Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Four Mississippi State University faculty-led projects are receiving funding to advance collaborative research with high potential impact as part of a new program administered by MSU’s Office of Research and Economic Development.

The Advancing Collaborative Research Program, established this year by ORED, encourages interdisciplinary collaboration while advancing high-impact activities and positioning faculty to compete for significant external funding. In the inaugural round of funding, ORED is supporting selected projects over two years with a combined total of almost $200,000.

The four funded proposals include:

• “Estimating hive strength and pollination efficiency using a machine learning approach” by principal investigator Priyadarshini Chakrabarti Basu, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, along with co-principal investigator Volkan Senyurek, and collaborator Sathish Samiappan, both assistant research professors in the Geosystems Research Institute. The project’s goals is to create an automated solution for monitoring honey bee colony foraging patterns.
• “Data science driven cyber-physical systems” by principal investigator Tony Luczak, assistant research professor at NSPARC, along with co-principal investigators Long Tian, National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center postdoctoral associate; Sudip Mittal, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; and John Lamberth and Chih Chia Chen, both associate professors in the Department of Kinesiology. The project launches a Smart Tech Working Group to advance smart devices, wearable technologies and embedded sensors, using data science to accelerate human performance.
• “Acoustics-assisted atomic force microscopy toward mapping the subsurface mechanical properties of bio-and nano-materials,” by principal investigator Kun Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and co-principal investigators Zhenhua Tian, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, and Yongfeng Zhao, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, Physics and Atmospheric Sciences at Jackson State University. The project aims to boost materials research at MSU and within the state, impacting the way materials are designed and optimized for applications in biology, optoelectronics, energy conversion and sustainability.
• “Comprehensive evaluation of hydroxyapatite coatings to improve degradation characteristics of additively manufactured porous magnesium implants” by principal investigator Lauren Priddy, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering; co-principal investigator Matthew Priddy, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and co-principal investigator Michael Jaffe, associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine clinical sciences department. The goal of the research is to accelerate the customization of mechanically robust, biodegradable orthopedic implants.

“I am excited about the potential impacts of these projects for the faculty members, the university and the communities we serve,” said MSU Vice President for Research and Economic Development Julie Jordan. “Interdisciplinary teams can create very powerful research opportunities and this new seed funding initiative is designed to support that work and help advance ideas that carry tremendous potential. I can’t wait to see the results of these projects.”

For more on ORED’s internal funding programs, visit www.research.msstate.edu/initiatives/internal-funding.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.