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VCU Engineering faculty members receive Presidential Research Quest Fund grants

July 6, 2021

Compilation of three photographs of three faculty members.
From left: Yanxiao Zhao, Ph.D.; Priscilla Hwang, Ph.D.; Vitaliy Avrutin, Ph.D.

Three Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering faculty members have received 2021 grants through the VCU Presidential Research Quest Fund (PeRQ).

They are among 18 VCU researchers in business, the sciences, public affairs, education, health sciences, social work and pharmacy to receive $512,000 in project funding.

The recipients from VCU Engineering are:

Vitaliy Avrutin, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
“Si-based Hybrid Plasmonic/Photonic Nanotweezers for Quantum Photonics”

Priscilla Hwang, Ph.D.
Department of Biomedical Engineering
“Investigating the Mechanical Coupling of Leader and Follower Cells to Drive Collective Cell Migration”

Yanxiao Zhao, Ph.D. 
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
“Virtualizing Stable Wireless Communication via Intelligent Reflecting Surface”