In Professor Mark Brynildsen’s laboratory, Ph.D. student Katherine Sniezek (right) conducts experiments to investigate how bacteria evade antibiotic treatments. Behind her, Ph.D. student Gabrielle Leon (left) talks with Brynildsen (center). Photo by Tori Repp/Fotobuddy
Princeton Engineering researchers are combining their expertise in chemical engineering, materials and computation to design crystalline materials that can be used to mitigate pollution or make sustainable cements. In bioengineering, another project aims to unravel how dormant bacteria resist antibiotics and incite intractable infections.
These are among 21 projects funded by the latest round of innovation grants from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, which total more than $3 million. Since 2008, innovation awards have enabled engineering faculty members to take their research in bold new directions that address critical issues in technology, health and the environment. The grants often fuel initial discoveries that lead to larger awards from external funding agencies.
Princeton Engineering’s Innovation Research Grants are funded by Princeton alumni, parents and other donors. This year’s awards to Princeton CBE researchers include:
Helen Shipley Hunt Fund
Made possible by Helen Shipley Hunt, who earned a master’s degree in mathematics from Princeton in 1971, this fund supports engineering research with a focus on applied projects. Shipley Hunt funds were awarded to:
Mark Brynildsen, professor of chemical and biological engineering and bioengineering, for the project “Turning a strength into a weakness for Pseudomonas aeruginosa treatments” (also supported by the O’Brien Family Health Research Fund);
and Rodney D. Priestley, dean of the Graduate School and the Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, for the project “Hydrophobic self-hardening hydrogels for infrastructure durability and safety.”
Project X Fund
Marcella Lusardi, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Princeton Materials Institute, Andrew Rosen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Claire White, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, for the project “A combined experimental and computational approach for accelerated zeolite discovery via pre-nucleation building units” (also supported by the David T. Wilkinson Innovation Fund and by funds from an anonymous donor).
Rosen also received support for the project “Democratizing the computational discovery of clean energy materials” from the Wilke Fund for Innovation.
For a full list of this year's Innovation Research Grants, read the story on Princeton Engineering.
