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PPC Researchers Awarded Jumpstarting Tomorrow Grants

August 16, 2021

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Several PPC research fellows were awarded grants in the first round of Jumpstarting Tomorrow grants, sponsored by the Research Development Office (RDO) and the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR).

Jerry Anthony, senior research fellow in the Social and Education Policy Research Program, is a Co-PI on the project, "Decarb 2040 - Positioning Iowa As an Energy Exporter in the Coming Era of Deep Decarbonization." Lucie Laurian, senior faculty affiliate in the Environmental Policy Research Program, is the Primary Investigator for "Public Libraries for Disaster Resilience: Assessing Libraries' Community Impacts in Times of Climate and Socio-Economic Crises," with Phuong Nguyen-Hoang, senior research fellow in residence in the Social and Education and Health Policy Research Programs; and Haifeng Qian, senior research fellow in the Social and Education Policy Research Program, as Co-PIs.

Jumpstarting Tomorrow, a hybrid pilot grant/community-building program, will support innovative and collaborative teams that could become the vanguard for future strategic research investments by the university. The initiative was made possible through $2 million in funding to RDO from the first round of disbursements related to the UI utility public-private partnership (P3). The aim of the award is to strive for "convergence research" as defined by the National Science Foundation:

  • Research driven by a specific and compelling problem. Convergence research is generally inspired by the need to address a specific challenge or opportunity, whether it arises from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs.
  • Deep integration across disciplines. As experts from different disciplines pursue common research challenges, their knowledge, theories, methods, data, research communities and languages become increasingly intermingled or integrated. New frameworks, paradigms or even disciplines can form sustained interactions across multiple communities.

Read more about the Jumpstarting Tomorrow projects and their descriptions here.