Nine College of Engineering faculty members received a Teacher-Scholar Mini Grant for their projects.
The Teacher-Scholar Mini Grant (TSMG) program demonstrates Cal Poly’s institutional commitment to advancing research, discovery, integration, application and engagement in the context of teaching and learning. With support from the Office of the Provost, the Teacher-Scholar Mini Grant program provides enhanced internal funding to support all areas of teacher-scholar activities.
Of the 90 proposals received, the program awarded $361,943 to 27 selected projects, based on the criteria outlined in the TSMG request for proposals and guided by the review and rankings of the TSMG review panel.
The 2025-26 College of Engineering awardees are:
“High-Fidelity Approach for In-Situ Monitoring of Droplet Based Additive Manufacturing.”
Aditya Chivate, assistant professor, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering
“Eco-Friendly Bird Deterrence for Vineyards Utilizing an Autonomously Coordinated Aerial and Ground Multi-Robot System.”
Siavash Farzan, assistant professor, Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, and Sean Hurley, professor, Agricultural Business, College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
“Autonomous Guided Vehicles in Smart Manufacturing Education: A Learning Factory Approach.”
Javier Gonzalez-Sanchez, assistant professor, Computer Science and Software Engineering, College of Engineering, and Rafael Guerra-Silva, assistant professor, Industrial Technology and Packaging, Orfalea College of Business
“Engineering Electrospun Zwitterionic Materials Towards Mechanically Robust Membranes.”
Leily Majidi, assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering, and Seamus Jones, assistant professor, Materials Engineering, College of Engineering
“Machine Learning Guided Variable Rate Sprayer for Vineyards.”
Mohammad Sadek, associate professor, BioResource and Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, and Fahim Khan, assistant professor, Computer Science and Software Engineering, College of Engineering
“Electrical Imaging-Based Damage Detection for Aerospace Composites: Engaging Students in Cutting-Edge and Interdisciplinary Research.”
Long Wang, assistant professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
“A Data-Driven Human Mobility Modeling Framework for Analyzing Healthcare Service Accessibility.”
Zhiyuan Wei, assistant professor, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering
“Chemical Design of Multifunctional Polymer Binders for Lithium-Ion Batteries.”
Shanju Zhang, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Bailey College of Science and Math, and Seamus Jones, assistant professor, Materials Engineering, College of Engineering
For a list of all 2025-26 Teacher-Scholar Mini Grant Program award recipients, visit Cal Poly’s research page.
