Spring 2020 Seed Grant Awards

MnDRIVE Environment is pleased to announce our Spring 2020 Seed Grant Awards. The projects selected below span a breadth of environmental remediation that use biological and chemical means to detoxify or remove contaminants from polluted air, water, and soil. These one year grants serve to facilitate innovative research solutions at the “pilot” scale which bring UMN Faculty researchers together with industry partners to collaborate.

We are also excited to acknowledge a new partnership with Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) that offers supplemental funding to Seed Grant Awards to support travel and dissemination of research. The NRRI Travel Grant is being awarded in this inagural Spring 2020 cycle to two projects listed below (as indicated by **). Congratulations to the PIs and project teams.  

Novel Biological Nitrogen Removal Technology Using Methane-Utilizing Microbes
Chan Lan Chun / Swenson College of Science & Engineering – UM Duluth

Bioremediation of PFAS: The Biggest Minnesota and Global Pollution Problem**
Mikael Elias / College of Biological Sciences

Exploiting Wood-Decomposing Fungi to Reuse Lumber Waste Treated with Hazardous Wood Preservatives
Jiwei Zhang / College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Sciences

Impact of Anion Species in the Biosorption of Copper, Nickel, and Lead
Steven Sternberg / Swenson College of Science & Engineering – UM Duluth

Identification and Characterization of Heterotrophic Bacteria with Potential to Remediate Glyphosate from Agricultural Ecosystems
James Cotner / College of Biological Sciences

Using Iron-Bearing Minerals from Waste Rock for Remediation of Sulfide Contaminated Water**
Lee Penn / College of Science and Engineering

—

Any inquiries regarding the funding opportunities or specific project awards can be directed to Jeff Standish.