy training model in South Carolina to enhance chronic care management, research, and service line expansion in rural and medically underserved communities | SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare/SCDHHS | $1,389,293 |
| Mustain, William |
Molinaroli College of Engineering & Computing Chemical Engineering |
Alkaline stable, non-porous, anion exchange ionomer and membrane separator scale-up for liquid alkaline electrolysis | Ionomr/DOE | $1,191,972 |
| Farkas, Csilla |
Molinaroli College of Engineering & Computing Computer Science & Engineering |
2025-2026 DoD Cyber Service Academy Application, University of South Carolina | US Department of Defense (DOD) | $965,700 |
| Abraham, Michele |
Darla Moore School of Business Small Business Dev. Ctr. |
SC Small Business Development Centers Program Announcement - SBA 2025 Funding Opportunity | US Small Business Administration (SBA) | $897,635 |
| Smith, Erik |
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Baruch Institute |
North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve FY25 Operations Award | National Ocean Service (NOS) Office for Coastal Management (OCM)/NOAA/DOC | $880,967 |
September Awards by College
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Neils-Strunjas, Jean | Communication Sci & Disorders | SC CREATE 2026 | SC Department of Education (SCDE) | $402,200 |
| Sabo-Attwood, Tara | Environmental Health Sciences | Sub to UF/FLDOH - Inhalation of algae and toxins associated with harmful algal blooms and novel mechanisms of pulmonary toxicity and respiratory health | University of Florida/Florida Department of Health (FDOH) | $139,908 |
| Boghossian, Nansi | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Impact of 12-month Postpartum Insurance Extensions on Maternal and Newborn Health | National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)/NIH | $1,664,038 |
| Fowler, Lauren | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | A mixed methods approach to understanding obesity risk among sexual minority women | National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)/NIH | $447,492 |
| Ghattas, Hala | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | (PI: Tremaine T. Sails-Dunbar) Health Policy Research Scholars Dissertation Award | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Johns Hopkins University) | $5,155 |
| Larson, Leila | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | Using big data to understand the influence of extreme weather events on child health
and development in the USA |
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)/NIH | $378,140 |
| Thrasher, James | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | Foreign Subaward Component of Project 10014445: Building Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models to investigate social network influences on youth nicotine product use transitions and to simulate different intervention effects across contexts | National Cancer Institute (NCI)/NIH | $497,696 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Googe, Heather | Child Development Res. Center | 2025 South Carolina Early Childhood Inclusion Conference | SC Developmental Disabilities Council/HHS | $20,000 |
| Wolfe, Katie | Educational & Developmental Science | Support for the M.Ed. in APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS (ABA) | SC Department of Health and Human Services (SC DHHS) | $651,958 |
| Lewis, Ashlee | Research, Eval., & Measurement | South Carolina Arts Assessment Program (FY26) | South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) | $84,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| McInnes, Campbell | Drug Discovery & Biomed Sci. | Subcontract from PPI Pharma to USC: Investigating Abbapolin PLK1 Polo-Box Domain inhibitors as potential therapeutics for colorectal cancers | PPI Pharmaceuticals, LLC (PPI)/NCI/NIH | $200,091 |
| Barfield, Reagan | Pharm - Clin Pharm & Outcomes Sciences | The advancement of a post-graduate outpatient pharmacy training model in South Carolina to enhance chronic care management, research, and service line expansion in rural and medically underserved communities | SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare/SCDHHS | $1,389,293 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Von Nessen, Joseph | Moore Sch - Div. of Research | Brookfield Properties: Economic Impact of Nexton | NASH-Nexton Holdings, LLC | $85,550 |
| Von Nessen, Joseph | Moore Sch - Div. of Research | NP Strategy: The Economic Impact of Westinghouse | NP Strategy | $35,000 |
| Abraham, Michele | Small Business Dev. Ctr. | SC Small Business Development Centers Program Announcement - SBA 2025 Funding Opportunity | US Small Business Administration (SBA) | $897,635 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Basurto, Estefania | Hotel, Restaurant & Tour Mgmt | International Cooperation Grant: The RISE: Research, Internationalization, Support, and Education Proposal | ESPAM-MFL (Escuela Superior Politecnica Agropecuaria de Manabi - Manuel Felix Lopez) | $166,913 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Mathison, Mike | Children's Law Center | AECF - Teaming for Teams – Legal Strat. Development for SC - Support the design and implementation of strategies with legal stakeholders to prevent unnecessary entry of teens into foster care in South Carolina | Annie E. Casey Foundation | $75,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Smith, Erik | Baruch Institute | NERR Capacity Building: ACE Basin Round 2 | SC Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR)/NOAA/DOC | $105,017 |
