Eight grants focus on innovation in China

The Cornell China Center has announced eight China Innovation Awards to interdisciplinary teams of Cornell faculty.

The winning projects were selected from among 34 proposals submitted by faculty leaders across 47 departments, centers and programs in Cornell’s colleges and schools.

“We are excited about the potential for these projects to have far-reaching impact in and for China,” said Ying Hua, director of the Cornell China Center. “The grants will jump-start exciting, collaborative research, and help showcase Cornell and Cornell scholars in China.”

Research teams were required to include two or more Cornell faculty members from different departments and one or more highly engaged collaborator in China. Grant applicants were asked to clearly identify long-term research goals and innovative intended impacts of the projects.

“The response to the call for proposals for innovation awards was really tremendous,” said Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs. “Cornell has a wealth of faculty and students who are engaged in research and teaching in China, and it is wonderful to see the variety and depth of collaborations with diverse partners across the country.”

Four grants were awarded for large-scale collaborative research:

• Food-Energy-Water Security in the Three Rivers Headwater Region: Integrating Science, Data and Decision Tools to Manage Under a Changing Climate and Development Pressures. Team: John Albertson, civil and environmental engineering (PI); Lindsay Anderson, biological and environmental engineering; Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, applied economics and policy; Patrick Reed, civil and environmental engineering; and Ying Sun, soil and crop sciences.
• Engaging Chinese Cities in Cost-Effective Data-Driven Air Pollution Management. Team: Max Zhang, mechanical and aerospace engineering (PI); and Andrew Wilson, operations research and information engineering (co-PI).
• Managing Disease in China’s Changing Apple Industry: Farmers, Landscapes and Pathogen Population Dynamics. Team: John Zinda, development sociology (PI); and Awais Khan, integrative plant sciences.
• Environment and Education Sustainable Development Goals: Building Capacity for Local Environmental Practice Through Online Learning in China. Team: Marianne Krasny, natural resources (PI); Rene Kizilcec, information science (co-PI); Yue Li, natural resources; and Alex Kudryavtsev, natural resources.

Additionally, four project development grants were awarded for strengthening proposals or developing collaborative teams:

• Chinese Society, Media and the World: Attitudes and Discourse. Team: Jessica Chen Weiss, government (PI); Yue (Mara) Du, history (co-PI); and Will Hobbs, human development (co-PI).
• Learning With Chongqing: Sustainable Urbanization and Housing Models for Urban-Rural China. Team: Leslie Lok, architecture (PI); Jamie Vanucchi, landscape architecture (co-PI); Peng Liu, applied economics and policy (co-PI); and Timur Dogan, architecture (co-PI).
• Prototyping of a Robot-Based Network Integrated With Deep-Ultraviolet Light Source for Disinfection of Hospital Rooms: Directional and/or Distributed DUV Beam. Team: Vladimir Protasenko, electrical and computer engineering (PI); Joseph Skovira, electrical and computer engineering; and Carmen Moraru, food sciences.
• Triakonta – Seismic Analysis of a New Sustainable Building System. Team: Jack Elliott, design and environmental analysis (PI); and Kifle Gebremedhin, biological and environmental engineering (co-PI).

The projects address the Cornell China Center’s five priority research areas: sustainable development goals for China and the world, as set by the United Nations; technologies for innovation; new urbanization and real estate innovation; Chinese culture(s) and global connections; and contemporary Chinese society.

This story also appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.