Award Data

Woody biomass is a very important feedstock for the future bioeconomy for the rural US for its availability in large quantities, ease in storage, and low cost for transportation. However, woody biomass, especially softwood, is the most difficult to convert biochemically to fermentable sugars due to its strong physical integrity and chemical recalcitrance. The goal of this project is to develop a c ...

More than 52% of U.S. urban highway congestion is a direct result of highway incidents. Federal and State transportation authorities are searching for quick, cost-effective and efficient highway incident detection and warning systems. Several solutions have been proposed but none could satisfy requirements of transportation authorities. Central Signal's research and development, grounded in mor ...

Agricultural products used as alternative energy sources can generate considerable waste. This waste will be enriched in plant extracted inorganics including high surface area silica. Mayaterials has already developed proprietary techniques to synthesize several useful chemicals (including several epoxy resins) from these wastes and proposes to use it to develop a new generation of highly efficien ...

The Japanese beetle is a highly destructive pest of more than 400 plant species including fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, field and forage crops, and weeds. Since the first detection in the United States in a nursery near Riverton, New Jersey in 1916, it has spread to many states east of the Mississippi River (except Florida), as well as parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Ka ...

Humans are exposed constantly to molds in the environment, both indoors and outdoors. Problems arise when the immune system is suppressed (HIV infection, cancer treatment), over-responsive (allergy) or when exposures are exceedingly high (irritation and mycotoxin effects). Many people are allergic to molds, and allergic responses include hay fever and asthma. Certain molds such as Stachybotrys cha ...

The proposed project focuses on development of an inexpensive and field-ready device for rapid detection of perchlorate in water and soil with high sensitivity and selectivity at low LoD. Phase I will result in a field-ready perchlorate nanobiosensor, with 1 ppb LoD. This device will dramatically lower the time and cost of perchlorate analysis. The proposed biosensor will be suitable for field use ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop commercial biorestoration technologies to restore the overall structure and function of degraded Sphagnum weland ecosystems. Technologies will include the development of plant tissue culture techniques for Sphagnum species, the application of commercial micropropagation protocols, and an investigation of the potential benefit of ...

While the Internet may promise the potential of increased access to services and information, obstacles make access to such technology by rural businesses, educators and individuals difficult. Much research has been conducted about bringing Internet services into K-12 education, and projects have in initiated to bring better Internet access to rural communities, yet the rift between urban and ru ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project envisages new biodegradable, water-soluble films produced from blends of pectin and starch for commercial applications. The proposed research focuses on developing films by melt extrusion of plasticized blends of pectin and starch. The extruded films will be characterized in terms of blend morphology, mechanical properties, and barrier prop ...

In this project, we will develop cost-effective, environmentally benign architectural roof coatings derived from agricultural products. Each year more than 5 billion pounds of material are used for roof coatings leading to the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Our preliminary studies have shown that cationic photopolymerizations of epoxidized soybean ...