Congratulations!
The following UTC Faculty and Staff have attracted $1,561,482 in exterior grant and contract awards:
Dr. Venkateswara Kode (Civil and Chemical Engineering) has obtained $199,516 from the National Science Foundation for the mission entitled, “ERI: Renewable Water Harvesting Using Tunable Solid Bio-Desiccants for Low-Energy Regeneration.”
Charlie Mix, Nyssa Hunt, and Laura Lee (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have obtained $65,000 from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for the mission entitled, “Spatial Analysis of TN Urban Community Forests.”
Dr. Donald Reising (Electrical Engineering), in collaboration with Purdue University, has requested and obtained $147,000 from the US Department of the Army for the mission entitled, “Radiation-Hard Microelectronics Workforce Development Consortium.”
Dr. Joey Shaw, Dr. Stylianos Chatzimanolis, and Jessica Sanders (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science) have obtained $35,892 from the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga for the mission entitled, “2026 EPB Bio Survey.”
Dr. Kimberly Wingate and Dr. Stephanie Brennan (School of Education) have obtained $1,114,074 from the Tennessee Department of Education for the mission entitled, “Grow Your Own Apprenticeship (FY2026-FY2027).”
Good Luck!
The following UTC school and workers members submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $22,336,063 in exterior funding, if awarded:
Dr. Tatiana Allen (Physics and Astronomy) has requested $249,996 from the National Science Foundation for the mission entitled, “NQNI: SouthEastern Microscopy Cloud for Quantum Research.”
Dr. Damitha Bandara (Data and Analytics), Dr. Jennifer Goodrich (Engineering Management and Technology), and Nyssa Hunt (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have requested $24,924 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Assessing Equity and Optimizing Emergency Response Services Using GIS: A Spatial and Socioeconomic Analysis of Hamilton County, Tennessee.”
Dr. Keith Bridges (Center for Community Career Education) has requested $1,773,610 from the US Department of Education for the mission entitled, “2026 Southern Appalachian Educational Opportunity Center.”
Dr. Keith Bridges (Center for Community Career Education) has requested $1,482,653 from the US Department of Education for the mission entitled, “2026 Northwest Georgia Educational Opportunity Center.”
Julia Bursch (UTC Research Institute), Dr. Jejal Reddy Bathi (Civil and Chemical Engineering), Terry Ellis (Nursing), Dr. David Giles (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science), Dr. Eric Hungenberg (Health & Human Performance), and Dr. Thomas Lyons (Marketing and Entrepreneurship) have requested $3,000,000 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the mission entitled, “UTC Innovation Commercialization Center for Translational Research and Market Acceleration.”
Dr. Gokhan Erdemir and Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu (Engineering Management and Technology) have requested $50,000 from Amazon.com Inc for the mission entitled, “Design and Control of a Multi-Finger Robot Gripper with Reconfigurable Fingertips.”
Dr. Gokhan Erdemir (Engineering Management and Technology) and Dr. Zihao Wang (Computer Science and Engineering) have requested $604,770 from the Schmidt Sciences for the mission entitled, “Detecting and Predicting Strategic Manipulation in Collaborative AI-Driven Robotic Systems.”
John Freeze (Center for Professional Education) has requested $145,623 from the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs for the mission entitled, “CPE Support Responsibilities for SELA Program.”
Dr. Joshua Hamblen (Physics and Astronomy) has requested $722,257 from the US Department of Energy for the mission entitled, “Expediting and Optimizing Event Sorting and Analysis for Precision Subatomic Physics Measurements Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks.”
Austin Harris, Dr. Gazi Akgun, Dr. Mohamed Fadul, and Dr. Mina Sartipi (CUIP) have requested $1,175,047 from the National Science Foundation for the mission entitled, “AI-Powered Platform for Real-time Intelligence in Shared Mobility.”
Dr. Azad Hossain (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science) has requested $299,740 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the mission entitled, “Remote Sensing of Water Quality in the Tennessee River.”
Dr. Abdel Karrar (Electrical Engineering) has requested $1,910,836 from the National Science Foundation for the mission entitled, “Nuclear Power Plant Auxiliary Power System Monitoring: Towards Enhanced Safety & Reliability.”
