Targeted Proposal Teams

Award Recipients

2026 Recipients

Collaborative Seed Grants  

  • Aburto Guerrero and Felipe Andres, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “A Novel Approach To Unearth the History and Extent of Microplastic Contamination in Texas Soils,” with co-principal investigators Nicholas Perez, Arts and Sciences, and Justin Smolen, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Girish Agarwal, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Super-Squeezer Light Source: Enabling the Future of Quantum Sensing and Imaging,” with co-principal investigator Oumeng Zheng, Arts and Sciences.   
  • Brian Albanese, Arts and Sciences, “Development and Testing of a Virtual Reality Intervention for Suicidal Ideation,” with co-principal investigators Zina Trost, Arts and Sciences, and Jony Sheynin, Medicine.  
  • Ian Ausprey, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Tax Abatement Programs in Providing Ecosystem Services on Private Lands,” with co-principal investigators Liqing Li, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Po-Ju Chen, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Juliana Rangel, Agriculture and Life Sciences.  
  • James Carson, Education and Human Development, “Investigating the Role of Prior Chemotherapy on Age-Related Cognitive Decline in Mice,” with co-principal investigators Karienn Souza, Medicine, and Marianna Gomes, Education and Human Development.  
  • Wen Chang, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Authentic Learning with AI-Agents (ALPS): Humanizing Power Skills for TAMU Undergraduates,” with co-principal investigators Mohan Yang, Education and Human Development, Cheng Zhang, Engineering, Anyu Liu, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Jinsil Seo, Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, and Mei Fung Tang, Agriculture and Life Sciences.  
  • Birol Dindoruk, Engineering, “Modeling Mineral Precipitation and Impact on Injectivity Using a 3-Dimensional Discrete Fracture Network Approach in Application to Geothermal Systems,” with co-principal investigators Thomas Blasingame, Engineering, and Peter Knappett, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Jiarui Gong, Engineering, “Precisely Engineered Lattice-Mismatched Semiconductor Heterostructure Interfaces for Gallium-Nitride-Based High-Speed Bipolar Microelectronics,” with co-principal investigator Yuxuan Lin, Engineering.  
  • Abhishek Jain, Engineering, “Engineer Microcirculation Enabled Neuromicroenvironment-Chips as a New Approach Method (NAM),” with co-principal investigator Ashok Shetty, Medicine.  
  • Mariana Janini Gomes, Education and Human Development, “Adipose Tissue Alterations as a Driver of Heart Failure Onset and Progression Following Doxorubicin Treatment,” with co-principal investigators Yuriana Aguilar, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and James Carson, Education and Human Development.  
  • Shuiwang Ji, Engineering, “Artificial Intelligence for Accelerating Discoveries in Quantum, Atomistic, and Continuum Systems,” with co-principal investigator N.K. Anand, Engineering. 
  • Thomas Kent, Institute for Biosciences and Technology, “Novel Pleiotropic Nanozyme Therapy for Atopic Dermatitis,” with co-principal investigators Mansoor Khan, Pharmacy, Saurabh Biswas, Engineering, and David Huston, Medicine.  
  • Matthew Kirchner, Medicine, “Innate Hypoxia Resistance in Vasopressin Neurons,” with co-principal investigator Adam Case, Medicine.  
  • Hyunjung Lee, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Live Long, Heart Strong: A Mobile Health and Digital Twin Intervention To Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Emerging Adults,” with co-principal investigators Po-Ju Chen, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Sumathi Venkatesh, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Jian Tao, Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.   
  • Jianrong Li, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, “Functional Interrogation of Alzheimer’s Disease-Linked BIN1 Variant in Drosophila and Mouse Models,” with co-principal investigator Matthew Moulton, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Wencai Liu, Arts and Sciences, “Identifying Vulnerable Regions in Global Food Trade Under Global Change: Spectral Graph Theory Approaches,” with co-principal investigators Xingguo Wang, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Xueyin Wang, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Mauricio Loría Lépiz, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, “Noninvasive Hemodynamic Monitoring in Dogs,” with co-principal investigators Gerard Coté, Engineering, and Shannon Washburn, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.  
  • Jayshree Mishra, Pharmacy, “Mechanistic Basis and Therapeutic Exploitation of Metabolic Reprogramming in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Brain Metastases,” with co-principal investigators Kuan Hao Huang, Engineering, and Narendra Kumar, Pharmacy.  
  • Vladislav Panin, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Deciphering Pathogenic Mechanisms of the A-Gal Syndrome Caused by Tick Bites,” with co-principal investigators Pete Teel, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Tammi Johnson, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Sing-Hoi Sze, Engineering.  
  • Doyoung Park, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “From Tariffs to Taps: The Impact of Foreign Trade Policy on U.S. Land Use, Irrigation, and Farmer Welfare,” with co-principal investigators Mani Rouhi Rad, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Jeeeun Kim, Engineering, and Arun Bawa, Agriculture and Life Sciences.  
  • Rubaya Pervin, Engineering, “Advancing Flash Drought Monitoring Using Soil Moisture Dynamics From Remote Sensing and Field Data,” with co-principal investigators Ariful Azad, Engineering, and Wenzhe Jiao, Agriculture and Life Sciences.  
  • Margaret Quinn, Education and Human Development, “AI-Aware Literacy in P-2: Preparing Texas for Tomorrow,” with co-principal investigators Shreyas Kumar, Engineering, and Hannah Thompson, Education and Human Development.  
  • Lu Tang, Arts and Sciences, “Play To Learn, Play To Resist: Advancing Social Media Literacy Through a Mobile Game for Adolescents,” with co-principal investigators Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo, Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, and Bryan Kim, Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.  
  • Andreea Trache, Medicine, “Exercise Training Countermeasure for Microgravity-Induced Vascular Dysfunction,” with co-principal investigators Travis Hein, Medicine, and Mariana Janini Gomes, Education and Human Development.  
  • Yuzhou Wang, Engineering, “Multi-Source Integration of New Satellites, Low-Cost Sensors, and Human Mobility for Precision Air Pollution Exposure Assessment,” with co-principal investigators Yang Zhou, Engineering, Xinwei Zhuang, Architecture, Lei Zou, Arts and Sciences, and Natalie Johnson, Public Health.  
  • Yinan Wei, Pharmacy, “Resensitize Drug Resistant Pathogen Through Blocking Efflux,” with co-principal investigator Joshua Hampton, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Meng Xia, Engineering, “ArguMath: AI-Simulated Classrooms for Training Preservice Teachers to Orchestrate Collective Mathematical Argumentation,” with co-principal investigator Yuling Zhuan, Education and Human Development.  
  • Lei Zou, Arts and Sciences, “Deciphering the Social-Environmental Determinants of Human Sleep Health: Insights by Bridging Geospatial AI and Experimental Biology,” with co-principal investigators Wanhe Li, Arts and Sciences, and Heng Cai, Arts and Sciences.  

