Recent Research Funding
Current UND Chemistry External Awards
American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF)
Award: $110,000 starting August 1, 2024. Dr. Weixin Huang, PI. The ACS PRF grant will support research on developing single-atom bimetallic
and high entropy catalysts for oxidative propane dehydrogenation. This project centers
on the use of precisely controlled catalytic materials prepared from colloidal nanocrystals.
The utilization of such materials holds considerable promise for identifying the active
phase and structure of alloys, as well as revealing their optimal surface composition.
NSF Chemistry Biology Collaborative Award
Graphene/Polymer-based Fluorescent Nanozymes for Sensitive Detection of Metabolic
Biotargets
Award: $450,000 starting September 01, 2023. Drs. Julia Zhao and Diane Darland and their respective research groups at the University of North Dakota are devising
a new approach toward nanomaterial-based sensors (“nanozymes”) for the detection and
quantitation of key metabolic biomolecules, such as glucose. The goal is to develop
these nanozyme sensors to detect biotargets that can shift in metabolic distress,
such as diabetes and neurodegenerative disease.
NSF Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences
(LEAPS-MPS)
LEAPS-MPS: Stimuli-Responsive Biodegradable Polymeric Nanomaterials for Biomedical
Applications
Award: $249,118 starting July 15, 2022. Dr. Binglin Sui, PI. With the support of this award, Dr. Sui leads his research group to develop
a series of stimuli-responsive, biocompatible, and biodegradable polymers and polymer-based
nanomaterials that can be extensively utilized in the biological and medical worlds.
LEAPS-MPS Award Abstract
NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI)
MRI: Acquisition of a 400 MHz NMR Spectrometer for Research and Research Training
Award: $438,862 starting August 1, 2021. Dr. Guodong Du, PI, and Dr. Alena Kubatova, co-PI. This spectrometer allows research in a variety of fields such as those that accelerate
chemical reactions of significant economic importance, as well as permitting study
of chemically and biologically relevant species. Research projects that will benefit
from this instrument include characterization of biodegradable materials synthesized
from renewable resources and the construction of two-dimensional polymeric materials
prepared from renewable materials using photo-energy.
MRI Award Abstract
NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award
New Discoveries in the Advanced Interface of Computation, Engineering, and Science
(ND-ACES)
Three UND Chemistry faculty members are Research Participants on the newly funded
NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Award. The award (starting July 1, 2020) is a new five-year
competitive research infrastructure improvement (RII) Track-1 cooperative agreement
totaling $20 million to ND EPSCoR jurisdiction and all 10 participating institutions.
The title of the award is
The UND chemistry faculty members participating are: Guodong Du and Julia Zhao. Dr. Zhao is the co-Lead in the pillar of Material Designs at Biointerfaces and Dr.
Du participates in this material pillar.
ND ACES AWARD abstract
National Science Foundation Simulation and Machine Learning Grant
CDS&E:D3SC:Topology, Rare-event Simulation, and Machine Learning as Routes to Predicting
Molecular Crystal Structures and Understanding Their Phase Behaviour
This collaborative research grant is awarded for four years to develop computational
methods and software to study molecular crystals at the level of $193,872 from April
1st, 2020.
CDS&E:D3SC AWARD ABSTRACT
Marvin Windows and Doors, Inc., Wood Aging Study by Pyrolysis Project
Investigation of Wood Windows Aging Using Thermal Desorption‐Pyrolysis GC‐MS
Award: $40,361. The project, led by Drs. Evguenii Kozliak and Alena Kubatova through continued partnership, aims to investigate aging of window-treated corner
sections exposed to harsh environmental conditions using the elaborate modification
of TD-Pyr-GC-MS developed by Dr. Kubatova for chemical characterization of wood matrix
and occurrence of wood preservatives.
ND Corn Utilization Council Grants
Self-Healing and Recyclable Polymeric Materials from Corn Sugars
Dr. Guodong Du has received support for the project in the amount of $25,248 from July 1, 2020-June
30, 2021.
Conversion of Corn-Stover Derived Lignin
Dr. Wayne Seames (Chemical Engineering) in collaboration with Dr. Kubatova (Chemistry) has received funding ($79,000) for this project that aims to fragment
lignin, advance lignin fragment analytical methods, and to use those methods to help
define what the lignin fragments are and their potential uses.
Environmental Core (EC) of ND INBRE Program Received Renewed Support
The EC facility lead by Dr. David Pierce is continuing its program with an award of $593,000 for 5 years.
Dr. Pierce developed a method for ultra-trace determination of selenium without signal
calibration. This technology employed a flow-through electrochemical method that could
accurately determine SeIV concentrations in water samples to part-per-trillion levels. Ongoing projects are
being led by Dr. Pierce in the EC, in addition to collaborations, the example is a
project to determine if rare earth elements can be economically extracted from fracking
water obtained from oil production in the Bakken area of ND.
ND INBRE
