Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Selected Current Funding

• “REU Site: Bioprocess Engineering for Sustainability”, PI: J.R. Barone, National Science Foundation, $368,461, 5/12-9/14.
• “Mechanics of Self-assembled Peptides”, PI: J.R. Barone, National Science Foundation $230,452, 8/09-8/12.
• “b-strand Mimics as Protease Inhibitors”, PI: J.R. Barone, Virginia Tech Biodesign and Bioprocessing Research Center, $44,000 8/11-7/13.
• “Denitrifying Bioreactor”, PI: J.R. Barone, Environmental Protection Agency P3-Phase II, $74,152, 8/10-8/12.
• “Education Proposal: Bio-based Sustainable MAterials as Resources for Tomorrow (BSMART)”, PI: S.R. Renneckar (WSFP), Co-PIs: J.R. Barone, K. Edgar (WSFP), A. Esker (CHEM), M. Roman (WSFP), A. Whittington (CHE/MSE), $500,000 1/10-12/13.
• “TMDL Studies for Twenty-two Impaired Stream Groups in Virginia’s Little Otter River and Buffalo Creek Watersheds, and James River Watershed”, PIs: B. Benham, G. Yagow, and K. Kline, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, $234,596, 3/12 – 05/13.
• “Bacteria and Benthic TMDL Studies for Twenty-eight Impaired Stream Segments in Virginia”, PIs: B. Benham and G. Yagow, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, $355,400, 10/10 – 06/12.
• “Protecting Private Water Supplies in Virginia”, PI: B. Benham, U.S. Department of Agriculture, $200,000, 10/07 – 9/12.
• “Stakeholder Empowerment through Knowledge-Based Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Systems (Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Support Program)”, PI: DeDatta, S.K., CoPIs: M. Bertelsen, T.A. Dillaha, K. Moore, M. Christie, USAID, $27,000,000, 10/04-9/14.
• “Rebuilding Higher Education in Agriculture to Support Food Security, Economic Growth, and Peace Efforts in Post-Conflict Southern Sudan”, PI: M. Bertelsen, CoPIs: T. Dillaha, A. Abaye, S. De Datta, A. Grant, J. Dooley, American Council on Education, Office of Higher Education for Development (ACE/HED), $9,487,307, 2/11 – 9/15.
• “Twenty-first Century Development of 21^st Century Precision Agriculture for Water Quality Protection”, PIs: M.T. Walter, Z.M. Easton, R. Stedman, J. Faulkner, E. Ling, B. Benham, USDA –AFRI, $499,387, 01/12-12/14.
• “A Method to Determine In Stream Total Maximum Daily Loads for Phosphorus in the Upper Black Creek, New York.” PIs: R. Entringer, T.S. Steenhuis, Z.M. Easton, C.A. Shoemaker, and L. Gregory EPA- Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. $305,000. 07/11-09/13
• “AgrAbility Virginia – III”, PI: R. Grisso, T. Robertson, USDA/NIFA 2010-41590-20697, $720,000, 4/1/10-3/31/14. http://www.agrability.ext.vt.edu/
• “Protecting Youth in the Lawncare Industry”, PI: R. Grisso, D. Ohanehi, C. Sutphin, M. Goatley, and J. Perumpral. USDA/NIFA 2010-41521-20830, $300,000 6/10 to 5/13.
• “Water resources and watershed management in the U.S. and Brazil”. PI: C. Heatwole. U.S. Dept. of Education, $220,202, 2008-2012.
• “REU Site: Dynamics of Water and Societal Systems – An Interdisciplinary Research Program at the Virginia Tech StREAM Lab”, PI: W. C. Hession (BSE), co-PI: L. Krometis, National Science Foundation, $314,289, 3/12-3/15.
• “Impact of Conservation Practices on Nutrient Transport and Fate in Pasture Systems”, PIs: W.C. Hession, B. Benham, D. Scott, USDA-ARS, $51,500, 2011-2012.
• “Stroubles Creek Place-Based Laboratory for Research, Education, and Outreach @ Virginia Tech”, PIs: W.C. Hession, V.Lohani, VT-ICTAS, $60,000, 2011-2012.
• “Research in the Stream Research, Education, and Management (StREAM) Laboratory”, PIs: L. Hopkinson, W.C. Hession, West Virginia Univ. Advance Program, $15,000, 2011-2012.
• “Helping Streams Help Themselves: Developing a Sustainable Water Pollution Mitigation Technique”, PIs: Hester, W.C. Hession, VT-ICTAS, $46,555, 2011-2012.
• “Sediment Source Tracking Study Using Tracers”, PIs: McGuire, W. C. Hession, Canaan Valley Institute/USDA-ARS, $74,835, 2010-2012.
• “Assessment of Biological Water Quality Impairments in Central Appalachian Mining Communities”, PI: L. Krometis, co-PI: E. Sarver (MinE), Appalachian Research Initiative for Environmental Science (ARIES), $65,000, 10/11-6/12.
• “What’s in Your Water? Linking Rural Health and Household Drinking Water Safety”, PI: L. Krometis, co-PIs: B. Benham (BSE), P. Ziegler (CALS). National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), $195,193, 8/11-7/12.
• “Water Quality and Environmental Health in Botswana - Coupled Dynamics in a Water Scarce Environment”, PI: K. Alexander (FIW), co-PIs: L. Krometis, M. Ponder (FST), J. Blackburn (Univ-FL), J. Bock (Cal State). National Science Foundation (NSF), $249,983, 7/11-6/13.
• “Conference of Food Engineering”, PIs: P. Mallikarjunan, Y.M. Lo, USDA-AFRI. $47,950, 2011-2012.
• “Improving the Health and Livelihood of People of East Africa by Addressing Aflatoxin and Gender-related Constraints in Peanut Production, Processing and Marketing”, PIs: M. Christie, P. Malllikarjunan, USAID Peanut Collaborative Research Program, $613,000, 2007-2012.
• “Integrating Education and Development of Biodegradable Litter Amendment to Mitigate Ammonia Emissions from Poultry Houses”, PI: J.A. Ogejo, Co-PIs: F.A. Agblevor, R.S. Gates, N. Franz, K. Stephenson, and W.F. Pierson, USDA – NIFA, $598,000. 1/09 – 1/13.
• “Evaluation of the Anaerobic Digester at the Vanderhyde Dairy Inc. for the Production of Methane”, PI: J.A. Ogejo, Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy, $17,000, 4/11 -3/12.
• “Reducing Poultry House Emissions and Broiler Litter Runoff”, PI: Maguire (CSES), R., Co-PIs: J.A. Ogejo, and M. Reiter. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. $700,000, 9/10-8/13.
• “Transitioning Small Dairies to Phosphorus Balance”, PI: K.F. Knowlton, Co-PIs: J.A. Ogejo (BSE), R.O Maguire (CSES), Ignosh, J.P. (VCE, BSE), Welsh, J.L. (VCE), National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $600,000, 9/11 – 8/12.
• “Assessing and Enriching Phosphorus Accumulating Organisms to Improve the Stability of Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal from Dairy Manure”, PI: J.A. Ogejo (BSE), Co-PIs: A. Pruden-Bagchi (CEE), K.F. Knowlton (DASC). Biodesign and Bioprocessing Research Center, Virginia Tech, $62,244, 4/10 – 4/12.
• “Performance Assessment of LID Practices in Fairfax County, Virginia”, PI: Sample, D., (BSE) Grizzard, T. (CEE), and Dymond, R., (CEE), Fairfax County, $66,000, 7/11-6/12.
• “Urban Retrofitting: Demonstration, Monitoring, Training and Certification of LID at the Science Museum of Virginia”, Richmond, VA, Design and Construction, PI: D. Sample (BSE), Co-PIs: Grizzard, T. (CEE), SMV/NFWF, $66,000, 6/09-4/12.
• “Floating Treatment Wetland Performance Evaluation and Implementation”, City of Fairfax, VA, PI: D. Sample (BSE), Co-PIs: T. Grizzard (CEE), A. Godrej (CEE), National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $319,000, 5/09-3/13.
• “Shockoe Creek Sewershed LID Retrofit Study”, Richmond, VA, PI: D. Sample (BSE), SMV/National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $66,000, 1/11-4/12.
• “RUI: Collaborative Research: How does changing glacial coverage affect the transport and fate of DOM and nutrients in coastal watersheds on the Gulf of Alaska?”, PI: D. Scott, Collaborator: E.Hood, NSF, $177,000, 4/09-3/12.
