The Jefferson Trust — a group of trustees dedicated to giving monetary grants to University students, faculty and staff to drive innovation and improve the student experience — announced six recipients of this fall’s Major Cycle Grants. Between these six projects, the Trust awarded a total of $812,064.
The Jefferson Trust awards both Flash Grants and Major Cycle Grants on a monthly and biannual basis, respectively. Flash Grants are capped at $10,000 and are awarded to student projects. Students are also eligible to apply for Major Cycle Grants, which are for requests above $10,000. Major Cycle Grant recipients are chosen twice a year with selection rounds in the fall and spring semesters.
Andrea Seese, assistant director of promotions and events for the Jefferson Trust, said that applicants propose their budgets along with their larger project, based on the scope and anticipated expenses of their project. Letters of Inquiry for Major Cycle Grants are accepted on a rolling basis, and if the Letter of Inquiry moves forward, groups are invited to submit a proposal. If the proposal moves forward, groups are invited to give an in-person pitch to the Board of Trustees and receive funding decisions in under a month.
Seese said that the Trust received 31 Letters of Inquiry from groups and individuals across the University containing their ideas for project proposals. 21 of these letters advanced to full project proposals, 12 of these project proposals were invited to pitch their ideas to the Trust and six were ultimately funded, Seese said. The Trust seeks to invest in as many projects as it can, while also providing substantial amounts of money required to complete each project, according to Seese.
“We see these ideas and these passionate people that are leading [them], and so the Trust wants to see these projects succeed … The goal with these is just to further grow and enhance the reputation of the University and to enhance the student experience,” Seese said.
Here is a closer look at the six projects awarded grants by the Jefferson Trust this fall.
Predicting Tumor Growth with Generative AI — $260,000
Predicting Tumor Growth with Generative AI — which aims to predict tumor progression of a vestibular schwannoma tumor through the GrowthNet artificial intelligence model — received a $260,000 grant. The project is a collaboration between Dr. Ashok Asthagiri, director of the Microsurgical Anatomy and Skull Base Laboratory at U.Va. Health, and the University Data Analytics Center. The project is also using de-identification software created by Dr. Xue Feng, assistant professor of biomedical engineering.
Vestibular schwannomas are often benign, slow-growing tumors that develop on the vestibulocochlear nerves in the brain. According to Asthagiri, treating these tumors through focused radiation or surgery is difficult because the tumor is tied to a person’s hearing and balance.
The GrowthNet project aims to use generative AI to predict how the tumor will grow three-dimensionally, and is based on more than 2800 MRI scans from over 800 patients with vestibular schwannoma tumors, according to Asthagiri. Asthagiri said that in the future, he believes that more predictive factors like age, weight and hormonal status may be incorporated as a greater understanding of tumor growth patterns emerges.
“For patients, being able to understand what the future holds is of great importance … [and] from a pure medical perspective, it would be, what is the best time for intervention?” Asthagiri said. “The dual mandate of the project, in my opinion, is to have this clinical impact, and then to also have an educational impact in which we build a community of folks who are interested in this type of question.”
CICLEC Fellows Program in Catalysis and Sustainability — $135,000
The Catalysis Initiative for Clean Energy and Chemicals Sustainability Fellows Program is a three-year pilot program that provides academic year and summer research experiences in catalysis and sustainability to University undergraduate students, according to Charles Machan, co-chair of the CICLEC Research Hub. The project received $135,000.
“Summer research funding is commonly sought after by U.Va. undergraduates in Arts and Sciences and Engineering, and we often have a lot more interest than we have support,” Machan said. “This is a mechanism to both improve that, but also expose students to the kinds of research areas that the University is investing in on a very large scale.”
Machan said that the funding from the Jefferson Trust will allow the CICLEC Sustainability Fellows Group to have monthly meetings where students can build relationships with faculty members and graduate students, as well as bring in external speakers to teach cohort participants about special topics in a field.
