Recovery Tracker
How We Compiled Our Data. Visit our Eye on the Stimulus blog. Data current as of March 2010.
Champaign County, Ill.
| U.S. | Illinois | Champaign | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 304,059,724 | 12,901,563 | 193,636 | |
| Total recovery funding | $312,735,579,044 | $12,686,178,831 | $145,463,485 | |
| Direct to County | $290,999,413,356 | $11,389,374,504 | $145,463,485 | |
| County Funds per Capita | $957 | $883 | $751 | |
| Unemployment (12/08) |
7.4 | 7.2 | 5.9 | |
| Unemployment (12/09) |
10 | 11.1 | 8.4 | |
| Median Household Income | $50,007 | $53,745 | $43,434 | |
| Poverty Rate | 13.3% | 12.1% | 19.3% |
Funding by Federal Agency and Department
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Projects
Stimulus contracts, grants and loans in Champaign County, Ill.
Data last updated on March 2010.
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Note: County-level data does not include tax cuts, Medicaid, unemployment benefits or food stamps. There still may be overrepresentation of money going to counties where capitals are located because in some cases, awards to state agencies did not indicate that they were to be used statewide.
This county has more than 300 stimulus spending items. View the top 300 items by expenditure amount. View the lists by federal department and agency in the top-right corner of this page.
Amount refers to both the amount of stimulus funding going toward the project and the face value of the loan.
| Recipient | Amount | Type | Description | Federal Dept./Agency | Date | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| URBANA & CHAMPAIGN SANITARY DISTRICT | $10,000,000.00 | Grant |
Capitalization Grants for Clean Water State Revolving Funds Provides funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to the State of Illinois to capitalize its revolving loan fund for the financing of construction of wastewater treatment facilities and associated infrastructure, greeen infrastructure, nonpoint source projects, estuary projects and program administration. The primary purposes of the agreement are to: preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery through the investment in infrastructure projects that will improve water quality and will provide long-term economic benefits.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $177,243,000.00 allocation. See details |
Environmental Protection Agency | 5/27/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $4,803,000.00 | Grant | Geologic Sequestration Site Characterization An evaluation of the carbon sequestration potential of the Cambro-Ordovician Strata of the Illinois and Michigan Basins would encompass most of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan. This interval underlies much of the Midwestern United SStates and, for some areas, may be the only available sequestration target. However, only cursory studies have been done on the reservoir zones (sinks) and no field experiments or detailed studies have been conducted on the seal potential of the carbonate Knox Supergroup and the Maquoketa Shale. A consortium, led by the Illinois State Geological Survey, that also includes the Indiana Geological Survey, Kentucky Geological Survey, Western Michigan University, and Schlumberger will conduct such studies. During the USDOE Phase I research program, the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) and Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) found that the Mt. Simon was not a uniform blanket sandstone across much of the Midwest and that there were areas that are too deep for the Mt. Simon to be a viable target because of limited porosity and permeability. For this reason, we propose to evaluate the Cambro-Ordovician strata above the Mt. Simon for sequestration potential. The target reservoirs for the Cambro-Ordovician are the porous zones within the Knox Supergroup and the St. Peter Sandstone. In addition, the Knox Supergroup and the Maquoketa (Utica) Shale are seals for the Cambro-Ordovician interval and are considered secondary seals for the Mt. Simon. The project has been divided into three different yearly budget periods. The first budget period (1) emphasizes the compilation of base data, the acquisition of whole core from the Decatur Project in Illinois, regional maps and cross sections, and the injection of CO2 into a well in Hancock County, Kentucky. Budget period (2) emphasizes the regional capacity estimates, injectivity of the formation, and, in the latter part of the year, the study of the seals and interactivity of the CO2 with brine, rock reactions, and seal analysis of any faulting. The final budget period (3) will emphasize the integration of the diverse types of data and recommendations for types of data needed to characterize particular reservoirs. The final budget period will include the writing of best practice manual and the creation of GIS layers of high and low potential areas (to be included in the NATCARB database). This project will have a significant impact in delineating a new geologic interval that could be used for sequestration. This should open new areas for sequestration in Southern Illinois, southern Indiana, Michigan, and Western Kentucky. It will also confirm the Knox and Maquoketa as secondary seals for the Mt. Simon. The best practices manual for site characterization would help reduce sequestration risk by documenting the uncertainties related to fracturing, injectivity, and geochemical interactions for these specific formations.... Show more | Energy Department | 12/08/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $3,421,383.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Available for Use in Any Area (flexible) | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 3/10/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4 | $2,517,059.53 | Grant |
Special Education Grants to States, Recovery Act Assist States in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities in accordance with Part B of IDEA
This spending item is part of a $506,480,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $2,479,630.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $2,242,646.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Village Market IGA Inc. | $2,185,000.00 | Loan | 504 Certified Development Loans TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS BY PROVIDING LONG TERM FINANCING THROUGH THE SALE OF DEBENTURES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $2,150,000.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Areas with Population equal to or less than 200K | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 3/11/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PARKLAND COLLEGE | $2,132,672.00 | Grant | Federal Pell Grant Program GRANT PROGRAM | Education Department / DOED - Student Financial Assistance Programs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $2,036,828.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $2,024,104.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The Mathematics Department at UIUC aims to train stewards of the mathematical enterprise. Our programs facilitate all stages of development from prospective undergraduate math major to senior mathematician. We propose here to enhance our REGS program and thereeby impact several critical transitions at the graduate level. REGS stands for Research Experiences for Graduate Students'; for many students REGS provides the initial contact with research. Our current program provides summer support for early graduate students to work (individually or in a group) on a research project with one or several faculty mentors. We propose here an enhanced program with four components: one for incoming Ph.D. students (REGS 0), one for 1st- and 2nd-year Ph.D. students (REGS 1), one for students who have already begun thesis research (REGS 2), and one for students about to complete their dissertations (REGS 3). The first three components are summer programs while the fourth provides a year-long fellowship. We will extend the reach of our programs by including external participants in the REGS 0 and REGS 1 components. The external participants will include students from underrepresented minority groups and also from schools which do not have mathematics Ph.D. programs. The Mathematics Department at UIUC has a distinguished record of research, scholarship, and training. Our current REGS program has provided graduate students with early research experiences. Our enhancements will stimulate their intellectual development at all stages of the program. In addition we will provide similar opportunities to some students from other programs. All students will work in research areas of current interest and many will make original contributions to them. Furthermore the mini-courses from the REGS 0 program will make the graduate curriculum more dynamic and better in tune with current mathematical research. Our programs significantly impact the quality and vitality of the national scientific workforce. Because we are a large department with broad mathematical interests, our students go on to a wide variety of careers. Those who become research mathematicians impact many different fields, and those who work in industry or as teachers replicate our commitment to mathematics in their settings as well. We have disseminated and shared information about our programs via websites and publications; our participation in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID) allowed us to share the details of our REGS program. Our ideas are easily adapted to the needs of other departments. Our enhancements include participants from other programs, and hence will encourage an early transition to research for people outside of our department. The REGS 0 component provides a way to recruit members of disadvantaged minority groups to mathematical research.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 5/27/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $1,948,959.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $1,933,768.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash for Clunkers Participants | $1,890,000.00 | Grant |
Only the top 10 dealers shown. See all 16 Note: Though Cash for Clunkers was not part of the original stimulus bill, $2 billion in stimulus funds were used to extend the program. |
Transportation Department / National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MAHOMET-SEYMOUR COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT 3 | $1,883,573.14 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $1,770,910.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The acquisition and use of this molecular imaging instrument will enable new research directions and educational opportunities and programs that will significantly contribute to the intellectual base of knowledge in these disparate but unified areas, and do soo on national and international levels. The five research areas include (1) monitoring dynamic chemical reactions within advanced self-healing materials, (2) tracking nanoparticle biodistribution and visualizing their incorporation into the physiological processes of living organisms over time, (3) following the homing pathways of stem cells and their functional significance, (4) investigating metabolomics to understand the biological and physiological basis of nutrition, and (5) monitoring the dynamic three-dimensional distributions of materials, chemicals, and microbes in environmental samples. The acquisition of this molecular imaging instrument will not only enable the rapid expansion of existing research programs, but also provide the opportunity for new directions of investigation.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $1,757,640.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The CyberIdentity Infrastructure for National Science project will have a broad impact due to its addressing of identity management is a fundamental requirement across a wide range of disciplines and projects. Today, any cyberinfrastructure project of any sizee was establish its own identity management system. The results of this proposal would be broadly applicable across these and other projects by standardizing this approach and reducing the effort required by the projects. The intellectual merit of the project are found in the effort needed to the key trust relationships between the NSF communities and the InCommon universities. Building this trust requires meeting technical, social and policy challenges in the areas of authorization, privacy and incident response for federated identity.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/19/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| URBANA SCHOOL DISTRICT #116 | $1,687,194.39 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RANTOUL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 137 | $1,650,423.85 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| H L PRECISION MACHIING, INC | $1,622,200.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS EDUCATIONA ASSOCIATION RURAL CHAMP CTY SP ED CO-OP E A | $1,607,650.56 | Grant |
Special Education Grants to States, Recovery Act Assist States in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities in accordance with Part B of IDEA
This spending item is part of a $506,480,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4 | $1,600,011.25 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $1,548,661.00 | Grant |
Weatherization Assistance for Low-Income Persons This award is intended to improve home energy efficiency for low-income families through the most cost-effective measures possible. The programs objectives are: 1) To reduce fossil fuel emissions created as a result of activities within the jurisdictiions of eligible entities and 2) To reduce the total energy use of the eligible units while ensuring their health and safety.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $242,527,000.00 allocation. See details |
Energy Department | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $1,544,759.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOUSING AUTHORITY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY | $1,426,734.00 | Grant | Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (Formula) Recovery Act Funded For modernization of public housing units at multiple locations expected to result in the employment of multiple building trades, architects and engineers. | Housing and Urban Development Department | 3/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CREATIVE THERMAL SOLUTIONS | $1,415,276.00 | Contract |
ARRA - CO-GENERATION OF EJECTOR AND MODIFIED ORGANIC RANKINE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEMS: RDT&E contract W909MY-10-C-0001 was awarded on 15 Dec 2009 by the CECOM Acquisition Center Washington to Creative Thermal Solutions, Inc, (CTS) of Urbana, IL. The cost-plus fixed fee award of $1,494,978.00 is the first of several economic stimulus projects to be issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The renewable energy technology is for Co-Generation of Environmental Control Systems using waste heat. The 16-month CTS effort will focus on the development of a highly innovative fluid mixing device to greatly improve the operating efficiency of the CO2 refrigerant cycle. CTS will produce a fully integrated tactical trailer-mounted demonstrator using a standard military tactical quiet diesel generator, a vapor compression ECU, and an Organic Rankine cycle Waste Heat Recovery machine. The energy from the diesel generator exhaust gas as well as the engine radiator will be captured, combined, and recycled to supplement the basic heating and cooling system. Between 10-13 high-technology U.S. jobs will be either created or retained as part of this ARRA effort. While most of the work will be concentrated in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin, critical materials and components will be provided by suppliers from 10 additional U.S. states. Contract management will be provided by the Project Office of the Power Generation and Alternative Energy Branch, Army Power Division, C2D. POC: John Manzione, P.E., RDER-CCA-PS, DSN: 654-2014, email: john.a.manzione@us.army.mil... Show more
This spending item is part of a $1,494,980.00 allocation. See details |
Army | 12/15/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DESTIHL 2, LLC | $1,300,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4 | $1,228,913.00 | Grant |
Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, Recovery Act Improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.
This spending item is part of a $420,264,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $1,228,750.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support No abstract available. This is a Graduate Research Fellowship award covering academic years 2009 - 2012. | National Science Foundation | 8/11/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $1,226,982.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This award is an outcome of the NSF 09-524 program solicitation 'George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Research (NEESR)' competition and includes the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (lead institution) and the Univversity of Hawaii at Manoa (subaward) and Ryan-Biggs Associates of Troy, New York (subaward). This project will utilize the NEES equipment site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The research will enable a new technology for earthquake resistant design of buildings, known as hybrid masonry. This innovative concept for improved seismic performance of low to mid-rise buildings located in all earthquake prone areas, including California, relies on the structural action of special reinforced concrete masonry panels that are attached to a conventional steel frame. Interactions with the surrounding steel frame, and novel steel link connectors that can be designed to act as fuses in dissipating seismic energy, make this a promising engineered system for enhancing seismic performance at a reduced cost and impact on the environment. Research will combine large-scale testing with state of the art computational simulation to identify and discover the seismic performance of this new system. Large-scale, two-story hybrid masonry frames will be constructed and tested at the NEES equipment site at Illinois. A complementary set of steel link connector tests will be done at the University of Hawaii. Practitioner interaction is embedded into the research plan through a partnership with Ryan-Biggs Associates, who are currently designing buildings with this new technology and leading seminars to teach other engineers about this innovative system. A well defined technology transfer program with industry partnership will transform research results to earthquake engineering practice so that building owners may benefit from this research. The intellectual merit of the research will include advancements in discovery and understanding of how buildings constructed with hybrid masonry respond to earthquake motions of varying intensities as well as other lateral loadings such as strong winds or blast. The research will advance the art in structural testing since the scale and complexity of the proposed tests will set a new norm for structural masonry research. In addition, the simulation study will set a new mark in modeling mechanics of masonry and its contact with a frame under seismic loadings. With respect to broader impacts, this research will provide building developers and contractors with an economical alternative for building construction applicable to all seismic zones. It will enhance the national economy since building construction will be less expensive, and following earthquakes of the future, less damage, loss of life or business interruptions will occur. The research will also have an impact internationally as this novel new technology is transferred across borders. Moreover, this research will promote teaching of future generations of structural engineers to become more adept at engineering of such structural systems, and broaden participation of underrepresented groups in engineering by engaging them in this research field. Data from this project will be archived and made available to the public through the NEES data repository.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/20/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN CONSORTIUM | $1,184,116.00 | Grant |
WIA Dislocated Workers For WIA Youth Grants: To provide employment-related services and high quality work experience, including an expanded summer youth work experience component, to AmericaGÇÖs youth ages 14-24 to prepare them for the workplace. For WIA Adult Grants: To provide a variety of work-reelated employment and training services, including job training opportunities, to unemployed or underemployed adults to support their entry or reentry into the job market. For WIA Dislocated Worker Grants: To provide a variety of work-related employment and training services, including job training opportunities, to laid-off individuals to support their reentry into the job market. Funds must be expended in accordance with all applicable statutes, regulations, policies and guidance, including those of the ARRA of 2009 and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. In addition, ARRA funds must be spent in accordance with applicable State plan including approved modifications and amendments to the plan. The separate WIA program information reported independently is as follows: WIA Dislocated Workers $68,533,653.00, CFDA 17.260; WIA Youth $62,203,400.00, CFDA 17.259; WIA Adult $25,790,612.00, CFDA 17.258.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $156,528,000.00 allocation. See details |
Labor Department / Employment and Training Administration | 2/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Community Unit School District 7 | $1,163,998.06 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $1,099,137.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Available for Use in Any Area (flexible) | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 3/10/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $1,061,744.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start EHS Expansion | Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 11/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RELIABLE CONTRACTING GROUP, LLC | $1,054,140.00 | Contract | This project includes but is not limited to the following work: Implementation of Energy Conservation Measures as recommended in the Re-Commissioning/Retro-Commissioning Report for this facility. These measures include: Replacement of existing air-cooled chiller with new water-cooled chiller; Repplacement of existing Building Automation System with new Energy Management System; Provision and installation of new Variable Frequency Drives for water distribution and air handling units; Replacement of existing domestic hot water heaters; Replacement of motors where indicated; Caulking of existing windows; New rain sensor irrigation control; Light fixture replacement where indicated; Low Flow plumbing fixture replacement where indicated; Provision and installation of occupancy sensor lighting control where indicated; Removal of existing drywall skylight shading feature with new fabric canopy; Replacement of existing RTU's with new RTU's; Any cutting, patching, repairing, and re-finishing of existing walls, floors, ceilings; chases and roofs related to completing the other work included here.... Show more | General Services Administration / Public Buildings Service | 12/09/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $1,010,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The goal of this research is to improve understanding of severe convective storms using numerical models with particular attention to genesis, structure and evolution of supercells and tornadoes in increasingly realistic environmental conditions. Research quesstions include: 1) Why some supercell-spawned tornadoes are particularly long-lived? 2) How environmental conditions influence tornado genesis, intensity, and longevity? 3) How capping inversions and microphysical makeup influence cold pool strength and the development of low-level rotation in supercell storms? 4) How storm interaction and mergers impact tornado genesis? Observations, numerical modeling and data analysis will be used to address the research questions. The methodological approaches build on the Principal Investigators' (PIs) past work including the successful simulation of an intense and long-lived supercell-spawned tornado, simulations of supercell storm environment at 1 km resolution, assimilation of polarimetric radar observations, and coarse-resolution simulations of storm interactions. Observations will be used to guide parameter studies and for data assimilation while modeling will provide consistent and high resolution space and time data sets for analysis and the means to explore controlled parameter spaces. The modeling studies build on advances in model physics, model parallelization/nesting, new methods for initiating sustained storms in the presence of capping inversions, and ensemble Kalman filter based data assimilation methods. The research will take advantage of the availability of computing systems approaching the petascale as well as future systems such as Blue Waters to be deployed at the University of Illinois in 2011 which will be capable of sustaining petaflop performance for weather and storm simulation. Intellectual Merit of Proposal: The work is aimed at increasing the understanding of supercell/tornado genesis, and structure and evolution. Numerical simulation provides a unique approach for testing hypotheses as well as providing complete data sets for analysis and visualization. It also provides a means to simulate multiple scales, namely the supercell and any tornadoes embedded within it. Of particular interest is determining what environmental conditions and what balance of forces are required for simulations of quasi-steady and long-lived supercell-spawned tornadoes. Broader Impacts: The research will potentially improve public warnings. In particular, the PIs will contribute to understanding why some supercell storms produce tornadoes while others do not. Given the upgrade of the WSR-88D radar network that is currently underway, research on the assimilation of polarimetric radar data will provide new insight as to how to best use this data in storm forecasting. Research findings will be communicated via conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles and instructional modules for wider use by meteorological education, research and operational communities. The results will be used in classes at the University of Illinois and University of North Dakota. In addition, the researchers will be working with National Center for Supercomputer Applications on a storm exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The latter will include interactive tools for exploring simulation data as well as visualizations from supercell/tornado simulations. Three graduate students will be supported and cross institution collaboration will be fostered by the work between two academic institutions.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/25/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN CONSORTIUM | $1,006,647.00 | Grant |
WIA Dislocated Workers For WIA Youth Grants: To provide employment-related services and high quality work experience, including an expanded summer youth work experience component, to AmericaGÇÖs youth ages 14-24 to prepare them for the workplace. For WIA Adult Grants: To provide a variety of work-reelated employment and training services, including job training opportunities, to unemployed or underemployed adults to support their entry or reentry into the job market. For WIA Dislocated Worker Grants: To provide a variety of work-related employment and training services, including job training opportunities, to laid-off individuals to support their reentry into the job market. Funds must be expended in accordance with all applicable statutes, regulations, policies and guidance, including those of the ARRA of 2009 and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. In addition, ARRA funds must be spent in accordance with applicable State plan including approved modifications and amendments to the plan. The separate WIA program information reported independently is as follows: WIA Dislocated Workers $68,533,653.00, CFDA 17.260; WIA Youth $62,203,400.00, CFDA 17.259; WIA Adult $25,790,612.00, CFDA 17.258.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $156,528,000.00 allocation. See details |
Labor Department / Employment and Training Administration | 2/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $1,001,565.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Our nation's infrastructure relies increasingly on networks that connect growing amounts of data and systems, including those that interact directly with the physical world. Increased connectivity leads to a higher degree of vulnerability to attacks, malfunctiions, and failures that can cascade more rapidly along network links. The project develops techniques to improve the reliability of emerging networked infrastructure, where computation, communication, and sensing are intimately intertwined. Use of data mining techniques is investigated to determine and eliminate scenarios involving cascaded failures and propagation of performance problems. The complexity of emerging networked and pervasive computing systems increases maintenance cost, challenges classical design approaches, and makes traditional diagnostics and debugging tools less effective at catching problems. To reverse these trends, this project develops tools that are specifically suited to address three fundamental challenges of complex distributed systems; namely, non-reproducible stochastic behavior, high interactive complexity, and physical resource constraints. Other than improving reliability, this research is integrated with education curricula at the University of Illinois, offering real-world challenges to intellectually stimulate both graduate and undergraduate students, while seeking avenues to encourage cultural diversity and promote women and minority involvement in engineering. Laboratory modules allow students to experiment with and diagnose real-world design problems and cascading interaction anomalies in a hands-on fashion. The project will result in improved versions of a data mining textbook by the Co-PI, which is currently considered the standard reference in the field.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/12/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA MASS TRANSIT DISTRICT (INC) | $1,000,000.00 | Grant | Federal Transit_Formula Grants Invest in public transportation by purchasing and installation of complete safety & security system to be utilized at all District facilities and a few prime bus stop locations. | Transportation Department / Federal Transit Administration | 6/11/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA MASS TRANSIT DISTRICT (INC) | $1,000,000.00 | Grant | Federal Transit_Formula Grants Invest in public transportation by purchasing and installation of complete safety & security system to be utilized at all District facilities and a few prime bus stop locations. | Transportation Department / Federal Transit Administration | 6/11/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $994,991.00 | Grant | Geologic Sequestration Training and Research Grant Program The Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) in conjunction with the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) will create a regional technology training center to disseminate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology gained tthrough leadership and participation in regional carbon sequestration projects. The MGSC Sequestration Technology Transfer Center (MGSC STTC) will provide education and training opportunities for engineers, geologists, service providers, regulators, executives, and others. MGSC STTC programs will work in accordance with state and regional job development programs to stimulate economic recovery and support development of trained personnel for commercial CCS projects. MGSC STTC will work with professional organizations and regional experts to leverage existing training opportunities while providing additional stand-alone training events. Training topics will include CCS project development, site characterization, permitting, reservoir engineering, monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA), simulation and risk assessment, and communications. Training will utilize a modular multi-track approach allowing different professional participants to customize training. Phase I will be nine months and focus on management, development, and communication/information dissemination. Phase II will be two years focused on implementation and training, communication/information dissemination, and management. MGSC STTC will benefit the Illinois Basin region by providing curriculum, outreach, and networking on five focal areas for carbon sequestration technology development: 1) capture, 2) geologic carbon storage, 3) MVA, 4) CO2 use, and 5) simulation and risk assessment. Further benefits will result from links between MGSC STTC, independent research entities, utilities, CO2 producers, and technology providers to develop CCS technology training and job development opportunities. MGSC STTC work result in advancing the United States in its position as a leader in CCS technology, developing a training center, production of teaching materials, and production of workforce necessary for the CCS industry.... Show more | Energy Department | 11/16/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Urbana School District 116 | $972,908.07 | Grant |
Special Education Grants to States, Recovery Act Assist States in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities in accordance with Part B of IDEA
This spending item is part of a $506,480,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $970,051.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Available for Use in Any Area (flexible) | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 3/10/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motel 6 - Urbana | $956,000.00 | Loan | 504 Certified Development Loans TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS BY PROVIDING LONG TERM FINANCING THROUGH THE SALE OF DEBENTURES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $939,794.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Areas with Population equal to or less than 200K | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 9/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Urbana School District 116 | $928,728.00 | Grant |
Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, Recovery Act Improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.