| Smith, Erik | Baruch Institute | North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve FY25 Operations Award | National Ocean Service (NOS) Office for Coastal Management (OCM)/NOAA/DOC | $880,967 |
| Stewart, Jill | Baruch Institute | Eco-evolutionary dynamics of Escherichia coli in an island system: Environmental drivers of waterborne urinary tract infections | Fogarty International Center/NIH | $3,000,004 |
| Shustova, Natalia | Chemistry & Biochemistry | Hybrid Well-Defined Stimuli-Responsive Materials | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $539,896 |
| Dutta, Uttaran | Mathematics | Uttaran Dutta Simons Dissertation Fellowship in Mathematics | The Simons Foundation International, Ltd . (SFI) | $38,400 |
| Luo, Ruth | Mathematics | Collaborations in extremal problems for graphs and hypergraphs | The Simons Foundation International, Ltd . (SFI) | $42,000 |
| Lopez Rodriguez, Enrique | Physics & Astronomy | A new view of magnetic fields in the early universe | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $357,765 |
| Wu, Yanwen | Physics & Astronomy | Identifying superconducting pairing and hidden symmetries using SHG polarimetry | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $746,200 |
| Liu, Howard (Hao) | Political Science | Collaborative Research: Advancing quantitative methods for the study of georelational dynamics in contentious politics | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $150,914 |
| Edmunds, Sarah | Psychology | Family-Centered Implementation of Parent Training for Emotion Regulation in Autistic Toddlers within the Part C Early Intervention System | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)/NIH | $654,082 |
| Wilson, Alicia | School of Earth, Ocean & Env. | LTER: Georgia Coastal Ecosystems-V | University of Georgia/NSF | $162,173 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Mustain, William | Chemical Engineering | Alkaline stable, non-porous, anion exchange ionomer and membrane separator scale-up for liquid alkaline electrolysis | Ionomr/DOE | $1,191,972 |
| Mustain, William | Chemical Engineering | Battery Innovation – UofSC | US Department of Energy (DOE) | $2,160,000 |
| Taheri-Qazvini, Nader | Chemical Engineering | 3D Bioprinting Shared Facility for Advancing Interdisciplinary Research at the University of South Carolina | Office of the Director - National Institutes of Health (NIH) | $256,929 |
| Farkas, Csilla | Computer Science & Engineering | 2025-2026 DoD Cyber Service Academy Application, University of South Carolina | US Department of Defense (DOD) | $965,700 |
| Ahmad, Iftikhar | Electrical Engineering | Quantum Frontiers in Environmental Monitoring: Integrating Quantum Fourier Transform and Quantum Entanglement for Superior Data Analysis | Benedict College/DOE | $125,057 |
| Chen, Fanglin | Mechanical Engineering | Space Grant Campus Director | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $2,000 |
| De Backer, Wout | Mechanical Engineering | Process Modeling of Vitrimer Patch Repair for Complex Composite Surfaces | Maher & Associates d/b/a Maher Advanced Manufacturing/ONR/DOD | $56,000 |
| Huang, Kevin | Mechanical Engineering | Understanding the Corrosion Mechanisms of Ferritic Stainless Steels in Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Operated under High Temperature and Steam Conditions | Save Mother Earth, LLC/DOE | $120,000 |
| Zhou, Caizhi | Mechanical Engineering | EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Probing Deformation Mechanisms in Heterogeneous Lamellar Metals for Breaking the Strength-Ductility Trade-off Condition | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $299,985 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Rotholz, David | MDC Ctr Disability Resources | South Carolina Assistive Technology Program AAC Clinic | SC Developmental Disabilities Council/ACL/HHS | $2,500 |
| Thornhill, Joshua | Neuropsychiatry | PDMHSEC Support of the USCSOM Associate Dean for Medical Student Education – Florence | Pee Dee Medical & Health Sciences Education Consortium/SC DHHS | $213.937 |
| Stephenson, Kathryn | Pediatrics | Strengthening the Carolina's Collaborative to Address Disparities in Child Mental Health Across the Carolinas | Prisma Health - Midlands/Institute for Child Success | $46,250 |
| dos Santos, Raoni | Pharm., Physiology & Neuroscience | The Role of NTS-NE Neurons in the Pathophysiology of Depression and Social Deficits | Brain and Behavior Research Foundation | $70,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Ammons, Robert | LAN PALMETTO COLLEGE | Student Support Services (Scholarships - Grant in Aid) | US Department Of Education (USDE) | $1,518,795 |
| Criswell, Stephen | LAN PALMETTO COLLEGE | Native American Drumming Performance Series | SC Arts Commission | $5,000 |
To request a PDF copy of this report, please contact Elizabeth Renedo at renedoe@mailbox.sc.edu