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The third round of funding from a presidential initiative will build four research teams that will use big data to benefit human and animal health, improve cities and build new tools for researchers.

President Steven Leath launched the Presidential Initiative for Interdisciplinary Research in 2012. The program provides seed funding to establish research teams from across campus to tackle emerging societal challenges. The goal is to help the teams grow into well-funded, cross-disciplinary research groups.

• Data-driven decision making for sustainable cities: a three-year, $375,000 project led by Ulrike Passe, associate professor of architecture and director of the Center for Building Energy Research. (This project also won a one-year, $50,000 planning grant during the second round of presidential research awards.) Researchers will use data about living in urban areas to develop new methods to help cities make data-driven policy decisions that are sustainable and meet residents’ needs. read more..