ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Officers and Directors of the James S. McDonnell Foundation today announced more than $17.4 million in grants in their ongoing program, the 21st Century Science Initiative.
Founded in 1950 by the late aerospace pioneer and founder of what would become the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, James S. McDonnell believed that science and technology gives mankind the power to shape knowledge for the future while improving our lives. "Mr. Mac's" vision continues to be realized through the research these grants are supporting. Since the inception of the program in 2000, more than $280 million in funding has been awarded.
In 2016, the 21st Century Science Initiative funded new research in two programs areas. Scholar Awards in the program area Understanding Human Cognition were provided to researchers identified by their peers as likely to continue to make important theoretical or conceptual contributions advancing our understanding of how neurological function enables cognition and behavior. Studying Complex Systems supports scholarship and research directed toward the development of theoretical and mathematical tools that can be applied to the study of complex, adaptive, nonlinear systems. The JSMF Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards in Studying Complex Systems provides students completing doctoral training an opportunity to broaden their research experience and acquire additional skills in this multi-disciplinary field.
“Support of research and applications of research findings to important problems remains a pivotal role for private philanthropy and for the McDonnell Foundation. The foundation is committed to the ideal that having a diversity of private and public funders helps ensure that the most creative work will obtain needed support,” said McDonnell Foundation President, Dr. Susan Fitzpatrick.
The McDonnell Foundation's 2016 21st Century Science Initiative Awards are:
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Scholar Awards: Understanding Human Cognition |
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Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Principal Investigator: Jan Drugowitsch, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| The approximate computations underlying decisions based on perceptual evidence |
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Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Principal Investigator: Brian Edlow, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| Brainstem modulation of human consciousness |
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Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey |
| Principal Investigator: Kanaka Rajan, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| Integrative theory of memory and cognitive processes |
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Stanford University, Stanford, California |
| Principal Investigator: Lisa Giocomo, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| Components and computations for building adaptive cognitive maps of space |
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Stanford University, Stanford, California |
| Principal Investigator: Daniel Yamins, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| Building richer computational models of visual cognition |
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The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel |
| Principal Investigator: Ayelet Landau, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| Rhythmic sampling: A domain-general principle in the architecture of attention |
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The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas |
| Principal Investigator: Gagan Wig, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| A complex networks approach for understanding age-related cognitive decline |
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University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas |
| Principal Investigator: Genevieve Konopka, $600,000 over 8 years. |
| Elucidating the molecular evolution of human cognition |
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Collaborative Activity Awards: Understanding Human Cognition |
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Boston University |
| Project Manager: Stefan Hofmann, $1,374,417 over 3 years. |
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From Defensive Responses to Clinical Interventions: Understanding the Mechanisms of Anxiety |
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Emory University |
| Principal Investigator: Paul García, $1,407,908 over 3 years. |
| Probing the overlap between sleep and anesthesia to enhance human cognition (Phase 2) |
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Iowa State University |
| Project Manager: Shana Carpenter, $4,635,718 over 5 years. |
| Implementing Principles from the Science of Learning within Educational Practice |
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Scholar Awards: Studying Complex Systems |
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Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona |
| Principal Investigator: Yun Kang, $450,000 over 4 years |
| Complex adaptive systems of social insect colonies: Emergence of scaling, social dynamics and evolution cooperation |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Principal Investigator: Jӧrn Dunkel, $450,000 over 6 years |
| Evolution of topological features in complex biological systems |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Principal Investigator: Jeremy England, $450,000 over 6 years |
| Self-organization in driven many-body assemblies: Predictive principles from non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics |
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National University of Singapore, Singapore |
| Principal Investigator: Ryan Chisholm, $450,000 over 5 years |
| Modeling complex ecological communities: From small islands to tropical forests |
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The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel |
| Principal Investigator: Nadav Kashtan, $450,000 over 6 years |
| Life on leafs: Complex microbial cities on plant leaf surfaces |
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University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska |
| Principal Investigator: John DeLong, $450,000 over 6 years |
| Understanding the consequences of body size evolution in ecological communities |
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University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin |
| Principal Investigator: Sushmita Roy, $450,000 over 6 years |
| Using an evolutionary framework to study robustness and predictive power of data-driven molecular regulatory networks |
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards: Studying Complex Systems |
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Sergey Belan, Doctoral Institution: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology |
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Karna Gowda, Doctoral Institution: Northwestern University |
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Helen McCreery, Doctoral Institution: University of Colorado Boulder |
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Jasmine Nirody, Doctoral Institution: University of California, Berkeley |
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Mor Nitzan, Doctoral Institution: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
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Grant Rotskoff, Doctoral Institution: University of California, Berkeley |
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Lauren Shoemaker, Doctoral Institution: University of Colorado Boulder |
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Talia Tamarin, Doctoral Institution: Weizmann Institute of Science |
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David Zeevi, Doctoral Institution: Weizmann Institute of Science |
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Xianyuan Zhan, Doctoral Institution: Purdue University |
