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Seed Grants

FY25 ISSE Seed Grant Winners

The Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment (ISSE) makes annual funding available for multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator research and support. For fiscal year 2025, ISSE and the UT Office of Research Innovation and Economic Development (ORIED) have awarded five seed grants to support research projects related to clean energy transition and environmental sustainability. All projects, selected by a panel of independent reviewers, have high potential for external funding.

FY25 ISSE Seed Grant Winners
InvestigatorsProject Title
PI: Peng Zhao (MABE)
Co-PI: Tom Zawodzinski (CBE)
Characterization of particle emission during battery thermal runaway and fires
PI: Leon Tolbert (EECS)
Co-PIs: Hua Bai (EECS),
David Greene (CEE) 
Community Electrical Vehicle Charging Infrastructure with V2G Technology Integrated for Environmental and Social Justice
PI: Xiaofei Ye (BESS),
Co-PIs: Zhili Zhang (MABE),
Kellie Walters (Plant Sciences)
Decarbonization of nitrogen fertilizer for agriculture
PI: Anming Hu (MABE)
Co-PI: Qiang He (CEE)
Innovative tandem system of porous carbon sorption and photocatalytic degradation of TiO2 nanomembranes for micro-nano-plastics and PFAS removal 
PI: EminĂ© Fidan (BESS)
Co-PIs: Augustin Engman (Natural Resources), Jon Hathaway (TNWRRC)
Environmental Justice in the City: Socio-Economic Dimensions of Urban Stream Health
Leon Tolbert
Xiaofei Ye
Anming Hu
Eminé Fidan

Previous Seed Grants Awarded

Anna HerringCoupled Mass Transfer Processes During Underground Hydrogen Storage – read Final Report
Kai SunAssessing the Implications of Large-Scale Hydrogen Production on Power Transmission Systems – read Final Report
Toni WangTransformational Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Biofertilizer from Black Solider Fly 
Jiangang ChenAssessing the levels of forever chemicals (PFAS) in surface water in Tennessee aquatic ecosystems
Alison BuchanIdentification of novel pathways for bacterial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Baoshan HuangUtilization of waste plastics to build the next generation of sustainable and durable asphalt pavements
Chris CherryMicromobility Vehicle Second-Life Battery Applications: Market Inventory and End Use Feasibility Analysis
Khalid Alshibli            Gas Driven Fracture During Gas Production using 3D Synchrotron Computed Tomography (SMT)
Chris ClarkAnalyzing Strategies for Diverting and Managing Organic Waste Streams in Tennessee
Anahita KhojandiMulti-Sensor Data-Driven Inspection/Maintenance of Green Infrastructure 
Steven RippEmerging synthetic biology for plant phytosensing and agricultural sustainability
Douglas HayesTransport, Colloidal Behavior, Biodegradability, and Ecotoxicity of Micro- and Nanoplastics from Emergent Biodegradable Agroplastics in Aquatic Systems
Khalid AlshibliGeochemical Interaction between CO2 and Caprock for safe Carbon Sequestration
Qiang HeToward Precision Environmental Health Risk Management: Feasibility of Personalized Exposome Monitoring
Scott LenaghanBioengineering of the Duckweed Plastid Genome: A Model Plant for Aquatic Bioremediation
Terry HazenMicrobial-geochemical signatures for CO2 storage performance and sustainable development of unconventional shale resources
Scott LenaghanBioengineering of the Duckweed Plastid Genome
Kelsey EllisBeat the Heat: Builiding adaptive capacity of vulverable populations in Knox County to combined stressors from climate change and urban heat.
Frank LoefflerMicrobial transformation and degradation of sulfonated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Khalid Alshibli                         Geochemical Interaction between CO2 and Caprock for Safe Carbon Sequestration
Jie WuSocioeconomic inequalities and drinking water quality: assessin arsenic concentrations in community water systems by novel field deployable biosensors.
Qiang HeToward Precision Environmental Health Risk Management