CALS faculty members are invited to apply for funding of projects that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) theory and technology in support of research and innovation. The funding, offered through the college’s Research and Innovation Office (RIO) in partnership with the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, will support faculty in developing grant proposals for external agencies; developing patents or technology; commercializing a product or founding a company; and applying AI through community engagement to address scientific, technical and societal problems.
“This is a unique seed grant, spanning basic research to translational research to product development, and from natural sciences to social sciences,” said Xingen Lei, professor of animal science and nutritional sciences and associate dean of RIO. “Our strategic focus on AI in this seed grant supports the CALS Roadmap to 2050 moonshot priorities and involves areas where we have strong faculty expertise and interest.”
Funded projects will leverage AI to address these areas:
- Controlled-environment agriculture
- Sustainable protein production (animal, plant, microbial and cellular)
- Improving health and preventing disease (soil, plant, animal and human)
- Circular economy (to reduce waste and regenerate nature)
- Empowering society for information acquiring and filtering
RIO launched one year ago, with the twin goals of empowering faculty to compete for large grants and of supporting faculty in innovation and commercialization of their discoveries. In 2023, RIO awarded more than $400,000 in seed grant funding to 16 faculty-led projects that will generate new patents or technologies, develop new products or startup companies, spark community impact and propel large-scale research proposal development and submission.
Marius Weigert, director of innovation and engagement in RIO, said his role is to help bridge the gap between academia and business by providing concrete tools for faculty to approach commercialization, including connections with investors and industry. Weigert played a similar role in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences for five years and was pivotal in establishing the partnerships that created the Hemp Research Consortium, through which Cornell received millions of research dollars. The office works in close collaboration with Cornell’s Center for Technology Licensing, which protects and manages intellectual property on behalf of CALS and researchers.
“A core part of our mission in RIO is strengthening the culture in CALS around what it means to be innovative and entrepreneurial, not just in academia but in business,” Weigert said. “Research by itself is great, but why not do research with an end goal in mind of innovation and commercialization? We want to support faculty on that journey.”
Tiffany Fleming, director of research development for RIO, works with faculty to identify and compete for large federal and private funding opportunities through agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health.
“We have a lot of individual investigators focused on one project – and those are great awards – but in some cases, those projects could be leveraged and combined to create research centers and interdisciplinary projects, which is where many of our federal funders are going,” Fleming said. “The idea for RIO was putting Marius and me together and having us think more holistically about how to engage faculty through the whole process, from idea to funding to commercialization.”
Proposal submissions for this year’s seed grants are due Sept. 30. Awardees will be notified in mid-October, and funding will be available Nov. 1.
Krisy Gashler is a writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
