Teaming Grants
These grants support the early-stage planning and capacity building of large multidisciplinary projects.
- Safely Increasing In-home Activity for People with Multiple System Atrophy
This project is led by Brooke Klatt, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Additional team members are from the School of Medicine and the Swanson School of Engineering.
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that severely impacts mobility and independence, with physical therapy remaining the most effective strategy to maintain function and reduce falls. Access to physical therapy is frequently limited by high copays, visit restrictions, and safety concerns around home activity and travel to appointments. This interdisciplinary team will refine and test an integrated, home-based walking system using portable technology, wearable sensors, and analytic tools to support safe daily activity. Over one year, the project will build team infrastructure, adapt the prototype, engage patient and caregiver stakeholders and test feasibility in the home setting.
- AI-Assisted Design and Fabrication of Assistive Technology
This project is led by Rory Cooper, School of Medicine. Additional team members are from the School of Computing and Information Sciences, the Swanson School of Engineering, and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
This project will advance the design and manufacturing of next-generation assistive devices, including mobile robots, robotic arms, wheelchairs, adaptive seating and prosthetic limbs. A key component is developing an AI and assistive technology curriculum through an ARRT grant to prepare students for the emerging field of physical AI. By integrating cutting-edge AI engineering with human-centered design, the project aims to inspire the next generation of innovators and broaden student engagement across multiple schools.
- The Wise Home Team: Creating a Team to Advance the Safety, Health, and Efficiency of Homes
This project is led by Benjamin Rottman, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Additional team members are from the School of Computing and Information Sciences, and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
The Wise Homes platform is a smartphone application that leverages built-in and add-on sensors — including cameras, LiDAR, and thermal imaging — to create detailed 3D models of interior spaces. Using computer vision and AI, the app identifies structural and environmental risks such as mold-prone conditions, trip hazards for older adults and improperly installed smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. This teaming proposal supports development of an initial version of the app, positioning the team to pursue large-scale funding for more robust features across health, assistive technologies and energy efficiency.
- Certified Security: Bridging Technology and Policy to Protect Critical Infrastructure
This project is led by Erica Owen, School of Public and International Affairs. Additional team members are from the School of Computing and Information Sciences, and the Swanson School of Engineering.
Cyberattacks are increasingly frequent and severe, threatening economic stability, public safety and national security, yet critical systems remain vulnerable due to poor alignment between technical innovation and governance. This multidisciplinary project will develop the technical tools and policy framework needed to advance the deployment of certified, secure-by-design software at scale. The team will convene a strategic planning workshop to engage collaborators working at the technology-policy interface, refine their approach and build the foundation for sustained, cross-sector collaboration to protect critical infrastructure.
- Building an Adolescent and Young Adult Research Registry to Advance Youth Engagement in Research
This project is led by Ana Radovic, School of Medicine. Additional team members are from the School of Medicine, the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Public Health, and the School of Social Work.
Adolescents and young adults (AYA) are underrepresented in research due to recruitment barriers that rely on parental consent and adult-focused registries. This interdisciplinary team will design and pilot a sustainable, youth-centered registry to directly engage AYA — particularly those from underserved backgrounds — in health research. Unlike other patient registries, this approach incorporates specialized expertise in AYA confidentiality, safety and engagement, aligning with the National Institutes of Health’s priority on transition from pediatric to adult health care while providing infrastructure for future multidisciplinary research.
- Building the Female Digital Health Twin Global Alliance
This project is led by Vanathi Gopalakrishnan, School of Medicine. Additional team members are from the School of Computing and Information Sciences, the School of Public and International Affairs, and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
This project will form a multi-school collaborative network to design and launch the Female Digital Health Twin Global Alliance (FDHT-GA). The FDHT-GA is a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at creating trustworthy, inclusive and globally interoperable digital representations of women's health trajectories across the life course. Spanning data science, medicine, global policy and biological systems, the team is uniquely positioned to lead the scientific, ethical and global partnership dimensions of female digital health twin development.
Regional Catalyst Grants
These grants support research, scholarship, and creative endeavors at Pitt's regional campuses.
- Sustainable Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Diphenylamide Quorum Sensing Inhibitors
This project is led by Matthew Tracy, University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health threat, and quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) have emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy by targeting bacterial communication pathways that regulate virulence. Building on prior work that identified lead amide-containing compounds from marine bacteria, this project will synthesize a larger and more structurally diverse library of potential QSIs using a sustainable, microwave-assisted synthetic route, and evaluate them for cytotoxicity, antibiotic activity and quorum sensing inhibition. The work will have undergraduate students playing a central role throughout. Beyond research outcomes, the project has a strong pedagogical component, with findings to be integrated into organic chemistry, microbiology and medicinal chemistry laboratory courses at UPJ.
- An AI-Visual Control System for Fluidized-Bed Reactors
This project is led by Hui Liu, University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.
Fluidized-bed reactors are widely used in industrial processes such as biomass gasification, combustion and petrochemical production, but traditional control methods struggle to reliably maintain optimal flow patterns due to the complexity of fluid-particle interactions. This project proposes a novel AI-visual control system that uses real-time video capture and machine learning to directly monitor and regulate flow patterns inside fluidized-bed reactors, enabling more accurate control, higher material conversion, lower energy consumption and improved operational safety. The resulting prototype — with no comparable system currently on the market — is intended for patenting and eventual commercialization across the bioenergy, petrochemical, polymer and fine chemicals industries
- Elucidating the Metabolic Pathway for the Novel Psychoactive Substance Fluorexetamine
This project is led by Erin Divito, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.
Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) — synthetic drugs designed to mimic controlled substances — present significant challenges to forensic toxicologists and death investigators because their metabolic profiles are often unknown, making detection in biological samples difficult. This project will develop and validate an analytical method for detecting fluorexetamine and its metabolites in whole blood, meeting the standards required by forensic toxicology accreditation bodies. Beyond generating publishable, field-ready detection methods, the project will provide undergraduate students with hands-on training in forensic analytical techniques, supporting career pathways in forensic science, medicine and pharmacology.
- The Digital Studies Collaboratory
This project is led by Sean DiLeonardi, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.
The Digital Studies Collaboratory will be a fellowship program to connect students enrolled in the Certificate in Digital Studies with faculty research projects requiring targeted, short-term support in areas such as web development, dataset cleaning, and audio/video production. Unlike traditional semester-long research assistantships, this model is designed to meet the sporadic and variable nature of digital humanities research workflows, enabling projects to advance quickly from one stage to the next. This work will help to build stronger collaborative track records and improve competitiveness for future external funding such as an National Endowment of the Humanities Digital Translation grant.