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The 91��Ƭ Office of the President has awarded more than $9 million in grants to 16 collaborative research projects across the system. 91��Ƭ Davis researchers lead two of the projects and will participate in seven others. 

Awarded every two years, the grants from 91��Ƭ’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives, or MRPI, seek to leverage the 91��Ƭ system’s research capabilities to develop real world solutions to significant problems facing our state and world. This year’s competition garnered 179 proposals that spanned the humanities, arts, engineering, public policy, and biological, health, environmental, natural and social sciences.

The recipients were selected based on their compelling approaches to advancing research areas that are important to 91��Ƭ and the state, increasing the university’s ability to attract the brightest faculty and student talent, and supporting innovative graduate and undergraduate student research.

“By drawing upon the expertise of collaborating scholars across the 91��Ƭ system, these projects demonstrate 91��Ƭ’s collective excellence and unparalleled strength as the world’s premier public research institution,” said Arthur Ellis, 91��Ƭ’s vice president for Research and Graduate Studies. “From agriculture to immigration, and from health to homelessness, these issues touch our lives, as can the practical knowledge and solutions developed by these 91��Ƭ MRPI projects.”

The grants led by 91��Ƭ Davis faculty are:

An Enhanced 91��Ƭ Digital Pathology Infrastructure — Led by Brittany Dugger, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, School of Medicine, this project will draw on “brain banks” at 91��Ƭ Davis, 91��Ƭ Irvine and 91��ƬLA to create a new resource for research, education and patient care in Alzheimer’s Disease and related brain disorders. It will organize digital images from microscope slides, making them available for research and clinical use, and also develop machine learning and artificial intelligence tools for digital pathology. ($265,000)

91��Ƭ Network on Child Health, Poverty and Public Policy — Marianne Page, professor of economics at 91��Ƭ Davis, will lead a team of experts from 91��Ƭ Davis, 91��Ƭ Berkeley, 91��Ƭ Irvine, 91��ƬLA, 91��Ƭ Santa Barbara and 91��ƬSF to shift from fragmented, discipline-specific approaches of studying childhood disparities to a multidisciplinary, comprehensive examination of the issue. The project goal is to understand how health and nutrition programs affect the health and development of disadvantaged children, as well as build relationships with policymakers. ($150,000)

Other grants involving 91��Ƭ Davis researchers:

Human Conditions: 91��Ƭ Humanities Initiative — This grant renews the 91��Ƭ Humanities Initiative, which supports innovative individual scholarship, collaborative research and public engagement activities in the humanities across all ten campuses. The initiative will address how rapid changes in technology, the environment, politics, demographics and socioeconomics are impacting people. The initiative is led by Tyrus Miller, dean of the School of Humanities at 91��Ƭ Irvine, and includes Elizabeth Spiller, dean of the 91��Ƭ Davis College of Letters and Science, and the other 91��Ƭ deans of humanities. ($1.9 million)

California Policy Lab: Studying Inequality and Homelessness — Led by Jesse Rothstein at 91��Ƭ Berkeley, this project will combine faculty research expertise with data from state and local agencies to address two of California’s pressing problems: homelessness and workforce education. It will develop a 91��Ƭ-wide infrastructure to support research on these and other pressing problems. Michal Kurlaender, professor in the 91��Ƭ Davis School of Education, is a co-investigator with colleagues from 91��Ƭ Irvine, 91��ƬLA and 91��ƬSF. ($1.25 million)

91��Ƭ Initiative to Save California’s Citrus — 91��Ƭ Davis’ Gitta Coaker, associate professor of plant pathology, will collaborate on this $1.1 million initiative, led by 91��Ƭ Riverside, to explore ways to save the citrus industry in California and worldwide from “citrus greening,” a deadly disease affecting citrus trees. Spreading westward from Florida, citrus greening has so far cost more than $1 billion annually in lost crops and nearly 8,000 jobs. The project also includes collaborators at 91��Ƭ Berkeley and 91��Ƭ San Diego. ($1.1 million)

The California Magnetic Resonance eXploration Initiative — The goal of this project is to develop a unique facility using magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study all the atoms in the Periodic Table. Current technology can only be used for about half the known elements. The new facility would enable unprecedented studies of atoms in living things, in natural materials and in technology with potential for breakthrough discoveries in biology, physics, chemistry and materials science. The main activity of the project will be to hold meetings of researchers and conduct experiments at 91��Ƭ Santa Barbara. Professor David Britt, 91��Ƭ Davis Department of Chemistry, is a co-principal investigator with colleagues from 91��Ƭ Berkeley, 91��Ƭ Irvine, 91��Ƭ Riverside, 91��ƬLA, 91��Ƭ San Diego and 91��Ƭ Santa Barbara, which leads the project. ($270,000)

Maximizing the Environmental Utility of Battery Storage — Alissa Kendall, professor of civil and environmental engineering at 91��Ƭ Davis, is co-principal investigator of this project led by Brian Tarroja of 91��Ƭ Irvine and including faculty at 91��ƬLA and 91��Ƭ Santa Barbara. The researchers will develop tools to look at the environmental impact of different battery technologies throughout their lifecycle. Battery energy storage is important for making full use of renewable energy sources, but batteries themselves may have health and environmental impacts in their production, use or disposal. ($270,000)

PlaceMakers: 91��Ƭ Place-Based Art + Design— Placemaking makes use of the inherent creativity of people and institutions to revitalize communities through art and design. This collaboration will identify place-based research that is reinventing spaces of higher education, foster collaborations and expand such initiatives across the 91��Ƭ system. The project is led by Kim Yasuda at 91��Ƭ Santa Barbara, with 91��Ƭ Davis’ Glenda Drew and Brett Snyder, professor and associate professor of design, respectively; and colleagues at 91��Ƭ Berkeley and 91��Ƭ Santa Cruz. ($270,000)

The Science of Dense Gluon Matter — This collaboration, led by 91��Ƭ Berkeley, will design detectors for the Electron-Ion Collider, a new particle accelerator proposed for the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The EIC is the only major particle accelerator currently planned in the United States. The group aims to use the EIC to study particles called gluons, which hold together other subatomic particles within atomic nuclei. 91��Ƭ Davis investigators are professors Manuel Calderon de la Barca Sanchez and Daniel Cebra of the Department of Physics. The project also includes researchers at 91��ƬLA and 91��Ƭ Riverside and will collaborate with the Berkeley, Los Alamos and Livermore national laboratories. ($265,000)

: More information on the 2019 awards.

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