The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation New Initiative Grants support collaborative research projects by established investigators at Pennsylvania institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Grants fund interdisciplinary work at the boundaries of physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and neuroscience, with a focus on novel research directions that cross traditional disciplinary lines. Recent funded projects span topics such as quantum materials, microbiome research, neural circuit development, gravitational wave analysis, and quantum computing architectures.

Eligibility is restricted to investigators at the specified Pennsylvania partner institutions who are collaborating across departments or disciplines.

New Initiative Grants | Charles E. Kaufman Foundation Martin Claassen, Ph. D.

(PI) Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy , University of Pennsylvania Liang Wu, Ph. D. (Co-Investigator) Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania Hybrid Phases of Light and Matter in Strongly-Correlated Cavity Quantum Materials Douglas Jerolmack, Ph.

D. (PI) Edmund J. and Louise W.

Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania Nathaniel Trask, Ph. D. (Co-Investigator) Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania Learning the Geometry of Failure Catherine von Reyn, Ph.

D. (PI) Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems, Drexel University Denise Garcia, Ph. D.

(Co-Investigator) Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine Astrocyte Regulation of Synaptic Partner Matching in Developing Neural Circuits Kenneth K. & Olivia J. Kuo Early Career Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University Juan Jose Mendoza Arenas, Ph.

D. (Co-Investigator) Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh Small-Scale Turbulence as a Quantum System Romit Maulik, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Black hole tomography with gravitational waves and artificial intelligence Chinedum Osuji, Ph. D. (PI) Arnold Mathijssen, Ph.

D. (Co-PI) Active condensate networks driven by liquid-liquid crystal phase separation Phil Campbell, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Extracellular vesicles: messengers between kingdoms Linda Peteanu, Ph. D. (PI) Rongchao Jin, Ph.

D. (Co-PI) Atomically precise metal nanoclusters and their assemblies as ‘ideal’ quantum emitters Next-generation techniques for analyzing precise radial velocity data Randall Kamien, Ph. D.

(PI) Genevieve Dion, Ph. D. (Co-PI) Megan Matthews, Ph.

D. (PI) Dr. Donald O’Rourke (Co-PI) Dr. Zev Binder, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Robert Bowman, Ph. D. (Co-PI) Identification of cofactor-dependent enzymes driving cell growth and differentiation Andrea Berman, Ph.

D. (PI) Judith Yanowitz, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Translation regulation of TMG-capped mRNAs – an evolutionary remnant of trans-splicing? Dark matter and the first galaxies Michael Hatridge, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Quantum qubit and architecture co-design for high-fidelity quantum computing Benjamin Lear, Ph. D. (PI) Raymond Schaak, Ph.

D. (Co-PI) Nanoscale optical heating for the generation of high entropy nanomaterials Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Alison Barth, Ph. D.

(Co-Investigator) Maxwell H. and Gloria C. Connan Professor of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Molecular synaptic profiling of learning-dependent changes in cortical inhabitation Eva-Maria Collins, Ph.

D. (PI) Associate Professor, Biology Department, Swarthmore College Ameet Soni, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Associate Professor, Computer Science, Swarthmore College Inferring Brain Function via Quantitative Behavioral Phenotyping in Free-Moving Planarians Assistant Professor, Department of Computational and Systems Biology Mo Ebrahimkhani, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and member of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Spatially guided morphogenesis in human liver organoids Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University Lauren Zarzar, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Penn State University Physicochemical communication between active droplets Mikael Rechtsman, Ph. D. (PI) Associate Professor, Department of Physics.

Pennsylvania State University Randall McEntaffer, Ph. D. (co-investigator) Professor, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University Magnetizing light: from X-ray astronomy to silicon photonics Aurelia Honerkamp-Smith, Ph.

D. (PI) Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Lehigh University Damien Thevenin, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University Full sail ahead: How do cells sense and decode flow? Associate Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Jay Gottfried, Ph.

D. (co-investigator) Arthur H. Rubenstein University Professor, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, Department of Neurology and Department of Psychology, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania.

Neuronal circuits for auditory-olfactory integration Andrew J. Gellman, Ph. D.

(PI) Lord Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science David Waldeck, Ph. D. (co-investigator) Professor of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh Spin chemistry as the basis for enantioselective surface chemistry Sarah Shandera, Ph.

D. (PI) Associate Professor of Physics, Pennsylvania State University Donghui Jeong, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Assistant Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University Chad Hanna, Ph. D. (co-investigator) Associate Professor of Physics, Pennsylvania State University Sub-solar mass black holes as a gravitational wave probe of the hidden universe Michael Platt, Ph.

D. (PI) Neuroscience, Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Marketing, University of Pennsylvania Maria Geffen, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Brian Litt, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Professor of Neurology, Professor of Neurosurgery, and Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania Optimizing optogenetics in the primate brain Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University Kenneth Knappenberger, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Professor, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University Chaoxing Liu, Ph. D. (co-investigator) Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University Direct Evidence for Non-Abelian Anyons in an Interferometer Seema Lakdawala, Ph.

D. (PI) Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh Nara Lee, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh Exploring and Exploiting Influenza Viral Genomic Architecture Associate Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh Yang Liu, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Associate Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh Characterization of Dynamic Nanoscale Chromatin Reorganization During Induced Cell Reprogramming Tia-Lynn Ashman, Ph. D. (PI) Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh James Pipas, Ph.

D. (co-investigator) Molecular Biology Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Pollen as the next viral frontier: Unrecognized threat to food security and native biodiversity Professor, Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University Scott Medina, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University Defining the Glycan-Specificity and Mechanisms of Action for Antitumor Lectin Michael Hatridge, Ph. D. (PI) Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Pittsburgh Roger Mong, Ph.

D. (co-investigator) Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Pittsburgh Protecting quantum wires for quantum computing Ekaterina Grishchuk, Ph. D.

(PI) Associate Professor of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania Ben E. Black, Ph. D.

(co-investigator) Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania Reconstitution and Dissection of Chromosome Segregation Roberto Bonasio, Ph. D. (PI) Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania Single-cell dissection of social behavior in ant brains Paul Babitzke, Ph.

D. (PI) Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University Sarah M. Assmann, Ph.

D. (co-PI) Professor, Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University Philip C. Bevilacqua, Ph.

D. (co-PI) Professor, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University Discovery and Characterization of Novel RNA Switch Chemistry and Biology via RNA Structure-seq Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh Gurudev Dutt, Ph. D.

(co-PI) Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh Trapped Diamond Nanocrystals for Precision Gravitational Measurements and Tests of Quantum Gravity Elias Aizenman, Ph. D. (PI) Professor, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh Michael Palladino, Ph.

D. (co-PI) Professor, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh Genetic Programming of a Neuroprotective Pathway in Fly Models of Neurodegeneration Justin Khoury, Ph. D.

(PI) Associate Professor, Physics, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs, University of Pennsylvania Christopher H. Brown Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania New Approach to Dark Matter Brooke M. McCartney, Ph.

D. (PI) Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University ‘Mind-altering bugs’: Dissecting the gut-microbiome-brain connection using a multidisciplinary approach in Drosophila melanogaster Andrea J. Liu, Ph.

D. (PI) Hepburn Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania Benjamin L. Prosser (co-PI) Assistant Professor of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania Dennis E.

Discher (co-PI) Robert D. Bent Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania Mechanical signaling in early hearts: Theory & Experiment Alison Sweeney, Ph. D.

(PI) Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania Living Photonic Devices: Self-assembly from Proteins as Patchy Colloids Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Penn State University Anna C. Balazs, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh Autonomous Interacting Microrobotic Systems Alexander Deiters, Ph. D. (PI) Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh Michael Tsang, Ph.

D. (co-PI) Associate Professor, Department of Development Biology, University of Pittsburgh Expanding the Genetic Code of Zebrafish Alison L. Barth, Ph.

D. (PI) Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Marcel Bruchez, Ph. D.

(co-PI) Associate Professor, Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Associate Director, Molecular Biosensors and Imaging Center, Carnegie Mellon University Neural circuitry of the mammalian neocortex: which neurons are connected to each other, and how can these patterns of connectivity be altered by experience? Christine D. Keating, Ph.

D. (PI) Professor of Chemistry, Penn State University Theresa Mayer, Ph. D.

(Co-PI) Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Materials Science & Engineering, Penn State University Probing the Role of Interparticle Forces in the Collective Behavior of Particle Assemblies Veronica Hinman, Ph. D. (PI) Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Jonathan Minden, Ph.

D. (co-PI) Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University Bruce Alan Armitage, Ph. D.

(co-PI) Professor, Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University Danith H. Ly, Ph. D.

(co-PI) Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University Developing a Sea Star Model for Regenerative Biology Sergey M. Frolov, Ph. D.

(PI) Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh W. Vincent Liu, Ph. D.

(co-PI) Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh Topological Quantum Wire Emulators