IMR Grants

The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research (IMR) announces its first IMR Industry Challenge Grant awarded to Dr. Dennis Bong, Assistant Professor of Chemistry. 

Dr. Bong will receive $20,000 in cost share from IMR to supplement his project Synthesis of amphiphilic core-shell latex emulsions from soy proteins and delivery of corrosion inhibitors and biocides for coatings application, an externally sponsored research project funded by an industry partner. 

The IMR Industry Challenge Grants program was created to help strengthen new collaborations in materials-allied research between OSU researchers and private industry partners, which will lead to major external proposal development. These grants provide one-to-one matching funds up to $20,000 per year to fund graduate students or postdoctoral researchers working on these collaborative research projects.

 Industry Challenge Grants have a rolling deadline – applications are accepted at any time.  Visit the IMR website for more information and the full Request for Proposals.

2009 Interdisciplinary Materials Research Grants (IMRGs) Awarded by the OSU Institute for Materials Research (IMR)

IMR’s Research Enhancement Program provides different funding mechanisms to support novel research at The Ohio State University. Five new research projects were awarded by the IMR in June 2009, for a total investment of $225,000. Three IMRG research projects also received a second year of funding from IMR for an additional $130,000 in direct research support from IMR.

2009 IMRG Research Projects: New Research

Metamaterials with Smart Reconfiguration for Broadband RF Antennas
Lead: Marcelo Dapino, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicants: Suresh Babu, Industrial Systems Engineering; John Volakis, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Economical Platforms for FET-based Protein Detection to Support Sensor Clinical Translation
Lead: Stephen C. Lee, Biomedical Engineering; Co-Applicant: Paul Berger, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Use of Electrospun Biomaterials as Carriers of Bone Marrow Derived Stem/Progenitor Cells to Stimulate
Lead: Nicanor I. Moldovan, Internal Medicine; Co-Applicant: John J. Lannuti, Materials Science and Engineering.

Exploring Electrically Tunable Magnetism in Gd-doped Nitride Quantum Structures
Lead: Roberto C. Myers; Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical Computer Engineering; Co-Applicants: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Michael Mills, Materials Science and Engineering.

Synthesis of III-V Semiconductor Nanowire Heterostructures Using Metalorganic Chemical Vapor
Lead: Fengyuan Yang, Physics; Co-Applicants: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Roberto C. Myers, Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical and Computer Engineering

2009 IMRG Renewals

IMR also provided $130,000 in direct funding to support the second year of these successful IMRG research projects:

Experimental and Computational Study of ALD-grown Dielectrics on III-Nitrides
Lead: Siddharth Rajan, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicant: Wolfgang Windl, Materials Science and Engineering

IMRG Research Award to Supplement Center for Emergent Materials Program
Lead: Katherine Flores, Materials Science and Engineering

Solving the “Contact Problem” of Molecular Electronics via Atomic Layer Deposition
Lead: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Co-Applicants: Jonathan Pelz, Physics; Malcolm Chisholm, Chemistry

The OSU Institute for Materials Research (IMR) has released a Request for Proposals for our FY2010 Facility Grants competitions. 

IMR Facility Grants are awarded at $2,000 each for 12-month project periods, to assist OSU researchers with facility user access fees and related minor charges.  This fiscal year, IMR will again hold two rounds of Facility Grants competitions with deadlines of October 15, 2009 and March 15, 2010.

Since the inception of our Research Enhancement Program in 2007, IMR has awarded 54 Facility Grants totaling $124,916. 

This is just one of several ways in which IMR suports materials-allied research at The Ohio State University.  Learn more about IMR’s Research Enhancement Program at http://imr.osu.edu/programs/

Metamaterials with Smart Reconfiguration for Broadband RF Antennas

Lead: Marcelo Dapino, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicants:  Suresh Babu, Industrial Systems Engineering; John Volakis, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Economical Platforms for FET-based Protein Detection to Support Sensor Clinical Translation

Lead: Stephen C. Lee, Biomedical Engineering; Co-Applicant: Paul Berger, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Use of Electrospun Biomaterials as Carriers of Bone Marrow Derived Stem/Progenitor Cells to Stimulate Tissue Neovascularization

Lead: Nicanor I. Moldovan, Internal Medicine; Co-Applicant: John J. Lannuti, Materials Science and Engineering.