Proposal Planning Grants  

  • James Cai, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, “Quantum Algorithms and Agentic AI Systems for High-Performance Analysis of Single-Cell Omics Data,” with co-principal investigators Robert Chapkin, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ning Ning, Arts and Sciences, and Candice Chu, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.  
  • David Douphrate, Public Health, “Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at Texas A&M University,” with co-principal investigator Eva Shipp, Texas Transportation Research Institute.  
  • Nicholas Duffield, Engineering, “SPARC: Sensing, Prediction and Actions for Resilient Communities Against Wildfires at the Wildland-Urban Interface,” with co-principal investigators Ali Mostafavi, Engineering, Jian Tao, Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, and Zhe Zhang, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Guofei Gu, Engineering, “Cybersecurity Risk Reduction for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs),” with co-principal investigators Alexander Brown, Arts and Sciences, and Shreyas Kumar, Engineering.  
  • Tracy Hammond, Engineering, “Sketch-Based Assessments for Early Childhood Development: Multidisciplinary Planning Toward an NSF Center-Scale Proposal,” with co-principal investigator Jeff Gagne, Education and Human Development.  
  • Sarah Hu, Arts and Sciences, “Building a Texas High-Resolution Observatory to Combat Harmful Algal Blooms,” with co-principal investigators Darren Henrichs, Arts and Sciences, and Antonietta Quigg, Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies.  
  • Xiaofeng Qian, Engineering, “Large Language Model for Science,” with co-principal investigators Shuiwang Ji, Engineering, Hong-Cai Zhou, Arts and Sciences, and Alison Altman, Arts and Sciences.  
  • Anabel Rodriguez, Public Health, “Occupational Exposure to Zoonotic Pathogens Among Dairy Farm Workers in Texas,” with co-principal investigator Loni Taylor, Public Health.  
  • Alta Catharine Ross, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Lipoprotein Profiling in Humans and Veterinary Species: An Opportunity to Advance Lipid Research at Texas A&M University,” with co-principal investigators Rosemary Walzem, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Joerg Steiner, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Robert Rose, Comparative Medicine, M. Katherine Tolbert, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Joao Pedro Cavasin, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Soo Yee Lim, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Jeffrey Weigert, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Jonathan Lidbury, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.  
  • Zhengzhong Tu, Engineering, “BRACE: Balance-Assistive Multimodal AI-Based Robotic Arm for Fall Prevention in Cognitive Eldercare,” with co-principal investigators Minghui Zheng, Engineering, Xiao Liang, Engineering, and Junhyoung (Paul) Kim, Public Health.   
  • Aref Zarin, Arts and Sciences, “Investigating the Role of Ionotropic Neurotransmitter Receptors in Glia (Astrocytes),” with co-principal investigators Joshua Lillvis, Arts and Sciences, and Isuru Godage, Engineering.  
  • Junli Zhang, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Increase the Ratio of GRF/DELLA To Increase the Biomass and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Winter Wheat,” with co-principal investigators Qingwu Xue, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Shuyu Liu, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Jackie Rudd, Texas A&M AgriLife Research.  

