The Professor Amar G. Bose Research Grant Program supports audacious research projects dreamed up by MIT faculty members who take “it can’t be done” as an invitation. We enable and empower the insatiable curiosity that drives innovation.

Recently completed projects

A Heavy Metal Trojan Horse

Tricking pathogenic bacteria into eating poison

love using chemistry to address biological problems. This project gives us the chance to create new molecules that haven’t been made before and see what they can do.”

Quantum Leap

Developing faster processers using electronic fluids and quantum materials

To a theorist, this is all particularly appealing, as it provides a unique perspective on the developments in my field by connecting it to other fields and, of course, because of a possibly far-reaching outcome this collaboration can lead to.”

Controlling Infections

Using Nature’s Strategies

Mucus is an unsung hero and cornerstone of our health—if we can make even a small change to its image, we’ll have accomplished something special.”

Algorithmic Democracy

Geometry, computation, and gerrymandering

Voting is the foundation of our democracy. We want to help create a stronger system that voters can believe in.”

Light-emitting Plants

Transforming living plants into autonomous light sources

Our work is a repositioning and a new prioritization of the plant world and a real epiphany that we need new forms of coexistence and partnerships between plants and people.”

The Future of Flight

Achieving liftoff through electroaerodynamic propulsion

The fundamental design of aircraft hasn’t changed in over 100 years. This is an exciting investigation into whether the future of flight could look fundamentally different.”

The Time Is Ripe

Ubiquitous radio frequency barcode sensors for food packaging

The grand challenge is making this process so cost-effective that the cost of making a sensor and putting it on lettuce or other product would be essentially zero.”

Bringing the Heat

Transferring thermal energy across long distances

I came up with the idea on a cold night. I was thinking about how much heat is wasted through conventional systems, and began brainstorming ways to develop architectures that could transfer and release heat more efficiently.”

Lemons into Lemonade

Using malarial organisms to deliver therapeutic drugs

With the support of the Bose Fellows Grant, I believe this paradigm shift will enable transformative opportunities for engineering therapeutic solutions.”

Instrumental Science

What the evolution of string instrument design tells us about acoustics

Innovative research thrives on innovative funding. We are very grateful to the Bose Research Grant for providing the nourishment that will enable our work to continue.”

A Heavy Metal Trojan Horse
Elizabeth N. Nolan
Quantum Leap
Dirk Englund, Nuno Loureiro, Leonid Levitov
Controlling Infections
Laura Kiessling, Katharina Ribbeck
Algorithmic Democracy
Justin Solomon
Light-emitting Plants
Michael S. Strano, Sheila Kennedy
The Future of Flight
Steven Barrett
The Time Is Ripe
John Hart, Dina Katabi, Tim Swager
Bringing the Heat
Evelyn Wang
Lemons into Lemonade
Jacquin Niles
Instrumental Science
Nicholas Makris

Recently awarded projects

“Glass has many interesting characteristics that we don’t always get to appreciate, and glassblowing gives me an opportunity to practice engineering concepts—working mind and hand—while making something that can be both useful and beautiful.”

Shattering the Myth

Ditching Stones for Glass Houses
Honey bees entering hive

“The ability to monitor bees in their natural habitat provides an edge in studying swarm intelligence, enabling us to pose previously unanswerable questions.”

What’s the Buzz?

Studying Honeybee Swarm Intelligence Using Conformable Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors

“We envision a world where humans, therapists, scientists, and engineers understand and exploit a deeper structure of movement, like top athletes and artists do, with resulting benefits in health and wellness.”

Body Works

Investigating the Elements of Organized Human Movement
Shattering the Myth
Kaitlyn Becker
What’s the Buzz?
Canan Dagdeviren
Body Works
Luca Daniel

A
Lifelong
Passion

For Dr. Bose, tackling research that broke the mold wasn’t a hobby—it was a way of life.