The Opportunity: A large-scale funding opportunity from the Air Force Research Laboratory to establish a regional research hub that will catalyze collaborations between partners in academia, government, and industry from across the Mid-Atlantic.  

The Stakeholders: Princeton co-PI: Rodney Priestley, Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering; PI: Emmanuel Giannelis, Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Walter R. Read Professor of Engineering, Cornell University

The Challenge: Developing a complex 25-page technical narrative in addition to numerous supporting documents together with a collaborators from six research institutions, eight companies, and several other affiliated organizations.

The Process: Our Research Development specialist participated in team meetings with core partners to brainstorm and develop research themes and infrastructure plans for the proposal. They gathered institutional data required by AFRL on Princeton’s rankings, research funding, patents, commercialization activities, workforce development, diversity, and collaborations with national labs. Research Development staff also drafted descriptions of Princeton’s strengths in AI, predictive data analytics, data visualization, and core facilities relevant to research aims of the proposal.

The Outcome: Princeton is a founding member of a newly announced three-year, $8.9 million cooperative agreement from the Air Force Research Laboratory to accelerate the translation of ideas into economic impact by leveraging intellectual property and new business opportunities that benefit both commercial and defense markets.