May 7, 2019
Thirteen CEC researchers are among those awarded grants through ASPIRE, the signature competitive internal grant program of the Office of the Vice President for Research. The program is a cornerstone of faculty research and scholarship at the University of South Carolina.
ASPIRE grants fund promising faculty research, shared infrastructure and cross-disciplinary research projects to help strengthen UofSC researchers’ competitiveness for external grants and increase scholarly activity throughout the UofSC system.
“We are so proud to announce a new round of ASPIRE investments for 2019,” said USC Vice President for Research, Prakash Nagarkatti. “The selected projects from our outstanding faculty represent a wide variety of subject areas, from art to engineering, helping us to fund important scholarship across disciplines and boosting research throughout the UofSC system. It is my pleasure to congratulate all of the 2019 ASPIRE grant awardees.”
2019 ASPIRE engineering and computing recipients are listed below, by funding track.
2019 ASPIRE-I: Innovation recipients
Sub-track I, junior faculty development
| Faculty member | Department | Research Title |
| Iftikhar Ahmad | Electrical Engineering | Low-cost compact neutron detectors using thick BN layers over sapphire |
| Austin Downey | Mechanical Engineering | Real-Time Surrogate Model Updating for Structures Experiencing High-Rate Dynamics |
| Pooyan Jamshidi | Computer Science & Engineering | Optimizing Energy Consumption of Deep Neural Networks for Intelligent Learning Systems |
Sub-track IIB, postdoctoral scholar development
| Postdoctoral student |
Department | Research Title |
| Ritubarna Banerjee | Chemical Engineering | Hetero-atom Doped Carbon Nanotubes as Supports in the Strong Electrostatic Adsorption of Platinum and Palladium Catalysts |
| Seong Hyeon Hong | Mechanical Engineering | Embedded Machine Learning Platform for Automated Fault Detection and Mitigation in Dynamic Systems |
| Guangzhao Qin | Mechanical Engineering | Development of machine learning based interatomic potential for multiscale modeling of thermal management of electronics using Boron Arsenide (BAs) |
| Pengtao Wang | Mechanical Engineering | Development of Durable, Anti-scaling, and Cost-effective Surfaces for Thermal Desalination |
Sub-track IV, senior faculty exploration
| Faculty member | Department | Research Title |
| Guoan Wang | Electrical Engineering | Environment Adaptive Position Independent Wireless Power Transfer Technologies |
2019 ASPIRE-II: Integration recipients
| Faculty Member(s) | Department(s) | Research Title | PI College |
| Benjamin Schooley | Integrated Information Technology | Development of RunRA: A Mobile Application for the Self-Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Civil & Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering | Drone-implemented integration of GIScience, Engineering, Plant Biology, and Community Education for Dam Safety Assessment | College of Arts and Sciences | |
| John Rose | Computer Science and Engineering | The Whole Earth Book Catalog | College of Arts and Sciences |
2019 ASPIRE-III: Infrastructure recipients
| Faculty Member | Department | Research Title |
| Lang Yuan | Mechanical Engineering | Powder Management System for Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing |
The full list of ASPIRE recipients is available on the Office of Research website. Complete details about the ASPIRE program, including criteria for each funding track and sub-track, are available on the program’s home page.