LSU announces latest round of faculty research funding. See who got what

The LSU Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research will award $1.8 million in grants to various projects at the university, the school announced.

This is the fund’s third year. Some of the research receiving funding this round includes STEM, social and behavioral sciences, and the arts and humanities. It also supports scholarly conferences, symposia, and seminars at LSU with additional funds for conference travel and research equipment.

The projects will include over 70 faculty across 10 colleges and schools on LSU’s flagship campus, extending collaboration to LSU Libraries, Center for Energy Studies, Center for Computation & Technology, LSU AgCenter, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU Health New Orleans.

Some of the funded projects include:

• Improved building and energy systems that can moderate the impact of extreme heat on local communities and vulnerable populations.
• Development of a new treatment for traumatic brain injury.
• An effort to establish a microalgae industry in Louisiana by converting abandoned rice fields—lost to saltwater intrusion—into microalgae cultivation ponds. Microalgae absorb carbon dioxide from the air and can be used as biomass for energy production and to create medicines.
• A new book on how empathy can both perpetuate and mitigate conflict by producing either contempt or affinity and by distorting and enabling knowledge of oneself and the world.
• The organization of a SciArt Play Festival at LSU in April 2025 showcasing plays on scientific topics such as genetic engineering, AI, and virology.

Read more about the Provost’s Fund and the funded projects.