Project Grant 2511399
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $480,000 Project Grant to the Trustees of Boston University to support research on the fundamental nature of neutrinos. Through this grant under the NSF Division of Physics' Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), the university will implement major enhancements to the world-leading KamLAND-Zen neutrino detection experiment to search for evidence of neutrinos being their own antiparticles, a hypothetical property known as...
- The National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences awarded the University of Hawaii $300,000 on August 1, 2026, under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to develop real-time artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms for the KamLAND2-Zen neutrinoless double-beta decay detector experiment. The University of Hawaii group will deploy AI/ML inference directly on radio-frequency system-on-chip and multi-processor system-on-chip...
- The National Science Foundation Division of Information and Intelligent Systems awarded the Trustees of Boston University $394,792 on January 1, 2027, under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to develop a cross-layer co-design framework for stable mixed-precision acceleration in computing hardware and software. The project addresses numerical precision tradeoffs in high-performance computing workloads including physical artificial intelligence applications...
- The National Science Foundation awarded the Trustees of Boston University a cooperative agreement of $4.898 million on August 1, 2026, under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program to develop and operate CLAIRE (Cloud Lab with AI-Integrated Remote Experimentation), an open-access, AI-enabled programmable cloud laboratory for biotechnology. Boston University will transform its Design, Automation, Manufacturing, and Processes (DAMP) Lab into a remote, cloud-based facility where...
- Federal Grant Award Summary Boston University, as the primary awardee, will develop heterogeneously integrated electronic-photonic AI accelerators (HIEPAA) under this $406,708 Project Grant funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems through the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041). The research delivers core technical innovations across device design, integrated circuits, and wafer-scale architecture to advance energy-efficient artificial...
- The Trustees of Boston University were awarded a $380,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems to support research related to signal processing for single-photon detectors from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024. The award is being used to fund research under the NSF's Engineering program (CFDA #47.041), which aims to improve quality of life and economic strength by fostering innovation and excellence in engineering research....
- The National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences awarded Trustees of Boston University $313,253 on September 1, 2026, for collaborative research under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049). The project, titled "COLIMATE: An On-Chip Spectrometer Array for Multi-Line Intensity Mapping Cosmology," implements line intensity mapping (LIM) techniques to detect distant galaxies and study cosmic structure across time. The work develops...
- The National Science Foundation Division of Emerging Frontiers awarded Trustees of Boston University $120,857 on July 1, 2026, under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to support a full-time graduate student research internship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Living Measurement Systems Foundry focused on AI-ready data standardization and integration for biological circuit design and analysis. The scholar-in-residence will work onsite at NIST LMSF to collaborate...
- The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded the University of South Dakota $257,733 on January 1, 2027, under the Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083) to develop machine-learning methods that accelerate computer simulations of neutrino detectors used in particle physics research. The project, led by an assistant professor at USD in collaboration with Dr. Seon-Hee Seo at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will produce a validated,...
- The National Science Foundation Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems awarded Trustees of Boston University $508,446 on October 1, 2026, for development of phase and polarization imaging meta-sensor arrays under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041). The project will design, fabricate, and characterize metasurfaces—specially engineered dielectric coatings that introduce sharp dependence of responsivity on illumination angle and polarization at visible wavelengths. These...
The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded the Trustees of Boston University $2,729,352 on August 15, 2026, under the Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083) to acquire, calibrate, and commission advanced data acquisition electronics for the international KamLAND2-Zen neutrino physics experiment in Japan. The award funds the acquisition of custom radio-frequency system-on-a-chip (RFSoC)-based electronics that will digitize signals from 1,879 photomultiplier tubes in the KamLAND2-Zen detector. These electronics reduce acquisition dead time, enable advanced real-time signal processing, and support embedded artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for detector triggering and event reconstruction. Boston University will assemble, test, calibrate, commission, and deploy the electronics while developing firmware, calibration methods, and validation procedures for reliable long-term detector operation. The project supports hands-on training for undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and engineers in advanced instrumentation, firmware, and scientific data acquisition. Boston University will also establish training workshops and develop openly available educational resources focused on embedded AI for scientific instrumentation, providing practical experience in firmware development, real-time signal processing, and AI deployment on detector electronics. The instrumentation supports neutrinoless double-beta decay searches aimed at determining whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles, addressing fundamental questions about matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Work is performed in Boston, Massachusetts with a period of performance extending through July 31, 2029.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $2.7m | 8/11/26 |