Engineering faculty are key players in four Research Forward projects

Research Forward, a competition sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has selected four projects involving College of Engineering researchers for the program’s fourth round of funding.

Research Forward is intended to stimulate and support highly innovative, interdisciplinary and groundbreaking research at UW-Madison. It is supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and provides funding for 1-2 years, depending on the needs and scope of the project.

Luke Mawst, the Grainger STAR Professor in electrical and computer engineering, is principal investigator of a project titled “Quantum dot photonic devices in next generation Si photonic integrated circuits and displays.” The project seeks to integrate new nano-structured semiconductor materials called quantum dots made from compound III/V semiconductors, like gallium nitride, onto low-cost silicon in order to create high-efficiency light emitting devices like LEDS and lasers. These devices are critical in enabling high bandwidth, ultra energy-efficient, cost-efficient optical interconnects in data centers and are key to developing micro-displays for advanced virtual and augmented reality. Co-PIs include Padma Gopalan, a professor of materials science and engineering and Shubhra Pasayat and Chirag Gupta, both assistant professors of electrical and computer engineering.

Christian Franck, the Bjorn Borgen Professor of mechanical engineering, will lead a project called “Real-time assessment of repetitive head impacts (RHI) in youth and collegiate sports.” The project seeks to understand how repetitive impacts cause regional brain tissue injury and cognitive disfunction in younger athletes. The team is developing next-generation wearable motion sensors to collect data from youth soccer players, which will be coupled with brain scans and computer modelling. Joseph Andrews, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering, is a co-PI.

Brian Pfleger, the Karen and William Monfre Professor, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and R. Byron Bird chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is co-PI on a project titled “An integrated approach towards planetary health: The nitrogen fix.” The project will use artificial intelligence and experimental tools to search for ancient sources of nitrogenase, the enzyme that fixes atmospheric nitrogen, making it usable by plants. This could lead to new ways of fixing nitrogen, which is currently produced for fertilizers through energy-intensive industrial processes.

Andreas Velten, an associate professor in biostatistics and medical informatics and electrical and computer engineering, is co-PI on “Quanta sensing for next generation quantum computing.” The project will use single-photon quanta sensors to read the quibits produced by quantum computers. This will dramatically increase the speed and accuracy of future quantum computers, paving the way for scalable and practical quantum computing.

A full list of Research Forward projects can be found on the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research’s website.