2025 Research Grants

Enabling Superhot Dry Rock Energy and Gigaton Carbon Storage

PI: Jean-Phillipe Avouac
Research Team: Ruby Fu, Zach Ross, Allen Husker, Samson Mart, and Yijian Zhou
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Climate Science Initiative

This project will address fundamental roadblocks to the development of superhot enhanced geothermal systems, and subsurface storage of CO2 at the large scale needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. These operations involve injection or extraction of supercritical fluids in the subsurface, heat exchange with the rock formation, hydraulic fracturing and carry a risk of induced earthquakes. The project aims at monitoring and understanding these processes in collaboration with industry partners who are currently conducting field scale operations

A Universal, Host-Independent, Cell-Free Biomanufacturing Platform to Produce Plant Pathogen-Targeting Bacteriophages for Sustainable Agricultural Biocontrol

PIs: William M. (Bil) Clemons and Richard Murray
Research Team: Yan Zhang
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Initiative

This project tackles invasive agricultural bacterial pathogens that cause over $1 billion in annual crop losses. With no effective elimination methods, bacteriophages—viruses that kill bacteria—are a promising alternative. We propose a scalable platform to produce phages as next-generation, sustainable bactericides for environmentally responsible and effective crop protection.

Blue Carbon Storage Changes in Southern Californiaís Largest Salt Marsh

PIs: Woodward Fischer
Research Team: Theodore Present
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Climate Science Initiative and Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Initiative

We propose to reconstruct the sedimentary history and ecologic change in Mugu Lagoon to understand thedynamic consequences of sea level rise on salt marsh carbon storage.

Non-transgenic environmental curing of virulence plasmids from bacterial plant pathogens

PIs: Bruce Hay and Richard Murray
Research Team: Thomas Adamo Schmidt and John Marken
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Initiative

Increasing agricultural yields will be critical in meeting the food and commodity needs of a growing globalpopulation while minimizing the negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Successful application of ourresearch would decrease the prevalence and severity of bacterial plant diseases, thereby increasing yields andlowering the use of pesticides.

Constraining the world's deep soil carbon stores in riverine corridors

PI: Michael Lamb
Research Team: Harrison Martin
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Climate Science Initiative, Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Initiative, and Water Resources Initiative

The carbon below our feet is unseen, unexplored, and one of the key uncertainties in global climate projections. We propose to quantify deep carbon stores in river corridors, which are vulnerable to rapid river reworking and could be one of the largest pools of organic carbon on Earth.

Wafer-scale synthesis of transition-metal dichalcogenide thin films for solar energy storage

PI: Austin J. Minnich
Research Team: David Catherall, Finley Donachie, and Yifei Yan
Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Sunlight to Everything Initiative

This proposal will pioneer the synthesis of transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) thin films of unprecedented high quality and wafer-scale uniformity using a unique-in-nation thermal laser epitaxy reactor, paving the way for applications in solar energy storage.

Engineering Salinity-Resilient Plants via Rapid Spatial CRISPR Screening

PI: Trevor M. Nolan
Research Team: TBD
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Initiative

Soil salinization threatens global agriculture, affecting over a billion hectares and drastically reducing yields of critical crops. This project addresses the urgent need for salinity-tolerant plants by developing rapid spatial CRISPR screening approaches to identify and engineer genetic traits to enable plants to thrive in saline soils.

Connecting Scales of Coastal Seagrass Health and Extent with Imaging Spectroscopy

PI: Victoria Orphan
Research Team: John Magyar and James Mullahoo
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Climate Science Initiative

In order to reduce the uncertainties associated with carbon stocks and fluxes in blue carbon ecosystems, we willdevelop new methods to combine remote sensing and in situ measurements across multiple spatiotemporalscales.