Exploring Electrically Tunable Magnetism in Gd-doped Nitride Quantum Structures

Lead: Roberto C. Myers; Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical Computer Engineering; Co-Applicants: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Michael Mills, Materials Science and Engineering.

Synthesis of III-V Semiconductor Nanowire Heterostructures Using Metalorganic Chemical Vapor

Lead: Fengyuan Yang, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicants: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Roberto C. Myers, Materials Science and Engineering & Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

Eight new research projects were awarded by the IMR in May 2009, for a total investment of $16,000. The eight projects support 10 faculty researchers from four departments within the College of Engineering and the College of Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

• Characterization of TiO2 Nanowires Grown by Thermal Oxidation on Titanium Alloys Lead Investigator: Sheikh Akbar, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Investigator: Suliman A. Dregia, Materials Science and Engineering
• Ultra-high spatial resolution FeCNT probes for quantitative Magnetic Force Microscopy analysis of magnetic systems Lead Investigator: P. Chris Hammel, Physics
• A proposal to fabricate low loss ridge-type Ta2O5 optical waveguides using atomic layer deposition and electron beam lithography of SU-8 Lead Investigator: Gregory Lafyatis, Physics
• High Resolution Electron Beam Lithography on Optically Transparent Substrates Lead Investigator: Wu Lu, Electrical and Computer
• Engineering Controlled Deposition of Nano-structured Metal Oxides on Micro Hotplate Devices for Gas Sensing Lead Investigator: Patricia Morris, Materials Science
• Molecular beam epitaxy growth of GaN/AlN superlattice nanorods on Si (111) Lead Investigator: Roberto Myers, Materials Science and Engineering
• Simulation and Characterization on GDC Nano-islands Lead Investigator: Yunzhi Wang, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Investigator: Suliman Dregia, Materials Science and Engineering
• Semiconductor Nanowire Synthesis by Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition Lead Investigator: Fengyuan Yang, Physics and Engineering

Ten new research projects were awarded by the IMR in January 2009, for a total investment of $20,000. The ten projects support 13 faculty researchers from seven departments within the College of Engineering and the College of Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

• Magnetic Force Microscopy of Magnetic Nanoparticles in Biological Systems Lead Investigator: Gunjan Agarwal, Biomedical Engineering ; Co-Investigator: Chris Hammel, Physics
• Strong NDR from Metal-Oxide/Conjugated Polymer Interfaces Enabling Low-Power, Plastic Logic, Memory and Wireless Datalinks Lead Investigator: Paul Berger, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Characterization of Multivalent Ionic Liquids for Nanolubrication Lead Investigator: Bharat Bhushan, Mechanical Engineering
• Enhance Program on Spintronic Phenomena in Organic-based Materials Lead Investigator: Arthur Epstein, Physics; Co-Investigators: Deniz Duman and Mark Murphey, Graduate Students
• Development of a Mechanically Robust Stem Cell Delivery System for Myocardial Injection Lead Investigator: Jianjun Guan, Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanoscale Modification of Diamond surface Conductivity Lead Investigator: Jay Gupta, Physics
• Development/Evaluation of Molecular Materials for Spintronics Lead Investigator: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Co-Investigator: Malcolm Chisholm, Chemistry
• Fabricating Magnetic Traps to Manipulate Nanoparticles and Biological Cells Lead Investigator: R. Sooryakumar, Physics; Co-Investigator: Jessica Winter, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Development of A Hybrid Microcantilever for Bi-directional Sensing and Actuating at the Small Scale Lead Investigator: Yi Zhao, Biomedical Engineering
• Innovative Micro and Nano Channels for Signal Transmission in Ion Transmission Lines Lead Investigator: Yuan Zheng, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Our first annual IMR Materials Week will showcase state-of-the-art research in materials at OSU from scientific discovery to engineering applications. This three-day event is offered free of charge to the materials community. 

