These Georgia Tech research projects, all with well-crafted BI statements, earned significant NSF funding. Search the NSF award database to see more examples of effective statements.
A phylogenetic and functional understanding of microbial sulfur cycling in oxygen minimum zones
Awarded Amount to Date: $959,600.00
Georgia Tech School of Biology
Broader Impacts:
“Marine science research will be used as a platform for enhancing science education across multiple academic levels. A Summer Workshop in Marine Science (SWIMS) will be developed in collaboration with K-12 educators and teacher-development experts at Georgia Tech. The 5-day SWIMS program, which includes 2 days at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, will engage graduate students and Georgia Tech researchers in training local teachers to merge key topics in marine science with new national standards in middle school Earth Science education. In addition, through a partnership with Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, this project funds summer internships to enhance representation of minority students in undergraduate marine science and bioinformatics research. A PI-graduate student working group is to be established at Georgia Tech to develop and implement new guidelines for training in the cross-disciplinary field of marine genomics. A new course will be created at Georgia Tech, Writing for Scientists, to enhance the professional development of graduate students. It will use structured, peer-driven exercises to equip students with the critical writing and speaking skills necessary for success in science - such a course is critically lacking at Georgia Tech. Through the activities outlined above, this CAREER project will not only establish a research group dedicated to characterizing an ecologically significant, but cryptic, component of the marine microbial ecosystem, but will also develop a strong foundation through which the PI can use the results of his work to train and motivate future generations of marine scientists.”
Interactions and Entanglement in Electronic Nanostructures
Awarded Amount to Date: $430,000.00
Georgia Tech School of Physics
Broader Impacts:
“Educational and outreach activities are proposed that seek to interest and educate physics students at various levels and the general public in areas of nanoscience. A new graduate course will be developed that exploits the general appeal of nanoscience in an effort to attract students to theoretical condensed matter physics. Undergraduate students will be addressed by integration of aspects of modern condensed matter research into undergraduate teaching. The PI will reach out to the general public through a summer program at Georgia Tech that allows him to involve a K-12 teacher in the research supported by this award. The participating teacher will take new knowledge and fascination for nanoscience back to the classroom with metro-Atlanta K-12 students. The PI will cultivate this interaction through tours of the local research facilities for the students of the participating teacher. Educational diversity is another goal pursued with this career plan, drawing on existing infrastructure at Georgia Tech.”
Hyaluronan-Protein Networks in Solution and in the Polymer Coat of Cells
Awarded Amount to Date: $512,330.00
Georgia Tech School of Physics
Broader Impacts:
“As part of the outreach program and working closely with a designated teacher in a rural, socioeconomically-disadvantaged community, this research project will be integrated into the Direct to Discovery (D2D) program at Georgia Institute of Technology that provides seamless video conferencing between researchers and classrooms using Georgia’s Peach Net high-speed internet infrastructure. Modules will be designed to combine the teacher’s lecture material with (virtual) visits to the PIs Lab using D2D technology, giving students an opportunity to explore cell culture, study viscoelastic properties of materials, and use of different experimental tools - all the while reaching educational goals to learn topics such as the structure and function of cells, nature of matter, and conceptual laws of forces.”
Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Fluid Injection into Granular Media-Failure and Flow Patterns
Awarded Amount to Date: $430,389.00
Georgia Tech School of Civil Engineering
Broader Impacts:
“Results from the research will be published in scholarly journals, disseminated through collaboration with industry, and integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses. Encouraging women to pursue engineering will be the main focus of undergraduate education and outreach activities. The PI will actively recruit women undergraduate students to gain research experiences. Hands-on experiments will be developed for summer camps organized for middle school girls by Georgia Tech's Women in Engineering Program. In addition, the PI will host a local high school teacher, through the Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Technology, to conduct summer research and to develop a geomechanics/geotechnical engineering based software module to be used in the new Environmental Science and Earth Systems courses, to improve the performance standards in K-12 education in Georgia. The software will be disseminated through the Georgia Science Teachers Association conference. The process of fluid injection into granular media is relevant to many engineering applications, as cited above. However, the pattern of flow and eventual fate of the injected fluids is poorly understood, leading to significant safety concerns in many situations. This research will lead to a clearer understanding of these issues, as well as safer engineering practices that are no longer based primarily on empirical data. Industrial collaborators from [various companies] will help translate the research findings into engineering practice.”
