CWRU, CSU IoT Collaborative awards pilot grants to five research teams

The Internet of Things Collaborative (IOTC) awarded five pilot grants to teams of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University researchers. The awards, totaling more than $90,000, are supported by The Cleveland Foundation, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University. The funded projects leverage the complementary strengths of CWRU and CSU and facilitate collaborations between the universities, campuses, departments and disciplines that will further advance northeast Ohio as a leader in IoT research and development. “All of the funded projects are exciting not only because the technical applications are interesting but also because they represent important efforts to improve quality of life for everyday people in meaningful ways,” said Suzanne Rivera, CWRU’s vice president for research and technology management. The investigators will use the funds for pilot research that is expected to lead to follow-on funding. The following projects have been funded:

• Chris Papachristou (CWRU) and Chansu Yu (CSU): “An Indoor Navigation and Localization System”
• Ming-Chun Huang (CWRU) and Sunnie Sun Chung (CSU): “Protect Privacy in a Distributed Learning Platform with a Natural Language Processing Example”
• Philip Feng (CWRU), Haodong Wang (CSU) and Mark Griswold (CWRU): “Integrating Wireless Sensors and Data Streams into Virtual Reality of Smart Buildings”
• Emily Pentzer (CWRU) and Christopher L. Wirth (CSU): “IoT Enabled Chemical Analysis”
• Roberto F. Galán (CWRU) and Wendy C. Regoeczi (CSU): “Predictive Modeling of Drug Offenses and Gun Violence in Cleveland”

“The IOTC seeks to make Greater Cleveland an epicenter for digital innovation with a tech-plus strategy; while technology innovation is necessary, it is insufficient to truly address our world’s most challenging problems. The types of collaborations developing through the pilot research funding and the partnerships being developed in the public and private sectors are critical to the IOTC mission,” said Kenneth A. Loparo, the Arthur L. Parker Professor, faculty director of the Institute for Smart, Secure and Connected Systems (ISSACS) and IOTC co-academic director. The IOTC is bringing together industrial, governmental, educational, neighborhood and non-profit entities in the region to harness the power of IoT with a special focus in four sectors: manufacturing, health, energy and municipal infrastructure.