Tufts SOE Faculty Involved in Springboard Award Research

Tufts School of Engineering faculty are involved in five recently announced Springboard Award projects that range from advancing women’s health to detecting colorectal cancer.  

The Tufts Springboard Awards financially support projects that stimulate high-impact research, scholarship, and educational initiatives that further the priorities of the University and its identity as an R1 research institution and member of the Association of American Universities.  

This cycle, Springboard Awards were made through two funding tracks: Momentum Awards, which support projects positioned to build toward larger-scale external funding and impact, and Explore Awards, which support early-stage, innovative ideas with strong potential for future development. 

SOE Momentum Awards:  

Towards a Biosensor to Transform Diabetes Screening for Women with a History of Gestational Diabetes 
Team Lead: Larissa Calancie (Friedman) 
Team Members: Perrie O’Tierney-Ginn (TUSM), Atul Sharma (SOE), and Sameer Sonkusale (SOE) 

Understanding Proteostasis Vulnerabilities in Human Motor Neuron Subpopulations Impacted in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) 
Team Lead: Malavika Raman (TUSM) 
Team Members: Nisha Iyer (SOE), Ivy Gao (TUSM), and Natalie Parker (SOE) 

Memory-Augmented AI for Real-Time Broncho-Vascular Segmentation during Robotic Lobectomy to Prevent Intra-Operative Catastrophe 
Team Lead: Lana Schumacher (Tufts Medicine, TUSM) 
Team Member: Abani Patra (SOE) 

Detection of Colorectal Cancer Using Fluorescent Particles 
Team Lead: Igor Sokolov (SOE) 
Team Members: Jason F. Hall (Tufts Medicine) and Nikolay Bugaev (Tufts Medicine) 

Explore Awards 

Evaluation of a Large Language Model to Rapidly Analyze Qualitative Data regarding the Opioid Crisis 
Team Lead: Jack Cordes (TUSM) 
Team Members: Shikhar Shrestha (TUSM), Fahad Dogar (SOE), and Thomas Stopka (TUSM) 

The next cycle of applications are due Wednesday, October 7, 2026. Learn more about the Springboard Award application.