Institute awards 32 computational and data sciences seed grants

“The possibilities for applying data science and computational science approaches are endless,” said Jenni Evans, director of ICDS and professor of meteorology and atmospheric science.

May 06, 2020

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Understanding polarized political opinions, predicting Arctic Sea ice levels, and accelerating quantum computing with machine learning — these are just a few focuses of the dozens of new Penn State research projects that have been funded by Institute for Computational and Data Sciences seed grants, in conjunction with supplemental funding from the colleges of Arts and Architecture, Earth and Mineral Sciences; Information Sciences and Technology; Education; and Engineering.

Of the 51 proposals received, 32 projects were funded. ICDS awarded more than $650,000 in funding; together with supplemental funds from colleges, the 32 projects received $725,893.00 in support. The projects include 57 researchers from 12 Penn State colleges and 31 academic departments, as well as the Applied Research Laboratory.

This was the first round of seed grants awarded since the institute changed its name in response to its rapid growth and expanding mission. The record number of proposals received points to how prevalent computational and data sciences are at Penn State.