UIW Receives Major Grant Funding for Research Projects

Department of Defense Awards Grants in Excess of $1.2 Million

San Antonio – Aug. 6, 2020 - The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is pleased to announce that the Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded two grants this summer totaling more than $1.2 million to two research projects in the School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering.

This week, the DoD awarded $617,102 to Associate Professor of Physics Dr. Rosa Cardenas. Cardenas, who chairs the Department of Atmospheric Science, Environmental Science and Physics in the School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering, is the principal investigator on a team that will conduct research on the fundamental mechanisms responsible for the superconducting state of one of the simplest high temperature superconductors, FeTeSe.

“Focusing on our research will give UIW a platform to demonstrate our students' achievements,” says Cardenas. “The ability to spend time on scholarship means that the results may be presented by our students and myself at national American Physical Society (APS) meetings. UIW's presence at these types of meetings will showcase our University's state-of-the-art physics facilities along with our students' talent to an international audience.”

Cardenas adds, “The skills that students acquire while working on this research project will make them very competitive after graduation as they pursue either a graduate education or an industry position.”

Earlier this summer, the DoD awarded $643,759 to a research project led by Dr. Michael Frye, professor of Electrical Engineering. Frye is the principal investigator of the UIW Autonomous Vehicle Systems (AVS) Research and Education Laboratory. His team will develop new indoor and outdoor research capabilities in the area of artificial intelligence and autonomous decision-making.

“The DoD Basic Research Grant will provide opportunities for the AVS Lab to research new areas in artificial intelligence for autonomous air and ground vehicles,” says Frye. “The Lab will have new exciting opportunities for UIW undergraduate and graduate students to research and explore areas that are in high demand right now and of national importance.”

Funding for both projects will cover the next three years.