Three Sam Fox School architecture faculty — Christof Jantzen, Bruce Lindsey, and Jenny Lovell — are among 11 recipients of 2010 research grants from the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES).

I-CARES was founded in 2007 at Washington University in St. Louis to foster research on energy, environment and sustainability that cannot be done by single investigators alone. The program nurtures collaboration within WUSTL and with regional and international partners in order to speed progress in addressing the great challenges facing our world.

As part of its mission, I-CARES awards seed funding to university faculty undertaking innovative and collaborative research in the broad areas of bioenergy and sustainability through an annual call for proposals.

The 2010 I-CARES research grants in the amount of nearly $300,000 have been awarded to 11 faculty from four schools: Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering & Applied Science, the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and the School of Medicine.

The recipients and their research projects are:

Gautam Dantas, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine, Center for Genome Sciences, "Development of a High-Throughput Functional Metagenomic Platform for Discovery of Novel Genetic Machinery From Soil Microbial Communities for Biomass Inhibitor Tolerance and Processing."

Sophia Hayes, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, "Optimization of Semiconductor Materials for Solar Energy Through Characterization of Nanoscopic Defects and Dopant Sites."

Tuan-hua David Ho, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, "Investigation of a Key Cellulolytic Enzyme, ßglucosidase, from a Woodrotting Fungus Chaetomella raphigera."

Christof Jantzen, I-CARES professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, "Building Envelope Technology for Adaptive Re-Use Structures (BETAR)."

Joseph M. Jez, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, "Molecular Evolution of Phytochelatin Transport for Heavy Metal Detoxification."

Bruce Lindsey, dean, College of Architecture/Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration of Architecture & Urban Design, "Sustainable Urbanism Research & Design Center: Developing an International Research & Outreach Network."

Jenny Lovell, assistant professor of architecture, "Hothouse — Building Envelope and User Engagement."

Robert Pless, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, "Re-Purposing the Global Webcam Network as an Atmospheric/Environmental Observation Sensor."

Itai Sened, Ph.D., professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, "Cross-Sector Cooperation for Achieving Breakthroughs in Sustainable Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Technologies."

Jennifer R. Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences and of environmental studies, both in Arts & Sciences, "Reconstructing Recent Environmental Change and Anthropogenic Impacts from Carbonate Spring Deposits in the Midwestern U.S."

Venkat Subramanian, Ph.D., associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, "Optimal Design of Electrode Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage."