The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $650,000 Project Grant under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program to Princeton University. The grant supports the development of an innovative laser sensing technology platform that will employ dual-comb spectroscopy and quantum cascade laser frequency combs to enable three-dimensional localization and quantification of multiple atmospheric trace gas emissions. The novel chemical sensing system will integrate...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $1,499,981 to Villanova University to develop innovative real-time monitoring and AI-driven models to support sustainable management of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) systems in urban environments. The project aims to integrate engineering, computer science, urban planning, and social science to enable effective, accurate, and culturally responsive GSI operations. A sub-award of...
This $650,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) supports the development of engineered microbial sensors for assessing water quality. The primary objective is to create new low-cost sensing systems that can detect chemicals in water throughout the water cycle, including wastewater treatment, drinking water, industrial use, and stormwater discharges. The project employs a convergence research...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $549,999 to Cleveland State University (CSU) to improve understanding of urban microclimate (UMC) dynamics and their interactions with urban morphology, natural heat sources, and anthropogenic activities. The research aims to characterize and parameterize UMC dynamics, quantify multi-scale interactions between UMC dynamics and building characteristics, and advance...
This $200,000 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems aims to develop a novel water quality monitoring system based on plasmonic sensing with metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanosensors embedded in soft hydrogel matrices. The key research activities include: 1) modeling and designing the Au-SiO2-Au MIM nanosensors using finite element analysis, 2) synthesizing and testing these nanosensors to optimize plasmonic...
This $2,228,505 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Program (CFDA 47.070) supports the development of a cloud-based, open, and collaborative cyberinfrastructure to enable data-driven exploration and modeling of urban data. The project aims to address two critical obstacles in urban computing: the lack of robust, well-engineered tools and open computing platforms, and the dispersed community of cross-disciplinary...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $650,000 Project Grant under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program to Rutgers, The State University, located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The grant supports a civic innovation project that pilots solutions to assist low-resource urban residents in adapting to increasing heat stress and local air pollution, both outdoors and indoors. The key products and services delivered through this funding include: 1) Deploying a...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award for $320,000.00, awarded on May 1, 2025 under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), aims to advance sustainable electrification systems by developing a novel estimation and monitoring framework to reduce the cost and extend the lifespan of repurposed electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The key products and services to be delivered include: (1) a sensor-lean and computationally-efficient estimation approach to simultaneously monitor a large...
This $150,000 federal Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) program aims to develop and deploy low-cost, battery-powered smart cameras to democratize urban mobility data acquisition, especially in underserved communities. The research will focus on creating new control and perception algorithms to efficiently operate these smart cameras within battery and computational constraints. Key project elements...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083) provides $712,258 to the University of Central Florida (UCF) to acquire an integrated LiDAR and hyperspectral sensing system. The goal is to capture and integrate visible and invisible data using this new sensing system, which will be mounted on drones, robots, and ground vehicles. This will enable researchers to monitor and analyze structural and environmental changes over time...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under CFDA 47.041 "Engineering" program provides $450,000 in funding to The Trustees of Princeton University to develop a novel "Multi-Attribute Urban Sensing Technology (MUST)" platform. The key products and services to be delivered include:
A prototype vehicle-mounted multi-sensor system integrating 360-degree cameras, high-resolution LiDAR, GPS, and innovative environmental/air pollution sensors to collect granular data on urban metabolism, infrastructure, activities, and emissions at the neighborhood/ward scale.
A data analytics platform and deep learning model combining the mobile sensor data with remote sensing and social survey information to enable integrated socio-ecological-infrastructural urban sensing.
Metabolic models to inform city planning for low-carbon, clean air, and resource-circular urban development.
The project will pilot test the MUST system in Chennai, India to directly support sustainability and resource circularity planning for the 10.8 million population metropolitan area. The award also includes provisions for student training, academic-industry-city engagement, and advancing research across disciplines like sensors, computer vision, urban systems modeling, and environmental engineering. The project period runs from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2026.