MAY 2026 AWARDS AND PROPOSALS

Congratulations! The following UTC Faculty and Staff have attracted $1,561,482 in external grant and contract awards:

• Dr. Venkateswara Kode (Civil and Chemical Engineering) has received $199,516 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “ERI: Renewable Water Harvesting Using Tunable Solid Bio-Desiccants for Low-Energy Regeneration.”
• Charlie Mix, Nyssa Hunt, and Laura Lee (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have received $65,000 from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for the project entitled, “Spatial Analysis of TN Urban Community Forests.”
• Dr. Donald Reising (Electrical Engineering), in collaboration with Purdue University, has requested and received $147,000 from the US Department of the Army for the project entitled, “Radiation-Hard Microelectronics Workforce Development Consortium.”
• Dr. Joey Shaw, Dr. Stylianos Chatzimanolis, and Jessica Sanders (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science) have received $35,892 from the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga for the project entitled, “2026 EPB Bio Survey.”
• Dr. Kimberly Wingate and Dr. Stephanie Brennan (School of Education) have received $1,114,074 from the Tennessee Department of Education for the project entitled, “Grow Your Own Apprenticeship (FY2026-FY2027).”

Good Luck! The following UTC faculty and staff members submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $22,336,063 in external funding, if awarded:

• Dr. Tatiana Allen (Physics and Astronomy) has requested $249,996 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “NQNI: SouthEastern Microscopy Cloud for Quantum Research.”
• Dr. Damitha Bandara (Data and Analytics), Dr. Jennifer Goodrich (Engineering Management and Technology), and Nyssa Hunt (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have requested $24,924 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Assessing Equity and Optimizing Emergency Response Services Using GIS: A Spatial and   Socioeconomic Analysis of Hamilton County, Tennessee.”
• Dr. Keith Bridges (Center for Community Career Education) has requested $1,773,610 from the US Department of Education for the project entitled, “2026 Southern Appalachian Educational Opportunity Center.”
• Dr. Keith Bridges (Center for Community Career Education) has requested $1,482,653 from the US Department of Education for the project entitled, “2026 Northwest Georgia Educational Opportunity Center.”
• Julia Bursch (UTC Research Institute), Dr. Jejal Reddy Bathi (Civil and Chemical Engineering), Terry Ellis (Nursing), Dr. David Giles (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science), Dr. Eric Hungenberg (Health & Human Performance), and Dr. Thomas Lyons (Marketing and Entrepreneurship) have requested $3,000,000 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the project entitled, “UTC Innovation Commercialization Center for Translational Research and Market Acceleration.”
• Dr. Gokhan Erdemir and Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu (Engineering Management and Technology) have requested $50,000 from Amazon.com Inc for the project entitled, “Design and Control of a Multi-Finger Robot Gripper with Reconfigurable Fingertips.”
• Dr. Gokhan Erdemir (Engineering Management and Technology) and Dr. Zihao Wang (Computer Science and Engineering) have requested $604,770 from the Schmidt Sciences for the project entitled, “Detecting and Predicting Strategic Manipulation in Collaborative AI-Driven Robotic Systems.”
• John Freeze (Center for Professional Education) has requested $145,623 from the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs for the project entitled, “CPE Support Responsibilities for SELA Program.”
• Dr. Joshua Hamblen (Physics and Astronomy) has requested $722,257 from the US Department of Energy for the project entitled, “Expediting and Optimizing Event Sorting and Analysis for Precision Subatomic Physics Measurements Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks.”
• Austin Harris, Dr. Gazi Akgun, Dr. Mohamed Fadul, and Dr. Mina Sartipi (CUIP) have requested $1,175,047 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “AI-Powered Platform for Real-time Intelligence in Shared Mobility.”
• Dr. Azad Hossain (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science) has requested $299,740 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the project entitled, “Remote Sensing of Water Quality in the Tennessee River.”