• “RAPID: The 2011 Historic High Flows in the Atchafalaya Basin: How will Hydrologic Transport Alter Nutrient Retention (C and N)?”, PI: D. Scott, Collaborators: R. Keim, A. Nyman, R. Cook, NSF, $17,617, NSF, 6/11 – 5/12.
• “Helping Streams Help Themselves: Restoring Sustainable and Distributed Water Pollution Attenuation”, PI: E. Hester, Co-PI: D. Scott, NSF, $300,998, 8/11-7/13.
• “Metabolic Engineering of Clostridium Cellulolyticum Using a Genome-Scale Model and Combinatorial Approaches”, PI: R. Senger, USDA; CSREES; AFRI, $445,395, 12/09-11/12.
• “Virginia Tech – National Engineering School of Sfax Partnership: Towards Strengthening Higher Education and Research Capacities for Better Serving the Economic Development Priorities in Tunisia”, PIs: F. Agblevor, C. Zhang, R. Senger, US State Department; ESF Grants Program, $300,011, 1/10-12/12.
• “Model-guided Metabolic Engineering of Arabidopsis for Increased Cellulose Production”, PIs: R. Senger, G. Gillaspy, Virginia Tech Biodesign and Bioprocess Research Center, $64,528, 4/10-3/12.
• “Enzymatic Synthesis of High-value Building Blocks for Commodity and Specialty Chemicals: A Bottom-up Approach”, PIs: R. Senger, A. Apte, Virginia Tech Biodesign and Bioprocess Research Center, $45,225, 4/11-3/13.
• “Generating Environmentally-friendly Novel Biofuel Molecules with Synthetic Biology”, PIs R. Senger, D. Bevan, ICTAS, $120,000, 7/11-7/13.
• “Development of a Wetland Vegetation Hydraulic Properties Database Piedmont”, PI: T. Wynn, Wetlands Research Program, $76,458, 2011-2012.
• “IGERT: MultiScale Transport in Environmental and Physiological Systems (MultiSTEPS)”, PI: M. Stremler (ESM), Co-PIs: J.R. Kuhn (BIOL), P.P. Vlachos (ME), R.V. Davalos (SBES), S.D. Ross (ESM), National Science Foundation, $3,000,000, 8/10-8/15. T. Wynn Thompson and M.L. Wolfe are Faculty Participants.
• “Development of Integrated Modeling Techniques to Assess Impacts of Climate Change on Pathogens and Water Quality (PACEMod)”, PI: M.L. Wolfe, Co-PIs: B. Benham (BSE), L. Krometis (BSE), subcontract from University College Dublin (Ireland), funding from European Commission, $32,956, 1/12-12/13.
• “Transatlantic Biosystems Engineering Curriculum and Mobility (TABE.NET), PI: M.L. Wolfe, U.S. Department of Education, $186,000, 9/09-8/13.
• “Community DECISIONS: Community Decision Support for Integrated, On-the-ground Nutrient Reduction Strategies for Watershed Nutrient Planning and Management”, PI: J. Pease (AAEC), Co-PIs: D. Bosch (AAEC),M.L. Wolfe, J. Arogo Ogejo (BSE), C. Zobel (BIT), K. Knowlton (DASC), G. Evanylo (CSES), H. Boyd (AEE), USDA Integrated Grants Program, $596,000,9/07-9/12.
• “Development of novel vaccines against drug abuse – Proof of concept study for vaccines against nicotine addiction”, PI: C. Zhang, Co-PIs: H. Dorn (Chem), X.J. Meng (Biomed), M. Ehrich (Biomed), NIH-NIDA (1 R21 DA030083-01A1), $385,165, 4/11-3/13.
• “A new drug delivery and release platform for cancer treatment”, PI: C. Zhang, Co-PI: H. Dorn (Chem), USDA-NIFA, $56,048, 4/11 – 3/13.
• “A new approach for targeted drug delivery and controlled release”, PI: C. Zhang, Co-PI: H. Dorn (Chem), Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, Virginia Tech, $75,000, 07/11-06/12.
• “BioEnergy Science Center – Construction of cellulosomes and their model”, PI: Y-HP Zhang, $1,000,000, DOE, 09/07-06/12.
• “Proof-of-concept of sweet hydrogen”, PI:Y-HP Zhang, $450,000, Shell Game Changer, 12/11-11/12
• Y-HP Zhang, $112,291, DOE ARPA-E Petro, 02/12-07/13.