President’s Global Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Awarded

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community,

I am delighted to announce the fourth round of grants from the President’s Global Innovation Fund.  The Fund awards grants for faculty members to leverage and engage Columbia Global Centers.  The program is designed as a venture fund to enable the development of new projects and research collaborations within and across these sites, in order to increase global opportunities for research, teaching, and service.  The 12 projects receiving awards were selected by a review committee of senior faculty drawn from both the Morningside and medical campuses. 

The projects selected in this round all make use of our network of eight Columbia Global Centers and will provide opportunities for faculty and students to address important global issues.  Projects receiving awards focus on a diverse array of topics, ranging from biomedical engineering to human rights to Slavic studies. Many are highly collaborative, with faculty members working across University departments and schools, and partnering with other academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and research consortia.  The full list of funded projects can be found below. 

These awards follow three previous rounds of grants from the President’s Global Innovation Fund that have supported 49 projects.  Collectively, these projects play an essential role in realizing the potential of the Columbia Global Centers to create new opportunities for faculty and students, and in defining in tangible ways what it means for Columbia to explore new frontiers of knowledge in the 21st century.  It is gratifying to see such a high level of interest in this program from our faculty.  More information on the program and the previous rounds of funded projects can be found on the PGIF section of the Columbia Global Centers website.

Please join President Bollinger, Safwan Masri, Executive Vice President for Global Centers and Global Development, and me in congratulating these grant recipients.

John H. Coatsworth 
Provost