CAREER: Systematic Understanding and Control of the Mechanical Properties of Functionalized Nanoporous Metals
Awarded Amount to Date: $400,000.00
Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering
Broader Impacts:
“The project will generate crucial insights into the deformation mechanisms governing mechanical properties of hierarchical nanoporous metals, thus providing a basic scientific knowledge necessary for controlling and optimizing their properties and bringing closer wider adaptation of this class of materials. Research activities are closely integrated with education and outreach efforts: both graduate and undergraduate students will work on the project, thus gaining cutting-edge skills and expertise in nanotechnology and science; the PI will work with high school teachers and students in the Atlanta area through Georgia Intern Fellowship for Teachers program and through Georgia Tech's Women in Engineering summer camps; some of the results will be introduced in engineering courses at Georgia Tech as case studies; the PI will participate in Tech to Teaching program that inspires students to choose a teaching career.”
BRIGE Exploiting crystalline framework flexibility to enable energy efficient entropically selective separations
Awarded Amount to Date: $175,000.00
Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Broader Impacts:
“A primary goal of this project is to introduce young women and under-represented minorities to STEM fields in an effort to increase inclination to join these fields. The PI will achieve this goal through a combination of outreach at local inner city middle and high schools in Atlanta, and by leveraging existing programs at Georgia Tech. The BRIGE award will allow the PI to implement his educational outreach plans, which aim to achieve these goals. The PI’s comprehensive plan for outreach and retention of women and under-represented minorities has three primary facets: i) Outreach through in-class demonstrations and lectures at inner city Atlanta middle and high schools and active participation in Georgia Tech’s Summer Engineering Institute, ii) use BRIGE support for female and under-represented minority research assistants, and iii) leveraging existing programs at Georgia Tech to engage in mentoring, guidance and professional development of female and under-represented minorities both in and out of the laboratory. The PI will periodically assess the success of his outreach efforts and adjust his program according to feedback from teachers, students, and research assistants.”
Nonlinear and Adaptive Acoustic Metamaterials for Novel Wave-Based Devices
Awarded Amount to Date: $390,988.00
Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering
Broader Impacts:
“If successful, the results of this research will significantly advance knowledge and understanding in the general area of tunable and adaptive nonlinear metamaterials. This understanding will be important for the development of innovative devices for use in communication systems (mobile phones, GPS units, etc.), noise isolation, energy redirection, and acoustic filters, logic ports and switches. Advances from the research topics will be disseminated widely through academic courses on wave mechanics at Georgia Tech and in undergraduate research opportunities. Broadening of participation will be achieved by specifically working with underrepresented students through ongoing programs available at Georgia Tech. In addition, educational laboratory activities and classroom modules, developed in partnership with the GIFT program at Georgia Tech, will expose high school and middle school underrepresented students to basic results of the research and to underlying wave mechanics principles.”
CAREER: 3D Heterogeneous Integration for Power Reduction in Embedded Systems: Application to Wireless Image Sensing and Transport
Awarded Amount to Date: $461,170.00
Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Broader Impacts:
“The educational plan of the project includes creating a new undergraduate course, "Physics of Computation", a visual VLSI learning tool, and a "toy-sensor" chip design project for undergraduate courses; and fostering undergraduate research. This plan develops the pedagogical methods and tools for delivering an integrative learning of VLSI, instead of isolated skills in device, circuits, and systems, to next generation students. The outreach activities include engagement with the Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science program at Georgia Tech; recruiting under-represented students through the Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science for African-American students program; and participation in the First Lego League for the middle school students in the State of Georgia, hosted by ECE, Georgia Tech.”
Polymer Nanostructures as Thermal Interface Materials
Awarded Amount to Date: $233,279.00
Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering
Broader Impacts:
“The success of this project could enable cost-effective materials for thermal management of advanced electronic systems and devices leading to new technologies and applications in the computing, communications, electronics, aerospace and defense industries. New discoveries will be disseminated through patents, technical publications and potential technology transfer to a start-up company through Georgia Tech?s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). ADTC is located in close proximity to the PIs labs and provides seed funding and technology incubation space to member companies. Integration of research, teaching, and outreach programs across multiple disciplines, including polymer science and nanotechnology, will impact the education and training of a diverse student body covering the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate level at Georgia Tech. Finally, the PIs will engage high school teachers and students from Dekalb County in outreach activities involving hands-on exposure to advanced materials and thermal technologies.”
Regional Industrial Structure, Economic Resilience and Energy Consumption: Comparative Evaluation, Historical Analysis and Pathway towards a More Sustainable Economy
Awarded Amount to Date: $299,927.00
Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business & the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Broader Impacts:
To broaden the impact of the research, a participatory game for students will be developed anchored in rich scenario based narratives and underpinned by a simplified version of the CGE model. Additionally, workshops will be held for African American high school students in collaboration with Georgia Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing, and involve African American undergraduate research assistants (RAs) will be involved in the project and encouraged to participate as RAs in the field of sustainability.