Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Team Catalyst Fund Announces Five Inaugural Awardees

Article Content

UC San Diego announced recipients of its inaugural Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Team Catalyst Fund, recognizing five groundbreaking research teams for their exceptional projects. This new fund, established to foster innovative, cross-disciplinary research, is designed to play a critical role in instigating collaborative research that addresses significant societal challenges.

The Catalyst Fund supports the work of multidisciplinary teams in their early stages by providing internal funding for planning, team building and strategic development. The goal is to advance novel research approaches and facilitate long-term funding opportunities.

"The Interdisciplinary Team Catalyst Fund was established to fill a gap by providing funds to support efforts where diverse expertise converges to tackle our most pressing challenges,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “As we celebrate our inaugural awardees, we embrace the transformative power of collaboration. Congratulations to the visionary teams shaping a brighter future through their commitment to interdisciplinary excellence."

In this debut year, the Office of Research and Innovation’s Research Development team managed a highly competitive selection process, receiving 45 proposals from across the campus. From these, five projects were chosen to receive awards of up to $75,000 each.

The selected projects reflect the fund's mission to combine diverse expertise and create substantial scholarly and societal impact. The awarded teams are:

1. Bridging Expertise: Catalyzing AI & ML for Equity, Education, and Knowledge Mobilization

   • Collaborators: Alan Daly (Education Studies) and Parinaz Naghizadeh (Electrical and Computer Engineering), with Anita Caduff (Education Studies) serving as key personnel

2. Building Cross-Campus Capacity to Reduce HIV and Other Health-Related Disparities among Individuals Experiencing Homelessness in San Diego County

   • Collaborators: David Moore (Psychiatry) and Jennifer Nations (Urban Studies and Planning)

3. Catalyzing Collaborative and Transformative Change in Organ Donation: The UC San Diego Center for Organ Donation Research, Education, and Innovation

   • Collaborators: Gabriel Schnickel and Aleah Brubaker (both Surgery); Mita Shah (Medicine) and Sheri Hartman (Public Health)

4. Harmonizing the Pulse of Life: Pioneering Circadian Insights for Human and Ecosystem Health at UC San Diego

   • Collaborators: James Nieh (Ecology, Behavior & Evolution) and Benjamin Smarr (Bioengineering)

5. UC San Diego Center for In Vivo Gene Therapy

   • Collaborators: Dan Kaufman (Division of Regenerative Medicine); Prashant Mali and Ester Kwon (both Bioengineering)

“We are thrilled to support these pioneering teams through the Catalyst Fund. The projects selected not only showcase exceptional scholarship but also promise to make a significant impact issues best examined holistically by a broad range of peers working together to see things differently," said Corinne Peek-Asa, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. "We look forward to seeing the advancements these teams will achieve and the potential for future external funding.”

The Catalyst Fund represents a significant component of UC San Diego's broader funding strategy, aimed at enhancing collaboration and driving innovation. The next round of proposals being announced next month will align with the university’s updated strategic plan and research themes.

The university congratulates the awardees and anticipates the transformative research and advancements that these projects will bring.

For more information about the awarded projects and ongoing initiatives, contact researchdevelopment@ucsd.edu.