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AMSTERDAM, NY—Congressman Paul D. Tonko announced this afternoon that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has won two local funding awards totaling $343,996 for research and response to the COVID-19 crisis. The grants will be administered by the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grants.

“In the face of this COVID-19 pandemic and the many other critical challenges we face, we must always be guided by science,” Congressman Tonko said. “Our local researchers, scientists and engineers are hard at work developing innovative solutions to help understand and overcome this crisis. My congratulations to all who had a hand in shaping these pioneering projects and my thanks for their continued efforts to better the lives of those in our Capital Region and beyond.”

• $299,824 is being awarded to Rensselaer to research the role our built environment plays in increasing or reducing the effects of COVID-19 and other disasters. The project is led by Dr. David Mendonça, Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer.
• $44,172 is being awarded to Rensselaer to lead a study on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts economic preferences and how those preferences inform preventative health actions taken by individuals. The project is led by Dr. Billur Aksoy, Assistant Professor of Economics at Rensselaer.

“The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are wide-ranging and numerous,” said Robert Hull, the acting vice president of research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “These research efforts exemplify the breadth and depth of expertise at Rensselaer in examining complex challenges associated with this public health crisis.”

The NSF funds research on COVID-19 to mobilize the scientific community to better understand and develop measures to respond to the virus through their Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grants. Established by Congress in 1950, the agency works to develop cutting edge technologies in physics, mathematics, cybersecurity, neuroscience and STEM education. Currently, NSF is responsible for funding 25 percent of all federally backed research at national colleges and universities.

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