Yuanyuan “Kay” He has been awarded a University of Arizona Health Sciences’ Sensor Lab seed grant for her immersive, multimedia production, StellarScape; one of eight projects awarded a total of nearly $400,000 in seed-grant support.
Dr. He, assistant professor at the Fred Fox School of Music, was awarded the grant in February. The funding is for sensor-based projects that promote innovative research and show potential for the development of new technologies or applications.
“The Sensor Lab seed grant helps us to advance the goal of delivering StellarScape to a variety of audiences and engaging them with advanced interactive sensor technologies,” said He. “The grant supported us to go to SXSW to premiere our immersive surround video version of StellarScape. And the grant will also support us to conduct a series of interactivity driven events in collaborations with Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium and Biosphere 2 in May 2022.”
The grant also provides financial and technical support to continue research and development using sensor technologies in the performing arts and science education.
>> Sensor Lab seed grants advance innovative research
>> StellarScape tells an immersive, multimedia story of a star
StellarScape awarded Sensor Lab seed grant
The Sensor Lab is a Health Sciences strategic initiative that provides access to sensor technology and expertise to encourage creativity and innovation. The Sensor Lab offers state-of-the-art sensor systems and development platforms, as well as reconfigurable testing spaces and expertise in data collection and analysis.
“By awarding the seed grants, we have developed collaborative relationships with highly qualified research teams, including faculty and students,” said Gustavo de Oliveira Almeida, PhD, coordinator for the Sensor Lab. “This will be a continuing effort with many of these researchers, and we are hopeful they can generate useful preliminary data that leads to more significant external funding in the future.”
Nearly $350,000 was awarded to eight principal investigators with an additional $27,000 for graduate and undergraduate research projects.
“The Sensor Lab will open new frontiers of discovery not only at the University of Arizona Health Sciences but across the university as a whole, enabling researchers to harness great advances in sensor technology,” said Jennifer Barton, PhD, director of the Sensor Lab and BIO5 Institute. “Our goal with the grants was to identify and connect with researchers who could quickly utilize the funding to support their projects. The quality and number of proposals we received was exciting for us and we look forward to offering another round of grants in the future.”