Grants on the Edge  

  • Sanjay Antony Babu, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “HarMoNY-Sorghum: Harnessing Microbiomes for Nitrogen-Efficiency and Yield in Sorghum.”  
  • Jared Bard, Arts and Sciences, “Mechanisms of Stress-Induced Translational Reprogramming.”  
  • Krishna Bhattarai, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Integrating Genomics and Computer Vision To Develop Downy Mildew Resistance in Lettuce for Controlled Environments.”  
  • Jiang Hu, Engineering, “Shared Machine Learning Infrastructure for the Community of EDA,” with co-principal investigator Aakash Tyagi, Engineering.  
  • Jeetain Mittal, Engineering, “Nucleation Landscape of PolyQ Amyloid.”  
  • Chukwuma Nnaji, Architecture, “Modeling Adaptive Learning Mechanisms Through Intelligent Agents in High-Demand Task Environments.”  
  • Greg Reeves, Engineering, “The Role of Dynamics in the Drosophila BMP Signaling Pathway.”  
  • Raffaella Righetti, Engineering, “Noninvasive Quantitative Imaging Markers for Personalized Breast Cancer Treatments.”  
  • Tapasree Roy Sarkar, Arts and Sciences, “Targeting SSX5-MAGE-C2 Axis To Regulate PD-L1-Mediated Tumor Immune Escape.”  
  • Rachel Smith, Arts and Sciences, “Cholinergic Dysregulation of Cognitive Flexibility in Cocaine Use Disorder,” with co-principal investigator Jun Wang, Medicine.  
  • Qing Sun, Engineering, “Modular Display of Cellulosome-Like Structures (PETSOMES) via Cell Lysis-Mediated Enzyme Release for Efficient Pet Upcycling.”  
  • Limei Tian, Engineering, “Collaborative Research: Fluorescent Digital Nanolabels for Ultrasensitive and Multiplexed Protein Quantification.”  
  • Fen Wang, Medicine, “CAR-T Cells Armored With Engineering Receptor Tyrosine Kinases for Prostate Cancer Treatment,” with co-principal investigator Yubin Zhou, Medicine. 
  • Jun Wang, Medicine, “Corticostriatal Circuitry Underlying Cognitive Flexibility Deficits in Early Alzheimer’s Disease.”  
  • Chaodong Wu, Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Indole-Based Bacterial Therapy for Lipotoxicity-Associated Biliary Liver Injury,” with co-principal investigators Shannon Glaser, Medicine, and Jianxun Song, Medicine.  
  • Junhua Yang, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, “Role of Astrocyte Calcium Signaling in Mediating the Cellular and Behavioral Effects of Cocaine.”  
  • Minghui Zheng, Engineering, “Transforming Electronics Remanufacturing: Synergizing AI, Robotics, and Human Expertise for Greater Flexibility,” with co-principal investigator Xiao Liang, Engineering.  
Collaborative Seed Grants
Collaborative Seed Grants fund early-stage high-risk, high-reward research that builds capacity and momentum, with awards of up to $60,000.
Proposal Planning Grants
Proposal Planning Grants help interdisciplinary teams prepare large-scale proposals for external sponsors, with awards of up to $100,000.
Grants on the Edge
Grants on the Edge provide up to $50,000 to revise and strengthen previously unfunded proposals.