U.Va. Finance Academy — $127,500
The Finance Academy is a free, application-based program open to second-year students across all majors to aid in their preparation for the recruiting process for finance jobs, which includes careers such as investment banking and private equity.
The program was founded by Mike Gallmeyer, consumer bankers association eminent professor of commerce and director of the center for investors and financial markets, as well as David Smith, Virginia Bankers Association Professor of Commerce and associate dean for center development and research. The academy is now led by Brian Healy, lecturer in commerce and associate director of the center for investors and financial markets. The program has grown from 60 students enrolled in the first session, held five years ago, to 315 students enrolled currently, according to Gallmeyer and Healy.
Healy and Gallmeyer also said funding from the Jefferson Trust grants will allow Finance Academy to provide financial aid to the students who would like to attend their career treks — an opportunity for students to travel to cities and visit company offices, meet recruiters and industry professionals and gain greater exposure to a career path. The grant money will also be used to provide Finance Academy students with access to market intelligence platforms, which Smith and Gallmeyer said in a statement to The Cavalier Daily would allow them to prepare more thoroughly for interviews and better understand the work of firms.
“The Jefferson Trust funds will support the Finance Academy as we seek more stable funding, hopefully through the philanthropy of our great alumni and parents,” Smith said.
Noninvasive Method for Ischemic Stroke Differentiation in Humans — $120,064
The noninvasive method for ischemic stroke differentiation in humans is a project intended to make diagnosis of ischemic stroke accessible at community hospitals and clinics who might not have access to higher-level diagnostic tools, according to Zhiyi Zuo, Robert M. Epstein professor in the department of anaesthesiology, anaesthesiology executive vice chair and vice chair of pre-clinical research. The project received $120,064.
Additionally, Zuo also said that the additional funding will allow the lab to progress their research into a human study. The goal of the project is to create a non-invasive device based on an analysis of these samples, according to Zuo.
Scaffold, An Adaptive Learning Platform for Engineering Education — $89,500
The Scaffold Project aims to automate the manual work behind grading of mastery learning for engineers. The team includes Lakeshia Taite, project founder and assistant professor of chemical engineering, George Prpich, project founder and associate professor of chemical engineering, James Baker, developer and fourth-year Computer Science student, and Doug Garland, pro tempore advisor and Engineering associate dean for entrepreneurship and innovation, according to a statement to The Cavalier Daily from Prpich.
“Above all, we hope to strengthen student learning and help students find more satisfaction in mastering challenging material,” Prpich said. “We also want to make it easier for faculty to innovate by taking on some of the time-consuming work that new approaches can require.”
Mastery learning is an education model which allows students to show what they have learned through lower-stakes cycles of repeated practice and feedback, and according to Prpich, has been difficult to use in engineering because of the additional labor required by instructors to grade and create additional practice problems. The team is using recent advances in AI to build the Scaffold prototype, the idea for which started this summer, according to Prpich.
From Pump to Patient: Identifying Microplastic Exposure in the NICU — $80,000
From Pump to Patient is intended to inform safer neonatal intensive care unit feeding practices, create interdisciplinary training opportunities for University students and conduct research around microplastic exposure in newborns, according to a Jefferson Trust press release from Sept. 29.
The project was awarded $80,000 and is led by Somayeh Asadi, civil and environmental engineering professor and associate chair for research and strategic initiatives, Dr. Brynne Sullivan, Center for Advanced Medical Analytics director and associate professor of pediatrics and neonatology, and Dr. Jonathan Swanson, director of the division of neonatology and chief quality officer for children’s services.
The Cavalier Daily requested comment from Asadi, Sullivan and Swanson but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Looking Forward
Letters of interest for spring Major Cycle Grants can be submitted on a rolling basis throughout this fall, and the deadline to submit a proposal is Jan. 31. Flash funding grant applications may also be submitted — the form for these will open Jan. 1 and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Seese said that funding decisions are typically received in under a month.
Charlotte Gabriel is a second-year Commerce and College student, and she serves as a staff writer on the news desk.
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