Jeffrey Forbes (ASEN) and Jeff Thayer (ASEN) will lead a multi-university $4.5 million NSF Frontiers in Earth System Dynamics Award to study electrical processes that connect the Earth with the atmosphere and with space. Among the program's goals are the improvement of data resolution and modeling capabilities to more realistically simulate complex processes and forecast disruptive or "threshold" events that may affect the Earth environment.
Alex Repenning (CSCI), David Webb (Mathematics Ed) and Kris Gutierrez (School of Ed) were awarded $1.5 million by NSF for Computational Thinking for Teaching Computing (CT4TC): Validating a Theory of Broadening Participation.
Amy Javernick-Will (CEAE) obtained two NSF awards totaling over $667,900. She received one award with Paul Chinowsky (CEAE), Mark Riddle (Antioch University) and John Taylor (Virginia Tech) for VOSS: Creating Global, Multi-lateral, Knowledge-Sharing Communities of Practice and a second with Cathy Leslie (Engineers Without Borders) for Collaborative Research: Gender Diversity, Identity and EWB-USA.
Eric Frew (ASEN) received $500,000 from NSF for research on Robust Intelligence: Providing Quality of Information in Robot Sensor Networks.
Henry Tufo (CSCI) received an award from the Department of Energy for just over $1.5 million for work on a Petascale Non-Hydrostatic Atmospheric Dynamical Core in the HOMME Framework.
Kelvin Wagner (ECEE) received an NSF award for Wide-Field Super-Resolved DEEP 3-D Microscopy amounting to $474,922 and a second award for $340,000 from Brimrose Corporation of America for Ultraviolet Acousto-Optic Devices Using Barium Borate (BBO) originating from the Army ARO STTR (Phase II) program.
Mahmoud Hussein (ASEN) and Sedat Biringen (ASEN) received an NSF award totaling over $500,000 for work on phononic surfaces for flow control.
Mark Hernandez (CEAE) received a total of $808,000 from an NSF award for characterization of bio-aerosol loads and their long-term toxicological effects and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award for "Conferences on the Microbiology of the Indoor Environment: (i) Boulder, Colorado, (ii) District of Columbia, (iii) TBD."
James Maslanik (ASEN), Mark Tschudi (ASEN), Bill Emery (ASEN), Brian Argrow (ASEN), Eric Frew (ASEN), Scott Palo (ASEN), Darren Jackson (CIRES) and Dale Lawrence (ASEN) were awarded over $3 million for Investigations of Spatial and Temporal Variability of Ocean and Ice Conditions In and Near the Marginal Ice Zone. The effort will contribute to NASA's Earth science goals by making measurements that are directly relevant to improving Earth system models, by improving our understanding of fundamental phenomena, and by characterizing change in key components of the Earth system.
Shannon Hughes (ECEE) was awarded $425,850 from NSF for CIF: Small: Kernel Trick Compressive Sensing.
Shideh Dashti (CEAE) received $704,850 from an NSF award for research in Seismic Response of Shallow Underground Structures in Dense Urban Environments.
Won Park (ECEE), Dave Walba (CHEM) and Mark Ablowitz (APPM) were awarded over $1.25M by NSF for SOLAR Collaborative: Photonic Enhancement of Organic Photovoltaics to Enable Higher Efficiencies and Exotic Mechanisms.
Zoya Popovic (ECEE) and Dragan Maksimovic (ECEE) received DARPA awards totaling $4.4 million under the Microscale Power Conversion program to integrate wide-bandgap GaN microwave (RF) amplifiers with GaN dynamic supplies and some digital control to achieve a high-efficiency, linear transmitter that can handle high bandwidth signals for radar and communications.
John Crimaldi (CEAE) and his students have developed a large-scale turbulent flow facility to study stirring, mixing, and chemical reactions in complex fluid flows. The facility is 15 m long and 1.5 m wide, and accommodates free-surface water flows up to 0.5 m deep at speeds of up to 1 m/s. The facility incorporates a unique two-color laser induced fluorescence system that can simultaneously image the mixing of two overlapping chemical species transported by the flow. Data are acquired via a state-of-the-art multi-camera image acquisition system. Current research is being performed to understand how structured and chaotic velocity fields enhance reactions between two initially distinct chemical species. An on-going project uses the facility to investigate the role of turbulent ocean flows on the fertilization strategies of broadcast-spawning marine invertebrates (e.g., corals). The imaging techniques can be modified for a broad range of fluid-flow applications at scales ranging from microns to meters.
Despite concerns that federal funding for academic research would take a serious hit in FY11/12, research in the College continues to grow and has reached an all-time high in FY11. Congratulations and thank you to everybody who contributed to this great success. While the long-term prospects of federal funding are rather uncertain, recent data for FY12 federal funding is positive overall as reported in 
