Starting today: Online symposium showcases X-Grants projects

Principal investigators for eight interdisciplinary research teams from Texas A&M University present their X-Grants projects during the third annual President’s Excellence Fund Symposium today, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, beginning at 9 a.m. CDT online at https://pef-symposium.tamu.edu.

The virtual symposium features eight pre-recorded video presentations from principal investigators whose teams received Round Three funding from the X-Grants program.

Viewers can watch all presentations at one time, or just the ones they chose—and they can watch the presentations as many times as they like. 

The program also features a welcome from Interim Vice President for Research Jack G. Baldauf.

“Congratulations to our Round Three X-Grants teams for advancing Texas A&M’s culture of collaboration,” Baldauf said. “Interdisciplinary research is key to discovering the solutions that will help the world meet its greatest challenges. These projects offer outstanding examples of what researchers can do when they make a concerted effort to work collectively to solve an issue.”

The projects and their principal investigators are:

“SatMission-X: Tracking Freshwater from Space,” George H. Allen, assistant professor, Department of Geography, College of Geosciences.

“Thriving on the Moon,” Jeff Bullard, professor, Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Department of Materials Science & Engineering, jointly administered by the colleges of science and engineering.

“Magnetic Mystery in Sensory Biology,” Alma Fernández-González, research scientist, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“A Multidisciplinary Platform for the Identification of Cancer and COVID-19 Therapeutics,” Wenshe “Ray” Liu, professor and holder of the Gradipore Chair in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, College of Science.

“The Next Defense Barrier in Facing Disasters,” Ali Mostafavi, associate professor, Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering.

“Electroceuticals for Brain Disorders,” D. Samba Reddy, professor, Department of Neurosciences & Experimental Therapeutics, College of Medicine.

“Engineering Nanomedicine for Non-invasive Cancer Therapy,” Shiren Wang, associate professor, Wm Michael Barnes ’64 Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, College of Engineering.

“Integrated Nanophotonics for Next-Generation Internet of Things (IoT),” Zi Jing Wong, assistant professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering.