Six McKelvey Engineering faculty receive Global Incubator Seed Grants

Grants were part of $500,000 in total awards

Clockwise from top left: Jay Turner, Joshua Yuan, Patrick Crowley, Chien-Ju Ho, William Yeoh and Nathan Jacobs.
Clockwise from top left: Jay Turner, Joshua Yuan, Patrick Crowley, Chien-Ju Ho, William Yeoh and Nathan Jacobs.

Six McKelvey School of Engineering faculty members have received 2022 Global Incubator Seed Grants, administered by the McDonnell International Scholars Academy with support from the Office of the Provost.

This year, the funded projects focus on three priority areas — public health, the environment and digital transformation — in congruence with the research pillar of the university’s strategic plan, “Here and Next.”

The selected teams, which include partners from 16 different countries, each received up to $25,000 to begin their projects. The teams will address issues ranging from developing equitable cancer prevention and intergenerational health programs to improving air quality and stormwater management.

The McKelvey Engineering faculty recipients are:

Jay Turner, the James McKelvey Professor of Engineering Education, vice dean for education, head of the Division of Engineering Education and professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, in collaboration with Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers – National Research University in Uzbekistan, for a project titled, “Developing Conceptual Models for Air Quality in Uzbekistan.”

Joshua Yuan, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, in collaboration with Chinese University of Hong Kong, for a project titled, “Advancing Innovative Chem-Bio Interfaces for Efficient Carbon Capture and Utilization.”

Patrick Crowley, professor of computer science & engineering, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, for a project titled “Energy Efficiency via the Sync Model of Communication.”

Nathan Jacobs, professor of computer science & engineering, in collaboration with the University of Campinas in Brazil, for a project titled, “Learning-Based Visual Event Demarcation.”

William Yeoh, associate professor of computer science & engineering, and Chien-Ju Ho, assistant professor of computer science & engineering, in collaboration with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, for a project titled, “Understanding and Accounting for Human Behavior and Beliefs in Human-AI Collaboration.”

The Global Incubator Seed Grant program was established with an initial gift from the Millard family. To learn more about this year’s winning cohort, read the full story and the complete list of recipients.


The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis promotes independent inquiry and education with an emphasis on scientific excellence, innovation and collaboration without boundaries. McKelvey Engineering has top-ranked research and graduate programs across departments, particularly in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and computing, and has one of the most selective undergraduate programs in the country. With 165 full-time faculty, 1,420 undergraduate students, 1,614 graduate students and 21,000 living alumni, we are working to solve some of society’s greatest challenges; to prepare students to become leaders and innovate throughout their careers; and to be a catalyst of economic development for the St. Louis region and beyond.

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