New grants increase OSU’s international collaboration

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Chris Baker, left, and Graeme Smith
By Amy Murray

onCampus

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will be part of research from one of three grants of up to $250,000 as part of the Global Innovation Initiative.

The initiative is a new program funded by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom to foster multilateral research collaborations with higher education institutions in Brazil, China, India and Indonesia.

Of the 23 university partnerships funded, Ohio State was awarded the most grants of any other institution.

ECE Professor Chris Baker and ElectroScience Laboratory Research Scientist Graeme Smith are on the University of Birmingham-led project, “Seeing with Sound — Developing an Echolocation Device Based on Sensing Principles Derived from Human Users.”

The grants will fund new research, faculty exchanges, joint publications and symposia and other multilateral efforts. The total funding for these 23 partnership grants is approximately $5 million. In addition, the partner universities will support these projects with their own resources, such as use of laboratories, staff and faculty salaries and private-sector contributions valued at an estimated $7.08 million.

Ohio State also will partner with universities in the UK, Brazil and China on the following award winning projects:

  • Associate Professor Hua Wang (Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) is the principal investigator on the Ohio State-led project, “Innovative Strategies to Control the Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance in the Global Ecosystem.” Her team on the project includes Professor Michael Lilburn and Associate Professor Zhongtang Yu.
  • The Ohio State principal investigator for the proposal led by the University of Bath, “TransAtlantic Discovery, Characterization and Application of Enzymes for the Recycling of Polymers and Composites” is Associate Professor Frederick Michel (Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences). The project team also includes Professor Katrina Cornish and Professor Erich Grotewold.

“Ohio State has strong ties in the United Kingdom and we fully support and encourage research innovations through collaborative efforts,” said William Brustein, vice provost for global strategies and international affairs. “These grant awards will serve to enhance our connections around the globe and further scholarly work on significant global issues.”

Each of the winning proposals address topics of global significance in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including energy, climate change and the environment; agriculture, food security and water; global health and well-being; and urbanization.

Two parallel but separate grant competitions were offered in the UK and United States with an institution from either country taking the lead on the partnership. Each of the multilateral collaborations was required to include a partner from Brazil, China, India or Indonesia in addition to institutions from the UK and the U.S. Ohio State has existing partnerships in each of the countries, including Global Gateway offices in China, India and Brazil.

The Global Innovation Initiative was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and formally launched in October. The initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of State, the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the British Council, which also serves as the implementing partner in the UK. In the United States, the Institute of International Education is administering the grant program in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.