Grants and Projects

Project Leadership: Clara Joungyun Choi

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Description: The central hypothesis posits that the extended lifetime of the dopant excited state in Mn²?-doped NCs can act as a long-lived energy reservoir, enabling the storage and extraction of electronic energy from charge carriers. This energy could facilitate electron/energy transfer to redox species and initiate photocatalytic cleavage reactions in lignin. Specifically, the research proposes to:

• Generate long-lived photoexcited carriers using doped NCs.
• Enhance the generation of reactive oxygen species through energy transfer from doped NCs for photocatalytic oxidation of biomass.
• Evaluate how the Mn-doped nanostructures developed in the preceding tasks can be tailored to control the photocatalytic cleavage of lignin compounds, effectively converting incident photons into oxidative equivalents in NC solutions.

This proposal also emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary training to advance the field by integrating materials chemistry, photochemistry, and organic synthesis. The research plan includes a range of experimental techniques to prepare the next generation of scientists, fostering their engagement with nanomaterials and photochemistry.

Project Leadership: Clara Joungyun Choi

Sponsor: The University of Tennessee

Project Description: The proposed global bioeconomy center will advance the fundamental science of: biological conversion of plant polysaccharides to green polymeric materials, bioresource fractionation, biotechnology of surface functionalization of nanocellulose/lignin, and the material science of 3/4D printed bio composites while at the same time providing translational green printing technologies for non-scientific experts.  Finally, we all acknowledge that scientific advances in biorefining will have limited impact without a skilled workforce, using a combination of in-class, web-based learning modules and museums to train K-12 students, general population, undergraduate, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in the fundamentals STEM principals relevant to biorefining, waste valorization, circular economy, genetics, TEA/LCA, 3D printing and upcycling/recycling.

Project Leadership: Elizabeth McCormack-Whittemore

Sponsor: VentureWell

Project Description: 

Project Leadership: Katherine Moore McAllen

Sponsor: The Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation

Project Description: This project will provide essential educational opportunities for our students to collaborate with invited Spanish dancers, bring international prestige back to our community and dance program, and promote bilingual learning in the Fine Arts, according to the pillars of our university's mission statement.

Project Leadership: Katherine Moore McAllen

Sponsor: The Rea Charitable Trust

Project Description: These funds for this grant will be used to support student and faculty to share their research at conferences, to invite scholars here to UTRGV to conduct research and discuss topics in talks and conferences that encourage our students to conduct research and get support on publishing their work. This grant will also fund photographers, painters, and sculptors to conduct research in their art practice to have quality exhibitions, which the grant will also fund.

This grant will also be funding the scholarly roundtable inviting leading scholars from R1 institutions to UTRGV and the IMAS to share their research and encourage faculty and students to publish and conduct stronger research based on their mentorship and collaborations.

Project Leadership: Emmy Perez

Sponsor: The Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation

Project Description: This proposal seeks funding to support and expand literary arts initiatives in the Rio Grande Valley over the next two years.

• Supplement to help curate and host poets and writers for workshops, readings and or presentations in the Rio Grande Valley.
• Support student creative/research activities for campus and community performance and collaborations. 
• Support visting writer whose work engages borderlands and/or BIPOC literary arts, offering workshops and presentations.
• Texas Borderland Writers Symposium for students and visitng writers. 
• Administrative Support
• Graduate Assistant for Digital Archiving