This spending item is part of a $420,264,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $901,104.00 | Grant |
ARRA - Community Services Block Grant This grant award represents the allocation for Federal Fiscal Year 2009 to the State for Community Services Block Grant stimulus, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, made available under Public Law 111-5. This funding will provide economic stimulus tto the nation while furthering the Administration for Children and Families mission to promote the economic and social well-being of children, youth, families and communities.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $47,232,800.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 4/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $901,104.00 | Grant |
ARRA - Community Services Block Grant This grant award represents the allocation for Federal Fiscal Year 2009 to the State for Community Services Block Grant stimulus, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, made available under Public Law 111-5. This funding will provide economic stimulus tto the nation while furthering the Administration for Children and Families mission to promote the economic and social well-being of children, youth, families and communities.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $47,232,800.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 4/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $900,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) are awarding Noyce Scholarships to 39 students, including 24 undergraduate mathematics majors and 15 postbaccalaureate studeents, enrolled in programs leading to secondary teaching certification in mathematics. School districts served by the project include the small urban districts of Champaign, Urbana, Decatur, and Danville as well as rural districts in Tolono, Rantoul, and Mahomet. The Noyce Illinois program combines a rigorous mathematics and education curriculum with extensive interaction with leading faculty in the area of equity and effective mathematics teaching of marginalized students. It offers early field experiences and student teaching placements in high needs school districts, supported by targeted opportunities to learn and apply the latest theories and cutting-edge practices for supporting marginalized students to learn mathematics in the 21st century. Summer internships in K12 STEM education programs are offered as a recruitment strategy for prospective Noyce Scholars. In partnership with a Chicago Public School mathematics teacher, a monthly Noyce Seminar focuses on problems from the field, reflection on coursework, the skills needed for teaching in high needs schools, and video examples of classroom teaching. Noyce Scholars have access to the particularly rich and diverse array of summer enrichment programs operated by the University of Illinois across the Colleges of Engineering, Agricultural and Economic Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as UI Extension. Noyce Illinois incorporates formalized mechanisms to support ongoing interactions among Noyce graduates and campus groups as well as professional development sessions and online mentoring geared to support graduates in their first year of teaching.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/23/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $866,460.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $831,301.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This proposal seeks to address a wide range of research challenges involving OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing). This collaborative project is concerned with increasing the ability for analytical processing for information networks. Information networks have been expanding rapidly and attract broad scholarly interest ranging from intrusion pattern detection to social community discovery. Typical information networks include communication networks, social networks, the Web, and biological networks. In contrast to the rising popularity and increasing scale of information networks, there is a lack of general analytical processing frameworks for exploiting the information contained in the networks. The lack of such frameworks inhibits personalized navigation and interactive knowledge exploration. The work supports the Infonet-OLAP framework by extending methods for structure discovery, network summarizations, and self quality assurance of underlying networks. If successful, the techniques would simplify information network analytical processing and transform existing ad hoc graph exploratory work into a unified framework as traditional OLAP does to multidimensional data analysis.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Advanced Wayne Cain & Sons Roofing & She | $808,000.00 | Loan | 504 Certified Development Loans TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS BY PROVIDING LONG TERM FINANCING THROUGH THE SALE OF DEBENTURES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $800,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Intellectual merit: How the accurate duplication of genetic material and its faithful segregation to daughter cells is coordinated in multi-cellular organisms is an important question that remains to be clearly understood. In eukaryotic cells these two events occur in alternative oscillating cycles. Initiation of DNA replication requires the ordered assembly of a multiprotein complex including the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC) at origins of DNA replication. In mammalian cells chromosomal domains occupy specific nuclear positions and replicate at defined times during S-phase of the cell division cycle. Chromatin changes and specific modifications orchestrate the establishment of spatio-temporal profiling of DNA replication that is ORC-mediated. ORC proteins are critical not only for initiation of DNA replication, but have also been implicated in non-preRC functions including heterochromatin organization and silencing, chromosome segregation and mitosis in several model organisms. The objective of this project is to address how ORCs coordinate DNA replication with chromatin organization and mitotic progression in mammalian cells. The association of ORC subunits with replication origins, heterochromatin, centromeres/kinetochores, centrosomes and cytokinetic furrow suggests that ORCs play a pivotal role in coordinating all stages of chromosome inheritance cycle by interacting with different protein partners in a cell-cycle dependent fashion. This project will identify the roles played by novel protein partners that bind to ORCs during different stages of the cell cycle that will address how ORC participates in various cellular processes. In particular this project will provide crucial insights into the role of ORCs in the recruitment and spreading of chromatin proteins to heterochromatin. Finally, several approaches will be used to understand whether the role of ORCs in chromatin organization and mitosis is independent of its function in DNA replication initiation. Since the involvement of ORCs in chromatin organization is conserved from yeast to humans the outcome of this project will have broad scientific impact. Broader impacts: This research is amenable to an active outreach program since it utilizes extensive microscopy and live cell imaging that is visually appealing and brings out the power of cell biology in understanding basic concepts of Biology. Being in a University setup gives a unique opportunity to mentor undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This project integrates the use of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology to capture the interest of students not only from Biology background but also from Chemistry and Bioengineering. This project will also involve providing students with a direct view of the concepts cell and molecular biology including actively mentoring undergraduate students, including women and minorities. This project will enable the understanding of a basic biology question, on how a cell accomplishes DNA replication and signals it to undergo chromosome segregation and cell division.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, CITY OF | $763,200.00 | Grant | Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG) $763,200 total amount of award. $25,000 of this amount obligated to date for EECS development. No expenses incurred during this reporting period. | Energy Department | 9/21/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $750,000.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Areas with Population equal to or less than 200K | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 4/30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hospitality International, L.L.C. | $721,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $709,231.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This is a CAREER award to support the research of Dr. Sheng Zhong, in the Department of bioengineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Zhong is a fourth-year, tenure-track Assistant Professor. Understanding cellular processes, such as develoopment and differentiation, requires understanding how cells control the rate of protein production, especially gene transcription. A gene regulatory network (GRN) is a collection of DNA segments in a genome, which interact with each other and with other substances in the cell, thereby governing the rates at which genes in a network are transcribed into messenger RNA. Most computational tools for identification of eukaryote GRNs were developed for the single cell eukaryote, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast). The complexity of GRNs in multicellular organisms and especially in vertebrates is several magnitudes greater than that of the yeast GRNs. The greater complexity arises from how genes are controlled by complex patterns of DNA regulatory elements, called cis-regulatory modules; how larger genome size provides a greater template for cis-regulatory modules to evolve; and the stochastic process of transcription, which is activated by the interaction of regulatory proteins and cis-regulatory modules. A new framework for the identification of GRNs in multicellular organisms is being developed by Dr. Zhong. Quantitative evolution models and joint models of gene expression and protein-DNA interaction data are being developed in this project. The project is advancing the state of the art of systems biology through developing a theoretical framework of eukaryote GRN evolution, a variety of GRN identification and analysis methods, prototype systems for analysis of genomic data, and through discovery of engineering principles in cell biology. Databases and tools produced under this project will be accessible via the PI?s website at http://bioinformatics.bioen.uiuc.edu/ As a part of his CAREER plan, Dr. Zhong is training a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers by engaging undergraduate students in research; developing new courses and participating in outreach activities with Illinois middle school and high school students, including a bioinformatics camp for middle school girls, as one of the Girls Adventures in Mathematics, Engineering, and Science (G.A.M.E.S) camp program.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/25/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $687,304.00 | Grant |
Water Quality Management Planning This project supports water quality (WQ) management planning activities that are authorized under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This project includes $20,0000 of EPA in-kind assistance and the following 4 grrants to sub-recipients: 1) Sub Award Number 6040905, Watershed Planning and Monitoring; 2) Sub Award Number FW-9309, Green Infrastructure Plan for Illinois; 3) Sub Award Number FWN-9301, Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring at Selected Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Intensive Basin Survey Sites; 4) Sub Award Number 6041001, Water Quality Standards and Assessment, Nutrient-Related Efforts, and Cross-Program Collaboration and Coordination. Watershed Planning and Monitoring will develop watershed-based plans for Hickory Creek (HUC 071200040603 & 071200040601), a tributary of the DesPlaines River, and the Lower DuPage River that are designed to improve water quality by controlling nonpoint source pollution. Water quality monitoring will also be conducted in the Upper Kishwaukee River watershed (HUC 070900060205) and three tributaries (Tyler Creek (HUC 071200061203 & 071200061204), Flint Creek (HUC 071200061104), and Poplar Creek (HUC 071200061205)) of the Fox River watershed designed to document water quality conditions and assist in future upgrading of watershed-based plans for those watersheds. The Green Infrastructure Plan for Illinois Project includes the coordination of a consortium and the formation of a Technical Advisory Committee to assist the state of Illinois in the development and implementation of a Green Infrastructure Plan. The project also includes stakeholder meetings to gather information for inclusion in the plan and for plan promotion. The project shall address 1) the nature and extent of urban storm water impacts on water quality in urbanized watersheds, 2) potential performance standards and practices to achieve such standards, 3) the prevalence of existing green infrastructure, 4) costs and benefits, 5) programs and methods to implement a green infrastructure plan, 6) feasibility of integrating a state program with existing and potential regional and local programs in Illinois and 7) outreach and implementation strategies for the State Green Infrastructure Plan. Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring at Selected Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Intensive Basin Survey Sites will help establish the status and define trends in the StateGÇÖs water quality the IEPA operates a program known as the Intensive Basin Survey (IBS). Water Quality Standards and Assessment, Nutrient-Related Efforts, and Cross-Program Collaboration and Coordination will include (1) conducting water quality standards and assessment activities, including a review and refinement of Upper Mississippi River designated uses, and review, refinement, and potential development of new biological indices; (2) conducting a nutrient monitoring needs assessment, including data review and analyses of nutrient-related data for the Upper Mississippi River and tributaries to identify gaps, and a review of existing data/literature to assess local impacts of elevated nutrient levels on aquatic life and other designated uses in the Upper Mississippi River; and (3) conducting continued cross-program collaboration and coordination activities with other Upper Mississippi River basin-focused ecosystem restoration programs.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $1,790,300.00 allocation. See details |
Environmental Protection Agency | 7/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $649,113.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The evolutionary adaptation to polar climates can provide a model for adaptations to climate changes in general. Today's frigid polar waters are inhospitable for most bony fishes, but some can live in freezing waters because they have evolved antifreeze proteiins. The antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGP) of northern/Arctic cod fishes bind to invading ice crystals, preventing the fish from freezing. Novel proteins are commonly thought to evolve from a pre-existing protein gene rather than from other kinds of DNA. The evolution of the cod AFGP gene may defy this long-held paradigm. The codfish genes analyzed thus far suggest that the repetitive DNA encoding the AFGP arose from repeatedly copying a snippet of ancestral, non-protein coding DNA. Furthermore the AFGP trait appears in two cold-water codfish groups that are distant cousins, suggesting the AFGP gene evolved twice, in separate branches of this family tree. To test these two intertwined evolutionary hypotheses, the distribution of the AFGP trait will be mapped onto the codfish family tree. Then the AFGP genomic regions will be compared for two distant species bearing complete AFGP function, and with the corresponding region in a related species without AFGP function. If the antifreeze gene did not evolve from coding DNA, the result would indicate that evolutionary novelty has more sources than previously thought. The principal investigator will train graduate and undergraduate students in cutting edge genomics technology and science. The sequence data from the project will also be utilized in a 'Find a Gene' workshop for a group of high school students for basic training in bioinformatics and genome data management.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Township High School District 193 | $635,493.19 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saint Joseph Community Consolidated School District 169 | $630,276.54 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $619,054.00 | Grant |
Water Quality Management Planning This project supports water quality (WQ) management planning activities that are authorized under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This project will provide activities under this grant agreement such as: a) preecision estimates of macroinvertebrate and fish indexes of biological integrity; and b) ISWS continuous dissolved oxygen/temperature and water sample collections. The recipient will provide 44.29% of the funds awarded under the agreement to regional planning organizations (RPOs) to the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Each RPO will work on 1) WQ standards and assessment, nutrient-related efforts, and cross-program collaboration and coordination; and 2) watershed-based planning and WQ monitoring, respectively.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $1,790,300.00 allocation. See details |
Environmental Protection Agency | 7/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capio, Inc. dba Buttittas Restorante Itali | $607,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dansr Inc | $600,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $597,211.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Rural Areas with Population under 5K | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 8/31/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $575,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Language consists of an extremely complex signal, replete with information of several different types, including words (lexicon) and their smaller parts (morphology), syntactic structure (grammar), connections between input and previous input (context), and coonnections between input and our general world knowledge (plausibility). Despite the complexity of the information, the human mind processes incoming speech and text extremely fast and, generally, very efficiently. Errors in processing do occur, however, and misinterpretations arise. Until quite recently, though, little attention has been paid to what happens when people do misinterpret language input. This project will greatly expand the growing body of research on so-called 'good enough' language processing. 'Good enough' processing describes what happens when one or more information sources in a string of language input is not integrated by the human sentence processing mechanism into a final interpretation. The goal is to identify which information sources are exploited in various language comprehension tasks, and to explore the role of the task at hand and individual differences in processing capacity. The methodology for this project will combine online measures of eye-movements while listening and while viewing scenes, eye-movements while reading, self-paced reading, lesion studies of aphasic language comprehension, and brain waves (ERPs) with offline comprehension tasks. Experiments will be run in English and several other languages, with both native-speaking and non-native-speaking participants. The main goal is to understand how 'good enough' processing operates such that, most of the time, it is in fact good enough and also how and why it can fail.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/26/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $568,471.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Hormonal responses to an experience can gate how well and for how long the experience is remembered. Epinephrine (adrenaline) is one such hormonal regulator of memory strength and durability. Recent findings by the PI, using an electrophysiological model of meemory called long-term potentiation (LTP), demonstrate that epinephrine also modulates the strength and durability of connections between neurons known as synapses in brain areas involved in memory in rats. Specifically, an injection of epinephrine extends LTP durability from minutes, seen without epinephrine, to days. This proposal examines the neural sites and molecular mechanisms important to this conversion of short- to long-lasting LTP by epinephrine. Aim 1 will test actions at two brain regions, the hippocampus and amygdala, important in memory formation. Epinephrine likely modulates LTP strength and durability indirectly via specific receptors in the amygdala and directly influences LTP strength through receptors in the hippocampus, the site of change in synaptic strength. Aim 2 will examine molecular events involved in the conversion to long lasting synaptic strength, focusing on the activation of one protein, CREB, that regulates the expression of many genes. Predictions are that increases in CREB activity will correspond to increased durability of synaptic strength. Results from these studies will lend insight into how stress hormones, a component of strong emotions, lead to strong memories. The scientific impact of these experiments is potentially broad with findings that will advance knowledge in fields of mechanisms of memory, neuroendocrinology, and neurophysiology, extending basic findings to fields of learning, reproduction, and animal behavior. This project will provide extensive, unique research experiences for undergraduate and high-school students, with progress assessed by PIs and students using portfolios of written, technical, and subjective reports. Together with the varied outreach programs the PIs conduct, these opportunities will impact a wide and diverse group of prospective scientists.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/09/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $543,157.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Entanglement 'the bizarre' nonlocal connection that can exist between quantum systems is the critical resource in most quantum information processing (QIP) applications, and entangled photons are the central carriers of quantum information in many of these appplications. In this project the phenomenon of 'hyperentanglement' systems that are simultaneously entangled in several different ways will be explored, pushing the frontier of optical QIP in several areas, including quantum communication, quantum metrology, and quantum computing. Hyperentangled states enable new investigations of the foundations of quantum mechanics, and even an entirely new kind of 'hidden' entanglement, which could have important implications for robust secure encoding of information. Finally, the application of such quantum states for enhanced imaging and nanophotonic device characterization is a particularly exciting possible result. In addition to exploring a potentially transformative method for implementing small-scale quantum processors with photons, this research has the potential for broader impact beyond the 'traditional' areas of QIP. For example, the single-photon multi-quantum-bit states should enable improved optical metrology: the ability to couple a single photon to a single quantum 'antenna' would be a major advance in optical physics, with relevance, e.g., in nanophotonics and single-molecule physics. Moreover, the underlying optical simplicity of these experiments makes them well suited for adoption in undergraduate laboratories, bringing the realities of quantum information phenomena to students at an earlier age and in broader contexts. Taking this a step further, the development of a connected series of experiments as part of a museum exhibit to introduce the general public to the phenomena of interference and quantum superposition, will also be pursued.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/07/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MAHOMET-SEYMOUR COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT 3 | $541,563.13 | Grant |
Special Education Grants to States, Recovery Act Assist States in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities in accordance with Part B of IDEA
This spending item is part of a $506,480,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $534,999.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Ribotoxins kill cells by endonucleotically cleaving essential RNAs involved in protein translation (rRNAs, tRNAs, and mRNAs). We have identified a novel bacterial RNA repair system that neutralizes the effect of ribotoxins. This unique RNA repair system appearrs to not only repair the damage caused by ribotoxins, but also methylates the RNA at the cleavage site so that it cannot be cut again by the ribotoxin. In this project, the bacterial Hen1, a member of the protein complex that performs the repair and methylation, will be the focus of study. In eukaryotes, Hen1 is responsible for 2'-O-methylation on the 3'-terminal nucleotide of some small non-coding RNAs involved in RNA interference. The bacterial Hen1 was found to be one of two proteins that are highly conserved in a sub-set of bacteria. Conserved along with Hen1 is bacterial Pnkp, which has been shown to have kinase, phosphatase, and adenylyltransferase activities that are a hallmark of RNA repair. However, bacterial Pnkp alone was not able to repair damaged RNA. Therefore, the PI hypothesizes that bacteria possessing Hen1 and Pnkp have evolved a clever strategy using the Hen1/Pnkp complex to neutralize the lethal effect of ribotoxins by both repairing the damaged RNA and methylating the RNA to make it resistant to re-cleavage by the ribotoxin. The research in this project consists of two specific objectives: First, the roles of bacterial Hen1 in RNA repair carried out by bacterial Hen1/Pnkp complex will be defined. Both bacterial Hen1 and Pnkp were shown to be required to repair a cleaved tRNA, based on preliminary studies. Therefore, in addition to being part of the ligase activity required for RNA repair, the bacterial Hen1 is proposed here to also play another important role by catalyzing incorporation of a methyl group at the site of damaged RNA during repair. Second, structures of bacterial Hen1 will be determined to help elucidate how Hen1 carries out 2'-O-methylation at the 3'-end of small RNAs. With the determination of crystal structures of the methyltransferase domain of Hen1 alone, mutational studies will be carried out to help analyze Hen 1 function. Furthermore, the PI plans to obtain a crystal structure of Hen1-RNA complex. The broader impacts of this research include providing insight into biology and biological chemistry in the area of ribotoxins and RNA repair, an emerging field of RNA research. The research will also provide the molecular and mechanistic basis for understanding a new type of RNA methylation by Hen1. In addition, the studies will further our understanding of the role of Hen1 in the function of eukaryotic RNAi due to high homology of the eukaryotic Hen1 to the bacterial Hen1 under study here. The project provides long-term research and education opportunities for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows at the interfaces of chemical biology, biochemistry, and structural biology.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/04/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $518,573.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The PI has studied how local properties affect the global parameters of various combinatorial structures. This is a very general framework of the so-called Turan number problems. The PI plans to continue his work on this topic and investigates four different aaspects: 1. To study the Turan numbers of triple systems and multigraphs, as a tool to achieve a general theory for r-graphs, e.g., to prove Kalai's conjecture. 2. To investigate natural generalizations of Turan's question, like the number of substructures, stability questions, and consider other host-graphs, like the hypercube. 3. To study general coding theory, design-theory, combinatorial geometry problems, geometric and algebraic graph representations, which lead to hypergraph intersection and other Turan type problems, e.g., superimposed and covering codes, and the completion problem of partial G-designs. 4. To find geometric/algebraic graph representations where Turan numbers naturally emerge, e.g., Prague-dimension, intersection and geometric representations of graphs. The subject of this proposal is the effect of local properties on global parameters of combinatorial structures, in other words, extremal combinatorics. The PI continue to find applications in theoretical computer science, coding theory and discrete geometry. Combinatorics deals with finite but very large problems arising from computer science, data mining, and communications. Extremal combinatorics applies a broad array of tools and results from other fields of mathematics, on the other hand, it has a number of interesting applications in in geometry, integer programming, computer science, coding theory, dimension theory of partially ordered sets, and cryptography. Combinatorics is the theoretical basis of the economical, fast and reliable algorithms to store and reach data structures. Applications of extremal combinatorics and coding theory in computer science, computer graphics and in communication theory are indispensable.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $516,590.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The proposed project seeks to develop a technology platform for providing high-sensitivity detection of biomolecules and substantial amplification of fluorescence output on large-area, plastic based nanostructured surfaces called 'photonic crystals (PC). The ggoals are to develop, demonstrate, and validate the PC microarray technology for substantial array studies, making the technology available for providing quality control of deposited spots and for providing a means for amplifying the detection of low concentration protein biomarkers.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $508,549.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support An important challenge in developing treatments that induce weight loss and prevent weight regain is to identify regulatory mechanisms that can be targeted for drug therapy. Invertebrate models have commonly been used to discover new candidate genes for medicinne. This proposal will use the honey bee for this purpose because the bee undergoes a striking, predictable and stable loss of abdominal fat as it grows up. Naturally occurring, stable weight loss occurs in few species, and not at all in major genetic model systems. The bee is well suited to this task because it not only undergoes stable weight loss but also is amenable to considerable manipulation. The goal of this project is to use a new animal model, state-of-the-art genomics and systems biology techniques, and a novel insect-mammal coupling to identify genes that are important in regulating weight loss. We will first test the hypothesis that age-related changes in gene regulatory networks (GRNs) in brain circuits and fat cells are associated with stable lipid loss. We will develop detailed profiles of gene expression for abdominal fat cells and for three populations of brain cells that are important for the regulation of lipid stores. We will utilize a probabilistic Hidden Markov Modeling approach to develop a quantitative model of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) in these cells in order to identify key regulatory genes whose expression is causally linked to lipid loss. We will then test the hypothesis that age-related changes in gene regulatory networks associated with stable lipid loss are endocrine-mediated. We will test this hypothesis with a systems approach that combines genome-wide ChIP-chip analysis, RNAi, microarray expression profiling, and modeling. Preliminary results from both microarray and ChiP-chip experiments support both hypotheses. Finally, these studies will be used to identify 'switch' genes that will be tested by genetic manipulations in mouse or rat to determine whether these genes regulate adiposity in mammals. The principal significance of this research is that it will provide important new insights into the molecular basis of the regulation of adiposity. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A major goal in fighting the obesity crisis in the United States is to develop treatments that induce weight loss and prevent weight regain, but in order to achieve this goal it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the mechanisms that control body weight. Honey bees, unlike most other animals, are able to achieve stable loss of fat tissue as part of their normal adult maturation. The goal of this proposal is to use genomic and systems biology techniques to identify 'switch' genes that enable stable weight loss in the bee, and to test that these genes regulate body weight and energy metabolism in mammals.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/29/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA MASS TRANSIT DISTRICT (INC) | $500,000.00 | Grant | Federal Transit_Formula Grants The purpose of this grant is to invest in public transportation by purchasing two new Bus Operator Training Simulators to be installed at transit agency headquarters | Transportation Department / Federal Transit Administration | 8/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA MASS TRANSIT DISTRICT (INC) | $500,000.00 | Grant | Federal Transit_Formula Grants The purpose of this grant is to invest in public transportation by purchasing two new Bus Operator Training Simulators to be installed at transit agency headquarters | Transportation Department / Federal Transit Administration | 8/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $500,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The extracellular matrix (ECM) in human tissues plays a critical role in protecting and nourishing cells by providing cell adhesion sites and sequestering growth factors. Artificially constructed ECM-simulating biomaterials are often combinned with cells and growth factors for use in biological studies and clinical treatments of tissue defects and several chronic diseases. However, the biological role played by growth factors remains unclear due to limited understanding about complex cellular microenvironment. This lack of understanding also limits the therapeutic efficacy of growth factors. In order to establish a more thorough understanding of the role of growth factors in regulating cell function, the proposed research goal is to create a cell-encapsulating hydrogel that allows researchers to regulate growth factor-induced signal transduction in cells by engineering the cellular microenvironment. The PI specifically hypothesizes that the hydrogel stiffness modulates the extent of growth factor binding to cells and subsequently affects the efficacy of the growth factors in stimulating cell growth and differentiation. Experiments to examine this hypothesis will require decoupling the currently interdependent gel stiffness and permeability to nutrients by building hydrogels with nearly constant chain density but with varying crosslink density. It is expected that changes in crosslink density will not materially affect diffusion through the gel at a given chain density. BROADER IMPACTS: A successful demonstration that matrix elasticity and growth factor efficacy can be decoupled would open the way to advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The proposed educational goal is to create a cross-disciplinary biomaterials curriculum for college students plus a variety of outreach programs designed to fill the knowledge gap with motivated and diverse scientists. The educational plan will leverage existing institutional outreach programs for pre-college students, including women and minorities, and science teachers to ensure successful completion. The goals of this CAREER proposal will be accomplished by implementing four research and educational projects: (Project 1) designing and creating a biomaterial that decouples the interdependency between biomaterial stiffness and nutrient transport; (Project 2) establishing a set of integrative biomaterial design principles that describe growth factor-induced signal transduction with biomaterial stiffness; (Project 3) creating a cross-disciplinary course entitled ?Biomaterial-Biological Systems Interactions in Biology and Medicine? and providing students with research opportunities to serve as a model that other institutions may adopt, adapt, and build upon; and (Project 4) introducing pre-college students and teachers to the science between biomaterials and biology to inspire them and increase the number and diversity of students in the biomaterial field.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/06/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOISROCSTAR, L.L.C. | $499,999.00 | Contract | Novel Alternative Energetic Propellants for Space Propulsion | Air Force | 6/16/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $497,001.