Announcing the 2026 RISE Program Awardees
Eight interdisciplinary teams will receive a year of seed funding for their early-stage, high-risk/high-reward projects.
Columbia’s Office of the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR) has announced that eight teams will receive awards as part of the 2026 RISE competition, Columbia’s seed funding program for interdisciplinary research:
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Aravind Devarakonda, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, and P. James Shuck, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Project Title
- Coherent Quantum Transport Along Programmable Nanowrinkles in Two-Dimensional Materials
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Elias Issa, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Principal Investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, and Carl Vondrick, Professor of Computer Science
- Project Title
- Reverse Engineering the Efficiencies of Neural Learning in the Primate Visual Cortex
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Rachel Ben Alon, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and Adrian Buganza Tepole, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Project Title
- Designing the Full Life Cycle Thermomechanical Performance of the Next Generation Earthen Bio-Stabilized Materials
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Laura Kaufman, Professor of Chemistry, and Karen Kasza, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
- Project Title
- Spatial Lipidomics From Mass Spectrometry Imaging: New Approaches For Uncovering How Energy And Metabolism Coordinate Events In Developing Embryos
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Haotian Wu, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, and José A. Luchsinger, Robert F. Loeb Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
- Project Title
- Leveraging Native In Vivo Extracellular Vesicles from Microglia to Understand Early Neuroinflammation Related to Neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Marko Jovanovic, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, and Samuel H. Sternberg, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
- Project Title
- Proteomics Discovery of Antiviral Immunity via RNA-templated DNA Synthesis
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Adeyemi Adeleye, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, and Yushu Xia, Lamont Assistant Research Professor, Biology and Paleo Environment
- Project Title
- A Circular Economy Pathway for Safer Foods, Healthier Soil, and Enhanced Carbon Sequestration
- https://www.me.columbia.edu/faculty/karen-kaszaPrincipal Investigators
- Parisa Yousefpour, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Sara Zaccara, Assistant Professor of Systems Biology
- Project Title
- Decoding m⁶A RNA Modifications to Engineer Self-Amplifying RNA Therapeutics
Learn More
The eight awarded teams were selected by an internal peer review committee from a pool of 112 applicants. Six teams will receive $120,000, and two will receive $68,000 for one year of support of their projects, which represent early-stage, high-risk, and potentially high-reward interdisciplinary research.
“RISE is designed to support collaborations that bring together expertise from different disciplines to explore new ideas and research directions that may be difficult to pursue through conventional funding mechanisms,” said Casey Rollins, Director of Research Initiatives in the EVPR Office of Research Initiatives and Development. “The projects selected this year demonstrate the breadth of expertise across Columbia and highlight the kinds of questions that can only be addressed through interdisciplinary collaboration. One of the most rewarding aspects of the program is seeing new partnerships take shape and develop into future research opportunities. We look forward to seeing where these ideas lead.”
Since its inception in 2004, the RISE program has provided more than $15.5 million in seed funding. Completed RISE cohorts have generated more than $85.3 million in follow-on extramural support, representing approximately 6.2 times the initial investment. To learn more about the current and past projects, visit the RISE Awardees page.
Applications for the 2027 competition will open this fall.