Cohen Announces $890,000 in Federal Funding for the University of Memphis

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) announced today that the University of Memphis has been awarded a total of $890,000 in grant funding for arts and research projects. The three grants announced today were awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

“This funding underscores the important role University of Memphis scholars play in areas of national importance including sciences and the humanities,” said Congressman Cohen.

The following grant awards are included under today’s announcement:

• The Karnak Hypostyle Hall project was awarded $280,000 in grant funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue research of inscriptions at the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak in Egypt. Founded in 1990, this project is dedicated to the recording and study of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak and has become an important joint endeavor of the University of Memphis and the Université de Québec à Montréal (Canada).
• The Random Geometric Graphs project was awarded $330,000 in continuing grant funding by the National Science Foundation to develop new mathematical techniques that will solve open questions about models of random geometric graphs of relevance to real world applications of large networks of interconnected devices, such as mobile electronic networks.
• Associate Professor of Computer Science Vinhthuy Phan was awarded $280,000 in grant funding to design a cost-effective means for designing comparative studies of many drugs. At present, researchers require a large number of samples for each treatment to determine viable gene response patterns, which drives up costs significantly. This work will ultimately help scientists accurately determine an individual's drug-response signatures based on his or her gene-expression profile with fewer samples and less cost than is currently possible.