Federal Project Grant Award Summary

ECOWELL: Smart Incubation Technology for Next-Generation Environmental Science Labs

Amelia Technologies LLC, a woman-owned small business, received a $1,037,876 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) under the Environmental Health program (CFDA 93.113), with an award date of June 22, 2026 and completion date of May 31, 2028. The grant funds development of the ECOWELL platform, a modular micro-incubation system designed to address educational gaps in environmental science by enabling K-12 students to conduct hands-on experiments simulating real-world environmental conditions. The platform features programmable six-well incubation chambers capable of independently controlling and measuring variables including temperature, ultraviolet light, carbon dioxide levels, and gas exchange—parameters critical to understanding pollutants' biological impacts on organisms.

The ECOWELL platform delivers a transformative educational tool that allows students to explore complex environmental scenarios such as bacterial growth under UV-induced DNA stress, algal blooms under nutrient conditions, and other toxicological processes traditionally underrepresented in science curricula. By enabling students to simulate, manipulate, and analyze environmental stressors and measure biological endpoints in real time, the platform addresses systemic gaps in environmental health education while supporting NIEHS's mission to research how environmental exposures affect biological systems and translate that knowledge to reduce disease and promote health across the lifespan.