Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams receive 2026 IEE seed grants

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams have received funding through the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) 2026 Seed Grant Program. The program supports basic and applied research that lays the groundwork to pursue external funding and is guided by IEE’s five strategic research themes. This year, the program awarded seed funding to more than 40 researchers across 10 colleges and campuses and 21 departments and units.

The 2026 projects — along with their principal investigators, co-investigators and their affiliated colleges/units — that were awarded seed grants are:

• “AI-Accelerated X-ray Diagnostics for Complex Phase-Change Processes in Energy Systems” aims to combine ultrafast X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to see and understand rapid phase-change processes inside energy systems that are currently impossible to observe directly.

  • Vineet Vishwakarma, College of Engineering; Saya Lee, College of Engineering; Wesley Reinhart, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

• “Enhancing Human Thermal Resilience Using Thermal Physiology-Informed Radiative Cooling Textiles” aims to design and test special cooling fabrics that help people stay safer and more comfortable during extreme heat.

  • Linxiao Zhu, College of Engineering; W. Larry Kenney, College of Health and Human Development; Julian Wang, College of Engineering

• “Establishing a Monitoring and Modeling Framework to Quantify Watershed-Scale Urban BMP Effectiveness Under Extreme Events” aims to measure and model how networks of urban stormwater systems reduce flooding and pollution during extreme storms.

  • Bishwodeep Adhikari, School of Science, Engineering, and Technology; Penn State Harrisburg; Femeena Pandara Valappil, College of Agricultural Sciences; Hong Wu, College of Arts & Architecture; Shirley Clark, School of Science, Engineering, and Technology; Penn State Harrisburg; Lauren McPhillips, College of Engineering

• “HydroDAS: Revolutionizing Streamflow Monitoring via Distributed Acoustic Sensing” aims to use fiber-optic cables as large-scale sensors to continuously measure river flow and improve water monitoring.

  • Roberto Fernández, College of Engineering; Tieyuan Zhu, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Martin Briggs, USGS Hydrologic Remote Sensing Branch

• “Investigating Compound Hydrological Extremes and Adverse Water Quality Events in the Chesapeake Bay Region” aims to use AI to predict harmful algal blooms in Chesapeake Bay rivers, especially during extreme weather events, to improve early warning and response.

  • Renee Obringer, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Alfonso Mejia, College of Engineering; Cibin Raj, College of Agricultural Sciences

• “Modeling the Atmospheric Transport and Health Risks of Radon and Wildfire Smoke Co-Exposure in High-Risk Regions” aims to determine whether short-term exposure to wildfire smoke combined with high radon levels increases long-term lung cancer risk in affected communities.

  • Zachary T. Bitzer, College of Medicine; Manzhu Yu, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Jon Schwantes, College of Engineering; Venkat Ramakrishna Ungarala, College of Medicine

• “Realizing Cost-Effective Contrail Nucleation Experiments” aims to develop affordable laboratory experiments and models to better understand how airplane exhaust forms contrail clouds and how cleaner fuels might reduce them.

  • Sven Schmitz, College of Engineering; Miriam Freedman, Eberly College of Science; Jacqueline O’Connor, College of Engineering

• “Regulatory Implications for Process Design, Economics, and Sustainability of U.S. Rare-Earth Element Recovery” examines how environmental regulations influence the design, economics, and sustainability of rare-earth element refining in the United States.

  • Rui Shi, College of Engineering; Xun Cao, College of the Liberal Arts

• “Robotic Assessment of Post-Blast Conditions in Confined Underground Mining Environments” aims to develop a small, bio-inspired robot that can safely assess air quality and structural hazards in underground mines after blasting.

  • Ashish Ranjan Kumar, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Baxi Zhong, College of Engineering; Gengzhi He, graduate student

• “Scalable Membranes with Intrinsic Microporosity for Critical Mineral Separations” aims to develop durable, high-performance membranes to efficiently separate and recover critical minerals like lithium from challenging water sources.

  • Enrique Gomez, College of Engineering; YuanQiao Rao, Polymer Engineering and Science, Penn State Behrend; Xiaoshi Zhang, Polymer Engineering and Science, Penn State Behrend

• “Ultra-Conformal Bioelectrodes for Continuous Plant Electrophysiological Monitoring of Environmental Contaminants” aims to develop soft, flexible electrodes that allow plants to act as living sensors for detecting environmental contaminants like PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).

  • Jared G. Ali, College of Agricultural Sciences; Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, College of Engineering; Heather Preisendanz, College of Agricultural Sciences

• “Universalist Modification of a Transient Reactor Based on Pseudo-Random Binary Sequences for Accelerated Catalyst Discovery and Characterization” aims to upgrade a rapid-testing reactor system to more quickly and accurately evaluate new catalysts for important chemical reactions, speeding up catalyst discovery.

  • Robert Rioux, College of Engineering; James Hodges, Eberly College of Science

• “Unraveling Geochemical-Hydromechanical-Seismic Couplings in Carbon Storage and Geologic Energy Systems” aims to understand how chemical reactions during underground fluid injection affect rock’s seismic response and stability related to earthquake risk in carbon storage and other energy systems.

  • Parisa Shokouhi, College of Engineering; Anne Menefee, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Jacques Rivière, College of Engineering

• “Unraveling Molecular Level Interactions Between PFAS and Plant Tissues via Process Guided AI Towards Advancing Phytoremediation at Sites Impacted by Aqueous Film Forming Foam” aims to understand how harmful PFAS chemicals from firefighting foams interact with plants to improve plant-based cleanup of contaminated soils and water.

  • Onur Apul, College of Engineering; Charles Anderson, Eberly College of Science; Andrew Patterson, College of Agricultural Sciences; Heather Preisendanz, College of Agricultural Sciences

For more than 12 years, IEE has provided critical funding for researchers to develop new interdisciplinary research teams and position them for high-impact research and substantial external funding success. Since 2014, the IEE Seed Grant Program has resulted in more than $100 million in external funding from government agencies, non-profit organizations and industry, a 19:1 return on investment.

The IEE Seed Grant Program is designed not only to support new research but also to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Seed grant projects bring together researchers at different career stages, creating opportunities for mentorship, knowledge sharing and professional development while helping prepare the next generation of interdisciplinary research leaders.

The Institute of Energy and the Environment connects and supports interdisciplinary teams of researchers that are solving some of the world’s most difficult energy and environmental challenges. For more information about the seed grant program or the Institute of Energy and the Environment, visit iee.psu.edu.