Grants
As a Postdoc and Research Associate, I have secured several internal grants. Notably, I was awarded the ELMI Postdoc Fellowship in 2022, which provided invaluable support for my research. Additionally, I have actively contributed to acquiring grants for STC CROPPS, resulting in successful funding for 2021, 2022, and 2023. I have also contributed to writing several successful and unsuccessful grants with my advisor, such as the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA); the National Science Foundation, SITS; United States of Digital Agriculture USDA: NIFA; Space University Research Initiative (SURI): AFSOR. Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI); Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), ARPA-E, and NSF-EFRI.
NSF STC: Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS)
I have been part of CROPPS since its inception, and as a research trainee, I have had the privilege of writing and applying for direct funding through my advisor Prof. Rob shepherd. Fortunately, I have received CROPPS funding for my proposed projects in 2021, 2022, and 2023, which are as follows:
1. Quantifying Soil Health by Probing Fungal Networks
2. Robotic I/O for Roots and Leaves
PI: Robot Shepherd
Sponsor: NSF
Funding period: 2021-2022; 2022-2023; 2023-2024
ENGINEERING Living Materials Institute(ELMI)
In August 2022, I was awarded an ELMI fellowship, securing a postdoctoral position. My proposed project, titled "High-Density Biohybrid Sensors for Environmental and Soil Health Monitoring using Fungal Mycelium," received funding for a duration of two years.
Investigator: Anand Mishra
Sponsor: ELMI
Funding period: 2022-2024
USDA NIFA | National Institute of Food and Agriculture
As postdoctoral, I played an integral role in the formulation of the grant proposal titled "NRI: Ubiquitous Soil Sampling Robots for Confluent Soil Monitoring." This collaborative endeavor involved close collaboration with Professors Mike Gore and Taryn Bauerle from the Plant Science department. My primary contributions were focused on crafting the sections pertaining to robot design and the strategies for deploying these robots in the field.
The proposal garnered successful funding from the USDA NIFA, securing support for an extensive three-year duration. The grant will serve as a substantial resource in our mission to advance soil monitoring technology and make significant contributions to research in this field.
PI: Robert Shepherd
Sponsor: USDA
Funding Period: 2021-2024
The Space University Research Initiative (SURI)
I participated in the development of a grant proposal for a space gripper titled "DLS Printed Dexterous Manipulators via TALN: Tendon Actuated Light Networks." This collaborative effort involved fellow postdoctoral researchers and Cornell professors. The project received funding for a period of two years.
Co-PI: Robert Shepherd
Sponsor: AFRL
Funding Period: 2023-2025
NSF| Signals in Soils (SitS)
I was actively involved in another significant grant proposal titled "Field Deployable Sensing of the Plant-Soil Interface: Innovative Bio-Mimetic Robots to Understand Dynamic Soil Processes and Accelerate Root and Rhizosphere Productivity." This collaborative endeavor brought together experts from various disciplines, including Professors Mike Gore, Taryn Bauerle, Abe Stroock, and Johannes Lehmann, representing the Plant Science, Biological and Chemical Engineering, and Soil and Crop Sciences departments.
My primary contributions to this proposal centered around the development of robot design and sensor integration strategies aimed at building subterranean robots for soil sensing. I'm delighted to share that our proposal received successful funding from the NSF Signals in Soil call, ensuring support for an extensive four-year period.
Co-PI: Robert Shepherd
Sponsor: NSF
Funding Period: 2021-2024
Cornell Institute of Digital Agriculture (CIDA):
I played an integral role in composing institutional funding proposals related to digital agriculture, with a specific focus on advancing two key technologies: a 3D printed soft gripper and a worm-like robot designed for underground sensing.
1. StraBot: a Soft, dexterous soft manipulator with hybrid sensing for strawberry harvesting and monitoring
P.I.: Prof. Robert Shepherd
Sponsor: (CIDA)
Funding Period: 2020-2022
2. New soil robotics and sensing for soil-root phenotyping of water-use effectiveness
Co-P.I.: Prof. Robert Shepherd
Sponsor: (CIDA)
Funding Period: 2019-2021
Regione Toscana -PorCReOFESR
SMASH- Smart Machines for Agricultural Solutions Hightech (2018-2020)
PI: Barbara Mazzolai
Sponsor: Regione Toscana