• Dr. Abdel Karrar (Electrical Engineering) has requested $1,910,836 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Nuclear Power Plant Auxiliary Power System Monitoring: Towards Enhanced Safety & Reliability.”
• Farron Kilburn, Beth Miller, Dr. Priscilla Simms-Roberson, Bethany Weaver, Dr. Amber Roache (Nursing), and Dr. Elizabeth O’Brien (School of Professional Studies) have requested $25,000 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Stylists as Community Care Connectors: A Regional Pilot to Bridge Clients to Mental Health, Healthcare, and Safety Resources.”
• Dr. Heather Lee (Health & Human Performance) has requested $22,851 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “The Differential Effect of TN Together on County-level Opioid Overdose Mortality in Tennessee by Physician density and Uninsured rate.”
• Dr. David Levine (Physical Therapy), Dr. Caitlin Crews-Stowe (Health & Human Performance), and Charlie Mix (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have requested $24,869 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Closing the Care Gap: Addressing Social Determinants to Improve Well-Child Visit Adherence.”
• Dr. Jennifer Lynberg, Dr. Allen Pratt, Dr. Stephanie Brennan, Ashtyn Cornett, and Dr. Jason Gordon (School of Education) have requested $5,924,942 from the US Department of Education for the project entitled, “Tennessee Literacy Apprenticeship.”
• Dr. Jennifer Lynberg (School of Education) has requested $86,000 from the Tennessee Department of Education for the project entitled, “2027 TN Governor’s School for Prospective Teachers.”
• Dr. Deborah McAllister, Dr. Jason Gordon, and Dr. Jennifer Lynberg (School of Education) have requested $49,984 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Empowering Children to Thrive in the Digital Era through Collaborative Learning Experiences.”
• Dr. Marissa McElrone (Health & Human Performance) has requested $25,000 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Food and nutrition security surveillance pilot across the Chattanooga Area Food Bank network.”
• Dr. Erin Melhorn (Occupational Therapy) and Dr. Derek Liuzzo (Physical Therapy) have requested $24,654 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “BALANCE Hamilton – Building Analytics and Local Networks for Community Empowerment.”
• Dr. Hoang Huu Nguyen and Dr. Mina Sartipi (CUIP) have requested $1,200,000 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Human-in-the-Loop Multi-Camera Anomaly Detection and Monitoring.”
• Dr. Jason Peter, Farron Kilburn, Dr. Amber Roache, Bethany Weaver (Nursing), Harlee Milligan, and April Wilson (Social Work) have requested $24,735 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Screenings, Health and Interprofessional Engagement through Library Delivery.”
• Dr. Karissa Peyer (Health & Human Performance) has requested $24,513 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Project IMPACT: Investigating Mobility Patterns for Access, Connections, and Treatment.”
• Dr. Reetesh Ranjan (Mechanical Engineering) has requested $416,709 from the US Department of Energy for the project entitled, “Accelerating Automotive CFD with Non-Intrusive Hierarchical ML-Enhanced Reduced Order Models.”
• Dr. Shahnewaz Karim Sakib (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $500,303 from Schmidt Sciences for the project entitled, “Enhancing Truthfulness in Human AI Teaming.”
• Dr. Shahnewaz Karim Sakib (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $500,307 from Schmidt Sciences for the project entitled, “Towards Reliable and Trustworthy Multi-agent Communications.”
• Dr. Mina Sartipi, Dr. Gazi Akgun, Dr. Mohamed Fadul, and Austin Harris (CUIP), in collaboration with the City of Chattanooga, have requested $2,002,840 from the US Department of Transportation for the project entitled, “Detection, Protection, and Survivability: High-Injury to High-Safety Transformation in Chattanooga, Tennessee.”
• Dr. Guisen Xue and Dr. Monireh Rahmati Bongisouei (Data and Analytics) have requested $24,999 from the Journey Health Foundation for the project entitled, “Data-Driven Investigation of Social Determinants of Public Health: Evidence from Key Diseases.”
• Dr. Ryan Zwart, Dr. Andrew Bailey, Dr. Eric Hungenberg (Health & Human Performance), and Charlie Mix (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science) have requested $18,901 from the Beacon Foundation Inc for the project entitled, “Beacon Park Annual Impact Report (2026-27) – Year 1.”