Dear New York Tech community,

Despite the challenging times we all face due to the pandemic, I am writing to provide a perspective on our institution—a truly positive and inspiring one.

As a part of our strategic plan extending back to 2017, we have committed to building a research enterprise at New York Tech. Our talented faculty researchers work tirelessly to serve our students while they pursue funding and conduct their groundbreaking research, and we are extremely proud of their impressive efforts.

Here is a snapshot of recent research grants and contracts that come primarily from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the premier source of funding for basic research, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the lead agency for medical research. The impressive body of work behind all grant proposals exemplifies New York Tech's focus on research and scholarship and our sustained momentum in pursuit of scientific investigations that open doors to new discoveries across numerous disciplines.

Winning grants and contracts from these agencies signals great achievement for our faculty. We are so proud that they are succeeding at the highest levels and bringing us national recognition.

NSF funding includes

• Dr. Akinobu Watanabe's NSF CAREER award to explore "Evo-Developmental Interactions of Craniofacial and Brain Anatomy," a project for which he hopes to receive $710,855 over five years.
• $120,000 to advance research in particle physics to examine the inner workings of matter by using holographic duality, a concept from string theory, to help understand fundamental physical systems.
• Nearly $160,000 in two grants to help fuel the next wave of artificial intelligence.
• Funding for student scholars in our eighth summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates program focusing on mobile device and wireless network security.
• A grant of $1.2 million covering stipends, programmatic support, and scholarships for 16 teacher-scholars as part of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program.
• Funding from the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the amount of $600,000 over five years to help students enter tech careers.
• A $350,000 grant to enhance testing of composite materials using holographic microwave imaging.
• Funding of $750,000 to create a research network to study the food, energy, and water (FEW) nexus for sustainable and resilient urban development.

As to NIH funding, it includes

• A $1.8 million, five-year grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in support of research to improve the understanding of atherosclerosis and deliver a new treatment for heart disease.
• A $350,000 grant from the NIH National Human Genome Research Institute so that an interdisciplinary team from our College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering and Computing Sciences can unlock mysteries in RNA sequencing.
• A $428,400 multiyear grant awarded to Jennifer Xie, Ph.D., at our medical school in Arkansas to investigate whether osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) can help relieve migraine headaches.

State funding includes a $250,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority awarded to the Willdan Group in partnership with New York Institute of Technology to support our efforts to develop research and training opportunities in the area of energy efficiency.

We also received a grant from the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Office of the Mayor with our partner, the Institute of Career Development, to develop strategies for training individuals with disabilities in technology fields.

Another very important part of our strategy is to tell the New York Tech story. I'm excited to share that our promotional and reputation-building 24-page insert was included in yesterday's Newsday (4/22) and will be inserted into tomorrow's (4/24) Wall Street Journal, targeting select ZIP codes. The result is a strong communication piece that families will receive close to the May 1 national deposit decision deadline. We expect that this insert will lead more students to choose New York Tech as their college of choice.

I hope you enjoy this information and I thank you all for your support and dedication as we constantly work to improve the perception as well as the reality of New York Tech.

Sincerely,

Hank Foley, Ph.D.
President, New York Institute of Technology