Research, Development & Translation PROGRAM

Creating innovative ecosystems and applying research to real-world problems

The NSF ASCEND Engine’s Research and Development Grant Program has awarded almost $5 million in funding in our first two years.

Grantees in Round 1

• Category: Soil Quality
  ‍‍Project Title: Developing soil pyrogenic carbon monitoring and modeling capabilities to improve prediction of wildfire impacts and biochar management on ecosystem resilience and C sequestration.
  ‍‍Principal Investigator: Francesca Cotrufo, PhD
  ‍Lead Institution: Colorado State University
  ‍Key Partners: University of Wyoming, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
• Category: Air Quality
  Project Title: Evaluation of monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) technology for cattle feedlots.‍
  ‍Principal Investigator: Sara Place, PhD
  ‍Lead Institution: Colorado State University
  ‍Key Partner: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
• Category: Water Quality and Availability
  Project Title: Weather extremes and water resource climate transitions in Colorado and Wyoming.‍
  ‍Principal Investigator: Bart Geerts, PhD
  ‍Lead Institution: University of Wyoming
  ‍Key Partners: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado Climate Center, Wyoming Water Resource Data Service, US Forest Service, Intertribal Council of the Wind River Indian Reservation
• Category: Wildfire Preparedness and Response (1 of 2)
  Project Title: Mapping Vulnerability: Assessing the Built Environment’s Susceptibility to Wildfires through AI and Big Data.‍
  ‍Principal Investigator: Virginia Iglesias, PhD
  Lead Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
  ‍Key Partners: CoreLogic, CyVerse
• New Category: Wildfire Preparedness and Response (2 of 2)
  ‍Project Title: Predicting Regional Wildfire Risk through Climate-Wildfire-Power-System Interactions.‍
  ‍Principal Investigator: Qiuhua Huang, PhD
  ‍Lead Institution: Colorado School of Mines
  ‍Key Partners: University of Wyoming, Xcel Energy, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, Fire Adapted Colorado
• Project Category: Soil Quality ‍
  ‍Project Title: CO-WY Biochar
  ‍Principal Investigator: Rowdy Yeatts
  ‍Company Name: High Plains Biochar
  ‍Key Partners: Colorado State Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Biochar Co-Op, Carbon Pilot, Yellow Barn Farms, Ollin Farms
• Project Category: Soil Quality
  ‍Project Title: Next-Gen Soil Monitoring: Wireless Printed Sensors for Agriculture
  ‍Principal Investigator: Elliot Strand
  ‍Company Name: PAGE Technologies
  ‍Key Partners: Syngenta Group, University of Wyoming, 3 Rocks Ranch, Colorado State University, Growing Gardens, Meshcomm Engineering
• Project Category: Air Quality
  ‍Project Title: Commercialization of an enhanced computer vision air pollution detection platform  
  ‍Principal Investigator: Babur Ozden
  ‍Company Name: Aquanta Vision Technologies Inc
  ‍Key Partners: CSU METEC, SeekOps, CSU Strata, Chevron Studio, Rose Rock Bridge

Grantees in Round 2

• Category: Wildfire Preparedness and Response/Air Quality
  ‍Project Title: RADSENSE: Rapid Analytics and Deployment of Sensor Networks for Emergencies
  ‍Principal Investigator: John Volckens
  ‍Lead Institution: Colorado State University  
  ‍Key Partners: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), CO Office of Economic Development and Trade (OEDIT)
• Category: Water Quality and Availability
  ‍Project Title: Scalable, data-driven water quality forecasting for municipal water supply
  ‍Principal Investigator: Mathew Ross
  ‍Lead Institutions: Colorado State University and University of Wyoming
  ‍Key Partners: Upper Cache La Poudre Research, Northern Water, Cities of Fort Collins, Greely, and Thornton.
• Category: Water Quality and Availability
  ‍Project Title: Rapid Development and Validation of Nutrient and Bacterial In-Situ Water Quality Sensors and Geospatial Analytics for Watershed Management
  ‍Principal Investigator: Evan Thomas
  ‍Lead Institution: Virridy
  ‍Key Partners: In-Situ Inc., Mortenson Construction, Denver Water, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
• Category: Cross-Cutting R&D and Translation Infrastructure
  ‍Project Title: Experimental Digital Twin for Ecosystems: Water, Soil, Drought
  ‍Principal Investigator: Mike SanClements
  ‍Company Name: National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) operated by Battelle Memorial Institute  
  ‍Key Partners: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), NVIDIA, PAGE Technologies
• New Category: Cross-Cutting R&D and Translation Infrastructure Project Title: Accelerating Digital Twins with Surrogates and Scientific Machine Learning
  Project Team Lead: Joshua Day
  Company Name: Rallypoint
  Key Partners: JuliaHub Inc., National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), CU Boulder’s Earth Lab
• Project Category: Soil Health  
  Project Title: Translating advanced infrared spectroscopy sensing and data analytics for the commercialization of innovative, high throughput and low-cost soil health monitoring
  Project Team Lead:  Samantha Mosier
  Company Name: Cquester Analytics
  Key Partners: Colorado Department of Agriculture, Nature Based Solutions in Shell
• Project Category: Water Quality and Availability
  Project Title: Creek Protection Partnership & Stormwater Filter Innovation
  Project Team Lead: Brian Deurloo
  Company Name: Frog Creek
  Partners Key Partners: Colorado School of Mines, Maroon Industries, Laramie County Conservation District, City of Cheyenne, Bonneville.