News & Events

JSNN Grants – 2020

JSNN faculty and campus have been awarded millions of dollars in grants in 2020:


front of JSNN buildingJSNN, Georgia Tech Collaboration Receives $7.5M NSF Renewal Grant to Support Nanotechnology Research and Development. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a five-year $7.5 million renewal grant to support the ongoing work of the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC) program, benefitting in part research at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN). Read more >



Dr. Zhang and Dr. Dellinger received a new award titled “Portable Sensing Platform for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus in Air Through Nanoengineered Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering”, from the NC Policy Collaboratory in the amount of $200,000.

A New State-of-the-Art Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) for JSNN

  • Funded by a grant from the Department of Defense through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).
  • This TEM has superior performance and provides solutions to a wide range of applications from materials science to medical/biological studies.
  • The advanced control system allows visualization and imaging at the atomic scale as well as remote operation.

Dr. Ignatova has been awarded a new National Science Foundation award: “RAPID: Collaborative Research: One-step Express Test for Pre-symptomatic Detection to Prevent COVID-19 Spread.”

Dr. Ignatova was re-appointed and also won an innovation planning grant from the UNC System.


Dr. Zhang (PI) and two other co-PIs (Dr. Ajit Kelkar and Dr. Lijun Wang) have been awarded a prestigious NSF grant in the amount of $500,000 for “Excellence in Research: Manufacturing of Sustainable and Environment-Friendly Bio-Binder from Algae for Epoxy-Based Composite Materials.”

Dr. Zhang is the recipient of this year’s Intellectual Property Research Award!. This award is a result of focus and excellence and is a credit to the Joint School of Nanoscience and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.


Synthetic Biology Research at JSNN

Dr. Zadegan and collaborators (LaJeunesse, Aramavudhan, Herr, Josephs) received a $1.5M Grant from NSF SemiSynBio-II to conduct research at the intersection of synthetic biology and semiconductor industry.

Dr. Zadegan received a grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center entitled “Developing a Chromatin Analogous Gene Expression Robot to Detect COVID-19.”


Dr. Dellinger has been awarded $3500 supplied by the NC TraCS advisory committee and Dr. Sarin. This award is in response to the NC TraCS Junior Faculty Request for Supplies.


The research award this year goes out to Dr. Eric Joseph. Dr. Josephs received two major awards in his first year as an Assistant Professor, from the National Institutes of Health:
The NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded him for a project title: “R35-Complex Mechanisms of Mutation and Mutation Avoidance in Living Cells,” and National Institute of allergy and infectious disease (NIAID) awarded him a project title “R21-Mechanism and Architecture of EndoMS/NucS Mutation Avoidance in Myobacteria.” Both awards together amount to over $1.5M. Further, he was also awarded the UNC System grant for COVID-related research. It is for $57,411/6months.


The teaching award goes to Dr. Joseph Starobin. For many years Dr. Starobin has been well known as an exemplary educator. This year was no exception. He has done an outstanding job with our student and been an excellent colleague to the faculty. His teaching has played an important role in retention and increasing our enrollment.


Dr. Kepley’s group was successful in obtaining a new grant from the National Institutes of Health, as well as a Lineberger Cancer Center Developmental Award.


The innovation award this year goes out to Dr. Jianjun Wei who was issued a patent titled “Nanoplasmonic Devices and Applications” by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This work will continue to ensure that JSNN-born technologies impact UNCG and the larger scientific and technological community.