November 2025 |
Dr. John Van Stan, an associate professor in the Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences (BGES), has been awarded a new, 3-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled Collaborative Research: Macroscale Study of Forest Litter Effects on Precipitation Interception and Soil Water Budgets, and is being performed collaboratively with researchers from the University of Nevada Reno.
The research team will study the role of plant litter, which consists of leaves and twigs that cover forest floors, in water. There are potentially competing roles that plant litter plays in water availability – the plant litter may capture moisture and then allow it to evaporate before it can enter the soil, or it may act like mulch in gardens to retain water that has made it into the soil and make that water available to plant.
Dr. Van Stan and his graduate student will perform laboratory measurements on plant litter samples to assess storage capacity and drainage parameters, map sampling sites via laser scanning, and develop new plant litter models that integrate with land surface models. They will also use a terrestrial laser scanner to map sampling sites, which informs the precision scaling of point observations for enhanced spatial analysis.
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Internal Funding Proposals Due Feb. 2 – Guidelines Revised for 2025-2026 The Office of Research is pleased to announce the call for proposals for these 2025-2026 internal funding programs: Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA) The deadline for applications is Monday, February 2, 2026. Proposals for this funding cycle must be submitted via the submission form linked in the program’s guidelines. Emailed proposals will not be accepted. For more information, please contact Joy Yard, 687-9364, or Roman Kondratov, 687-5171. |
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Join us for the AI & Research Forum December 1 Hosted by the Office of Research, this session will bring together campus experts to clarify how generative AI intersects with research integrity, IRB and confidentiality requirements, legal and privacy considerations, and information security. Each panelist will share brief opening remarks followed by a moderated discussion using real “what-if” scenarios that faculty have raised. |
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Updated PI Eligibility & Travel Guidelines and Support for CAREER Proposals The Office of Research has updated Eligibility Guidelines to serve as a PI and added guidelines for research activity during international travel. • PI Eligibility Guidelines The Office of Research invites faculty interested in submitting a CAREER Award application to NSF to contact Roman Kondratov for guidance and support. |
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UPDATE: Invention Disclosure Submission An invention disclosure was submitted by Peng Jiang, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences (BGES) and a member of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD), titled Seq2Pheno: An AI-driven Tool to Impute Tissue Phenotypes From RNA-seq Data. Histology is labor-intensive, costly, and often infeasible for frozen or archived biobank specimens. Seq2Pheno addresses this unmet need by using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to transform RNA-seq data into quantitative, histology-comparable tissue phenotypes. Seq2Pheno also allows prediction of fibrosis, macrophage polarization, and regeneration as interpretable, biologically validated outputs. |
TeCK Fund Phase 4 Accepting Letters of Intent The TeCK Fund, a technology commercialization and startup fund managed by Cleveland State University Research Corporation, continues to accept Letters of Intent for the opportunity to submit a full proposal. The TeCK Fund Round 4 provides faculty pursuing applied research projects with funding to assist with commercialization activities, including prototype creation, third-party validation, and market research, which are required to successfully spin off technologies. Applicants are strongly encouraged to participate in an I-Corps program prior to applying. |
- Dr. Rachel Lovell publishes new article Decoding Disbelief: Using Natural Language Processing's Sentiment Analysis to Assess 24 Years of Unfounded Rape Reports Narratives.
- CSU’s Dalton Hundt, McNair Scholar, Publishes Groundbreaking Research
- Physics Graduate Student James Taton's Summer Research at NASA Glenn Research Center EMI lab
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