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Understanding how genes and environment act through complex biological networks to influence social behavior is a fundamental challenge in biology. This proposal addresses long-duration behavioral 'states' in honey bee workers, which are known to be influencedd by many factors including genotype, social and physical environment, nutritional status, physiology (including hormones), neurochemistry, and regulation of gene expression in the brain. Despite knowledge of these multiple influences, there is little understanding of how these factors interact to produce behavioral state in the honey bee or in other analogous behavioral systems. The goal of this proposal is to apply a 'systems' (or holistic) approach to study how a well-defined hormonal system involving the key regulator juvenile hormone interacts with pathways in the brain to influence behavioral state in the honey bee. This will be achieved by perturbing genotype using a genetic cross, then measuring the resulting effects on circulating juvenile hormone level and expression of approximately 11,000 genes in the brain, and behavior. A modeling approach will then be used to explore the network of interactions including causal relationships between particular genetic variations in the genome, juvenile hormone level, brain gene expression, and consequent behavioral state. The honey bee is an economically and ecologically important species that provides a unique combination of attributes facilitating a systems approach. It is economical, has well-studied and easily observed behaviors, and has the necessary genomic resources to conduct a systems approach. By exploiting these attributes, the current study is expected to provide information and important new insight into the genome-hormone-brain network controlling honey bee behavioral state. More generally, it will address broad questions about how genetic variation can influence physiology, brain, and ultimately social behavior. This work also will provide an innovative and valuable training experience for students, including undergraduates, in technologically advanced and integrative biology.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $495,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Advanced optical techniques (such as PIV, LIF and LDV) represent the most well-resolved and accurate means of experimentally documenting the physics of flows, yet there exist a wealth of practical complex flows spanning many fields of science and engineering tthat have yet to be rigorously explored due to inadequate optical access, including flows over complex topography (relevant to aerodynamics and geophysical phenomena, for example), within complex geometries (flow in porous media and coral reefs, turbines, etc.) and in the presence of particulates (sediment transport, nutrient transport, pollutant and aerosol dispersion, etc.). This lack of high-quality experimental data necessarily limits the design of effective models, predictive tools and/or control strategies for these important flows. It is proposed to transform the experimental study of such flows by developing a large-scale flow facility that will alleviate these debilitating issues by allowing the refractive index (RI) of the working fluid to be tailored to match that of the solid (or particulates) under study. This RI-matched (RIM) flow facility will permit Illinois researchers to render complex solid models and/or particulates optically transparent when immersed in the working fluid, thereby minimizing reflections and distortion and facilitating thorough non-intrusive experimentation. The uniqueness of this facility includes its large spatial scale (0.45 m x 0.45 m x 2.5 m test section), allowing the study of flows at relevant scales and Reynolds numbers with high temporal and spatial resolution, as well as the types of working fluids to be accommodated.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/21/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $495,433.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This application addresses broad Challenge Area (01) Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention and specific Challenge Topic, 01-AA-102*: Functional Roles of Neuroimmune Factors in Mediating Behavior. A critical unanswered challenge in understanding neuroimmunnity and adverse behavioral conditions is whether activation of the neuroimmune system can be regulated so as to abrogate or ameliorate the development of neuroinflammation and its biobehavioral consequences. As we have shown and reviewed, IL-1 beta/IL-1RA balance is vital to the development and persistence of biobehavioral complications that occur during activation of the neuroimmune system. We have demonstrated, in mouse models, that increased severity and delayed recovery from neuroimmune activation is due to a failure in IL-1 beta counter-regulation and can be rectified by administration of IL-1RA, the naturally occurring antagonist to IL-1. Importantly, we have shown that IL-4, an essential regulator of T helper 1/T helper 2 (Th1/Th2) balance and inducer of alternative macrophage activation is key to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-dependent up- regulation of IL-1RA and that IL-4 resistance, which occurs in diseases such as type 2 diabetes, causes failure in appropriate IL-1RA production seriously prolonging biobehavioral recovery from neuroimmune system activation. Thus, the objective of this research project is to determine whether the neuroimmune system can be skewed Th2 protecting it from Th1-driven immune responses. In support of this goal, we have exciting new preliminary data that show mice fed a diet containing 10% soluble fiber are markedly resistant to and recover much faster from LPS-induced social withdrawal, a biobehavior directly tied to brain-based up-regulation of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha and IL-6. These soluble fiber-fed mice are skewed Th2, possess peripheral macrophages that are alternatively activated and show a distinct increase in brain IL-4 and IL-1RA. Significantly, IL-4 knockout mice are resistant to the immunobehavioral effects of a soluble fiber diet. These findings are the first to show that a readily available dietary component favorably impacts neuroimmunity and activated-neuroimmune system-associated biobehaviors. The most important question that will be answered by our proposed experiments is: Can soluble dietary fiber be used to block activation of the neuroimmune system and mitigate the biobehavioral consequences of brain-based innate immune activation? Successful completion of this project will identify new targets and potential therapies for alleviating or improving neuroimmune function for a variety of behavioral conditions including those tied to excessive drinking, anxiety and depression. A critical unanswered challenge is determining if neuroinflammation can be prevented or ameliorated. We have developed a novel dietary strategy using soluble fiber that has the potential to block adverse activation of the neuroimmune system and the sickness symptoms associated with brain inflammation. Therefore, a vital and fruitful new area of research is investigating whether the neuroimmune system can be redirected from a proinflammatory state and directed toward an anti-inflammatory state via dietary intervention. Successful completion of our objectives will provide new targets and potential therapies for alleviating or improving a variety of behavioral conditions including those tied to excessive drinking, anxiety and depression.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $491,863.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support A central unsolved question in biology is, What coordinates an organism's circadian clocks? Loss of coordination between the central circadian clock in the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and circadian clocks in other cells and tissues has been impliccated in systems pathologies that lead to sleep disorders. The goal of this discovery proposal is to identify peptides that couple the SCN and [glial] circadian clocks. Studies of peripheral tissues cultured in isolation have revealed that in the SCN's absence, cellular rhythms continue but phase and period properties change in diverse tissues, including brain, liver, lung, muscle, kidney, tail [and spleen]. With decoupling, the various tissue functions lose temporal coherence as well as appropriate alignment to the daily cycle of sleep and wakefulness. Little is known about what couples an organism's circadian clocks, except that diffusible factors are sufficient to entrain many. Discovering coupling factors that communicate time-of-day from SCN to other circadian clocks [in brain and body] has proven difficult. We propose a study applying advanced analytical peptidomic techniques on a micrometer scale coupled with functional determinations of the ability of peptides to restore clock-to-clock coordination, an innovative approach. We aim to: 1) define and characterize induction of SCN-driven synchronization of [glia] rhythms, 2) identify released candidate coupling peptides by peptidomic analysis, 3) determine the necessity/sufficiency of candidate coupling peptides released from the SCN for inducing synchronous rhythms of [glia] clocks, and 4) characterize and evaluate candidate coupling peptides. Successful completion of these aims will poise us for testing coupling in animal models. Loss of synchrony among internal clocks is maladaptive for health and longevity. There are no current approaches to better synchronize or enhance coupling of the internal clocks. Identifying signals that effectively couple circadian rhythms will have major value in treatment of metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular stress, and physiological decline with aging, all of which manifest with disordered sleep patterns that affect more than 10 million Americans each year. However, to realize therapeutic potential, signals by which the SCN engages other circadian clocks must be identified and placed in temporal context. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This proposal seeks to identify neuropeptides that provide integration of circadian rhythms in body function across the sleep-wake cycle. Loss of coordination between the central circadian clock in the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and circadian clocks in other cells and tissues has been implicated in systems pathologies that lead to sleep disorders, and is maladaptive for health and longevity. Identifying signals that effectively couple circadian rhythms throughout the body will have major value in treatment of metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular stress, and physiological decline with aging, all of which manifest with disordered sleep patterns that affect more than 10 million Americans each year; however, to realize therapeutic potential, signals by which the SCN engages other circadian clocks must be identified and placed in a temporal context.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/31/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $480,668.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application addresses broad Challenge Area (01) Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention and specific Challenge Topic, 01-GM-102: Model organisms for social behavior studies. Songbirds offer unique untapped advantagees for integrative analyses of the genetic, biochemical, physiological, and environmental components of social behavior. Songbirds have complex nervous systems and are proven models for health-related brain research. They form complex and diverse social groups, and populate most ecosystems world-wide. The genome of one songbird, the zebra finch, has now been sequenced by the NIH. There remain two main barriers to the use of songbirds to investigate mechanisms of social behavior. The overall goal of this proposal is to break down these barriers and open a path for future research using songbirds as models for social behavior. The zebra finch is a gregarious colonial species that has been domesticated and is common in labs (and homes) around the world. Wild zebra finches are difficult to study in their native habitat (Australia) but the domesticated zebra finch has proven to be an exceptional experimental model. There have been careful descriptions of sociality in wild zebra finches, and focused lab investigations on mate choice and song learning - yet a formal scientific profile of the social behavior of the domesticated zebra finch does not exist. Moreover, how individuals vary in their social behavior is unexamined. To leverage the genomic investment in the zebra, these knowledge gaps need to be filled. Aim 1 will address this first barrier by constructing an 'ethogram' to describe the social behavior in a zebra finch aviary across multiple generations. Additional experiments will evaluate how stable individual variation ('personality') affects the response to an acute social challenge (song playback). Results from these studies will inform Year 2 experiments comparing socially-driven brain gene expression in different contexts and individuals. Aim 2 addresses a complementary challenge: songbird diversity offers rich opportunities to compare related species that differ in social behavior and to study accessible species in their native environments, but only zebra finch gene sequence information is currently available. To overcome this barrier and enable the application of genomic tools to comparative analyses of social behavior, brain transcriptomes will be assembled for three key species: the violet-eared waxbill - a close relative of the zebra finch; and the song and white-crowned sparrows - major foci for North American behavioral ecology. These songbirds, in combination with the zebra finch, represent pairs of related species that display striking contrasts in social behavior (levels of social aggression) and therefore have tremendous potential for development as avian models for genomic studies of social behavior. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Many of the most important challenges for public health require a better understanding of how social factors impinge on the biology of the individual, and how variations in individuals influence social organization and function. Probing these links requires appropriate model organisms. This research aims to exploit natural advantages of songbirds as models for social behavior, leveraging recent progress with songbird neurobiology and genomics.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $476,276.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The principal aim this Administrative Supplement request is to increase the pace of discovery of novel phosphonate antibiotics by enhancing our ongoing microbial screening program. The proposed supplement would be used to fund the immediate screening of ten thoousand strains from the U.S.D.A. Agricultural Resource Service Strain (ARS) strain collection. We anticipate that this will allow us to achieve our stated aim of discovering one hundred new phosphonate producers two years ahead of schedule, while simultaneously improving our original plan by increasing the diversity of organisms and new natural products obtained. Moreover, in accomplishing this goal we will coincidentally create a resource that will be of immense value to the entire scientific community and to other ongoing research projects at ARS and UIUC. The Administrative Supplement funds will be used immediately to employ several researchers and purchase a equipment and supplies required for completion of this project. Specifically, we are requesting funds to (1) prepare a library of genomic DNA from 10,000 bacterial strains, (2) screen of the genomic DNA library for genes involved in phosphonate metabolism,, and (3) clone and sequence the phosphonate biosynthetic gene clusters from 100 positive isolates.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/25/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $470,737.00 | Grant | Federal Work-Study Program Federal Work Study | Education Department | 3/30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $470,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Spatial analysis is essential to the acquisition, transformation, and use of spatial data, information, and knowledge for scientific discovery and decision-making in many fields (e.g., ecology, environmental science and engineering, geography, geosciences, pubblic health, and social sciences). As the size of spatial data and complexity of relevant analysis approaches have significantly increased, spatial analysis has become much more computationally intensive and, as a result, conventional methods for spatial analysis are often intractable within desktop computing environments. Resolving the computational intensity of spatial analysis thus represents a tremendous challenge. Dr. Shaowen Wang, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will begin at five-year CAREER award to study the computational intensity of various geospatial analyses that occur over a distributed, parallel processing network. Computational intensity is defined as the magnitude of computational requirements of a problem based on the evaluation of its computational complexity and characteristics of input and output. Cyberinfrastructure promises to resolve the computational intensity of spatial analysis and facilitate collaborative spatial problem-solving. This promise, however, depends on significant research and education advances yet to be made based on bridging the fields of cyberinfrastructure, Geographic Information Science (GIScience), and spatial analysis. The purpose of this project is, therefore, to enable computationally-intensive spatial analysis through a Cyber-Geographic Information Systems (GIS) framework that couples cyberinfrastructure, GIScience, and spatial analysis capabilities based on the development of new computational intensity theory and knowledge. In particular, the objectives of the project are three-fold: 1) formalize a novel theoretical construct -- computational intensity map by integrating the representations of spatial and computational domains to guide the development of efficient and generic methods and algorithms for parallel and distributed processing of spatial analysis; 2) create spatial middleware components to encapsulate parallel and distributed spatial analysis and manage the complexity of cyberinfrastructure for large-scale spatial problem-solving; and 3) enhance spatial analysis to support geospatial problems, numbers of collaborators, and the amount of cyberinfrastructure resources through a service-oriented approach. Dr. Wang will tightly integrate research and education through investigations into representative computationally-intensive spatial analysis methods, including geostatistical modeling, local spatial clustering detection, spatial interpolation, and spatially-explicit agent-based modeling. Education materials based on computational intensity maps, parallel and distributed spatial analysis methods and algorithms, and Cyber-GIS software will synergistically provide comprehensive support for training next-generation researchers, teachers, and students to solve computationally-intensive spatial problems. This project will transform the current state-of-play of the three fields GIScience, spatial analysis, and cyberinfrastructure, while creating a new subject domain of computational intensity. A novel theoretical approach to computational intensity will enhance spatial analysis methods integrated with cyberinfrastructure and GIS. The Cyber-GIS framework will be established by developing innovative algorithms and software components based on this approach. The complete abstract for this award is available in Research.gov at: www.research.gov.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/09/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $469,810.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Kathryn Bock will conduct three years of psycholinguistic research on the cognitive processes involved in producing number agreement in spontaneous speech. The project will investigate whether and how the number-peerception abilities that are present in early infancy serve basic functions in adult language use. Contemporary views of the relationship between number and language emphasize the effect that language has on number knowledge. The current project emphasizes, instead, the effect that number knowledge has on shaping language. The goal is to explain how speakers tacitly identify the perceptual and conceptual precursors of linguistic number and how number information is used under the normal time pressures associated with speaking. The pressures stem from typical speech rates of more than two words per second and from structural demands for number information that occur every five seconds or so in running speech. The research will compare different accounts of how number perception and conception come to influence language use, particularly whether the influence arises during the choice of words, during the creation of sentence structures, or both. The research methods call on laboratory tasks that measure the accuracy, timing, locus of attention, and memory resources associated with the production of number agreement between verbs and their subjects and between pronouns and their antecedents. The work unites two cornerstones of human intelligence, the ability to count and the ability to communicate. These abilities converge in the role that number plays in human language, especially in grammatical number agreement. Far from being a grammatical detail, agreement is a powerful vehicle behind the linguistic expression of complex ideas. The research is designed to explore a previously unidentified link between an evolutionarily primitive number sense and an apparent universal feature of language. The primitive number sense is found in humans and many other species, and is observable in very young infants before the onset of language acquisition. The sense allows immediate and precise individuation of objects up to a numerosity of three. Coincidentally, or not, grammatical number systems (e.g., number agreement between subjects and verbs in English) are limited to threesomes. There are languages with systematic, distinctive agreement markers for one thing, two things, and three things, but none that demand agreement for exactly four things. Two mysteries surround this regularity. The first is why the limitation exists, and the second is why number agreement is so common in the languages of the world. The aim is to find answers to both of these questions. Such answers can serve in turn to support the understanding of specific language disorders in children and language disabilities in adults, the development of effective methods for second-language learning, and the creation of workable systems for human-computer interaction.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $455,500.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project will initiate efforts to identify DNA catalysts (deoxyribozymes, DNA enzymes) for catalysis of reactions of small-molecule substrates with multiple turnovers. Nucleic acids are used as natural catalysts in the form of ribozymes (RNA enzymes). DNA has practical advantages over RNA in terms of cost, stability, and ease of synthesis. In this project, studies will be performed to establish in vitro selection methodology to identify deoxyribozymes that operate with multiple turnovers on small-molecule substrates. Deoxyribozymes will be identified for catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions and other reactions of small-molecule substrates, with particular emphasis on chemical selectivity. With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Professor Scott K. Silverman of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Silverman's research efforts focus on developing the catalytic abilities of DNA. This research will expand our fundamental understanding of the catalytic properties of nucleic acids. In addition, successful development of the methodology will have practical impact on synthetic techniques by fostering new approaches to selective chemical synthesis.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/06/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pen-Cin Partners L.L.C. dba Spherion of Ch | $440,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $437,576.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The research objective of this award is to develop manufacturing technology enabling the fabrication of multi-material, near net-shape tissue engineering scaffolds for bone defect repair. This will enable a new class of functionally graded scaffolds and will rresult in advances in the current state of the art for both rapid prototype manufacturing and bone tissue engineering research. The technology will make use of Iterative Learning Control to learn trajectories for robotic manufacturing tasks using a vision-based system. Learned functions will be stored as a library and used for constructing any arbitrary scaffold by sequencing combinations of the individual functions. The technology will enable the fabrication of novel scaffolds with 6-12 twelve combinations of macropore and micropore size and fraction in a single scaffold, which will allow for unprecedented progress in determining pore combinations that result in the fastest, most complete bone healing. The approach will require a fraction of the number of costly in vivo experiments and will obtain significantly more information in the process. If successful, the research will address a basic and growing health need in our society, namely the need for more effective options for bone defect repair. The research will also contribute to manufacture of engineered scaffolds as well as to the fundamental understanding of the role of macro and microporosities on bone ingrowth. Aspects of manufacturing and biological materials will be incorporated into the existing curriculum with the goal of making every mechanical engineering student familiar with tissue scaffolds as a design and manufacturing challenge and every bioengineering student familiar with manufacturing as an important aspect of tissue engineering. The lessons learned will be packaged for dissemination through educational channels like courses, summer camps, and undergraduate research projects, as well as through Engineering Open House, which draws thousands of visitors to campus annually.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/21/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $432,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project addresses fundamental and challenging questions that are common to robotic systems that build their own maps and solve monitoring tasks. In particular, the work contributes to our general understanding of the interplay between sensing, control, annd computation as people attempt to design systems that minimize costs and maximize robustness. Powerful new abstractions, planning algorithms, and control laws that accomplish basic mapping and monitoring operations are being developed in this effort. This is expected to lead to improved technologies in numerous settings where mapping and monotoring are basic components. Ample motivation is provided by technological challenges that involve searching, tracking, and monitoring the behavior of people, wildlife, and robots. Examples include search-and-rescue, security sweeps, mapping abandoned mines, scientific study of endangered species, assisted living, ground-based military operations, and even analysis of shopping habits. The work is particularly transformative because it lives outside of the traditional boundaries of algorithms, computational geometry, sensor networks, control theory, and robotics. Furthermore, national interest continues to grow in the direction of developing distributed robotic systems that combine sensing, actuation, and computation. By helping to break down traditional academic and scientific barriers, it is expected that the work will transform the way we think about robotics algorithms, the engineering design process, and the education of students across the robotics, computational geometry, and control disciplines.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $420,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project develops techniques for increasing energy-efficiency of modern data centers with performance constraints. Both computing and cooling energy are considered. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, data centers in the United States inncur an annual energy cost of approximately $4.5 billion, which is comparable to the total consumption of 5.8 million average US households. In the absence of intervention, data center consumption is expected to double in five years. Up to 80% of this projected energy expenditure is avoidable, which constitutes a prospective reduction in nationwide carbon dioxide emissions by up to 47 million metric tons (MMT) per year; an amount comparable to the annual carbon emissions footprint of all fuel combustion in a small nation. The observation motivating the energy-efficiency solutions developed in this project is that the proliferation of individual energy-saving mechanisms in server installations can lead to increasingly suboptimal overall energy management. The problem lies in performance composability or lack thereof; a challenge that arises because individual optimizations generally do not compose well when combined, leading to opportunities for improvement. A theory is developed to define preconditions of composability and a holistic distributed approach is investigated for coordinating energy-saving decisions across multiple components that span both the computing and cooling subsystems. A graduate course on cyber-physical systems is designed to cover the addressed challenges and solutions. Women and minority students are encouraged to benefit from these opportunities.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/12/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $416,360.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project will use ultra-cold atoms trapped in an optical lattice to explore thermopower in the Hubbard model. Thermoelectric (TE) materials will play a key role in near- and long-term reliable methods for efficient power generation and cooling in a wide vaariety of applications. Material properties such as thermopower and total thermal conductivity presently limit the efficiency of TE power generation and cooling. The next revolution in TE power generation is therefore likely to come from fundamentally new materials having increased thermopower. Extraordinary thermopower has been observed in Mott-Hubbard (MH) systems, which are the same materials that give rise to high-temperature superconductivity. Unfortunately, no complete, predictive theory for thermopower in MH systems exists, and optimizing these materials for TE applications is therefore a daunting challenge. Ultra-cold 40K atoms trapped in an optical lattice will be used to simulate thermopower in the Hubbard model, which is the paradigm for MH materials. Techniques will be developed to enable measurements of the impact of material parameters, temperature, doping, and nanoscale morphology on thermopower. These studies will be used to advance understanding of thermopower in the MH systems through comparisons with theory and experiments on materials.Transferring knowledge gained using this system to the design of new materials may enable more efficient vehicles requiring less fuel, refrigeration competitive with conventional technology, and lighter nuclear payloads for RTGs. The next generation of engineers and scientists will be trained on cutting edge technologies in laser science; high frequency microwave electronics; and high speed, computer-controlled signaling. Students will also be engaged in developing the emerging interface between condensed matter and atomic physics.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $416,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Although the world is very much three-dimensional, most of today's approaches to visual object recognition essentially reduce the problem to one of 2D pattern classification, where rectangular image patches are independently compared to stored templates to prooduce isolated object labels within the image. This project aims to account for the three-dimensional nature of the real world by exploring qualitative geometric reasoning in terms of 3D spatial relationships between scene components, category-level object models, and global scene understanding. The project is organized around two major research areas. Qualitative 3D scene parsing: A central part of our effort will be to develop qualitative 3D models of the scene that describe the depicted objects and surfaces and their physical relations. Grounding objects in the scene: We integrate the geometric representation of the scene and the corresponding 3D spatial relations with the object recognition process by (1) inferring the set of likely object identities based on 3D relations among scene components; (2) predicting the most likely object locations from the scene layout; and (3) using the occlusion relations and depth ordering to predict the parts of objects that may be visible in the scene. The project is anticipated to result in major advances in 3D scene understanding from photographs, a critical enabling technology for a wide range of applications including autonomous systems, health care, human-computer interaction, assistive technology, image retrieval, industrial and personal robotics, manufacturing, scientific image analysis, surveillance and security, and transportation.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University High School | $410,817.58 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $401,080.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The objectives of this research are to gain both a fundamental understanding of the microbial ecology of denitrifying biofilters and to create improved techniques to characterize the reliability of, and also the design of, this and other engineered ecosystems.. The dynamics of the physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the biofilter system will be determined, and approaches derived from reliability engineering and ecology will be used to identify key interactions and develop ways to predict and manipulate outcomes. Three hypotheses will be tested in this research: (1) A small number of state variables will exhibit the most influence on biofilter performance, (2) diversity will lead to functional redundancy, and conditions resulting in the most functional redundancy will be most stable in performance, and (3) Rate, range, regularity, and rapidity of change will provide measures of sustainability of biofilter performance. These denitrifying biofilters have the potential to bring about substantial reductions in nitrate pollution and thereby improve water quality throughout the Midwestern US and the Gulf of Mexico. The education component of this project include the development of an inquiry-based course for undergraduates and interdisciplinary training for engineering graduate students.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/20/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $400,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This engineering education research award to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will employ researchers to investigate the learning mechanisms and benefits to engineering education of popular and rapidly expanding international service learning proojects. These projects are believed to elicit many of the competencies for future engineers described as essential by the National Academy of Engineering and engineering education accreditation boards. The results of this research will enable the development and dissemination of research-based educational materials for project-centered service-learning experiences for engineers. It will also lead to the discovery of models and pedagogical approaches for incorporating key features of co-curricular international project work into the mainstream of instruction and curriculum reform. International projects may be a powerful means to provide preparation for professional practice, developing knowledge and competencies in meaningful contexts that are applicable for both domestic and international engineering projects. The acquisition of these competencies will better prepare engineering students to participate in a more globally competitive workforce.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/29/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $399,837.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Cyberinfrastructure (CI) that supports the global research community by linking together researchers, computational resources, instruments, and data, has had a significant impact on the science and engineering research communities. At the heart of CI is trust,, between collaborators, organizations, providers, users, applications and services. Security services, specifically authentication and authorization, are foundational services that facilitate trust between those entities. Without the establishment and maintenance of trust, collaborative relationships served by CI are jeopardized. The goals of the proposed CILogon project are to maintain and provide critical enhancements for CI security technologies developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and to foster science and engineering by helping additional communities build secure CI on these services. Intellectual merit: The security services of the CILogon project address critical security needs of scientific and engineering researchers, as evidenced by their wide use. The project team has a proven track record of providing quality software services to a variety of science communities, along with strategic leadership in the area of security. Team members are active participants in the NSF TeraGrid and Open Science Grid projects and are actively engaged with other NSF grid projects including LTER, OOI, NVO, LIGO, and WATERS. Broader impacts: The CILogon project proposes to enhance the NSF CI for research and education by providing robust, well-supported software services that facilitate secure access to CI. These services are used in communities such as magnetic fusion (NFC), climate research (ESG), high-energy physics (WLCG), and computational chemistry (GridChem), as well as in CI provided by TeraGrid, EGEE, Open Science Grid, NERSC and NCSA. The project has a strong collaboration with Internet2 regarding the integration of Shibboleth with grid security (via GridShib) to bridge security of higher education campuses to computational grids, broadening the impact of grid infrastructure to the educational community.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 5/29/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $398,521.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This research project integrates experiments and modeling to develop physics-based predictive models for the problem of room temperature creep in nanocrystalline metallic films. The novel experiments aim at extracting directly the grain-boundary (GB) sliding vviscosity and the GB diffusivity. Model experiments augmented with atomic force microscopy measurements will obtain the displacement jumps as a function of time. The measured local GB parameters will be incorporated in cohesive models for the GBs in a multiscale model for polycrystalline Au to quantify the effect of inelastic GB mechanisms on the creep response of nanocrystalline Au films. While other homogenization schemes use the macroscale material behavior to fit microscale parameters, the proposed multiscale experimental/modeling protocol employs macroscale experiments to validate the multiscale modeling predictions. This project can have significant technological and educational impacts. Several thin film applications, such as radio frequency microelectromechanical systems, variable capacitors and tunable filters involve fixed-fixed metal structures that suffer from loss of mechanical stiffness due to creep at room temperature. Quantification of the GB mechanisms in nanocrystalline metals will allow for mitigating strategies to prevent room temperature creep but maintain the high yield strength that is controlled by dislocation crystal plasticity. Once perfected, the experiments will be integrated in the PI's experimental course 'Nanoscale Contact Mechanics' that provides theoretical and experimental education and training to graduate students by following a 'bottom-up' methodology in mechanics.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $397,728.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Dr. Wandelt will develop several methods for using the properties of cosmic voids to learn about dark energy, the most fundamental problem in modern cosmology. The equation of state of dark energy will be constrained using the number, size, and ellipticity disstribution of voids and their variations with redshift. Preliminary results indicate that this work will be competitive with other future dark energy probes. Voids as a cosmological probe have independent systematic effects allowing important cross-checks between this and other methods for investigating dark energy. Broader impacts of this program include student training in research, and development of the online demonstration room, a 'Dark Energy Laboratory,' which will leverage the existing virtual community of over 8000 participants in CosmologyAtHome.org.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/08/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $397,080.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This proposal requests addition of S-band (3.5 GHz) and Q-band (35 GHz) capability to the X-band (9.5 GHz) pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectrometer system (ELEXSYS, E-580) currently available on campus. This will provide a strong and diverse biiomedical research community on this campus, and external users from academia and industry, with a versatile, state-of-the art tool in EPR spectroscopy for structural biology. The proposed enhancement is particularly critical for the successful development of research projects performed by six named NIH-funded major-user groups. The instrument will be sited in UIUC EPR Research facility space within the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (SMCB), and will be operated and managed under the SMCB Administrative umbrella. The ELEXSYS E- 580 was previously under management by the Illinois EPR Research Center, and that unit was reorganized within SMCB subsequent to the reorganization of the life sciences on campus. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A main focus of modern molecular biology is on understanding how structure at the molecular level defines mechanism and function. This interface is of critical importance in understanding catalysis, effector binding, drug design, etc., indeed the whole underpinning of the medical sciences by molecular biology. Surveys suggest that >30% of the protein-encoding genome encodes either redox proteins, or proteins that include metal binding sites suitable for probing by EPR. Pulsed EPR approaches follow the relaxation kinetics of paramagnetic centers and the modulation by interaction with nuclear magnetic centers in the protein and solvent. By Fourier transformation, the frequencies of the nuclear magnets, and hence their atomic identities, distance and angles, can be measured. The distance dependence of the interaction selects that volume most closely associated with the catalytic domain. Redox enzymes generate paramagnetic centers naturally, while, for example, nucleotide binding enzymes where the Mg2+chelate is the substrate can be probed by replacing the ion by paramagnetic substituents. For these paramagnetic systems, pulsed EPR is an ideal approach for investigation of the protein environment immediately adjacent to the functional center, and is therefore an invaluable tool in the advancement of medical knowledge.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 4/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $393,893.00 | Grant |
Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support In this research, the complex role of dynamics in the association of RRM-RNA complexes will be investigated. The RNA recognition motif (RRM) is a ubiquitous RNA binding protein that is found in all organisms and is involved in all steps of gene expression. Thuus, an understanding of RRM-RNA binding is fundamental to a complete description of gene expression. Conformational changes of both protein and RNA upon binding are a general phenomenon in RNA-protein recognition, including RNA-RRM recognition. The specific goals of this project are to develop a general approach for investigating dynamic processes in RRM-RNA complexes using time-resolved fluorescence methods supported by molecular dynamics simulations. This approach will then be used to investigate more complex biological systems involving RRMs. An essential component of the proposed studies is the investigation of the dynamics of a series of modified proteins and RNA targets in two different RRM proteins in order to determine the contribution of protein and RNA sequence to dynamic processes involved in binding and identify general principles of RRM-RNA recognition. Broader Impacts: This research will have broader impacts in the education of three types of students: research students, chemistry students in Vietnam, and high school chemistry teachers. First, the graduate and undergraduate students directly involved in the proposed work will benefit greatly from the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the project. The impact of the proposed research will extend beyond these students, as it will be part of a larger comprehensive research program in the laboratory and also will contribute positively to students' education in the collaborating laboratories. Second, the PI will be involved in a project with Hanoi University in Vietnam. This program involves visiting professors from Vietnam attending classes taught by the PI at the University of Illinois, travel of the PI to Vietnam to teach organic chemistry, and Vietnamese students working in the PI's laboratory during summers. Third, the PI is participating in an NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership project entitled 'Institute for Chemistry Literacy through Computational Science'. This program creates a partnership between Illinois faculty and rural high school teachers to broadly improve teachers' and students' understanding of chemistry across the state of Illinois. The PI teaches in a 2-week Summer Institute, where the high school teachers participate in full-day workshops. The PI is involved weekly in serving as a mentor to a group of 7 high school teachers using a bulletin board-type communication system.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $453,458.00 allocation. See details |
National Science Foundation | 6/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $390,741.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Areas with Population equal to or less than 200K | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 9/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $384,582.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This application addresses broad Challenge Area (01) Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention and specific Challenge Topic, 01-AG-102: Neural mechanisms of behavioral change. Cognitive decline in normal aging is a very important societal problem, which impaccts millions of people worldwide. Specifically, normal aging is accompanied by declines in working memory and executive function/attention control, as well as in long term memory and speed of processing. Thus, increasing knowledge about the possible predictors of age- related cognitive impairments and their interactions can yield substantial societal and economic benefits, by providing means of early detection and thus improving the chances of successful prevention and/or treatment. Recent studies have emphasized that physical activity and fitness may help stave off some of the effect of aging on cognition, and specifically those related to working memory and executive function, although the exact mechanisms through which these gains are obtained are not yet completely understood. In this work we will conduct a detailed investigation of the possible mediating role that the health status of the cerebrovascular system may have on the beneficial effects of physical fitness on brain anatomy and function and cognitive performance. Our approach is based on the assumption that all the phenomena under study (physical fitness/activity, cerebrovascular health, brain anatomy and function, and cognitive function) are in fact complex and multifaceted and best studied using a multivariate approach. Therefore, for each of them, we take multiple measures at multiple levels. We will investigate naturally-occurring variability in a sample of normally-aging adults comprising four age groups (50-60, 60-70, 70-80, and 80-90 years old), which will be measured twice at 12 months distance (thus affording both cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal analyses). A multimodal imaging approach based on a combination of magnetic resonance imaging, diffusive near-infrared spectroscopic imaging, and electrophysiological methods will be used to provide maps of both cerebrovascular status and brain anatomy and function. Societal Impact. Cognitive decline in aging affects millions of people worldwide. Its early detection may lead to prevention and improvement in intervention practices, thus providing incalculable benefits to society both in economic and humanitarian terms. Physical activity regimes have shown to be beneficial to cognitive aging. Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms through which these benefits are accrued is of enormous practical significance. In addition, following the guidelines of ARRA 2009 for these Challenge proposals, we underscore the fact that this proposal, if funded, will generate one new position (graduate research assistant) and allow for the retention of two additional positions (senior research scientist and research specialist) who may otherwise lose employment. It is further expected that, through this funding, these investigators will receive valuable training in the biomedical sciences, which will make them more competitive on job market in the future. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Cognitive decline in aging affects millions of people worldwide. Its early detection may lead to prevention and improvement in intervention practices, thus providing incalculable benefits to society both in economic and humanitarian terms. Physical activity regimes have shown to be beneficial to cognitive aging. Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms through which these benefits are accrued is of enormous practical significance.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $380,994.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The construction of any infrastructure on or within the ground will subject the surrounding soils to complex loading modes. In order to understand the short and long term behavior of an infrastructure element such as a building or a tunnel it is therefore esseential to characterize the response of the surrounding soil. A soil material model that correctly captures soil behavior under general loading modes is requisite to solving such complex engineering problem known as a boundary value geotechnical engineering problems. Available laboratory tests are assumed to represent a single element and stress-strain path and do not cover the full range of loading paths experienced in a boundary value problem and is often insufficient to validate material model performance under general loading conditions. This research project will develop an integrated computational-experimental laboratory testing framework. Within this framework a laboratory test will be treated as a boundary value problem instead of a single element test. The test is coupled with an evolutionary inverse analysis approach that will allow for the extraction of multitudes of stress-strain paths generated within this boundary value problem. A soil-specific material constitutive model can be generated from this information. The test device is a modification of the widely used triaxial cell. The device includes lateral restraints in addition to frictional caps to induce non-uniform stress-strain states within the soil specimen. The device will be coupled with imaging techniques to capture the 3-D deformed shape of the specimen during loading. The novel inverse analysis algorithm, SelfSim, uses an evolutionary material constitutive model to extract the diverse stress-strain states from measured boundary loads and deformations. The constitutive model can be directly used within a numerical analysis (e.g. finite element method) of a geotechnical problem. The proposed research will open up new and exciting doors for fast, practical and more comprehensive soil behavior characterization. The proposed framework has the potential to transform material testing and characterization beyond geotechnical engineering. The project will support graduate and undergraduate researchers and will provide training to future engineers.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $378,360.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support African-Americans are at greater risk than Caucasians for developing hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke and renal disease. This is likely related to arterial dysfunction including greater arterial stiffness, and reduced microvascular reactivity of ressistance arteries in African-Americans. In addition, African-Americans have higher levels of inflammatory markers, and a greater sympathoexcitatory response to various stressors. This imbalance between sympathetic and reduced parasympathetic activation may directly affect vascular function and potentiate a greater inflammatory response, further altering key structural and functional properties of the vascular wall. The overall aim of this proposal is to test the effects of endurance exercise training on arterial structure and function, and to examine potential mechanisms producing changes in arterial structure and function in young (18-35 years of age) African Americans when compared to Caucasians. We will examine these effects at rest and following a low intensity (submaximal cycle ergometry) and high intensity (maximal cycle ergometry) sympathoexcitation at both pre- and post-intervention time points, since sympathoexcitation may elucidate changes not evident at rest. Because African-Americans have higher levels of arterial stiffness, lower microvascular reactivity, greater responses to sympathoexcitation, greater levels of inflammatory markers and greater vasoconstrictive tone, we hypothesize that African-Americans will benefit more (e.g. show greater changes in response to exercise training) and retain these changes longer following de-training, when compared to a matched group of Caucasians. Our specific aims will test: 1) the effects of endurance training on arterial stiffness, conduit artery and microvascular reactivity at rest and following acute sympathoexcitation; 2) the effects of endurance training on arterial remodeling; 3) the effects of endurance training on autonomic function and markers of inflammation. We will utilize a longitudinal design with control, exercise and detraining periods of equal length (8 weeks). Subjects will be tested during week 0 (baseline), at week 8 (following the control period), at week 16 (following the exercise intervention), and again at week 24 (after the de-training period). Subjects will be tested on 3 different days at each testing point, to allow for measuring the response to the two different sympathoexcitatory stimuli (maximal and submaximal exercise). We will utilize a mixed-model experimental design comparing data collected on groups (African-Americans and Caucasians) and longitudinally at four time points using Piecewise Linear Multilevel Modeling. This project will have potentially large public health effects documenting the preventive effects of endurance training in African- Americans, and will provide important mechanistic insight into the role that endurance training plays in improving arterial, autonomic and inflammatory status in young African-Americans and Caucasians. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Vascular and autonomic function, and inflammation are predictors of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity and are precursors of, and contributors to, hypertension, CVD, stroke and renal disease. African-Americans are at greater risk than Caucasians for developing these diseases. This project evaluates the effect of endurance exercise training as a preventive behavioral intervention to lower the risk of these diseases in young African-Americans.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $374,020.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support A central interest in developmental, reproductive, and stem biology is how common precursor cells acquire instruction to differentiate into specialized cell types in various organs. Understanding how cell fates are determined not only satisfies the curiosity onn how tissues form, but also has a great implication in controlling and manipulating the differentiation program for tissue regeneration and therapeutical purposes. The main goal of this proposal is to understand how fetal and adult Leydig cell lineages, the cell types responsible for masculinization and fertility of the male, are established. Fetal and adult Leydig cells are two distinct androgen-producing cells that appear at different developmental stages and exhibit unique morphological and molecular characteristics. Defects in the establishment of fetal and adult Leydig cell populations or their ability to produce hormones have a profound impact on differentiation of male reproductive tract, spermatogenesis, and fertility. It is therefore essential to understand how these two Leydig cell populations arise and their differentiation is regulated. Our preliminary results suggest that fetal and adult Leydig cells originate from a common precursor in fetal life and the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is responsible for the separation of these two Leydig cell lineages from the common precursor population. We therefore propose to 1) investigate the involvement of the Hh in the differentiation of fetal and adult Leydig cells, 2) isolate the putative Leydig cell precursors and examine their ability to differentiate into adult Leydig cells, and 3) examine the contribution of fetal somatic cells to adult Leydig cells. This application will not only provide an insight into the biological basis of cell fate determination in testes, but will also have clinical relevance by identifying processes susceptible to disorders of male sexual development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Disorders of sex development, or congenital defects on sex organs, affect an average of 4000 newborns per day in the world. It is therefore critical to understand the biological basis of sexual development in order to identify the processes responsible for disorders of sex development.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TAYLOR STUDIOS INC | $370,000.00 | Contract | Federally Awarded Contract | Interior Department / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 9/09/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TAYLOR STUDIOS INC | $370,000.00 | Contract | Complete Constructioni of Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center | Interior Department / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 9/06/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FISHER COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #1 | $366,248.29 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kathryn Flaningam | $366,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MAHOMET-SEYMOUR COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT 3 | $361,539.73 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mahomet-Seymour Community Unit School District 3 | $361,539.73 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $357,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The security and economic well-being of our society rests upon the trustworthiness of a vast complex of networked information systems that provide communications, computing, and control to manage our nation?s critical infrastructure systems (power, transportattion, aerospace, telecommunications, health care, emergency response, banking, finance, and e-commerce). These critical infrastructure systems face enormous threats to their operation not only from malicious attacks, but also from their very nature as extremely complex, interconnected, and interdependent systems. The proposed summer REU site, at the Information Trust Institute (ITI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, advances knowledge about techniques for analyzing and improving the security, reliability, and safety of networked information systems. Intellectual Merit: This site has extensive computing resources and includes a team of senior investigators who have previous experience in collaborating with undergraduates in research projects. This effort is based upon projects in two prior highly successful summer undergraduate research internship programs that have resulted in co-authored publications. The topics of research are timely and address the important computing research problem of protecting networked information systems. Broader Impacts. A diverse group of undergraduates is learning how to conduct research and is becoming prepared to pursue graduate studies. The research teams include women and underrepresented minorities. Domestic students in this program are interacting with otherwise supported international students through their research projects and through ethics sessions. Graduate student mentors are learning mentoring skills. The educational effectiveness of the summer program, the ethics sessions, and the mentoring experiences are being assessed. The results of the assessments will be presented at conferences on computer science education and on engineering education.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/10/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Midwest Engineering and Testing, Inc. | $355,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RANTOUL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 137 | $343,984.45 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RANTOUL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 137 | $343,984.45 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $343,882.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This grant provides funds to explore new transportation security system paradigms that are proactive and meet the needs of our national transportation infrastructure. Methodologies from control theory and Markov decision process models and algorithms will be eexplored to create a new generation of security systems that are risk-based and multi-level, and hence, economically and operationally viable, robust, and sustainable. Given that terrorists remain enamored with the drama of disrupting and inflicting damage on our commercial aviation system, aviation security is the primary domain of application for such systems. The requirement to create robust and sustainable transportation infrastructure security systems suggests designs that exploit real-time, up-to-the-minute security information, which makes control theory and Markov decision process models ideally suited to exploit and manage the uncertainty and dynamics inherent in such systems. Feedback mechanisms in control theory models also provide a structure to design and analyze novel, systematic approaches to optimally exploit both existing and future security technology capabilities and information sources. The results of this research will provide a systematic approach to compare and evaluate different types of risk-based, multi-level transportation security system designs and operations that incorporate both new and existing security technologies. This approach also has the potential to be used to design and implement new transportation security systems capable of enhancing the level of security attainable given the security resources and technologies that are currently available or may be available in the next twenty years. The results of this research may also be used to quantify the value of new investments in different types of transportation security technologies, to determine, for example, their potential impact on enhancing aviation security at airports within the nation. Lastly, this research will provide insights into the development of next generation transportation security system paradigm performance specifications that will push forward the boundary of achievable levels of security, given existing and forecasted budgetary constraints.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RENTAL CITY INC | $340,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HERITAGE COMMUNITY UNIT DISTRICT 8 | $328,857.61 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympian Surgical Suites LLC | $328,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $317,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The overall goal of this project is to understand molecular mechanisms by which the nuclear bile acid receptor, farnesoid X receptor (FXR), regulates metabolic homeostasis in normal and diseased states. The specific goal of this application is to elucidate the role of post-translational acetylation and deacetylation of FXR mediated by p300 and SIRT1 in FXR function in normal physiology and in pathological conditions. FXR plays a central role in cholesterol/bile acid, fatty acid, lipoprotein, and glucose metabolism by regulating expression of numerous its target genes. Although such important biological roles of FXR are now known, how FXR activity is regulated remains relatively unknown. Transcriptional cofactors, such as p300 acetylase and SIRT1 deacetylase, modulate receptor activity, not only by histone modification of their target gene chromatin, but also by post-translational modification of the receptor itself. In preliminary studies, we found that FXR is acetylated and deacetylated by p300 and SIRT1, respectively. P300 and SIRT1 antagonize each other's activity in the regulation of FXR transactivation. Down-regulation of p300 altered expression of FXR target genes, such that beneficial changes in lipid and glucose metabolic profiles would be expected. FXR acetylation was dynamically regulated under normal physiological states but surprisingly, FXR acetylation levels were substantially elevated in ob/ob mouse liver. Specific lysine residues in FXR were identified as acetylation sites by mass spectrometry and mutation analyses. Interestingly, mutation of these individual sites had different effects on FXR transactivation activity. These intriguing results led us to hypothesize first, that acetylation profoundly modulates FXR activity and is dynamically regulated by p300 and SIRT1 under normal physiological conditions but is highly elevated under metabolic disease and stress conditions and second, that FXR acetylation at different sites may have distinct functional outcomes in normal and disease states by regulating different FXR target genes. To test our hypothesis, we will: 1) determine whether p300 and SIRT1 are critical in vivo cofactors of FXR by down-regulation of these cofactors in cultured cells and in vivo ; 2) identify acetylated sites in FXR and determine the effects of mutations of these sites on FXR function in vitro, in cultured cells, and in vivo; and 3) determine whether FXR acetylation is dysregulated in pathophysiological conditions and the role of acetylation at specific sites in the disease pathology. Our studies will provide substantial insight into the molecular mechanism of FXR action in vivo and information that may be important for the development of novel therapeutic agents for metabolic disorders, such as fatty liver (liver steatosis), hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The bile acid receptor FXR has important biological roles in cholesterol and bile acid homeostasis, triglyceride and lipoprotein metabolism, and glucose regulation in the liver, but how the activity of FXR is regulated remains largely unknown. Our studies to define how FXR acetylation controls FXR activity in health and disease states will provide important information about the mechanisms regulating levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoproteins, and glucose which are abnormal in diseases such as hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and diabetes. The studies may also facilitate the design of therapeutic agents for treating these metabolic disorders.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 7/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| JLP Champaign, LLC | $315,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $315,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The crystallographic textures generated by dry sliding wear in metallic elements and alloys are investigated in this project. These crystallographic textures develop in the severely plastically deformed (SPD) nanograin layers that are produced by wear just bellow the sliding surfaces, and extend over a depth of the order of one micrometer. In contrast to textures produced by metal-forming processes such as rolling, drawing, or extrusion, there is only partial and scattered data on wear-induced textures. This is despite the fact that texture is known to affect friction and wear. The main objectives of this research are firstly to investigate systematically the effects of wear parameters, such as load, sliding velocity, and temperature, and material parameters, such as twinning tendency and initial grain size, on texturing. Textures are evaluated by electron backscattering diffraction in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Secondly, since standard methods do not provide a direct measurement of plastic strain in the SPD layer owing to grain fragmentation, a specific method is implemented where pre-existing nanoscale precipitates are used as markers. TEM characterization of the precipitate shape evolution provides direct measurement of plastic strain. Thirdly, the mechanical properties of the textured nanograined layers are determined by combining indentation and scratch tests, both at the micro and nanoscale using nanotribometry. Integration of all these results will contribute to designing a strategy to select materials with improved friction and wear response by taking advantage of the crystallographic texturing induced by sliding wear. The impact of the proposed research is broadened by developing and integrating 2 modules, one on wear and the other one on texture, into an existing senior laboratory course and by providing research experience for undergraduate students. The research also benefits from an international collaboration with an institution in France on texture induced by severe plastic deformation. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Premature wear is the primary cause of failure of many mechanical systems, leading to losses estimated to well over 100 billion dollars in the U.S. alone. The development of materials with lower friction coefficient and improved wear resistance could reduce these losses as well as improve energy consumption. To that end, the present research aims at developing the knowledge and understanding of the crystallographic textures, i.e. the distribution of crystallographic orientations of grains in a polycrystalline material, that are stabilized by dry sliding wear in metallic materials. While texture control is widely used in industry to optimize the processing and the properties of use of materials, lack of knowledge has prevented until now the application of a similar approach to guide the design and the selection of wear resistant materials. The proposed research attempts to bridge this knowledge gap by taking advantage of important advances in characterization techniques such as orientation imaging microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, as well as in nanoscale mechanical testing. The research will provide education for one graduate and three undergraduate students in the important technological field of wear. Special effort will be made to recruit female and underrepresented minority students. An international collaboration with an investigator in France will also be established.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/04/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $309,748.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The broad goal of this research is to use engineering approaches to identify fundamental mechanisms and biological design rules that control the assembly and stability of intercellular junctions in tissues. This research focuses on a class of proteins, cadheriins, which are essential for the formation and maintainenance of organized tissues. Engineering approaches, including nanomechanics, cell manipulation, and surface chemical modification will address three key aspects of cadherin function that are central to cadherin's role in developmental biology, tissue formation, and bioengineering: specifically, (1) the physical chemical basis of selective cell-to-cell adhesion, (2) molecular mechanism(s) of cadherin activation and affinity modulation by a novel class of activating (and potentially therapeutic) antibodies, and (3) mechanical transduction between cells and the link between cadherin subtype, adhesion biophysics, and cadherin-dependent intracellular signaling. The broad impact of this program derives from its direct relevance to bioengineering and human health and from its educational impact through outreach to women and minorities at both the pre-college and undergraduate levels. Cadherins are essential for tissue genesis and they maintain the structural integrity of all solid tissues; consequently, the results of this program will impact several areas of bioengineering and basic cell biology, including, neural development, embryogenesis, cancer, diseases of the intestinal epithelium, vascular leakage diseases, wound healing, tissue regeneration, stem cell differentiation, and tissue engineering. For example, in collaboration with B. Gumbiner at the University of Virginia Medical School, the research team will uniquely determine the mechanism(s) of cadherin affinity modulation by novel, cadherin-activating antibodies, which could potentially treat a wide range of cadherin-related diseases. Investigations of cadherin binding and intracellular signaling will further identify physical and bio-chemical mechanisms that may contribute to cell segregation, tissue patterning, and possibly tissue-specific functions during tissue formation, repair, and regeneration. These investigations will also identify biochemical and biophysical parameters that are required to mimic cell-cell. The full abstract is available at www.research.gov... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ginger Asian Bistro | $306,000.00 | Loan | 504 Certified Development Loans TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS BY PROVIDING LONG TERM FINANCING THROUGH THE SALE OF DEBENTURES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $306,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Skin is our largest organ, serving critical roles in fluid homeostasis, thermoregulation, immune surveillance, and self-healing. Disease and/or the loss of major portions of a human's skin can be disabling and potentially life threatening, and is a major healtth problem in the U.S. and throughout the world. Stem cells play a critical role in repairing and regenerating many tissues, including the skin. Elucidating the roles that stem cells play in the skin will therefore have a significant impact on not only our fundamental understanding of stem cell dynamics, but also on our treatment of skin diseases, for replacing skin in medical applications, or in rejuvenating skin in our aging population. Recent advances in optical imaging techniques offer an unprecedented combination of high spatiotemporal imaging resolution that can now be applied to visualizing the complex three-dimensional (3-D) dynamics of skin stem cells within normal skin, and in response to skin injury and skin replacement, such as after grafting engineered skin replacements. The intellectual merit of this proposal is represented for the first time by an advanced optical biomedical imaging approach for elucidating the complex dynamics of skin stem cells in vivo and within engineered skin grafts. The hypothesis of this research is that optical coherence and multi-photon microscopy, in an integrated platform, can uniquely track and quantify the different dynamic 3-D in vivo stem cell behaviors in and around autologous and allogeneic engineered skin grafts. With the recent discovery of the skin stem cell niche located within the bulge region of hair follicles, many questions arise as to the dynamic behavior of these stem cells as they migrate from the bone marrow and into the skin niche, as well as in and out of the niche in response to skin injury and disease. This project therefore has intellectual merit in four areas. First, an advanced integrated microscope capable of simultaneous optical coherence and multi-photon microscopy will be utilized to uniquely visualize the structural and functional relationships of stem cells within in vivo skin. Second, this project investigates and longitudinally images in 3-D the migration patterns and dynamics of skin stem cells. This will provide fundamental insight into the role they play in maintaining the function and health of skin. Third, the effects of skin injury, induced by the placement of an autologous skin graft (skin punch biopsy), will be investigated, providing insight into the stem cell dynamics in the healing response. Fourth, this project will longitudinally image the stem cell and tissue responses in vivo following the grafting of allogeneic engineered skin constructs, contributing significantly to the understanding of how skin stem cells interact with engineered tissue grafts within biological hosts. The development and application of more quantitative imaging techniques to analyze the dynamics at the single-cell or cell-population levels will provide further insight into the ability to understand the role of skin stem cells, and ultimately provide a better approach for the treatment of human pathologies that require skin grafting. Taken together, this project is novel in each of these four areas, and the use of these advanced imaging techniques to carry out these investigations is transformative for the fields of stem cell biology and tissue engineering. Considering the broader scope, the outcome of this project is likely to have a significant and broad impact on both the fundamental and clinical understanding on how stem cells behave dynamically in vivo. This project addresses major challenges in stem cell biology and tissue engineering: how to visualize and track cells and small populations of cells in vivo, in 3-D, and longitudinally over time in highly-scattering engineered and natural tissues. The complete abstract for this award is available in Research.gov at: www.research.gov.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/03/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Village of Savoy | $305,000.00 | Grant | Highway Planning and Construction Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant: Areas with Population equal to or less than 200K | Transportation Department / Federal Highway Administration | 8/10/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $304,846.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The broad, long-term objective of the work proposed herein is to validate a novel strategy for anti-cancer therapy. A hallmark of cancerous cells is their ability to resist apoptosis and become immortal. This resistance is typically due to mutations in or aberrrant expression of a wide variety of proteins in the apoptotic cascade. These alterations are effectively 'breaks' in the apoptotic circuitry, which prevent proapoptotic signals from being transmitted to activate procaspase-3 to caspase-3. Caspase-3 is the major 'executioner' caspase that is responsible for the proteolysis of hundreds of cellular substrates. Interestingly, procaspase-3 levels are elevated in a variety of cancers, but the defective apoptotic machinery simply cannot activate this zymogen. Described herein is an anti-cancer strategy to directly activate, with a small molecule, procaspase-3 to active caspase-3. In exciting preliminary results we have, through high-throughput screening, identified a procaspase-3 activating compound that we call PAC-1. In cell culture, PAC-1 induces apoptotic cell death, and its potency is directly proportional to the amount of procaspase-3 present in the cell. PAC-1 also powerfully induced apoptotic death in cells from primary colon tumors, with a potency strictly dependent on the amount of procaspase-3 in the cells. We have shown PAC-1 to be active in three different mouse models of cancer. In the proposed work we will use this discovery of PAC-1 as a springboard to probe the apoptotic pathways, evaluate the pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and toxicity of PAC-1 and derivatives in mice, and elucidate the biochemical mechanism by which PAC-1 activates procaspase-3. Public health relevance. Cancer has now overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in the U.S and is an enormous public health problem. Mutations in the fundamental cell death machinery enable cancerous cells to resist natural defenses and chemotherapeutic treatments. We propose a strategy by which we will completely bypass the mutated circuitry and activate the death pathway in cancer cells, thus killing the cancer and saving the life of the patient.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/31/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $304,440.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The introduction of exotic species to native communities has caused considerable ecological and economic damage to agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Research suggests this damage occurs in part due to a mismatch of evolutionary histories between the nativee and exotic species: native species are constrained by a complex web of interactions between species that has developed over millennia, but because exotic species evolved in a different part of the world, they are not involved in these co-evolved webs in their new range. However, evidence shows that both exotic and native species can evolve rapidly after the new species has been introduced. This project seeks to understand how rapid evolutionary changes in garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), one of the most aggressive invaders of eastern North America, and in native plants will affect their 'evolutionary mismatch' over time. If, as predicted, rapid evolution acts to enmesh garlic mustard into the web of interactions with the native species, this may act to constrain the spread and impact of this devastating invader. The broader impacts of this research include management applications, training of undergraduate students, and educational outreach to high school classrooms. Land managers will benefit from understanding how the impact of an invasive species changes over time. The PI and collaborators will develop a citizen scientist network involving high school classrooms in which students conduct experiments on their local population of garlic mustard. The combined data will provide valuable information for the scientific goals of this project, while also providing students with hands-on experience in the scientific process.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/12/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $303,444.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Heritage speakers are adults who grew up hearing and even speaking a language other English but who are now more comfortable in English. Recent studies of heritage speakers have documented incomplete acquisition of aspects of inflectional morphology and syntaxx. This project investigates heritage languages as linguistic systems in their own right and their accompanying patterns of incomplete acquisition. The research questions addressed are 1) Which specific aspects of a native speaker's full grammar are systematically affected under incomplete acquisition and 2) What language-internal and language-external factors contribute to the vulnerability of particular grammatical features? The project investigates these questions with respect to the domain of Differential Object Marking (DOM): the overt morphological marking of some direct objects. Previous results demonstrate the fragility of DOM and dative case marking in Spanish heritage speakers. This research will study DOM in Spanish, Hindi and Romanian heritage speakers. These three languages were chosen because the salience of the DOM marker varies: it is a vocalic preposition in Spanish (a), a syllabic preposition in Romanian (pe), and a syllabic post-position in Hindi (-ko). The project will test the hypothesis that the acoustic salience of the object marker contributes to its erosion or retention in these heritage languages. Experimental data will be collected from native speakers with full command of the language, and heritage speakers of each language who were born in or immigrated to the United States in childhood. Extensive language background questionnaires and oral/written production, comprehension and grammaticality judgment tasks will be used. The study is one of the first theoretically informed large-scale investigations of the acquisition of DOM in different heritage languages, and the first study on Hindi and Romanian heritage speakers. Since the experimental design includes a sizable number of fluent native speakers of Spanish, Hindi and Romanian, the results will also add to existing studies of DOM. This research will impact Spanish, Hindi and Romanian linguistics, and linguistic theory in general. More centrally, it will have theoretical implications for first language acquisition and language maintenance/loss in bilingual settings. It will shed light on the range of early bilingual acquisition as a function of age and linguistic environment. It will provide information on how age of second language acquisition affects linguistic competence in heritage language speakers. Most importantly, by identifying what heritage speakers retain from childhood, what biographical factors contribute to language maintenance, as well as potential linguistic gaps in their knowledge, the results will inform the teaching of heritage languages. Heritage language instruction is a new field in urgent need of solid basic research findings from which to build sound pedagogical materials.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/16/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $302,990.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Kruppel-type zinc finger (ZNF) loci comprise one of the largest human gene families. In mammals, the majority of ZNF genes are of a single subtype, encoding proteins in which DMA-binding zinc finger arrays are attached to a chromatin-interacting domain, called KRAB, which confers a potent transcriptional repressor activity. Although certain KRAB-ZNF genes are highly conserved, ongoing segmental duplication events have created largely unique gene sets in each mammalian lineage, and significant intraspecies diversity as well. More than one-third of human KRAB- ZNF loci are primate-specific, and even the most recent duplicate genes have diverged in ways that indicate a selection for novel proteins with distinct DNA recognition sites. This single gene family comprises one-fifth of all predicted human transcription factor loci, and available data suggest broad roles in regulating processes that are critical to human health. We hypothesize that this dynamic gene family has played a significant role in shaping human health-related biology, including both deeply conserved and primate-specific traits. This funding represents an amendment to our previously funded research program, adding new technology our ability to identify DNA binding sites the KRAB-ZNF proteins. The original program focuses on 20 genes involved in the most recent primate-specific gene duplications, giving rise to genes that are found only in higher primates. Members of this KRAB-ZNF subclass vary significantly between species making them excellent candidates as genetic determinants of species-specific traits. Many are also variant within the human population, indicating a role in individual susceptibility to disease. As part of the originally funded project we are in the process of (1) determining genes and pathways that are regulated by each ZNF protein by manipulating gene expression in human cells; (2) defining genomic regions to which the ZNF proteins bind DNA using chromatin immunoprecipitation techniques; and (3) identifying and validating consensus DNA motifs that serve as favored recognition sites for each protein. This amendment adds a newly developed technology, called 'ChiP-seq' to greatly enhance our ability to identify and verify DNA binding sites (Aims 3 and 4). The amendment also adds the informatics support required to analyze ChIP-seq data and to integrate the results into a larger picture of KRAB-ZNF gene variation and its role in human biology. This study provides a first in-depth look at functions for this large family of human transcriptional repressors and a basis for predicting the impact of the gain, loss, and mutation of KRAB-ZNF genes on human health.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $301,350.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project addresses multi-scale characterization and modeling bone, with a focus on identifying the differences between normal and osteoporotic bone. Osteoporosis is a silent bone disease which is characterized by low bone density and deterioration of bone structure resulting in bone fragility and an increased risk of fractures. The combined experimental and modeling approaches will link the image-based characterization techniques (measuring structure, composition, and properties) and computational methods (using mechanics, physics and mathematics tools) to yield a more complete information on properties of bone; methods are applicable to the analysis of other biological and synthetic materials. This research will advance understanding of structure-property relations in bone and will lead to the development of tools for an early diagnosis of osteoporosis. It will also will benefit the field of orthopedics and will lead to a better understanding of bone fractures, stresses around implants, and the effects of bone diseases on mechanical properties of bone. In addition, the results of this research will give guidance on the design of bioinspired structural materials.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $300,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The focus of this project is to perform the basic theoretical and experimental research for a novel method of water desalination using solar energy. A key element of the proposed process is to use seawater as the working fluid and to maintain independence fromm sources of energy other than solar. A novel aspect of the process is to employ a high temperature solar collector fluid (~ 1000 deg. C) and to couple steam and power generation with the thermal desalination component. Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) will be coupled to a closed power cycle driven by steam from a direct solar-thermal input, a concept known as Concentrated Solar Power Desalination of Seawater (CSP-DSW). The prediction of the performance of thermo-hydraulic devices will be based on numerical simulations of two-phase flow in channels using Lattice Boltzmann methods for multiphase flows and employing realistic equations of state. The PIs will focus on the design of a thermal desalination system, which will initially be used for the model verification at UIUC before it is transported to Cyprus and integrated with the solar collection and turbine systems. The thermal desalination test bed will be designed with the ability to operate both indirect and direct desalination modes. The work on the direct desalination methods will focus on exploiting the higher temperatures available from the solar collection component to prevent fouling by the brine. Although they represent thermodynamically inefficient and high-risk concepts, such experimental systems constitute indispensable test beds for the study of new technologies, new materials, and the validation of the numerical simulation tools. The development of a relatively compact thermal desalination system affords flexibility and allows radically different experimental approaches, not possible with large-scale systems. The PIs have been involved in the Concentrated Solar Power ?Desalination of Seawater (CSP-DSW) project of the Cyprus Institute, sponsored by the government of Cyprus and the European Union. CSP-DSW is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Cyprus Institute, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In terms of the broader impacts, this high-risk project has the potential to guide the design of a solar-based process to produce both electrical energy and freshwater with little CO2 production. Cyprus currently has two desalination facilities, and there is interest in developing this technology for use in regions with high solar flux including the Mediterranean region. This project is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $300,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Research project. At the heart of each eukaryotic cell is the nucleus, a complex structure highly organized into many distinct functional domains to perform two fundamental roles: the maintenance of the genome and the distribution of the genetic information. AAmong the sub-nuclear domains are the sites where genes are transcribed into pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) molecules. As they are being synthesized, pre-mRNAs undergo a series of complex processing events to produce the messenger RNAs that are subsequently used for the synthesis of proteins. One of these events, splicing, requires the five major small ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs). Despite the critical catalytic role of snRNPs in splicing, little is still known about the cellular mechanisms that regulate their recruitment to pre-mRNAs. This program aims at moving the analysis of snRNPs to the amphibian oocyte, a unique cell system where direct visualization of individual transcription sites and other sub-nuclear domains is possible in the transmitted light microscope. The main objective, using this in vivo system, is to determine the characteristic elements of snRNPs required for their interactions with pre-mRNAs and their co-transcriptional splicing activity. In frog oocytes, the sites of active transcription correspond to the lateral loops of the lampbrush chromosomes (LBCs). The research is based on two newly developed assays, which permits one to follow the association of snRNPs with the lateral loops of LBCs and to determine whether pre-mRNA splicing occurs on these loops, respectively. In the long term, these studies will contribute to the general understanding of the cellular mechanisms that govern the functional organization of an active transcription unit, and how various subnuclear domains interact to regulate pre-mRNA processing. Broader Impacts. The giant size of an amphibian oocyte and its ease of manipulation make it particularly amenable to an active outreach program. Indeed, showing chromosomes and genes being actively transcribed in a fluorescence microscope to students of all levels (undergraduate and highschool) always succeeds at capturing their interest, while introducing them to the principles of experimental science. The investigator will use the research to continue fostering relations with teachers at neighboring high schools and community colleges, contributing to the development of strong curricula and providing their students, including women and minorities, with research internships. The goal is to provide teachers with scientific support and to expose students to research in an academic setting, while facilitating their transition from small high schools and community colleges to large undergraduate campuses.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/20/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4 | $299,996.51 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4 | $299,996.51 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $299,524.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Alarming numbers of pathogenic bacteria are now resistant to multiple antibiotics. This problem is perhaps most pressing for two common hospital-borne pathogens, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In tthe case of VRE, the resistance genes are encoded on large plasmids. Interestingly, through a survey of multiple VRE isolates we have discovered that these plasmids use toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems to maintain themselves in the bacterial host. In this system, if a plasmid-free daughter cell arises during cell division the labile antitoxin is degraded and the toxin kills the cell. We have pursued an antibacterial strategy based on the identification of small molecules that activate the latent toxin proteins in the bacterial cell; these compounds would thus induce cell death. Through surveys of VRE, MRSA, Staphylococcus sp., and P. aeruginosa, we have found that three particular TA systems are prevalent: CcdAB, RelBE, and MazEF. Through highthroughput cell-based screening we have now identified compounds that kill cells in a CcdAB-dependant fashion, and others that kill in a RelBE-dependent fashion. Described herein is a comprehensive plan designed to fully validate TA disruption as a tractable antibacterial target. This will involved chemical optimization of the lead compounds for CcdAB and RelBE, high-throughput screening to identify compounds that activate the toxins from these three TA pairs, and the use of peptides as TA disruptors.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $299,338.00 | Grant | Geologic Sequestration Training and Research Grant Program This proposal outlines a research and teaching strategy to provide cross-disciplinary training opportunities in geology and geomicrobiology in the Department of Geology and the Institute of Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbanaa-Champaign (UIUC) in the emerging field of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The project will take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the drilling of CCS injection and monitoring wells, in conjunction with a Phase III large-scale CCS demonstration project operating at the Illinois Basin - Decatur Site in the Illinois Basin under the direction of the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) and the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). The research aspect of the project focuses on collecting and identifying microbes in subsurface samples from the Mt. Simon Sandstone, a candidate CCS reservoir, both before and after injection of CO2, to observe how CO2 injection impacts the genetic composition of the subsurface microbial community. Since subsurface microbes constitute over 50% of the biomass on this planet, it is important to know whether large-scale injection is a risk that can alter subsurface ecosystems. Participants will also analyze sidewall rock cores to characterize the cements and the diagenetic features of the sandstone, to set a baseline for future studies of how CO2 injection affects permeability. To ensure that a broad group of students and faculty gain insight into CCS issues, the PIs will mentor graduate and undergraduate students, and will develop CCS-focused classroom/field courses and seminars. The program provides an excellent opportunity for participants to develop the background necessary to establish longer-term research in CCS-related geology and geomicrobiology. Further, the program provides an opportunity to collaborate with a regional sequestration partnership to provide hands-on, applied learning experiences. Und... Show more | Energy Department | 12/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| URBANA SCHOOL DISTRICT #116 | $297,718.09 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Urbana School District 116 | $297,718.09 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $296,317.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project is for the continued development of a Helium (He) 1083nm resonance bistatic lidar which will achieve the first lidar measurements of the upper thermosphere. A key element in the lidar design and construction has already been attained: a tunable 100-Watt continuous-wave solid-state narrow band laser transmitter operating at 1083 nm has been developed at the Principal Investigator (PI) institution. The next tasks to be completed are to (1) upgrade the existing laser and sensor elements; (2) demonstrate the lidar's capability through field measurements; and (3) increase the transmitter power and implement frequency shifting. The first task involves implementing a frequency lock of the transmitter to the He resonance line. The second task will test the frequency-locked transmitter by measuring metastable He densities at Magdalena Ridge Observatory near Socorro, New Mexico, at an altitude of 10,500 feet and comparing them with model calculations. The third task continues instrument development by increasing the transmitter power to 50 W and implementing frequency shifting in order to Doppler sample the He distribution from which temperatures and winds can be derived. In terms of broader impacts, the new lidar will open new areas of study in both theory and experiment as well as in advanced laser technology. It will provide correlative information for current upper atmosphere instruments such as incoherent scatter radar and imagers. Graduate and undergraduate students are heavily involved in the research activities and will acquire broad training in instrument design, development, testing, calibration, and operation, as well as signal processing and data analysis and interpretation. The new lidar will be used as a hands-on laboratory tool for one of the engineering courses at the PI institution. Finally, the project does have the potential to be transformative, both in furthering lidar design and development and in providing a new observing capability to upper atmospheric science.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $290,403.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Biologically active suspensions, of which a bath of swimming bacteria is a paradigmatic example, are fluid systems whose microstructure is alive and motile. As the system's 'active particles' propel themselves through the surrounding fluid, they produce disturrbance flows that communicate their motions to other swimmers, thereby altering their swimming direction and speed. This reciprocal interaction can result in correlated, large-scale, and complex fluid flows that move on length- and time-scales much larger than those of any single swimmer. These swimmer-driven flows have important implications for the evolution and survival of micro-organismal colonies, as they impact nutrient delivery through both particle transport and fluid mixing, and may also play a role in other important phenomena such as quorum sensing and biofilm formation. They are also fundamental examples of non-equilibrium pattern-forming systems. In this project, we propose to further deepen our understanding of biologically active suspensions using a combination of analytical models and numerical simulations. The research will focus on the modeling and analysis of the coherent structures that arise in these systems and on their relation to fluid mixing. Specifically the effect of boundaries and boundary conditions, confinement, and system scale will be examined. New multiscale approaches allowing hundreds of thousands of interacting swimmers to be simulated will also be developed, thus approaching biological realism. As a result of this study, an improved theoretical understanding of active suspensions will be achieved and will reveal the core biophysical mechanisms underlying nutrient transport and mixing in colonies of motile microorganisms. It may also shed light on the evolution of locomotory strategies, particularly for microorganisms that live and thrive cooperatively, as in biofilms. The broader impacts of this research lie in the importance of active suspensions to several key areas of science, including biology, human health and medicine, soft-condensed matter physics, and engineering. An understanding of active suspensions and what drives (or stops) their large-scale mixing could lead to new ways of controlling infection. It provides to physics a well-characterized example of nonequilibrium pattern formation arising in biology, and in engineering this understanding could lead to new devices that exploit biological materials for tasks such as mixing and pumping. This project's impact also lies in the development of new and important areas of inquiry for applied and computational mathematics, and in its adding to the theoretical and computational tool-kit that applied mathematicians and theoretical engineers can bring to problems in biological and complex fluid dynamics.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $288,811.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This grant provides funding for the development of a high performance computational method for the fast and accurate pricing of various option contracts with non-standard payoffs. The proposed research results will be used to price such option contracts in stoochastic volatility and jump models which relax the restrictive assumptions of the widely used Black-Scholes-Merton model. A method based on the Hilbert transform will be used to price Bermudan style vanilla, lookback and barrier options in pure jump Levy process models, certain Asian equity and interest rate options in square root models, as well as option contracts in multi-asset models. The method will also be applied to efficiently invert an analytic characteristic function to obtain the cumulative distribution function of a random variable, and to simulate pure jump Levy processes and processes with stochastic volatilities. Option contracts are widely used by corporations and fund managers to hedge against financial risks they face due to the fluctuation of interest rates, currency exchange rates, and equity prices. Many option contracts have complicated payoffs, depending on the maximum, minimum, or average of the underlying financial variable, to satisfy specific hedging requirements. Most option contracts can be exercised before their maturities. The commonly used Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model significantly underestimates risks that are associated with these derivative products. If successful, the results of the proposed research will lead to accurate and efficient pricing of many important classes of option contracts when risks associated with the underlying financial variables are modeled in more appropriate ways. The research results will also contribute to various application areas in applied probability, engineering, and economics.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/25/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $288,696.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This grant provides funding for the development of mathematical models integrating production, inventory and pricing decisions in a host of centralized/decentralized supply chain systems as well as the development of efficient algorithms to solve these models.. A common theme throughout this proposal is to build and analyze comprehensive inventory and pricing models taking into account a variety of real-world issues and design efficient computational algorithms for solving these models. A major emphasis of this proposed research is to develop inventory and pricing models that incorporate knowledge of pertinent consumer behavior and supply chain risk management models that integrate operations and finance decisions. The PI also plans to analyze and design collaboration mechanisms for complex decentralized supply chains that may include retailers competing or cooperating on inventory and pricing. If successful, the proposed research will greatly advance our knowledge base of important and challenging supply chain models. Equally important, the proposed research has the potential to provide new tools and methodologies to effectively manage supply chains and thus improve companies' competitive advantage. The advanced mathematical models and algorithms to be explored in this proposal will serve as a basis for the development of the much needed theory that will allow to cut across traditional organizational barriers within a firm and across companies and improve supply chain efficiencies.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/21/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $285,806.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start This action awards a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase of 1.84% in the amount of $52,244 for Head Start and $18,904 for Early Head Start. These funds must be obligated to pay for staff salaries over the 12-month period following the effective date of this grant or within thhe 12 months after staff return to work in the summer/fall of 2009. This action also awards quality improvement funds of $164,399 for Head Start and $50,259 for Early Head Start. These funds are available for obligation over the entire project period of the grant, which ends September 30, 2010. The client population consists of 435 children for Head Start and 93 infants, toddlers and pregnant women for Early Head Start.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 6/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $285,806.00 | Grant | ARRA - Head Start This action awards a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase of 1.84% in the amount of $52,244 for Head Start and $18,904 for Early Head Start. These funds must be obligated to pay for staff salaries over the 12-month period following the effective date of this grant or within thhe 12 months after staff return to work in the summer/fall of 2009. This action also awards quality improvement funds of $164,399 for Head Start and $50,259 for Early Head Start. These funds are available for obligation over the entire project period of the grant, which ends September 30, 2010. The client population consists of 435 children for Head Start and 93 infants, toddlers and pregnant women for Early Head Start.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 6/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $280,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The research objective of this award is to develop a science-based design methodology that can be extended to create materials undergoing stress-induced phase transformation with superior properties. The work proposes to advance knowledge in design of new trannsforming materials that potentially exhibit extraordinary shape memory and fatigue properties, and tailored hysteresis with potential applications in transducers, actuators, and sensors. The proposed novel experiments and advanced DIC (digital image correlation) techniques at macro- and micro- scales will simultaneously utilize multiple lenses with high resolution capabilities to establish precisely the onset of phase nucleation and growth, and local strains. The proposed experiments are necessary to guide theoretical treatments. The experiments will provide a critical check on theory, which considers forward and reverse energy paths, and the stress hysteresis is predicted based on the underlying energetics. The work will develop further understanding of mechanical response of emerging, next generation shape memory materials with Ni, Fe, Mn and Ga constituents. This methodology paves the way for designing materials with transformation reversibility tailored for specific applications. Overall, the work will lay the foundation for a better understanding of the mechanical response leading to the development of new shape memory alloys. At the same time, in the case of iron- based alloys, the transformation during processing and in-service controls the mechanical response; predictive models are essential but missing. The educational impacts include the introduction of a course in the engineering curriculum that specifically links the theory and experiment addressing the issues associated with phase transformations. The plan is to incorporate the results of our research in a short course that is offered biannually in the areas of cyclic deformation and fatigue.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/27/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $278,282.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project will produce the first user-friendly identification keys and global classification for the leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae, a diverse, economically and ecologically important group of plant-feeding insects, comprising 980 genera and 6329 speccies. The main goals are to: 1) compile and analyze morphological data for currently recognized genera; 2) assign genera to tribes, with particular emphasis on determining the correct placements of the 277 genera currently included in the large, poorly defined tribe Athysanini; 3) use the data to develop innovative, Internet-accessible interactive keys to tribes and genera; and 4) publish a revised classification, including descriptions, taxonomic lists, illustrations of morphological features useful for identification of all tribes and subtribes, and illustrated keys to tribes and to genera of Athysanini. The current lack of user-friendly identification tools for deltocephaline leafhoppers hinders attempts to track and manage invasive species and agricultural pests, as well as efforts to assess the conservation status of the native grassland biota, which is vulnerable to agricultural intensification and global climate change. Thus, by providing a more stable classification and facilitating identification of deltocephaline leafhoppers, this project will positively impact human welfare and conservation of biodiversity, in addition to facilitating future research on Deltocephalinae.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $272,909.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Spermatogonial stem cells from testes of adult mice and germline stem cells from testes of neonatal mice can generate pluripotent cells with developmental potential similar to embryonic stem (ES) cells. These results suggest that germ cells from the testes coulld be used to provide stem cells for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Hypotheses that ES cells may be derived from germ cells provide a similar impetus for understanding the mechanisms that specify and maintain the germ cell lineage. Current understanding of germ cell specification mechanisms is based largely upon studies of model organisms that utilize cytoplasmic determinants to specify their germ cells (e.g., Drosophila and C. elegans). In contrast, many organisms (including mammals) utilize inductive signals to specify germ cell fate. Studies of inductive specification have been limited almost exclusively to mouse and many questions remain unanswered. For example, are there conserved inductive signals that specify germ cell fate? What are the mechanisms that activate germ cell-specific patterns of gene expression? The freshwater planarian, Schmidtea mediterranea, serves as a useful model for studying these questions. It has prodigious regenerative abilities, based upon a population of stem cells, that allow it to regenerate a complete animal from a tiny body fragment; the germ cell lineage can also be regenerated. This work will capitalize on the functional genomic tools available for studying S. mediterranea to dissect the mechanisms by which inductive signals specify germ cell fate. Microarray analyses will be performed to identify genes that are expressed differentially between animals that have early germ cells and animals that lack them. Next generation sequencing technologies will be utilized to characterize gene expression changes during the initial course of germ cell development. High-throughput in situ hybridization will be used to validate candidate genes identified by these analyses. The functions of these differentially expressed genes will then be examined by RNA interference. These studies have the potential to identify conserved genes that are required for proper germ cell development.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 7/13/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $271,876.00 | Grant |
Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The spread of contagions such as opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and diseases across a national population is a well-known complex problem; the recent fear of avian flu epidemics and financial contagion serve as excellent examples. Other examples include: opinioons, fads, trends, norms, packet diffusion, worm propagation in computer networks and database replication in sensor networks. In this project the investigators propose to develop MTML-Sim: a Multi-Theory Multi-Level (MTML) modeling framework, operating over extremely large dynamic socio-technical networks, in which multiple contagions and behaviors are simultaneously co-evolving by repeated interactions. MTML-Sim will use computational agent-based methods resolved at an individual level to represent and compute the co-evolving dynamics. The goal is to scale MTML-Sim to billions of individual agents connected by multi-level social and information networks, and efficiently execute on 100,000-processor petascale architectures that will come online in the next few years. MTML-Sim will provide practical methods to support academic researchers as well as policy makers before and during large-scale cascades caused by the spread of contagion. The broader impacts of the project will be achieved by tools used to identify critical elements in the socio-technical networks before the start of cascades, and by potential interventions for controlling the cascades based on the understanding of the effects of individual and group behavior within the dynamically evolving socio-technical networks.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $1,182,800.00 allocation. See details |
National Science Foundation | 8/19/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $270,321.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The PI will undertake research in harmonic analysis, and partial differential equations (PDE). In PDE, the focus is on the dynamical properties of Schrodinger evolution (SE). One subject of on-going research is dispersive estimates for SE. He will also work onn mathematical problems on non-linear SE motivated by the numerical studies in fiber optic communication systems. In harmonic analysis, he focuses on problems in Euclidean spaces centered around Lebesgue norm inequalities. In particular, he proposes to continue his investigations on restriction estimates relative to fractal measures, and on their applications in PDE and geometric measure theory. He also proposes to continue his research on the mapping properties of generalized Radon transforms (GRT) -- a huge class of averaging operators over lower dimensional submanifolds of Euclidean spaces. By applying the techniques developed for Kakeya problems, he obtained interesting results in some cases. The results on the mapping properties of GRT have important applications in Fourier restriction phenomenon and in general in the summability theory of multi-dimensional Fourier series. Harmonic analysis has always found wide applications in natural sciences and engineering. It underlies a powerful and diverse array of tools currently widely used in applications, and offers the promise of further applications in the future. The proposed research deals with foundational issues which may ultimately help to underpin such future applications. The proposed research on nonlinear SE are directly motivated by the engineering problems in fiber optic communication systems, and the methods used are likely to be useful in a range of applications. The study of the mapping properties of GRT has various applications in engineering. For example, the X-ray transform (which is a particular GRT) applied to the density function of a patients body is essentially the data obtained by magnetic resonance imaging. The study of Fourier restriction, summability theory of multi-dimensional Fourier series, and dispersive estimates are irreplaceable tools in the study of a wide class of PDE. The proposed research would make a contribution to the general understanding of these problems. The planned research is also related to certain discrete problems of interest in combinatorics and number theory, which in most cases remain wide open.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 5/21/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $269,059.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The research objective of this award is to develop a method for system identification that is applicable to a general class of dynamical systems with nonlinear, time-varying and non-smooth effects. This is dictated by the realization that as engineering systemms become more complex reflecting multi-physical effects and possessing responses across different time and frequency scales, the likelihood exists that they will exhibit strongly nonlinear and nonstationary behavior, sensitive to initial and forcing conditions and parameter uncertainty. Examples include structures with loose mechanical joints undergoing vibro-impacts, and ultra-flexible structural components with strong geometric nonlinearities. The approach relies solely upon direct time series measurement and post-processing, leading to dual global / local identification of the dynamics and data-driven reduced order models (ROMs). Key to this approach are slow/fast partitions of the measured time series, which when combined with powerful post-processing algorithms lead to identification of the dimensionality of the governing dynamics and derivation of accurate ROMs with many applications, including control-oriented design, condition monitoring, and damage detection. If successful, this research can have immediate impact and be transformative in the fields of system identification and structural health monitoring. Indeed, the capacity of the proposed method to separate smooth from non-smooth effects in measured time series allows for rapid detection of non-smooth dynamics often associated with damage (i.e., cracks, failed bearing, etc.). Results will be disseminated to encourage application. Outreach activities will be undertaken, particularly in the vicinity of New Mexico State University (NMSU) which has a large population of underrepresented minority students, through mentoring programs, laboratory visits by high school students, and teacher training in the area of dynamical systems. The PIs plan to work with the Society of Hispanic Engineers and the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation, and other organizations at NMSU to increase the enrollment and graduation rate of underrepresented groups in engineering.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/20/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PARKLAND COLLEGE | $263,622.00 | Grant | Federal Pell Grant Program GRANT PROGRAM | Education Department / DOED - Student Financial Assistance Programs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lanz Heating & Cooling Inc. | $262,000.00 | Loan | 504 Certified Development Loans TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS BY PROVIDING LONG TERM FINANCING THROUGH THE SALE OF DEBENTURES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ohana Pools Spas & Billards, Inc. | $258,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CARPET ADVANTAGE COMPANY | $250,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees RURAL LENDER ADVANTAGE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $250,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The methods for production of most ceramic materials depend on a small amount of chemical additions that distribute non-uniformly within the material; these small amounts can dominate a ceramic?s utility. These chemicals often produce additional crystalline orr glassy features. By selecting the right chemicals additives it is often possible promote particular features; such approaches can often reduce the cost of production or significantly improve the properties of the material. Unfortunately, it remains an ongoing challenge to predict which chemicals should be selected for any particular system and thus progress relies on trial and error. A new approach to predicting potential chemical additives will be developed by understanding how the different crystalline and glassy features compete energetically and kinetically during their formation. A combination of various experimental and theoretical techniques will be employed to achieve this goal.The results will provide an important new predictive approach to engineering chemistry in ceramics that may lead to cost reduction and performance improvement for a variety of products. The project will fund and train two doctoral students in materials science, engineering, and teamwork throughout its duration. As part of a science outreach program, short media clips of exciting scientific phenomena will be produced for inclusion on popular viral web-media outlets such as www.YOUTube.com. TECHNICAL DETAILS: Grain boundary complexions (such as intergranular films) are analogous to grain boundary ?phases? whose stability is dependent on temperature, chemistry, and grain boundary crystallography; their thickness and structure are thermodynamic equilibrium properties. Recent studies show that complexions depend on processing and determine properties of a number of technologically important ceramic systems. Existing approaches to predicting susceptible systems are inadequate and much of our knowledge in this realm is empirical. Recent preliminary results indicate that equilibrium with relation to complexions is often not achieved and that it is important to consider competing processes such as precipitation. Furthermore, complexions will change their composition and structure in use and may serve as nucleation sites for grain boundary precipitates. Like other ?phase? selection problems in materials, this one requires a combined understanding of activation barriers, equilibrium thermodynamics, and kinetics. It is hypothesized that the activation energies of the competing processes have a dominant effect on this ?phase? selection that dramatically impacts the ultimate microstructural evolution and properties. This novel approach holds the possibility to fundamentally reshape how scientists and engineers approach this problem. The proposed work will quantify the relevant parameters necessary for determining the activation energies and change in free energy associated with the two processes, in a model ceramic system, using a combination of experimental and theoretical techniques. Graduate students will carry out this work and will be trained in such techniques as scanning probe microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, calculated phase diagram methods, and diffuse-interface phase field approaches. The results will form the basis for new additive selection criteria for ceramics based on manipulating grain boundary complexions.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/05/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST JOSEPH-OGDEN COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT #305 | $249,902.08 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $249,148.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Land is an integral component of the climate system and changes in land cover can significantly influence terrestrial weather and climate. This project aims to investigate regional-scale vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks over seasonal timescales in the context oof deforestation in Rondonia, a Brazilian state in southwestern Amazonia. Deforestation along highways and secondary roads has created a unique 'fishbone' pattern that forces organized mesoscale circulations similar to sea-breezes, often referred to as 'vegetation breezes.' These vegetation breezes affect local hydrometeorology, enhancing cumulus clouds and convective precipitation over the deforested patches. This project will test the hypothesis that deforestation in Rondonia exerts a negative feedback on itself via the atmospheric pathway. The hydrometeorological effects of fishbone deforestation are most prominent during the dry and transition seasons when excess rainfall can enhance plant growth over deforested regions. This constitutes a negative feedback because accelerated vegetation recovery over deforested patches partially compensates for the effects of deforestation. This project will also study the role of background hydrometeorology in the vegetation-atmosphere feedback process. In particular, it will investigate if the system exhibits threshold behavior, i.e., whether the response to deforestation can switch from a negative (self-healing) to a positive (runaway) feedback if the background temperature, precipitation and cloud cover exceed certain threshold values. Sensitivity studies will be conducted with a plant growth model to estimate the magnitudes of these thresholds, if present. This will be among the first studies on vegetation-atmosphere mesoscale feedbacks in the coupled biosphere-atmosphere system over an intermediate scale - regional in space and seasonal in time, thereby filling the spectral gap between the turbulence and climate scales. The project will support and train a Ph.D student and also an undergraduate intern to develop the java-version of the dynamic vegetation model. This model will be used as a hands-on tool in a course for students to conduct simple numerical experiments and explore key processes driving biosphere-atmosphere interactions. It will contribute to the research and teaching curriculum of the new Undergraduate Major in Atmospheric Sciences starting in the fall of 2008 at the University of Illinois.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 9/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Community Unit School District 7 | $241,558.47 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Community Unit School District 7 | $241,558.47 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PARKLAND COLLEGE | $241,544.00 | Grant | Federal Pell Grant Program GRANT PROGRAM | Education Department / DOED - Student Financial Assistance Programs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $240,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The project develops cryptographic protocol reasoning techniques that take into account algebraic properties of cryptosystems. Traditionally, formal methods for cryptographic protocol verification view cryptographic operations as a black box, ignoring the propperties of cryptographic algorithms that can be exploited to design attacks. The proposed research uses a novel approach based on equational unification to build new more expressive and efficient search algorithms for algebraic theories relevant to cryptographic protocols. Equational unification gives a compact representation of all circumstances under which two different terms correspond to the same behavior. The algorithms are implemented and integrated into Maude-NPA, a system that has been successful in symbolic protocol analysis. It is demonstrated that Maude-NPA when enriched with such powerful unification algorithms can analyze protocols and ensure their reliability, which could not be done otherwise. Improved techniques for analyzing security are helpful both in assuring that systems are free of bugs, and in speeding up the acceptance of new systems based on the confidence gained by a formal analysis. This research will lead to the design and implementation of next generation tools for protocol analysis. Algorithms developed will be made available to researchers as a library suitable for use with protocol analysis tools. Tools from the project will help students understand concepts relevant to protocol design and get hands-on experience. Equational unification for algebraic theories is not only useful for protocol analysis, but also for program analysis in general, thus making the results of this project to be widely relevant.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $231,217.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This project conducts research in the area of dispersive partial differential equations. Its intent is twofold. On the one hand, it is concerned with specific questions about the behavior of solutions to certain dispersive equations. On the other, it is focuseed on developing new theoretical tools that naturally address a wide range of problems in the area Hamiltonian partial differential equations. These two objectives feed into each other by way of multilinear harmonic analysis techniques. The main problems in the area are associated with solutions that tend to behave differently depending on whether their regularity is subcritical, critical, or supercritical with respect to a symmetry of the equation. In particular, the hope is that the project will supplement and broaden our understanding about the properties of mass critical, mass subcritical, and energy supercritical equations. This project looks closely at the qualitative behavior of such solutions. This behavior is based on properties that include local/global existence of solutions, uniqueness, regularity, smoothing effect, finite-in-time blow up, and asymptotic behavior of solutions. Dispersive equations model certain wave phenomena that occur in nature. Their solutions tend to be waves that spread out spatially on unbounded domains. They have received a great deal of attention from mathematicians, in particular because of their applications to nonlinear optics, water wave theory, and plasma physics. One famous example from this class is the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Building on the previous advances, the goal of the project is to extend the known results to cases where the analysis is harder, the terrain is unknown, and existing theoretical results lag behind conjecture for explaining the properties that we expect and have observed numerically. The intent is to provide analytical testing grounds for these physical observables.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $230,281.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The following application will focus on determining the mechanism by which the influenza A protein, NS1, blocks nuclear RNA-export function. This Inhibition of cellular mRNA export is an integral component of the influenza A offensive repertoire against its celllular host. In doing so, the virus prevents the host cell from building its usual innate defense machinery. Export of most cellular mRNAs is mediated by the transport receptor Tap. Tap moves its RNA cargo through the nuclear pore complex by direct interaction with nucleoporins. Over expression of Tap can counteract the NS1 RNA export block. We have new evidence that NS1 can bind Tap directly and propose that the inhibitory effects of NS1 on RNA transport requires direct interaction between NS1 and Tap. Our first aim will be to directly test this hypothesis by generating a NS1 mutant deficient for Tap binding. This mutant can then be used to differentiate between direct and indirect effects of NS1 on the Tap export pathway. The following application also plans on examining the exact mechanism by which NS1 interferes with Tap function. The second aim will be to test the possibility that NS1 causes a decreased in Tap protein levels or mis-localization of Tap away from its site of action. We will also determine the exact site within cells where Tap and NS1 interact using novel bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay to help reveal the specific steps within Tap export pathway inhibited by NS1. We will also examine the possibility that NS1 prevents the heterodimerization of Tap with its co-factor, Nxt1 or its self-oligomerization in vivo and in vitro. The formation of both Tap/Nxt1 and Tap/Tap complexes are required for efficient RNA export. We will also examine the ability of Tap to interact with the nuclear pore complex in the presence of NS1. Our third aim will focus on the possible interference of NS1 on the recruitment of RNA cargo to Tap. Understanding the exact mechanism of NS1-mediated RNA export would not only allow us to predict the most virulent IAV strain but would also give us information that could lead to the development of novel anti-viral compounds. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The influenza A protein NS1 disarmed infected cells by preventing the export of cellular mRNAs that encode anti-viral cellular factors. Most cellular mRNAs are exported out of the nucleus through the Tap pathway. This application will examine the exact mechanism(s) by which NS1 interferes with Tap-mediated RNA export.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 5/21/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $225,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support 0-1 Semidefinite Programming (0-1 SDP) is a new optimization model that covers several classes of challenging nonlinear integer programming problems. 0-1 SDPs arise frequently from numerous applications in various domains such as learning, communications and ffacility location. However, in spite of its broad range of applications and the computational challenge it poses, little is known with respect to the new optimization model except few results scattered in the literature. In this project, the PI and his research group will study the theoretical foundations of the 0-1 SDP model including identifying polynomially solvable cases of the model and exploring its theoretical limitations from an optimization perspective, develop resolution techniques for this new class of problems such as effective exact algorithms and scalable approximation algorithms that can deal with large size problems, and apply the new modeling and resolution techniques to problems from various disciplines. The primary goal of the project is to study a new optimization model that can be applied to a broad range of domains such as learning and engineering design, and to develop reliable and scalable resolution tools for such a model. Creative modeling techniques are crucial for capturing the problem semantics in many applications. For example, in multi-agent learning, every agent might have a different objective and solution to the same problem. It is important to integrate various opinions and solutions from the agents to have a more comprehensive understanding and achieve a global objective. The new optimization model in this project provides a powerful approach for multi-agent learning. Reliable and scalable computational methods are essential for learning from massive and noisy data set.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/12/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $223,607.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The primary focus of this proposal is the discovery and development of highly selective, catalytic allylic C-H functionalization reactions that can be broadly applied to synthesis. Using these reactions to develop strategies for effecting highly efficient synthheses of molecules with valuable properties is one of our ultimate objectives. Another key objective is the mechanistic study of such systems in order to elucidate new fundamental principles of catalyst design and chemical reactivity. We have recently discovered a new class of sulfoxide-based palladium allylic C-H oxidation catalysts that provide access to either linear (E)-allylic acetates or branched allylic acetates from a wide variety of terminal olefin substrates. The distinctive features of these allylic C-H oxidation systems is that they require no heteroatom directing functional group on the substrate to achieve high reactivity and regioselectivity and are extraordinarily functional group tolerant. This revised grant application details our plans to fully optimize, based upon preliminary findings, these two reactions for use in fine chemical synthesis. Towards this goal, we have new preliminary data that: 1. identifies conditions to effect catalytic enantioselective branched allylic oxidation, 2. supports the claim that the allylic C-H macrolactonization method we propose to develop will have broad scope, 3. suggests that other nucleophiles will be competent for allylic C-H functionalization. On the basis of these results, we propose the following: 1. detailed mechanistic studies to determine the nature of reactive intermediates in the two allylic oxidation systems and the effects of sulfoxide and BQ on their formation and reactivity; 2. development of the branched allylic oxidation reaction into an enantioselective process and macrolactonization method for widespread use in synthesis, 3. optimization and use of the linear allylic oxidation reaction to effect a highly streamlined route to the hexoses, 4. exploration of the Pd/sulfoxide reaction manifolds for effecting a broad range of allylic C-H functionalization reactions. The discovery and development of mild and selective C-H functionalization methods, like the ones described in this proposal, stands to impact significantly on both the rate and expense in which new drugs are discovered and manufactured.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $221,018.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The researcher will develop analytical imaging capabilities with complementary nanoparticle probes to measure the viscoelastic properties of cells and tissues in a noninvasive manner. These capabilities will be applied toward understanding biomechanical factorss on tumor growth dynamics. Near-infrared (NIR) absorbing Au nanoparticles with magnetic cores will serve as multimodal contrast agents for multiphoton imaging and for magnetomotive optical coherence tomography (MM-OCT) and elastography (MM-OCE), to characterize viscoelastic changes in tumor cells and tissues as a function of their development. Tumor cells will be laden with nanoprobes and cocultured with fibroblasts or macrophages for in vitro multimodal imaging with MM-OCE. Tumor xenografts will also be grown in mice from nanoprobe-laden tumor cells, then excised for ex vivo imaging with results collated with conventional metrics of tumor development (i.e., visual inspection and histology). The principal investigator anticipates that this approach can reveal critical biomechanical differences in the development of invasive carcinomas, in which cells undergo transformations from turgid states with high tensile strength to plastic and deformable states associated with migration and extravasation. Specific Aims: (1) Construction of an integrated optical platform for optical coherence tomography (OCT) and elastography (OCE), for noninvasive imaging of tumor tissues with cellular resolution; (2) Fabrication of nanoprobes that combine plasmon resonance with magnetomotive activity, to generate unique NIR signatures for 3-D imaging and elastography; (3) Optimization and deployment of the multimodal imaging platform for simultaneous structural imaging and viscoelastic profiling of nanoprobe-laden tumor cells and excised tumor tissues. Public Health Relevance: The researcher will develop a multimodal optical imaging platform complemented with magnetomotive, NIR- active nanoprobes, for noninvasive measurements of the viscoelastic properties of cells and tissues. Tumor cells laden with nanoprobes will be co-cultured with fibroblasts or macrophages for in vitro multimodal imaging. Tumor xenografts will also be grown in mice from nanoprobe- laden tumor cells, then excised for ex vivo imaging. These studies will increase understanding of biomechanical factors on tumor growth dynamics.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $500,000.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $220,675.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Chronic bacterial lung infections are the major cause of death in cystic fibrosis. In such chronic infections, antibiotic-resistant bacterial biofilms are formed in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Biofilms are poorly understood due in part to the inherennt complexity of biofilm formation, which is compounded by our inability to control and manipulate development of completely identical biofilm structures. We address this need by exploiting recent advances in physics, chemistry, and bacteriology to make laser-generated patterns of individual bacteria, and aim to understand how events at initial stages of colony formation, such as inter-cellular signaling, eventually lead to antimicrobial-resistant biofilms. There are two specific aims. (1) We will use laser tweezers and state of the art quantitative techniques to direct the growth of pre-biofilm bacterial aggregates to evaluate extent to which quorum sensing and motility influence bacterial self-cohesion and adhesion to surfaces. (2) We use massively parallel laser tweezers to generated bacterial arrays, and use them to investigate the effects of quorum sensing on biofilm formation. The long-term goal is the rational design of anti-biofilm therapeutic strategies informed by a fundamental understanding of biofilm formation. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a range of persistent nosocomial infections, as well as the chronic airway infections that afflict people suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). These chronic infections are notoriously resistant to antimicrobial therapy. Two key aspects of many of these infections are the formation of surface-associated communities called biofilms, and intercellular signaling, or quorum sensing. The molecular mechanisms underpinning how bacteria attach to a surface and how quorum sensing signals are made and perceived have been the focus of extensive research. While much is known about biofilms, we are reaching the limits of what can be learned using exclusively traditional bacteriological methods centered on genetic manipulation and gene expression, since biofilm phenotypic changes also depend strongly on epigenetic factors such as bacterial communal organization and micro-environment, which are difficult to control. What is needed is something as powerful as genetic manipulation for controlling these factors. We address this need by exploiting recent advances in physics, chemistry, and bacteriology to make user-defined laser-generated arrangements of genetically-modified individual bacteria, in order to study inter-cell interactions systematically. By marrying these technologies with state of the art bacteriological methods, we will be able to identify molecular determinants that control biofilm development and study quorum sensing in biofilm communities. The long-term goal is a fundamental understanding of biofilm formation, quorum sensing, nutrient heterogeneity, and their interrelationship. Significant deliverables are typical for those involving research in fundamental science. This include abstracts, invited talks, and eventually published papers to disseminate the gained knowledge over a broad range of scientists across the many disciplines to which bacterial biofilms are relevant. The associated units of measure will be the numbers of abstracts, invited talks, published papers.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $290,675.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 5/30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $220,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The fundamental question being examined is how to transfer information over wireless networks. Wireless networks differ from wireline networks due to the phenomenon of superposition. Signals transmitted by different transmitters are attenuated due to path losss and combine additively at receivers, a phenomenon called 'interference.' A second aspect important aspect of wireless networks, related to the above, is that the signals transmitted by a node can radiate out to several receivers, a phenomenin called 'broadcast.' Interference can however carry with it useful information provided it can be appropriately used to advantage. Similarly, broadcast can also be useful in conveying informaiton to multiple other nodes. This makes the problem of determining how to organize information transfer in wireless networks particularly challenging. In particular we seek to determine the appropriate abstractions and architecture for wireless networks. This project undertakes a broad research agenda centered around developing fundamental theory for wireless networks.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RANTOUL, VILLAGE OF | $212,458.00 | Grant | Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs, and to increase their community policing capacity and ccrime prevention efforts.... Show more | Justice Department | 10/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $209,092.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The overall objective of this U54 application is to characterize, at molecular and cellular levels, the hormonal pathways that regulate embryo implantation and fertility. Failure of the fertilized embryo to implant into the endometrium is a major cause of infeertility. Following its initial attachment to the uterine epithelium, the embryo invades the endometrial stroma, which then undergoes extensive differentiation and remodeling, known as decidualization. Implantation and decidualization are complex processes driven by a cascade of signaling events regulated by the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone. The central hypothesis of this research program is that defects in these hormonal signaling pathways lead to improper uterine receptivity, decidualization and early pregnancy loss. DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling and receptor-coregulator analyses have revealed novel steroid-regulated pathways, providing important insights into the cellular mechanisms by which implantation is controlled. Combination of this new knowledge with functional analysis in gene knockout mouse models will provide a blueprint of the molecular networks that mediate the hormonal regulation of this process. Extension of these analyses to endometrial tissues obtained from normal women as well as those with endometriosis, a common gynecologic disorder associated with reduced fertility, will provide the important translational component of this research. The program is comprised of four complementary, synergistic projects: (1) Role of C/EBP beta in Uterine Decidualization and Implantation, (2) Nuclear Receptor Co-regulators in Implantation and Uterine Function, (3) Regulation of Stromal Differentiation and Implantation by the BMP2 Pathway, and (4) Endometriosis as a Clinical Model of Predecidual Dysfunction. Investigators will be aided by an Administrative Core that will oversee inter-project interactions and data sharing, and a Microscopy Core that will provide gene and protein expression analyses in cells and tissues. In summary, the results of our studies should improve understanding of the mechanisms and cellular pathways that control implantation and help identify factors that underlie infertility in women with endometriosis. They should also aid in developing new molecular diagnostic tools for screening endometrial dysfunction and enable targeted therapeutic strategies for the treatment of infertility.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $282,602.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, CITY OF | $204,801.00 | Grant | Community Development Block Grant ARRA Entitlement Grants (CDBG-R)(Recovery Act Funded) Funding for housing, community and economic development, and assistance for low-and moderate-income persons and special populations. | Housing and Urban Development Department | 8/11/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $204,075.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RANTOUL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 137 | $203,975.00 | Grant |
Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, Recovery Act Improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.