Farron Kilburn, Beth Miller, Dr. Priscilla Simms-Roberson, Bethany Weaver, Dr. Amber Roache (Nursing), and Dr. Elizabeth O’Brien (School of Professional Studies) have requested $25,000 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Stylists as Community Care Connectors: A Regional Pilot to Bridge Clients to Mental Health, Healthcare, and Safety Resources.”
Dr. Heather Lee (Health & Human Performance) has requested $22,851 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “The Differential Effect of TN Together on County-level Opioid Overdose Mortality in Tennessee by Physician density and Uninsured rate.”
Dr. David Levine (Physical Therapy), Dr. Caitlin Crews-Stowe (Health & Human Performance), and Charlie Mix (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have requested $24,869 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Closing the Care Gap: Addressing Social Determinants to Improve Well-Child Visit Adherence.”
Dr. Jennifer Lynberg, Dr. Allen Pratt, Dr. Stephanie Brennan, Ashtyn Cornett, and Dr. Jason Gordon (School of Education) have requested $5,924,942 from the US Department of Education for the mission entitled, “Tennessee Literacy Apprenticeship.”
Dr. Jennifer Lynberg (School of Education) has requested $86,000 from the Tennessee Department of Education for the mission entitled, “2027 TN Governor’s School for Prospective Teachers.”
Dr. Deborah McAllister, Dr. Jason Gordon, and Dr. Jennifer Lynberg (School of Education) have requested $49,984 from the National Science Foundation for the mission entitled, “Empowering Children to Thrive in the Digital Era through Collaborative Learning Experiences.”
Dr. Marissa McElrone (Health & Human Performance) has requested $25,000 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Food and nutrition security surveillance pilot across the Chattanooga Area Food Bank network.”
Dr. Erin Melhorn (Occupational Therapy) and Dr. Derek Liuzzo (Physical Therapy) have requested $24,654 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “BALANCE Hamilton – Building Analytics and Local Networks for Community Empowerment.”
Dr. Hoang Huu Nguyen and Dr. Mina Sartipi (CUIP) have requested $1,200,000 from the National Science Foundation for the mission entitled, “Human-in-the-Loop Multi-Camera Anomaly Detection and Monitoring.”
Dr. Jason Peter, Farron Kilburn, Dr. Amber Roache, Bethany Weaver (Nursing), Harlee Milligan, and April Wilson (Social Work) have requested $24,735 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Screenings, Health and Interprofessional Engagement through Library Delivery.”
Dr. Karissa Peyer (Health & Human Performance) has requested $24,513 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Project IMPACT: Investigating Mobility Patterns for Access, Connections, and Treatment.”
Dr. Reetesh Ranjan (Mechanical Engineering) has requested $416,709 from the US Department of Energy for the mission entitled, “Accelerating Automotive CFD with Non-Intrusive Hierarchical ML-Enhanced Reduced Order Models.”
Dr. Shahnewaz Karim Sakib (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $500,303 from Schmidt Sciences for the mission entitled, “Enhancing Truthfulness in Human AI Teaming.”
Dr. Shahnewaz Karim Sakib (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $500,307 from Schmidt Sciences for the mission entitled, “Towards Reliable and Trustworthy Multi-agent Communications.”
Dr. Mina Sartipi, Dr. Gazi Akgun, Dr. Mohamed Fadul, and Austin Harris (CUIP), in collaboration with the City of Chattanooga, have requested $2,002,840 from the US Department of Transportation for the mission entitled, “Detection, Protection, and Survivability: High-Injury to High-Safety Transformation in Chattanooga, Tennessee.”
Dr. Guisen Xue and Dr. Monireh Rahmati Bongisouei (Data and Analytics) have requested $24,999 from the Journey Health Foundation for the mission entitled, “Data-Driven Investigation of Social Determinants of Public Health: Evidence from Key Diseases.”
Dr. Ryan Zwart, Dr. Andrew Bailey, Dr. Eric Hungenberg (Health & Human Performance), and Charlie Mix (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have requested $18,901 from the Beacon Foundation Inc for the mission entitled, “Beacon Park Annual Impact Report (2026-27) – Year 1.”