Three new research projects and six renewals were awarded by the IMR in July 2008, for a total investment of $382,500.

2008 New IMRG Research Projects

Experimental and Computational Study of ALD-grown Dielectrics on III-Nitrides
Lead: Siddharth Rajan, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicant: Wolfgang Windl, Materials Science and Engineering

Multi-Scale Characterization of Battery Materials for Improved Performance
Lead: Sudarsanam Suresh Babu, Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicants: Bharat Bhushan, Mechanical Engineering; Yann Guezennec, Mechanical Engineering; Giorgio Rizzoni, Mechanical Engineering; Shrikant C. Nagpure (PhD Student), Mechanical Engineering

Solving the “Contact Problem” of Molecular Electronics via Atomic Layer Deposition
Lead: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Co-Applicants: Jonathan Pelz, Physics; Malcolm Chisholm, Chemistry

2008 IMRG Renewals

Chemically-triggered Materials Assembly from Synthetic Peptides and Soy Proteins
Lead: Dennis Bong, Chemistry; Co-Applicant: Stephen St. Martin, Horticulture and Crop Science (Year one extension and additional six months of funding awarded)

Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Solar Conversion Systems
Lead: Malcolm Chisholm, Chemistry; Co-Applicants: Arthur Epstein; Physics; Paul Berger, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Nitin Padture, Materials Science and Engineering; Terry Gustafson, Chemistry

Interfacial engineering and scaling of hybrid biological-electrical biosensing architectures based on wide-bandgap semiconductor GaN
Lead: Wu Lu, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Co-Applicants: Leonard J. Brillson ; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Stephen C. Lee, Biomedical Engineering

Intra-Operative Fluorescence for Cancer Detection
Lead: Claudia Turro, Chemistry; Co-Applicants: Joseph Heremans, Mechanical Engineering (previous Lead on this project); Robert Lee, Electrical & Computer Engineering; Edward Martin, Jr, Surgery; Stephen Povoski, Surgery; Vish Subramaniam, Mechanical Engineering; Ronald Xu, Biomedical Engineering ; George Hinkle, Pharmacy; Nathan Hall, Radiology

Materials with magnetic ordering and low loss for new high frequency applications
Lead: Hendrik Verweij, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicants: John Volakis, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Patrick Woodward, Chemistry

Novel active structure design exploiting 3D multi-functional materials
Lead: Stephen Bechtel, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicants: Marcelo Dapino, Mechanical Engineering; Michael Mills, Materials Science and Engineering

• Photomodulation of Carbon Nanosponges Lead: Vish Subramaniam, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicant: R. Sooryakumar, Physics
• Fabrication of Essential Experimental Components for Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM) Lead: Chris Hammel, Physics
• Enhance Program on Spintronic Phenomena in Organic-based Materials Lead: Arthur Epstein, Physics; Co-Applicants: Deniz Duman and Mark Murphey, Graduate Students
• Preparation and Characterization of Ultrasharp Tips for sub-10nm Resolution Optical Microscopy and Spectroscopy Lead: Jay Gupta, Physics; Co-Applicants: Arthur Epstein, Physics; Terry Gustafson, Chemistry
• Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor Development Lead: Erik Walton, ElectroScience Laboratory; Co-Applicant: Yakup Bayram, ElectroScience Laboratory
• Spin Transport in Semiconductor Nanowires Lead: Fengyuan Yang, Physics
• Fabrication of Si Microhotplate Arrays Lead: Patricia Morris, Materials Science and Engineering
• Facility Support for Chemical and Conformational Analysis of AlGaN Biosensors Lead: Leonard Brillson, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Co-Applicants: Wu Lu, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Stephen Lee, Biomedical Engineering
• Fabrication of Ultra-Dense Spin-Torque Oscillators (STOs) Lead: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, Physics; Co-Applicant: Fengyuan Yang, Physics
• nm-resolution studies of metal contacts to semiconducting nanowires Lead: Jonathan Pelz, Physics
• Lorentz-Force Based MEMS Device for Controllable Mechanical Loading on Single Cell Lead: Yi Zhao, Biomedical Engineering
• Measuring Cell Deformating Using Bioscope Dual AFM/fluorescence integrated miscroscope in the AFM Core of DHLRI Lead: Nicanor Moldovan, Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering
• Site Specific Stamping of Graphene Lead: Nitin Padture, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicant: Wolfgang Windl, Materials Science and Engineering
• The Self-Assembly of Peptide-Dendron Hybrids Lead: Jon Parquette, Chemistry

