Congresswoman Simon Announces Over $2.7 Million in Funding for Scientific Research in the East Bay

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) announced over $2.7 million in funding for scientific research projects at the University of California, Berkeley. Five separate research projects at UC Berkeley will receive a National Science Foundation (NSF) award to continue their cutting-edge research to provide new chemistry, mathematics, behavioral and cognitive sciences, and engineering solutions.

"When my late husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, he joined a clinical trial -and he got two more years with our family because of that. I will always be a champion for scientific research and innovation, because I know it saves lives and drives our nation forward. That's why I'm proud to announce five National Science Foundation funding awards for research projects at Cal that are forefront of scientific advancement.

"At a time when the Trump Administration is attacking federal funds across the board, especially funding for higher education institutions and scientific research, I welcome these recent funding notices. I will continue to monitor the status of federal funds for institutions and organizations in CA-12, and I will keep the pressure on the Trump Administration to ensure life-saving federal funding continues."

More details on the five research projects receiving NSF awards can be found below:

• Over $590,000 for a chemistry project at UC Berkeley that focuses on advanced computational models to predict the optical properties of chiral semiconductor nanocrystals and supports outreach activities with local K-12 students in STEM fields.
• Over $380,000 for an engineering research project at UC Berkeley that focuses on new spectrum, programmable center frequency, and programmable bandwidth.
• $700,000 for a chemistry project at UC Berkeley that focuses on the loss of coherence in single-photon emitters and supports the development of a quantum-educated U.S. workforce.
• Over $400,000 for a mathematical sciences project at UC Berkeley that focuses on interdisciplinary research problems at the intersection of number theory (number systems and their interconnections) and representation theory (linearization of symmetries).
• Over $670,000 for behavioral and cognitive sciences project at UC Berkeley that focuses on how the brain extracts meaning from sound and how the brain understands other sensory inputs.

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