This spending item is part of a $420,264,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $201,663.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support This proposal seeks funding to support developing a high pressure, high temperature calibration scale for diamond anvil cell (DAC) studies. Existing pressure scales are plagued with issues particularly at high temperatures. Developing a pressure scale is propoosed by performing density measurements by x-ray diffraction and concurrent sound velocity measurements using Brillouin scattering on cubic boron nitride (cBN). In addition, Raman P and T measurements will be made. The PIs propose to reference other materials though their equation of state to cBN at varying temperatures and pressures by coupling methodologies into a single pressure scale. Because material properties change under high pressure and temperature, it has been difficult to ascribe pressure exerted on materials in DAC studies. Pressure and temperature effects have been noted for numerous materials and measurement techniques (X-ray, optical, fluorescent, etc). cBN is suggested as a potential pressure scale calibrant as it's crystal structure is theoretically stable to phase transformation up to at least 1000 GPa within the range of DAC studies. DAC studies along with the calibrated pressure scale will allow studies into material phase transitions in the Earth's interior, Earth material thermal property studies and equation of state determinations, and material phase stability and chemistry. This study will result in a primary pressure scale - calibrated on an inert material and suitable for high T&P work. The outcome will allow accurate X-ray diffraction, X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray scattering measurements under high T&P. This, in turn, will allow theoretical equation of state calculations for deep Earth materials. Results will broadly impact geophysics, mineral physics, geochemistry and geodynamics. Studies will involve REU students (2-3 per summer). Graduate students are post-docs are also proposed for training.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/25/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $200,002.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The spacetime discontinuous Galerkin (SDG) method is a new computational technology whose novel mathematical framework leads to algorithms that have the potential for signi?cant impact in a wide variety of application disciplines wherever high-resolution soluttions to systems of partial and ordinary differential equations are required. The exploratory research program proposed here would demonstrate the feasibility of extending the SDG methodology to a general-purpose numerical framework for solving systems of PDEs of arbitrary type in up to 3D time. The technology will be based on unique adaptive spacetime meshing, building upon the classical discrete Hamiltonian dynamics theory to a true ?eld theory. Project will also introduce a new multi-scale hyperbolic relaxation for approximating parabolic systems, and an hp-adaptive, causality-based approach to modeling conservation laws that requires no numerical stabilization beyond the basic SDG Galerkin projection.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 9/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $200,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support A Comparative Study of Virtual R&D Organizations: A Sociotechnical Systems Analysis This study investigates the characteristics of effective virtual organizations across different stages of research and development using a comparative case study approach. Soociotechnical systems (STS) analysis will be used as a theoretical lens to examine how virtuality influences the quality of deliberations in the work of four different R&D organizations. While deliberations as a key component of the R&D process has been well established in the face-to-face context, not much is known about their efficacy in the virtual context. A grounded theory of effective virtual organization design in R&D will be derived by collecting data from both private and public sector organizations--a network of AlzheimerGÇÖs Disease Centers, a major pharmaceutical company, Electronic Arts Inc., and CaltechGÇÖs Micro & Nano-Photonics research group. Using a mixed methods approach, both current and prospective virtual R&D projects from these sites, including comparisons of successful versus unsuccessful projects will be studied across the R&D continuum. Using a comparative case study approach allows for a closer examination of the critical success factors of virtual R&D deliberations, resulting in more in-depth and descriptive accounts of the social and technical factors that influence R&D project outcomes. This research advances STS theory and practice by extending the deliberation analysis method to the study of virtual organizations. Deliberations are equivocality reducing events that are critical to nonroutine work systems, especially those involving knowledge generation and knowledge utilization. A focus on deliberations is then a means of examining the non-obvious and counterintuitive patterns of work that would normally be invisible to approaches that limit their focus to formal organization, technical system features, or the efficacy of various IT solutions. Findings from this VOSS project are relevant to other R&D organizations that are increasingly conducting knowledge generation and product development via virtual organizations, in particular, scientific projects that require large-scale, multi-institutional efforts. Case studies generated from this award identify best practices of how virtual deliberations are designed and managed will be of direct and practical benefit to multi-university centers, pure research labs, commercial development operations, and for profit or non-profit business activities. Findings from this VOSS study will be disseminated in mainstream academic journals and professional conferences in the organization sciences, human resources and engineering management disciplines. Dissemination and sharing of best practices on virtual organizations to the wider corporate community and government agencies will be conducted through webinars and conferences.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 9/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $200,000.00 | Grant |
Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support At successful completion of the project KJLC intends to introduce a turn key, sputter deposition tool, for low temperature TCOGÇÖs. A key component of the tool will be a fully integrated deposition process. The sales price of these tools will range between $4000,000 and $550,000 per unit. The competitive advantage of this technology is simple: temperature sensitive substrates and/or films that use a TCO thin film as part of their structure will not tolerate the 'during deposition heating or post deposition annealing required by existing known methods. It can be envisioned that a further enhancement of this product will be an introduction of compatibility with to roll to roll processing as required for high throughput, low cost, manufacturing.KJLCGÇÖs target customers for this technology are those companies involved in the research, development, or manufacture of Organic Photovoltaics (OPVGÇÖs). As alternative energy research expands it is anticipated that the market for OPVGÇÖs will increase. As an example, the German government provided nearly 360M Euro in 2007 for the advancement of OPV technology KJLC is in a unique position to service the potential customer base because we already have established relationships and currently provide a host of vacuum related products to them. Our value proposition is to introduce this enabling technology to our existing customers and know potential customers. This will allow us to expand our product offering to include a process based TCO thin film deposition module that will allow us to attract new customers as well as expand business with our existing customer base. At this time many of these customers are using technologies that limit their ability to scale to roll to roll processing or work with temperature sensitive films... Show more
This spending item is part of a $500,000.00 allocation. See details |
National Science Foundation | 7/31/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $200,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Increasing levels of congestion in urban traffic networks have significant economic and environmental impact. Supported by dramatic increases in sensing and communication ability, there is a renewed emphasis on developing intelligent transportation systems. Thhis grant concentrates on developing exact and approximate algorithms for the dynamic traffic assignment problems, for purposes of online deployment and offline design. Our objective is to study the corresponding variational inequality problems and their stochastic generalizations via decomposition methods and distributed schemes. We propose to develop two classes of schemes, namely, projection-based schemes and splitting-based schemes, with an emphasis on developing convergence theory and providing error estimates. We also propose to consider the design of mechanisms that minimize the price of anarchy via the solution of large-scale mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints, with an emphasis on (1) obtaining bounds via nonconvex duality and (2) the development of scalable decomposition schemes. The intellectual merit of this work lies in the construction of limited coordination low-complexity distributed for solving the dynamic traffic equilibrium problem. The proposed schemes are expected to be either provably convergent or have well-defined error bounds. More generally, the work will add to the realm of approximate schemes developed for convex optimization problems and will have applicability for obtaining approximate equilibria in a host of settings. From an application standpoint, the work is motivated by the need to create more efficient transportation systems. Specifically, these schemes can be deployed in online settings, and are capable of functioning under limited information and coordination requirements. We expect that our scalable offline design algorithms will aid in the very design of such systems.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $200,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The Division of Chemistry supports Susan Odom of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as an American Competitiveness in Chemistry Fellow. Dr. Odom will investigate the feasibility of encapsulating chemical species into lithium ion batteries too give them self-repairing abilities. Dr. Odom will work in collaboration with scientists at UIUC as well as at Argonne National Laboratory. In her plan for broadening participation, Dr. Odom will work to develop educational materials in chemistry for a number of ongoing projects at the Orpheum Science Museum, including their Girls Do Science Club. Research like that of Dr. Odom is aimed at developing new materials for better, more robust lithium ion batteries. The ultimate goal of research like this is to develop batteries with improved performance and longer lifetimes, which will help meeting goals for energy independence and sustainability. The efforts at broadening participation being pursued by Dr. Odom are aimed at increasing the participation of young people from underrepresented groups in the sciences.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 9/04/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Polyvinyl Record Co. | $200,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $195,178.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The Experimental Physical Chemistry Program supports Professor Alexander Scheeline of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to develop a levitated drop reactor to study the nonlinear reaction dynamics of myeloperoxidase, an enzyme found in neutrophilss and macrophages (white blood cells). Such a reactor avoids surface reactions, adsorption, and contamination which may trouble other microfluidic systems. Gas/liquid mass transfer is facile because of the large surface area-to-volume ratio of the drop. Ultrasound is used to levitate the drop, ensuring that the drop is well-mixed. Diagnostics to be optimized for use with this microreactor include molecular fluorescence, absorption, and chronoamperometry. This research gains broad impact by allowing clearer understanding of the chemical dynamics of an enzyme central to the innate immune system. Myeloperoxidase chemistry has much in common with that in chlorination of water supplies, yet that anti-bacterial, anti-viral chemistry, one of the two greatest contributors to increased longevity in human history (the other is sanitation and hand washing by health care professionals), is not well understood. Supported research will measure rates of reactions central to this aspect of immunochemistry. Professor Scheeline's group addresses the national infrastructure needs for a diverse scientifically-literate work force through outreach activities to high school teachers, high school students, and underrepresented groups, and via active research participation by undergraduate and graduate students, women, and underrepresented groups.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SANGAMON VALLEY PUBLIC WATER DISTRICT | $194,048.00 | Grant |
Capitalization Grants for Drinking Water State Revolving Funds Provides funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to the State of Illinois to capitalize its revolving loan fund for the financing of construction of drinking water facilities, green infrasturcture, program adminisstration and drinking water related activities. The primary purposes of the agreement are to: preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery through the investment in infrastructure projects that will improve water quality and will provide long-term economic benefits.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $79,538,000.00 allocation. See details |
Environmental Protection Agency | 5/27/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $185,550.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The long-term objective of this research project is to develop a detailed atomic-resolution structural and functional understanding of protein aggregation and fibrillation relevant to human disease, principally with studies of alpha-synuclein. Wild type alpha-ssynuclein and its mutants (A30P, E46K and A53T) associated with early-onset Parkinson's disease (PD) will be examined in several structural states, including protofibrils, fibrils and membrane-associatedcomplexes. We propose that the chemical details of these structures determine the natural physiological function of alpha-synuclein and, in the mutants or under environmental stress, contribute to PD pathology. Moreover, we propose that conversion among several structural states is an essential feature of synucleins; this structural plasticity is likely to be required for neuronal development and maintenance. To examine these structures, magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid- state NMR (SSNMR) experiments will be employed, elucidating details of covalent chemistry, conformation and dynamics that are inaccessible to other experimental techniques. Complementary analysis and characterization techniques will include kinetic measurements (by thioflavin T fluorescence, light scattering and sedimentation analysis), high-resolution mass spectrometry, atomic force and electron microscopy, solution NMR and phage display. We will leverage these technologies along with sample preparation and isotopic labeling strategies to improve our understanding of protein aggregation relevant to disease in the specific case of alpha-synuclein, including: (1) the fundamental biophysical principles of alpha-synuclein aggregation and membrane association, (2) specific structural information that will enable rational design strategies for small molecules that modulate alpha-synuclein function and/or serve as diagnostic tools for PD, and (3) elucidation of specific structural interactions between alpha-synuclein and other brain proteins. Relevance to public health: Alpha-synuclein is a central player in Parkinson's disease. The precise relationships between alpha-synuclein structure and this disease are not yet well understood. Our proposed studies aim to advance this fundamental knowledge, which will assist the broader research community in developing improved diagnostic tools and therapies for Parkinson's disease.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $184,870.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support How does the Himalaya rise up to today's height? How is the Tibetan Plateau (TP) formed? How is the crust of plateau deforming to produce great earthquakes, such as the one we witnessed on May 12, 2008 in Wenchuan, China, which killed over 70,000 people? We knnow that the plateau is generated by the collision between India and Eurasia, which started about 60 million years ago. However, important details are missing. A major obstacle is our limited ability to 'see' through 3D structure below the surface, making it difficult to relate surface geological structures and deformation to the underlying forces. The purpose of this project is to use a variety of seismic imaging techniques and unprecedented amount of seismic data that we will collect from global databases as well as those inside China to image the subsurface structure of central and eastern TP and its margins. These images will provide critical information to test key hypotheses on plateau formation and deformation. Our research has broad implications for fundamental questions about the mechanisms and processes of mountain building, plateau formation, continental deformation, and seismic hazards in the region. The project will be an excellent opportunity for international scientific collaboration with China. It will support one graduate student from U. Illinois and one from Saint Louis U. We will also engage undergraduates for seismology training and seismic data processing skills. (b) Technical description of the project. A great variety of models have been proposed to explain the uplifting, formation, and deformation of the Tibetan Plateau. A major problem is the limited resolution of seismic imaging of the sub-surface 3D structure, making it difficult to relate seismic parameters to geological structures and processes. We propose to use joint-inversion methods involving multiple datasets to improve resolution of both P and S structures of the lithosphere in the central and eastern TP. We propose to jointly interpret P travel times, receiver functions, and surface-wave dispersion measurements from both ambient noise correlation and traditional earthquake-based method to derive 3D models of P and S velocities and anisotropies. In seismic inversion, model parameters often trade off with each other. To improve resolution and to resolve the ambiguity, a combination of different data sets that have sensitivities to different parameters is required or a priori constraints have to be imposed. The abundance of data now accessible makes our joint inversions feasible. We are particularly interested in the crustal channel flow model, which suggests that mid-lower crust flows in response to topographic loading and the deformation of the upper crust is decoupled from the underlying mantle. We select central and eastern Tibet based on the need for sufficient data coverage and on our desire to study a sufficient large area to avoid possible bias from local heterogeneity and to compare the convergence regime (central Tibet) with the extrusion regime (E. Tibet). The key questions we seek to address include: (1) mid-crust channel flow: Is there evidence for widespread mid-crust channel flow? Where in the plateau does it occur? (2) directions of crustal channel flow: What are the directions of the channel flow? How does the direction change from central Tibet to eastern Tibet and to the southeastern and northeastern margins? (3) coupling or decoupling of crustal and mantle deformation: How does deformation change with depth? Is the upper crust deformation decoupled from the deformation in the mantle lithosphere? (4) changes of structure and deformation from central Tibet to eastern Tibet: What is the extent of the India lithosphere underthrusting beneath the TP? What are the differences and connections in structures and deformation at depth among different regions? What controls do the major structures at the margins exert on the crustal and mantle deformation?... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/04/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $183,171.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The research program addresses questions of fundamental importance to human health-biological design rules that determine whether cells respond to chemotactic signals by disrupting intercellular contacts in ways that fundamentally impact the organization and inntegrity of tissues. This research exploits the enabling tools of soft lithography and live cell imaging to define quantitative biological design rules that control cellular decisions. Specifically, we will (i) define quantitatively how concentration profiles of an immobilized, intercellular adhesive cue, cadherin govern the differential migratory response (haptotaxis) of normal and malignant mammary epithelial cells, (ii) identify the impact of chemotactic gradients on epithelial cell polarity and migration, and (iii) determine how cadherin ligation and chemoattractants coordinately regulate the spatiotemporal distributions of GTPase activities that direct cell migration. Soft lithography enables the establishment of defined fields of adhesive and chemotactic cues in ways that are not accessible in vivo or in standard tissue culture format. To this end, we will uniquely quantify cell migratory responses to patterns of adhesive and soluble cues-individually or in combination-and define synergistic or antagonistic interactions regulating cell outcomes. Live cell imaging will then directly determine how spatially and temporally distributed extracellular cues alter zones of signaling activities within single cells and thus bridge the gap between external stimuli, global cell response, and fundamental intracellular biochemical changes. If successful, the proposed strategies in this R21 proposal will uniquely identify mechanisms governing cell adhesion and chemotaxis in cancer and in development. The validation of these approaches will lay the foundation for future investigations of additional factors such as integrins, growth factors, substrate stiffness, or any number of parameters relevant to human development and disease. This multidisciplinary team possesses core competencies in microfabrication (Nuzzo), surface modification and protein immobilization (Leckband), biochemical/cell biological techniques (Wang), as well as expertise in cadherin biology (Leckband) and chemotaxis (Wang) essential for the success of this program. Nuzzo and Leckband have worked together on multiple projects over several years. Leckband and Wang are collaborating on an independent project involving cadherins and stem cell differentiation. Wang frequently advises Leckband group members on experimental protocols for cell work, and Wang and Leckband periodically hold joint group meetings. The labs and offices of all three PIs are in adjacent buildings. This proposal results from several conversations between the PIs. Public Health Relevance: Cell migration is an essential morphogenetic process in tissue formation, repair, and regeneration. It also drives disease progression in cancer, mental retardation, atherosclerosis, and arthritis. In tissues, cell movements in both normal and diseased tissues involve the coordinated regulation of cell motility and cell-cell adhesion. Cell motility machinery is often triggered by soluble growth factors and chemoattractants, with a concomitant destabilization of intercellular adhesion. Furthermore, gradients of both chemoattractants and adhesion are thought to guide cell movements in tissues. It is the interplay between signals governing chemotaxis or cell migration versus cell-cell adhesion that ultimately governs the formation and structural integrity of tissues. The complete abstract for this award is available in the NIH Project Reporter at: www.projectreporter.nih.gov.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 5/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $183,120.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The goal of this proposed project is to develop a new technique that allows controlled formulation of docetaxel- polylactide nanoparticles containing aptamer targeting ligands that can be used for in vivo targeting of Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen for imprroved prostate cancer therapy. Targeted prostate cancer therapy mediated by chemotherapeutics-incorporated polymeric nanoparticles has limited success in clinic. Various formulation challenges still exist, such as increasing drug loading and loading efficiency, controlling NP size and surface characteristics, and eliminating drug burst release effect. Without proper control of these formulation parameters, incorporating cancer targeting ligand to nanoparticles will only increase the complexity of nanoparticle and provide limited benefit for the desired targeted cancer therapy. In current polymeric nanoparticles developed for cancer drug delivery, drug molecules are either covalently linked to a hydrophilic polymer via coupling chemistry to create a unimolecular polymer-drug conjugate or non-covalently encapsulated into the hydrophobic polymeric nanoparticles. Polymer-drug conjugates usually have controlled drug release. However, their relatively small sizes, typically in a range of 1-5 nm, may render relatively fast renal clearance compared to larger nanoparticles. Polymeric nanoparticles, on the other hand, are typically in a range of 30-300 nm, and therefore have reduced renal clearance compared to polymer-drug conjugates. However, low drug loading, low loading efficiency, and burst drug release kinetics are typical formulation challenges of polymer/drug nanoparticles prepared via encapsulation approaches. These formulation challenges significantly prohibit the clinic translation of polymeric nanoparticles for cancer therapy. We aim to develop docetaxel-polylactide conjugated nanoparticles, or called nanoconjugates, through docetaxel-initiated ring-opening polymerization of lactide followed by nanoprecipitation. Compared to nanoparticles prepared via conventional encapsulation approach, docetaxel-polylactide nanoconjugates can be prepared with 100% drug loading efficiency and drug loading up to 30-40 wt% controlled by monomer/initiator ratio. Drug burst release are eliminated or substantially reduced. Aptamer targeting ligand will be incorporated to docetaxel-polylactid nanoconjugates for enhanced antitumor efficacy and reduced systemic toxicity. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Current polymeric nanoparticles have undesirable formulation challenges such as low drug loading, low loading efficiency and drug burst release. These drawbacks prohibit them from being used for targeted cancer drug delivery. To address these formulation challenges, we aim to develop high loading polylactide-docetaxel nanoparticles via site-specific ring-opening polymerization for in vitro and in vivo prostate cancer targeting.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 7/16/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| URBANA, CITY OF | $182,500.00 | Grant | Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG) EE Conservation Block Grant Program | Energy Department | 9/29/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Old Chicago Pizza | $179,000.00 | Loan | 504 Certified Development Loans TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS BY PROVIDING LONG TERM FINANCING THROUGH THE SALE OF DEBENTURES TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $177,898.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Timothy Pauketat, Robert Boszhardt, and Danielle Benden will lead a team of specialists and students in a three-year archaeological investigation of a 950-year-old cultural complex in the upper Mississipppi valley near LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The team includes archaeologists, geophysical and geomorphological scientists, a zooarchaeologist, a paleoethnobotanist, and Native and non-native American graduate and undergraduate students. The project goal is to explain an episode of ancient colonization, peace-making, and religious proselytization associated with the founding American Indian city of Cahokia (in southern Illinois). Already established are these baseline facts: at or just before the year AD 1050, Cahokians or some related group of expatriots/converts established missions or colonial outposts in various northern locales. In the project area, the colonial intrusion appears to have transformed the identities, religious beliefs, and daily practices of many people, some of whom may have fallen in line with the southerners. In such ways, the mission/outpost settlements seem foundational to the establishment of a century-and-a-half 'peace' in the Mississippi valley. Measures of the timing, identity, character, and consequences of this phenomenon will be generated based on investigations of three known sites and, using those measures, project personnel will infer the degree of peaceful cohabitation or religious conversion of the 'Effigy Mound Culture' locals vis--¥-¥-vis the intrusive southerners. The project will determine (1) who the newcomers really were, (2) how they negotiated their way into the northlands (religion, politics, or violence?), and (3) how such relations might have been connected to the end of the Effigy Mound Culture in the north and to Cahokia's rapid rise to power in the south. Geophysical surveys (using magnetic and electrical resistivity ground-penetrating devices) will identify the remains of ancient houses, domestic facilities, religious temples, and ritual debris beneath the ground at the Fisher, Trempealeau, and 47-TR-6 sites. Targeted excavations will follow, using artifact assemblages and architectural remains to generate the measures noted above. At the regional level, the project's intellectual merits include determining the cause or consequence of the pervasive cultural changes in the eleventh century midcontinent. Long-held explanations of both the ancient city of Cahokia and the northern Effigy Mound Culture may be overturned. At a global scale, the research will provide a new starting point from which to examine peace-making, religious proselytization, and the expansion of civilizations around the world. Knowing how and why this happened - which is to say determining if and how the local and nonlocal groups engaged each other through religion, alliance, or violence - will elucidate the general relationships of politics and religion to cultural change, central to any geopolitical understanding of either the ancient or modern worlds. The broader impacts of the project include refining geophysical-technology applications and expanding the collaborative network of social scientists and public stakeholders. A new generation of indigenous and non-native American archaeologists will be trained, in collaboration with the American Indian Studies program at UW-Madison. Public outreach efforts will be expanded, partly through an interactive web site that will serve as a gateway for students, journalists, and laypersons alike.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/15/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $175,811.00 | Grant |
Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Application Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), a member of the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC), will partner with the Illinois State Geological Survey, ALSTOM Power Inc, and Schlumberger Carbon Services, to demonstrate an amine processs to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial flue gases and sequester the CO2 in the Mt. Simon Sandstone formation. At ADM?s agricultural processing and biofuels plant located in Decatur, Illinois, the project will develop and demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology that will be capable of removing up to 85% of the CO2 from the co?generation flue gas, develop a collection system capable of recovering residual fermentation CO2, and integrate these processes into a collection, dehydration, and compression facility capable of delivering up to 7,000 tons/day of CO2 to a sequestration site. The overall system will have the ability to capture and store over two million tons of CO2 annually and will significantly reduce the Decatur facility?s carbon footprint.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $1,520,660.00 allocation. See details |
Energy Department / National Energy Technology Laboratory | 11/16/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $172,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Research will be carried out into the semiclassical behavior of spin systems, using spin-coherent-state path integrals and other mathematical and theoretical physics tools. A significant part of this research will be done in the context of understanding a variiety of experimentally realizable physical systems. Coherent-state path integrals, especially those for spin, have long been regarded as mathematically difficult to work with. In the last few years, however, there have been several advances in the understanding and uses of these path integrals which have opened up many new areas for study. The basic problems to be pursued include (i) operator ordering, and Bohr-Sommerfeld rules, possibly to higher than leading order in the semiclassical limit, (ii) development of Gutzwiller-like trace formulas, based on the recent evaluation of the semiclassical propagator for multispin systems, (iii) group theoretic decomposition rules for the addition of angular momenta via path integrals, (iv) semiclassical behaviour of such rules, and (v) study of the multispin propagator from the viewpoint of the global anomaly. The physical systems to which the fundamental theoretical developments will be applied include (i) small magnetic molecules in molecular solids, especially via the trace formula, (ii) so-called Bose-Hubbard models for atomic condensates in optical lattices, (iii)antiferromagnetic spin chains, with emphasis on the role of anisotropy, and (iv) lattice spin models. Many of the concepts involved in the spin case are shared by particle coherent-state path integrals, which will also be employed to understand unresolved issues in the thermostatistical escape of metastable systems. The calculations will be largely analytic, but numerical approaches will be employed as needed. The extension of path-integral methods to spin systems, and study of their relationship to other methods for studying the semiclassical limit, is a desirable addition to theoretical physicists' arsenal, since path integrals have a proven record as an essential tool in statistical and quantum mechanics. Broader Impacts: The project will prepare future researchers through the training of undergraduate and graduate students, and the mentoring of post-doctoral associates.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/22/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| COMPLETE NUTRITION | $172,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees RURAL LENDER ADVANTAGE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $165,616.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Green buildings are designed to reduce the consumption of water, energy, land, and building materials, as well as the production of stormwater runoff, chemical emissions, and light pollution. While these buildings are constructed under voluntary, flexible stanndards, an increasing number of government agencies and jurisdictions are either requiring or encouraging that buildings be certified according to a system such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. With nearly two hundred local jurisdictions implementing such policies and over two thousand LEED-certified buildings in the U.S, it is important to understand how and why this implementation is taking place and what effect it is having on the built environment. Dr. Julie Cidell at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will map the landscape of green building regulation across the U.S., including where and what kinds of policies are in place and how they correspond with the locations of LEED-certified buildings. Furthermore, a combination of web-based surveys, virtual focus groups, and interviews with local experts will explore the motivations and reasons for enacting these policies at the municipal level. The theoretical framework of conventions theory, which explains how non-monetary justifications such as personal trust or concern for the environment shape conventions or understandings among disparate actors with regards to a transaction such as the construction of a building or the development of a policy, will here be applied to see how the convention of a 'green building' varies from place to place. This includes how local governments use different justifications to encourage or require the public and private sectors to produce green buildings, how they negotiate with the private sector to create and implement these policies and conventions, and if and how this varies from place to place. This research will help answer where, how and why local policies about green buildings have been implemented and what difference such policies are making to the built environment. The project will demonstrate how public policy at the local level is aiding and/or hindering the building industry in implementing green building practices, which has important implications for improving urban sustainability. Finally, the project will provide information to the U.S. Green Building Council and local governments on the efficacy of existing public policies in producing greener buildings. By participating in the project, members of local governments from across the country will become part of a network to share information on green building policymaking.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/19/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $162,982.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Chromium in its hexavalent form, Cr(VI), is mobile and toxic in the environment. Reduction of Cr(VI) to the trivalent form, Cr(III), is a very important process as it renders Cr immobile and less toxic. Reduction induces stable isotope fractionation, and the PPIs have led an effort to develop 53Cr/52Cr isotope ratio measurements as a new and much needed reduction indicator. This approach is quicker and less complicated than the traditional mass balance approach, and it appears to work as expected. Application of Cr stable isotopes is expanding beyond contaminant geochemistry to studies exploring biogeochemical cycling of Cr and attempting to constrain past and present marine redox reactions and conditions. However, whereas Cr isotope fractionation caused by Cr(VI) reduction has been studied in some detail, fractionation caused by oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) and by Cr(III)-Cr(VI) exchange reactions is poorly understood and must be explored to enable accurate interpretation of Cr isotope data. Preliminary experiments with MnO2-induced Cr(III) oxidation have revealed that the reaction product is variably enriched (up to 1.1o/oo) in the heavier isotope. This cannot be a simple kinetic isotope effect, which would produce an opposite shift. The observed isotopic fractionation must be the composite effect of a multi-step redox reaction. Considerable variation as a function of pH, solution chemistry, and Mn oxide chemistry is expected, as these variables can affect the relative rates of the reaction steps. This project will explore a range of these variables to develop a systematic understanding of Cr isotopic fractionation during Cr(III) oxidation, and to determine fractionation factors relevant to natural conditions. Previous studies of isotopic exchange between Cr(III) and Cr(VI) indicate that the process is slow, but the two species can coexist in aquifers for many years. It is not clear if the rate is slow enough that the extent of Cr(VI) reduction can be determined from Cr isotope data using Rayleigh distillation models, which assume no exchange. This project includes highly sensitive experiments needed to detect and quantify slow exchange over workable reaction durations (less than several months). This project will measure exchange rates, and also determine the isotopic fractionation factor for Cr(III)-Cr(VI) equilibrium. Development of the Cr isotope approach to detecting reduction will have impacts beyond academia; this new technique is already in demand for Cr(VI) contaminant studies by environmental consultants. Use of Cr isotopes in a wider array of geoscience studies has just begun, but we expect important applications in oceanography, earth history (e.g., the history of earth redox changes), and earth surface process studies (e.g., the role of shale weathering in carbon cycle studies) as the understanding of Cr isotope systematics becomes more complete. The project will synergistically benefit both institutions, as it will bring students from an underrepresented group to the Illinois campus to increase its diversity, while providing those students access to a smoothly functioning mass spectrometry facility with a cadre of students working on the same techniques.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $160,345.00 | Grant | Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (Recovery Act Funded) Homeless prevention through emergency rental assistance on behalf of a targeted population that has experienced a hardship creating a sitation of imminent danger of eviction | Housing and Urban Development Department | 10/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN, COUNTY OF | $160,345.00 | Grant |
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (Recovery Act Funded) The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, designates funding for communities to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $20,286,500.00 allocation. See details |
Housing and Urban Development Department / Community Planning and Development | 7/13/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champaign County Tent & Awning Co. | $160,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CENTER FOR WOMEN IN TRANSITION, THE | $158,000.00 | Grant |
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (Recovery Act Funded) The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, designates funding for communities to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $20,286,500.00 allocation. See details |
Housing and Urban Development Department / Community Planning and Development | 7/13/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MENTAL HEALTH CENTER OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, INC. | $158,000.00 | Grant |
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (Recovery Act Funded) The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, designates funding for communities to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $20,286,500.00 allocation. See details |
Housing and Urban Development Department / Community Planning and Development | 7/13/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A WOMAN'S FUND & A WOMAN'S PLACE | $158,000.00 | Grant |
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (Recovery Act Funded) The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), under Title XII of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, designates funding for communities to provide financial assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $20,286,500.00 allocation. See details |
