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 April 1 and April 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 April 2026 New Grant Awards |
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PI Name |
PI College/Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Conner, Kyron |
Economic Engagement Ofc of Economic Engagement |
USC APEX Accelerator | Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP)/DOD | $824,720 |
| Mu, Sai |
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Physics & Astronomy |
Understanding the Heterochiral Charge-density Wave State in van der Waals Crystals: A Data-Driven approach | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $288,117 |
| Gross, Andrew |
Molinaroli College of Engineering & Computing Mechanical Engineering |
Qualification and Acceptance Protocol for Additively Manufactured Alloys | Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA)/SRNL/DOE | $257,000 |
| Pernomian, Laena |
School of Medicine Cell Biology & Anatomy |
Wnt/β-Catenin Activation Contributes to Sex-Specific Loss of Piezo1 in Heart Failure Induced by Hypertension | American Heart Association (AHA) | $231,000 |
| Colebank, Mitchel |
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Mathematics |
An Echocardiography-driven Digital Twin for Ventricular Septal Defect Management | American Heart Association (AHA) | $230,415 |
| Conner, Kyron |
Economic Engagement Ofc of Economic Engagement |
SC Department of Commerce APEX Accelerator - Matching funds for Award No. U00038259 | SC Department of Commerce | $170,000 |
| Petti, Roberto |
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Physics & Astronomy |
Elucidating Flavor Content of Nucleons in Nuclei | US Department of Energy (DOE) | $150,000 |
| Al-hasan, Majdi |
School of Medicine Internal Medicine |
Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) for Newberry County | SC Department of Public Health (DPH)/HUD | $104,778 |
| Weist, Mark |
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Psychology |
NAMI South Carolina Youth-Centered Mental Health Awareness & Education | National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) SC/BCBS of SC Foundation | $100,000 |
| Bruschi Marinho Priviero, Fernanda |
School of Medicine Cell Biology & Anatomy |
Does Time Matter? Childhood vs Adult Pharmacologic Obesity Treatment to Prevent Cardiovascular–Kidney–Metabolic Syndrome | American Heart Association (AHA) | $100,000 |
April 2026 Awards by College
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Workman, Lauren | Applied Research & Evaluation (CARE) | AccessHealth & Healthy People Healthy Carolinas Evaluation 2026 | SC Hospital Association Foundation (SCHA) | $38,543 |
| Jilling, Andrea | Environmental Health Sciences | Follow-up Soil Sample Collection for the Rainmaker Farm | Oklahoma State University/Gulch Environmental Foundation | $6,623 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Conner, Kyron | Ofc of Economic Engagement | USC APEX Accelerator | Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP)/DOD | $824,720 |
| Conner, Kyron | Ofc of Economic Engagement | SC Department of Commerce APEX Accelerator - Matching funds for Award No. U00038259 | SC Department of Commerce | $170,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Dhunjishah, L Michelle | Children's Law Center | Emergency Protective Custody Training | SC Department of Social Services (DSS) | $10,530 |
| Walker, Sharon | Children's Law Center | FY26 Citizens Review Panel (CRP) | SC Department of Social Services (DSS) | $75,935 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Colebank, Mitchel | Mathematics | An Echocardiography-driven Digital Twin for Ventricular Septal Defect Management | American Heart Association (AHA) | $230,415 |
| Mu, Sai | Physics & Astronomy | Understanding the Heterochiral Charge-density Wave State in van der Waals Crystals: A Data-Driven approach | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $288,117 |
| Petti, Roberto | Physics & Astronomy | Elucidating Flavor Content of Nucleons in Nuclei | US Department of Energy (DOE) | $150,000 |
| Weist, Mark | Psychology | Autism Service Provision Readiness | Community Mental Health Services (CMHS)/OMH/SC BHDD | $9,000 |
| Weist, Mark | Psychology | NAMI South Carolina Youth-Centered Mental Health Awareness & Education | National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) SC/BCBS of SC Foundation | $100,000 |
| Benitez-Nelson, Claudia | School of Earth, Ocean & Env. | (PI - Victoria Ferri) Slocum-Lunz Foundation: Defining and Delineating Blackwater River Systems in South Carolina Using Dissolved Organic Carbon, Optical Properties, and Dissolved Organic Matter Composition | Slocum-Lunz Foundation, Inc. | $1,500 |
| Wilson, Alicia | School of Earth, Ocean & Env. | (PI - Kate Dezii) Quantifying Rising Water Table Threats for Coastal Communities and Ecosystems | Bald Head Island Conservancy | $20,000 |
| Milling, Stephanie | Theatre and Dance | Dance Technique Institute | SC Department of Education (SCDE) | $29,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Taheri-Qazvini, Nader | Biomedical Engineering | Dual-Cure Strategies for 3D-Printable High Solid Regolith Suspensions with Integrated Radiation Shielding | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $23,500 |
| Lauterbach, Jochen | Chemical Engineering | Cell performance testing and fundamental characterization | Heiontec | $15,000 |
| Sadati, Monirosadat | Chemical Engineering | Engineering Nanostructured Load-Bearing Structural Batteries with High Ionic Conductivity | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $23,500 |
| White, Ralph | Chemical Engineering | Developing and Demonstrating Solid-State Electrolytes for Next-Generation Structural Li-ion and Na-ion Batteries | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $32,000 |
| Matta, Fabio | Civil & Environmental Eng. | Investigation of Current and New Generation Cementitious and Supplementary Cementitious Materials for SCDOT Concrete | Clemson University/SCDOT/FHA | $68,207 |
| Wu, Dezhi | IIT - Engineering | Travel: IEEE International Conference on Health Informatics (ICHI 2026) Doctoral Consortium Program | National Science Foundation (NSF) | $15,000 |
| Gross, Andrew | Mechanical Engineering | Qualification and Acceptance Protocol for Additively Manufactured Alloys | Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA)/SRNL/DOE | $257,000 |
| Sockalingam, Subramani | Mechanical Engineering | Characterizing high strain rate mode-II delamination response of composite materials | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $28,000 |
| Yuan, Lang | Mechanical Engineering | Integrating High-Fidelity Process Modeling and In-Situ Monitoring for In-Space Manufacturing | College of Charleston/SC Space Grant Consortium/NASA | $20,000 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Bruschi Marinho Priviero, Fernanda | Cell Biology & Anatomy | Does Time Matter? Childhood vs Adult Pharmacologic Obesity Treatment to Prevent Cardiovascular–Kidney–Metabolic Syndrome | American Heart Association (AHA) | $100,000 |
| Pernomian, Laena | Cell Biology & Anatomy | Wnt/β-Catenin Activation Contributes to Sex-Specific Loss of Piezo1 in Heart Failure Induced by Hypertension | American Heart Association (AHA) | $231,000 |
| Edwards, Janice | Genetics | 2026 Huntington's Disease Center of Excellence | Prisma Health - Midlands/Huntington's Disease Society of America | $2,500 |
| Al-hasan, Majdi | Internal Medicine | Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) for Newberry County | SC Department of Public Health (DPH)/HUD | $104,778 |
PI Name |
PI Dept. |
Award Title |
Sponsor |
Total |
| Shinn, James | BFT History | Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Support to USCB ISRE 2026 Spring Symposium | Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor/NPS/DOI | $6,000 |
| Cobb, Warren | BFT Libraries | Freedom Takes Root: A digital Gateway to the Reconstruction Era | American Library Association (ALA)/Carnegie-Whitney Grant | $5,000 |
To request a PDF copy of this report, please contact Elizabeth Renedo at renedoe@mailbox.sc.edu