The OSU Institute for Materials Research (IMR) announces nine awards for its inaugural Interdisciplinary Materials Research Grants competition.
IMR Interdisciplinary Materials Research Grants (IMRGs) are intended to stimulate and advance collaborative and multidisciplinary research in materials-allied fields with the specific goal of generating highly competitive external grant proposals that target large, multi-investigator and center-level opportunities.
The nine awarded research projects for funding in 2007 by IMR are:

• Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Solar Conversion Systems, Lead: Malcolm Chisholm, Chemistry; Co-Applicants: Arthur Epstein; Physics; Paul Berger, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Nitin Padture, Materials Science and Engineering; Terry Gustafson, Chemistry
• Electrical measurements of gold nanoparticles in biological tissue for cancer detection, Lead: Joseph Heremans, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicants: Robert Lee, Electrical & Computer Engineering; Edward Martin, Jr, Surgery; Stephen Povoski, Surgery; Vish Subramaniam, Mechanical Engineering; Duxin Sun, Pharmacy; Ronald Xu, Biomedical Engineering
• Chemically-triggered Materials Assembly from Synthetic Peptides and Soy Proteins, Lead: Dennis Bong, Chemistry; Co-Applicant: Stephen St. Martin, Horticulture and Crop Science
• Novel active structure design exploiting 3D multi-functional materials, Lead: Steve Bechtel, Mechanical Engineering; Co-Applicants: Marcelo Dapino, Mechanical Engineering and Michael Mills, Materials Science and Engineering
• Materials with magnetic ordering and low loss for new high frequency applications, Lead: Henk Verweij, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicants: John Volakis, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Patrick Woodward, Chemistry
• Physics-Based Multiscale Modeling Tools for Ultrastructural Evolution, Lead: Hamish Fraser, Materials Science and Engineering; Co-Applicants: Ju Li, Materials Science and Engineering; Yunzhi Wang, Materials Science and Engineering; Michael Mills, Materials Science and Engineering; Jim Williams, Materials Science and Engineering; Somnath Ghosh, Mechanical Engineering; John Wilkins, Physics; Parthasarathy Srinivasan, Computer Science and Engineering; Raghu Machiraju, Computer Science and Engineering; Kim Boyer, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Ashok Krishnamurthy, Electrical and Computer Engineering; William Carson, Surgery; Atom Sarkar, Neurological Surgery
• Computational Modeling of Novel Multi-functional Materials, Lead: Nandini Trivedi, Physics; Co-Applicants: Mohit Randeria, Physics; Leonard Brillson, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Chris Hammel, Physics; Patrick Woodward, Chemistry
• Assessing the physico-chemical properties of bio-based PLA-PEG films for food packaging applications, Lead: Yael Vodovotz, Food Science and Technology; Co-Applicant: Kurt Koelling, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Interfacial engineering and scaling of hybrid biological-electrical biosensing architectures based on wide-bandgap semiconductor GaN, Lead: Wu Lu, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Co-Applicants: Leonard J. Brillson ; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Stephen C. Lee, Biomedical Engineering