Housing and Urban Development Department / Community Planning and Development | 7/13/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $154,900.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Direct SECTION 502 SINGLE FAMILY HSNG DIRECT LN - 2009 ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $152,413.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Natural history museums are irreplaceable sources of species data and they are often the only source of historical data. Yet, many are poorly supported, putting their contents in jeopardy of decay or abandonment. This project uses mathematical models, museum ddata, and new specimens to reconstruct an assemblage of stream dwelling, Midwest aquatic insects. Stoneflies (Insect order Plecoptera), the most environmentally sensitive of aquatic insects, are useful indicators of water quality. Their ranges shrank dramatically after 1950, the greatest losses being in highly agricultural and urbanized Illinois. Other Midwest areas appear similarly imperiled. The objective of this project is to use museum data to answer several important conservation questions: Are changes in stonefly communities in other Midwest areas concordant with Illinois' experience? What factors predict changes in stonefly communities? Are rare or common species at greater risk of loss? Broader impacts include: government and NGOs use of historical expectations to improve water quality assessment; NGOs use of 'Stonefly Red Book' data on conservation status to set conservation priorities; scientist and public use of open access species pages with valid names, distributions, and identification keys; and education of a new generation to tackle aquatic insect conservation issues.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LMJ Transporation Inc. | $150,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $150,000.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The focus of this proposal is the muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR), the neurotransmitter-gated ion channel that mediates fast synaptic transmission at the vertebrate neuromuscular junction (NMJ). The broad objective of this proposal is to understaand how the structure of this receptor-channel gives rise to its function, and how this function is exquisitely tailored to the physiological needs of the vertebrate NMJ. Throughout the years, research on the AChR has provided answers to fundamental questions on the physics, chemistry, and biology of ion channels that cannot be addressed with (probably) any other channel. Our main tools are single- channel and macroscopic electrophysiology (using both in-vitro and in-situ approaches), protein engineering, and quantitative thinking. Our four Specific Aims are: I) To determine the location and physical nature of the AChR's gate(s), and its rearrangement upon opening and shutting of the channel, II) To understand the relationship between structure and function in the AChR's selectivity filter, and the coupling between ion- occupancy and gating/desensitization, III) To estimate the value of the wild-type AChR's unliganded-gating equilibrium constant, and IV) To define the contribution of desensitization to the synaptic response of the AChR. It is worth noting that, in addition to their obvious relevance in the relay of neuron-to-muscle signals, ACh, the AChR, and the NMJ have served as models of neurotransmitters, receptors, and synapses, in general. Hence, the knowledge derived from the proposed experiments is poised to have a broad impact on our basic understanding of postsynaptic receptors and fast synaptic transmission. It should also be emphasized that AChR-mediated neurotransmission supports not only motor but, also, autonomic and cognitive function and, therefore, that it is compromised not only in myasthenias but, also, in cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease. Furthermore, AChRs are also expressed in the airways, keratinocytes, lymphocytes, and endothelial cells where they are mediators of cell differentiation, proliferation, and resistance to apoptosis and, thus, of cancer. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly clear that nicotine addiction (which is caused by the interaction of nicotine with AChRs in behavior- controlling areas of the brain) increases the risk of developing lung and oral cancer owing to the excessive activation of these non-muscle/non-neuronal AChRs by inhaled nicotine and nicotine-derived nitrosamines while smoking.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $149,640.00 | Grant |
Office of Science Financial Assistance Program 2005000: Solar energy technology and lighting technology based on solid state devices have promise to reduce carbon emissions and to increase the energy security of the United States while benefitting from the reliability and volume-based cost reductionn that has been a characteristic of the integrated circuit technology. The major barrier currently impeding the wide spread use of photovoltaic energy conversion and solid state lighting is the cost of the technologies. Although the conversion efficiency of both technologies can be improved further, an order of magnitude cost reduction is needed in both technologies to enable competitive implementation against incumbent technologies. The proposed center has as its goals to demonstrate new technologies based on emerging nanostructure and organic materials that will enable photovoltaic energy conversation to become a significant portion of the world?s electricity infrastructure and solid state light emitting devices to become the dominant lighting technology in the world. To accomplish this, we will develop materials and devices that will lead to photovoltaic efficiencies exceeding 50% in optimized cells that can be manufactured on large scale and produce electricity at a cost competitive with current power plants. Similarly, we envision a white LED technology that produces a luminous efficiency exceeding 200 lumens per watt at the cost of common fluorescent and compact fluorescent sources, with comparable output. These breakthroughs will be achieved by exploiting the new degrees of freedom in design and fabrication technology that can be achieved by the manipulation of materials properties at the atomic scale that is inherent in the materials systems we will study. The Energy Frontier Research Center in emerging materials for solar energy and solid state lighting has as its goals the invention of new solar cell and LED designs based on nanostructured and organic materials. An interdisciplinary team from four major research Universities with expertise in nanostructure synthesis, organic molecule and polymer design and synthesis, optical and transport characterization of nanostructures, and device physics, fabrication and characterization will undertake fundamental studies to develop a broad understanding of the relationship between materials structure and the ultimate device performance. From this understanding new device designs will emerge that capitalize on our ability to engineer the materials at the atomic scale in these materials systems. Because both nanostructured semiconductors and organic materials can be synthesized by low energy processes, we expect that the resultant device concepts can be assembled on low cost media for eventual cost effective implementation. The development of cost effective processes is not part of the activities of the center, but we are mindful of the eventual cost goals of the applications. The outcome of our research will be the solar cell and LED designs that exhibit the desired performance goals. The objectives of the Center research during the first five years will be to develop the fundamental control at the atomic scale, the understanding of materials properties and processes at that level to permit the rational design of solar cells and LEDs based on these novel materials, the understanding of interface and structural characteristics that control device performance, and the path to the fabrication of devices that demonstrate performance comparable to current technology.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $12,500,000.00 allocation. See details |
Energy Department / Office of Science | 8/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THOMASBORO COMMUNITY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT | $149,614.80 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $145,785.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support These supplementary funds will enable us to resolve quickly two problems relating to Aim 1 of our current grant. This Aim seeks to uncover the mechanisms by which hydrogen peroxide is formed inside aerobic cells, using E. coli as a model system. We have deteermined that two fumarate-reducing enzymes, NadB and fumarate reductase, generate substantial H2O2. Rates are highest when enzymes are abundant, when fumarate is scarce, and when ubiquinone is absent. A postdoc will test whether these observations are generally true, by repeating them in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. In this bacterium these amplifying factors would appear to favor very high rates of H2O2 formation. Because we intend to test the same ideas and use the same strategies that pertain to our current experiments, they do not significantly broaden the conceptual or methodological scope of our current work. The ARRA funds will support the postdoc who will do this work. We have also investigated the common hypothesis that soft metals catalyze the intracellular H2O2 formation. Experiments showed that copper increased H2O2 formation, but Fe/S dehydratase damage, regarded as a hallmark of oxidative stress, turned out to result primarily from the direct displacement of iron by copper. We will repeat these experiments with the other metals that have been tentatively linked to oxidative stress, with the same goal. A graduate student will do this work. Finally, funds will be used to purchase a new freezer for our strains. Our current freezer is virtually full, and we need a second one to continue with our labGÇÖs work.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/28/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GIFFORD COMM CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT 188 | $136,681.85 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $133,740.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Direct SECTION 502 SINGLE FAMILY HSNG DIRECT LN - 2009 ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Township High School District 193 | $131,664.82 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Township High School District 193 | $131,664.82 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saint Joseph Community Consolidated School District 169 | $129,349.08 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saint Joseph Community Consolidated School District 169 | $129,349.08 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $125,285.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The use of base analogs as effective antivirals, antimicrobials and anti-cancer agents is limited by their toxicity to the host organism. This toxicity is attributed to either poisoning of the regular nucleotide metabolism by inhibiting key enzymes or to hypermmutagenesis. We have recently demonstrated that even natural base analogs uracil and hypoxanthine, that are not known to elicit any of the above consequences, are still genotoxic in E. coli because they induce chromosomal fragmentation. It turns out that chromosomal fragmentation is an important, though often ignored, consequence of the nucleotide pool imbalance and contamination with non-canonical DNA precursors. We propose to investigate the chromosomal consequences of nucleotide pool imbalance and contamination in the rdgB, dut, tdk and thyA mutants of E. coli guided by the following questions: 1) what are the modified DNA precursors in the nucleotide pools and modified bases in DNA? 2) What are the pathways of the modified DNA precursor synthesis and modified base repair? 3) What are the mechanisms of chromosomal fragmentation, caused by incorporation of the modified bases into DNA? To this end, we will use the following methods: 2-dimensional thin layer chromatography to detect modified DNA precursors, enzymatic excision with subsequent post-labeling to identify modified nucleotides in DNA; isolation of mutants synthetic lethal with the rdgB, tdk and dut genes to reveal cause-consequence-correction interactions between seemingly unlinked metabolic pathways; isolation of suppressors of synthetic lethalities with rdgB, tdk and dut inactivations to reveal the mechanisms behind the synthetic lethalities; determination of mutation spectra of the rdgB, tdk and dut mutants; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to study mechanisms of the chromosomal fragmentation in these mutants. The proposed research will lead to a better understanding of the clastogenic potential of base analogs, as well as to elucidation of the chromosomal breakage-avoidance strategies of the cell.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/18/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DUCE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY | $125,097.00 | Grant | Community Development Block Grant ARRA Entitlement Grants (CDBG-R)(Recovery Act Funded) Reconstruction of Green St. (streets, curb, gutters and sidewalks) from Vine St. to Cottage Grove Ave. in CT55 of the City of Urbana Community Development Target Area. | Housing and Urban Development Department | 8/12/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| URBANA EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF | $125,097.00 | Contract | Reconstruction of Green St (streets, curb, gutters and sidewalks) from Vine St to Cottage Grove Ave in CT55 of the City of Urbana Community Development Target Area. | Housing and Urban Development Department | 8/03/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $125,065.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The proposed research is directed at developing a manufacturing process for making ultra-sharp bulk metallic glass surgical knife blades as a high-performance low-cost alternative to single-crystal diamond blades. The work will involve developing a novel thermmally-assisted magnetic field-based micro-drawing process for sharpening cutting edges to a radius of 20 - 50 nm. This process involves heating a cutting edge with a laser in order to temporary render it more ductile and simultaneously applying a high-intensity magnetic field to pull the heated material. Localized drawing is expected to produce an extremely sharp and durable bulk metallic glass cutting edge. Successful development of the novel sharpening process has the potential to have an extremely broad-based impact. For example, it could enable manufacture of nano-probes for applications including DNA manipulation and manufacture of arrays of sharp features for dip pen lithography. Understanding of the process may also enable derivative processes such as micro joining via localized heating and deformation of micro-parts in a magnetic field. Additionally, under the proposed project, students will receive training on a broad range of topics in the rapidly emerging field of micro-scale manufacturing. Education of the general public will be addressed by participating in outreach activities such as the University of Illinois Engineering Open House program.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $120,784.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support Rapid changes in the arctic climate system that occurred in the relatively recent past can be compared with the output of climate models to improve the understanding of the processes responsible for nonlinear system change. This study focuses on the transitionn between the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) and the onset of Neoglaciation, and on the step-like changes that occurred subsequently during the late Holocene. The millennial-scale cooling trend that followed the HTM coincides with the decrease in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation driven by slow changes in Earth?s orbit. Despite the nearly linear forcing, the transition from the HTM to the Little Ice Age (1500-1900 AD) was neither gradual nor uniform. To understand how feedbacks and perturbations result in rapid changes, a geographically distributed network of proxy climate records will be used to study the spatial and temporal patterns of change, and to quantify the magnitude of change during these transitions. The researchers of this collaborative project will use lacustrine sediments to produce 13 new high-resolution proxy climate records of the past 8000 years. The study sites form two focus regions (eastern Beringia and the NW Atlantic) that generally coincide with the nodes of the surface temperature expression of the Arctic Oscillation (AO). This effort will nearly double the number of high-resolution lacustrine records that extend through the last two millennia, and will generate some of the first high resolution records that capture the HTM. During the HTM, summer sea-ice cover over the Arctic Ocean was likely the smallest of the present interglacial period; certainly it was less extensive than at any time in the past 100 years, and therefore affords an opportunity to investigate a period of warmth similar to what is projected during the coming century. This study focuses on lakes because lakes are the most widely distributed sources of proxy climate records that consistently extend through the post-glacial interval. Because climate change is amplified in the Arctic, the climate signal preserved in arctic lake sediments should be stronger than elsewhere. The proxy records generated in this project will use conventional and newly emerging techniques to document the spatio-temporal patterns of abrupt environmental changes, and to derive quantitative estimates of past summer temperature and hydroclimate variables. Most lakes have been cored previously and show potential for generating high-quality proxy records. Five of the lakes contain laminated sediment with annually resolved records; others have high sedimentation rates (>0.5 mm yr-1) for sub-decadal resolution across the climate transitions. Confidence in the paleoclimate reconstructions will be bolstered by a multi-proxy approach, and by replicate lake records in each of the focus regions that will be used to distinguish basin-scale thresholds from regional-scale climate shifts. This project builds on on-going climate-modeling experiments that use NCAR?s Climate System Model (CCSM3) to study the sensitivities of the arctic system to volcanism and solar variability. A new data-model comparison proposed for this study will test whether the most prominent changes in the arctic system during the past 8 ka, as reconstructed from the proxy records, can be explained by a plausible combination of system-component conditions coincident with prolonged volcanism. The experiments, conducted with NCAR collaborators, will focus on the elements of the Arctic system (e.g., AO and extent of sea ice) that participate in abrupt transitions, and that might elicit nonlinear changes in the future.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/23/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WINE AT THE PINES, INC. | $120,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $110,951.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The PI's research is centered on functional analytic aspects of harmonic analysis. This project is devoted to understanding real-Hardy spaces and the Littlewood-Paley theory in the noncommutative setting. The PI will apply the results to operator algebra/noncoommutative geometry as well as to classical analysis. One of the goals is to understand Fourier multipliers on noncommutative groups. It requires a combination of different tools from Hp theory, operator space theory, and noncommutative Lp-spaces. A major challenge is to find noncommutative techniques replacing the use of certain crucial geometric properties of Euclidean spaces. The PI's work on operator-valued Hardy spaces took an initial step in the direction of the proposed research. The proposed project will provide a theoretical counterpart of the recent work by Pisier/Xu, Junge, and Junge/Xu of noncommutative martingales and will complement Arveson's work on noncommutative analytic-Hardy spaces. It will also improve the understanding of the semigroups of (completely) positive operators on von Neumann algebras. Quantum mechanics and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle allow for many noncommutative generalizations (=quantization) of classical mathematical theories following Von Neumann and Murray's pioneering work on noncommutative integration theory. Very interesting new phenomena and difficulties arise in the effort of adopting classical concepts to the noncommutative framework. For example, using the language of von Neumann algebras, it is now possible to talk about the expected exit time for a noncommutative domain although we can never see the 'points' of this domain. This project will continue this long term quantization effort and will explore and strengthen the deep links between different branches of mathematics and physics. In turn, it will make valuable contributions to prediction theories, H-infinity control, signal and image processing, statistics, and quantum mechanics as well.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 6/05/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prairieview Community Consolidated District 192 | $109,003.64 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mahomet-Seymour Community Unit School District 3 | $106,220.00 | Grant |
Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, Recovery Act Improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.
This spending item is part of a $420,264,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Township High School District 193 | $104,457.00 | Grant |
Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, Recovery Act Improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.
This spending item is part of a $420,264,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $100,839.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Proteins play major roles as biological effectors and diagnostic markers. One level of its complexity is due to the post-translational modifications that cannot be detected at the genome level, which makes it desirable to measure proteins directly. Recently, soome new protein microarray technologies have begun to bloom for this purpose. We focus on the reverse-phase protein lysate arrays that allow us to quantify the relative expression levels of a protein in many different cellular samples simultaneously. One advantage of this technology is that it requires a small amount of cells with just one antibody binding. However, it is more challenging to analyze protein lysate arrays than DNA arrays, and at the present time, the applications of protein lysate arrays are still in the exploratory stage with a lack of reliable statistical tools for quantifying the information (including the uncertainty) from protein arrays. We find that it is difficult, if at all possible, to model all the samples with a simple parametric family of response curves. We propose a robust approach to quantify the protein lysate arrays by fitting a monotone nonparametric response curve to all samples on the same array. The proposed method has been shown to fit the data more adaptively, avoiding bias due to parameterization. We aim to incorporate the modern shrinkage ideas in statistics into the nonparametric approach, leading to more stable quantification in time course experiments where the number of replicates is small at each time point. We also propose to use wild-bootstrap for assessing uncertainty of the protein concentration estimates and for assessing the influence of such uncertainties in follow-up analyses. When completed, our research will enable more reliable analysis of protein lysate arrays, and provide feedback to chip makers to improve the design of the protein microarrays, both of which are essential in making lysate arrays a useful tool in biological and medical research. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Successful completion of the proposed research will lead to efficient and effective statistical and computing tools for analyzing protein lysate array data that have wide-ranging applications in biomedical and public health research, as evidenced by the recent discovery of target protein in signal pathway profiling related to prostate cancer. These tools are needed to support better applications of protein lysate array technology in clinical and biomedical research.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $181,024.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 6/05/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pen-Cin Partners L.L.C. dba Spherion of Ch | $100,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $99,898.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support The PI proposes to study the theory of singularities and complexity in CR geometry. In particular the PI proposes to study the connections between his previous work on Levi-flat hypersurfaces, properties of nowhere minimal submanifolds of complex euclidean spaace, and the complexity of proper maps between balls in different dimensions. The common link can be described as studying the set where two squared norms of holomorphic maps are equal, and relating the CR geometric information of the solution set of this equation to the complexity of the maps. The PI proposes to prove that the singular set of a Levi-flat hypervariety is Levi-flat, to classify algebraic Levi-flat hypervarieties in complex projective space, to study the regularity of Levi-flat hypersurfaces with boundary, to extend the work on complexity of proper maps between balls, and finally, to further develop computational methods to help in gaining insight into the combinatorial aspects of the proper maps of balls and related problems. Study of several complex variables, of which CR geometry is part, is central to the understanding of modern mathematics, physics and other applied sciences. For example, to understand behavior of differential equations, one must understand the geometry of the space where the equation lives. The theory of singularities and complexity in CR geometry is not well understood currently, and there is great interest in the CR geometry community in building proper foundations in this area. Furthermore, there is fertile ground to build connections with other areas of mathematics. The study of proper maps of balls has already yielded unexpected connections with number theory, combinatorics, linear algebra, and has computational aspects that may perhaps yield advances in symbolic and numerical computation. Many of the methods applied in this research are easily accessible to beginning graduate and even advanced undergraduate students. The project will therefore not only advance the understanding of this new area in complex analysis, but may serve to involve young researchers.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 7/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RANTOUL, VILLAGE OF | $98,625.00 | Grant | Community Development Block Grant ARRA Entitlement Grants (CDBG-R)(Recovery Act Funded) The CDBG-R grant will provide funds for the Village of Rantoul to demolish dilapidated structures in low-moderate income neighborhoods to eliminate slum/blight conditions. | Housing and Urban Development Department / Community Planning and Development | 8/14/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $98,100.00 | Loan | Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans - Guaranteed Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loans - ARRA | Agriculture Department / Rural Housing Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $96,190.00 | Grant |
Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The overall goal of this research is to study alterations in the brain in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The proposals in this research amendment all aim at developing novel MRI metthods for better detection of brain alterations, ultimately leading to accurate diagnosis and better understanding of these conditions and thus, benefit public health.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $999,850.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMPAIGN COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4 | $92,020.18 | Grant |
Special Education - Preschool Grants, Recovery Act Assist States to make available special education and related services for children with disabilities age 3 through 5 years and at a State's discretion, to 2 year old children with disabilities who will reach age three during the school year.
This spending item is part of a $18,311,500.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services | 4/01/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois State Board of Education | $90,202.00 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $90,184.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support The School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) at the University of Illinois proposes to implement a training program at the Chemistry - Biology interface that will enroll 10 predoctoral students per year (5 2nd yr and 5 3rd yr students). The program will, through shareed experiences in the classroom and in the laboratory, produce a cadre of chemists, chemical and biomolecular engineers, and biologists who share a common language. Program graduates will be prepared to assume leadership positions in industry and academe and will be capable of functioning in multidisciplinary teams poised to make major advances in biology and medicine. Twenty-five faculty from two deparments in the SCS and four in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology - Chemistry, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Cell & Structural Biology, and Molecular & Integrative Physiology- who work at the chemistry-biology interface will serve as faculty mentors. Talented students admitted to the host departments' doctoral programs will form the pool of candidates for the program. They will receive the PhD from their department after completing both the requirements for that department's program and the course sequence for the CBI.Program completion will take between four and five years. Prospective students will be recruited from among universities nationwide. Underrepresented minority students will be recruited through several UIUC campus-based programs (MERGE, HURF, SROP), through attendance at SACNAS and ACBRMS meetings, through interaction with MARC program directors, and through targeted partnerships with institutions having large minority enrollments. A biological-chemistry undergraduate concentration will also provide a pipeline into CBI training programs nationwide. Roger Adams Lab, the Chemistry and Life Sciences Laboratory, Noyes Lab, and the soon-to-be-completed Institute for Genomic Biology house faculty laboratories, seminar rooms, student and fabrication facilities. The Beckman Institute and the Biotechnology Center house additional facilities.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 8/03/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IllinoisRocstar, LLC | $90,000.00 | Loan | 7(a) Loan Guarantees TO AID SMALL BUSINESSES WHICH ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN FINANCING IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKETPLACE | Small Business Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $85,000.00 | Grant |
ARRA ? Child Care and Development Block Grant Provide child care financial assistance to low-income working families and fund activities to improve the quality of child care.
This spending item is part of a $73,772,600.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 4/09/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $85,000.00 | Grant |
ARRA ? Child Care and Development Block Grant Provide child care financial assistance to low-income working families and fund activities to improve the quality of child care.
This spending item is part of a $73,772,600.00 allocation. See details |
Health and Human Services, Department of / Administration for Children and Families | 4/09/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $84,971.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Our research program funded by NIH GM080436 ('Synthesis and Study of Amphotericin B Derivatives ) aims to harness the power of synthetic organic chemistry to gain a fundamental understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the antifungal activity and toxic siide effects of the clinically vital antimycotic amphotericin B. Remarkably, despite more than 40 years of widespread utilization, resistance to amphotericin B is extremely rare, and as a result, this natural product remains the gold standard worldwide for the treatment of a variety of life-threatening fungal infections. Unfortunately, however, amphotericin B also causes serious toxic side effects, including hemolytic anemia and renal damage. The development of an equally effective but less toxic derivative of amphotericin B remains a critically important unsolved problem in human medicine, and the research funded by this grant will make important contributions to this objective.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/25/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University High School | $84,072.27 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University High School | $84,072.27 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Government Services, Recovery Act Government Services Fund - for public safety and other government services which may include assistance for elementary and secondary education and public institutions of higher education and for modernization, renovation, or rrepair of public school facilities and institutions of higher education facilities including modernization, renovation and repairs that are consistent with a recognized green building rating.... Show more
This spending item is part of a $374,041,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $83,651.00 | Grant | Trans-NSF Recovery Act Reasearch Support During the 20th century (and the beginning of the 21st), a number of deep and surprising connections have been found between modular forms, elliptic curves, quadratic forms, L-functions, Galois representations, and the representation theory of the sporadic finnite simple groups. These connections have led to the resolution of a number of long-standing open problems, including Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. In this proposal, the investigator proposes to study the distribution of the Fourier coefficients of modular forms, with a focus on forms that are non-trivial linear combinations of Hecke eigenforms. Other topics include arithmetic dynamics, non-linear recurrence relations, and modular forms mod p. The proposed research is in the area of number theory, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. In 1770, Lagrange proved that every positive integer is a sum of four squares. This notable result has motivated a significant amount of present day research. A notable example is the recent work of Manjul Bhargava and Jonathan Hanke in which modular forms are used to classify positive-definite quadratic forms representing all positive integers. One application of the proposed research is a classification of positive-definite quadratic forms representing all odd integers.... Show more | National Science Foundation | 8/02/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $82,433.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support Skeletal muscle differentiation is a well-orchestrated process regulated by autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine factors via a regulatory network of signal transduction pathways. In recent years the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has begun to be recognizedd as a critical regulator of skeletal muscle differentiation, growth and hypertrophy. Work from our laboratory has contributed to the current understanding of mTOR regulation of myoblast differentiation, and has led to the revelation that mTOR regulates multiple stages of myogenesis by assembling distinct pathways, some of which unexpected and yet to be fully delineated. With a combination of biochemical, molecular, cellular and genetic approaches, and utilizing both in vitro and in vivo systems, we aim to fill a sizable gap in the current knowledge of molecular pathways underlying the regulation of skeletal myogenesis by addressing these three major questions: (1) How are the known components of growth-regulating mTOR pathway involved in myogenesis, and what is the mTOR pathway(s) that regulates the initiation of myoblast differentiation in response to amino acids availability signals? (2) What is the mTOR pathway that specifically regulates the second-stage myocyte fusion critical for myotube/myofiber growth and maturation, and which secreted factors regulate this process? (3) What is mTOR's role in muscle regeneration and what are the mechanisms? Our expertise in biochemical characterization of signal transduction mechanisms, our strong preliminary data, and the unique animal models we have created, put us in an ideal position to tackle those questions. Knowledge gained in these studies will contribute to the molecular understanding of skeletal muscle development, repair, regeneration and hypertrophy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Skeletal muscle differentiation is a well-orchestrated process regulated by autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine factors via multiple signal transduction pathways. Our proposed studies aim to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of skeletal muscle differentiation and regeneration, with a focus on the mammalian target of rapamycin signaling network. Knowledge gained in these studies will contribute to the molecular understanding of skeletal muscle biology, which may have significant impact on health-related issues such as muscular dystrophy, aging or disease-induced muscle atrophy, muscle regeneration, and exercise- induced muscle hypertrophy.... Show more | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 6/10/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LUDLOW COMMUNITY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT 142 | $81,788.15 | Grant |
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) - Education State Grants, Recovery Act Education Fund - for the support of public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and, as applicable, early childhood education programs and services.
This spending item is part of a $1,126,360,000.00 allocation. See details |
Education Department / Office of Elementary and Secondary Education | 4/17/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EASTERN ILLINOIS FOODBANK | $80,555.00 | Grant |
Emergency Food Assistance Program (Administrative Costs) Administrative funds associated with the cost of storing, handling, and distributing federal food commodities.
This spending item is part of a $2,067,470.00 allocation. See details |
Agriculture Department / Food and Nutrition Service | 3/12/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KJWW, P.C | $80,039.64 | Contract |
Architecture and Engineering Services
This spending item is part of a $104,951.00 allocation. See details |
General Services Administration / Public Buildings Service | 7/24/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $79,702.00 | Contract |
ARRA - CO-GENERATION OF EJECTOR AND MODIFIED ORGANIC RANKINE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEMS: RDT&E contract W909MY-10-C-0001 was awarded on 15 Dec 2009 by the CECOM Acquisition Center Washington to Creative Thermal Solutions, Inc, (CTS) of Urbana, IL. The cost-plus fixed fee award of $1,494,978.00 is the first of several economic stimulus projects to be issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The renewable energy technology is for Co-Generation of Environmental Control Systems using waste heat. The 16-month CTS effort will focus on the development of a highly innovative fluid mixing device to greatly improve the operating efficiency of the CO2 refrigerant cycle. CTS will produce a fully integrated tactical trailer-mounted demonstrator using a standard military tactical quiet diesel generator, a vapor compression ECU, and an Organic Rankine cycle Waste Heat Recovery machine. The energy from the diesel generator exhaust gas as well as the engine radiator will be captured, combined, and recycled to supplement the basic heating and cooling system. Between 10-13 high-technology U.S. jobs will be either created or retained as part of this ARRA effort. While most of the work will be concentrated in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin, critical materials and components will be provided by suppliers from 10 additional U.S. states. Contract management will be provided by the Project Office of the Power Generation and Alternative Energy Branch, Army Power Division, C2D. POC: John Manzione, P.E., RDER-CCA-PS, DSN: 654-2014, email: john.a.manzione@us.army.mil... Show more
This spending item is part of a $1,494,980.00 allocation. See details |
Army | 12/15/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $73,815.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This research will extend our understanding of chemotaxis in Gram-positive bacteria, which could lead to the design of new antibiotics that target chemotaxis and motility. | Health and Human Services, Department of / National Institutes of Health | 9/30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS | $71,826.00 | Grant | Trans-NIH Recovery Act Research Support This application from a collaboration between the Seufferheld and Blanke laboratories at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposes studies to explore the overall hypothesis that Helicobacter pylori acidocalcisome-like granule (ALGs) are polyphosphhate-rich organelles. Dense volutin granules have been previously described in the cytosol of H. pylori, which several lines of evidence suggest are acidocalcisomes, and which we tentatively describe as acidocalcisome-like granules (ALGs). Acidocalcisomes are membrane-bound organelles localized to the cytosol of several eukaryotic microorganisms. The recent discovery of acidocalcisomes in bacteria, in which the PI was the first to identify bacterial acidocalcisomes, is exciting because it is one of the first examples of a membrane bound organelle within bacteria, and supports an important functional role for acidocalcisomes across prokaryotic and eukaryotic kingdoms. The association of acidocalcisomes with the synthesis of polyphosphate (poly P) polymers has been established in eukaryotes. Poly P is associated with multiple functions in bacteria, and has important roles in bacterial pathogenesis for multiple pathogens, including the important human gastric pathogen H. pylori, the etiologic agent of several important gastric diseases. The capacity of H. pylori to successfully colonize and persist within the stomach requires that the organism survive the harsh conditions of this host niche. Notably, poly P has been demonstrated to be important for colonization of H. pylori within a murine infection model, as well as for stress resistance, in vitro. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship between poly P and H. pylori stress resistance and virulence have not been studied, and remain poorly understood. Our long-term goal is to identify and characterize the mechanisms underlying poly P regulation and accumulation within H. pylori, as well as to understand the physiological role of ALGs and poly P in the physiology and pathogenesis of this important human pathogen. However, in order to reach these long-term goals in the future, it is first critical to validate that the dense volutin granules previously described in H. pylori are poly P-enriched ALGs. In this R03 application, we propose detailed studies to isolate and purify ALGs from H. pylori. We will evaluate the ALGs for known markers of acidocalcisomes and/or poly P metabolism. The studies supported by this R03 mechanism are important for establishing the experimental and conceptual |