The Professor Amar G. Bose Research Grant Program supports audacious research projects dreamed up by MIT faculty members who take “it can’t be done” as an invitation. We enable and empower the insatiable curiosity that drives innovation.
Recently completed projects
Biology the Chemist
I’m an engineer by training, so this research brings together different parts of my knowledge and skill set, and inspires me to explore new directions. I believe that the answers I seek may already be out there, waiting for me to discover.”
Seeds of Survival
Dr. Norman Borlaug, who won a Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work in addressing world food insecurity, inspired me to go to graduate school, and now is the time for me to apply my skills to help avert the next food crisis.”
A Heavy Metal Trojan Horse
love using chemistry to address biological problems. This project gives us the chance to create new molecules that haven’t been made before and see what they can do.”
Quantum Leap
To a theorist, this is all particularly appealing, as it provides a unique perspective on the developments in my field by connecting it to other fields and, of course, because of a possibly far-reaching outcome this collaboration can lead to.”
Controlling Infections
Mucus is an unsung hero and cornerstone of our health—if we can make even a small change to its image, we’ll have accomplished something special.”
Algorithmic Democracy
Voting is the foundation of our democracy. We want to help create a stronger system that voters can believe in.”
Light-emitting Plants
Our work is a repositioning and a new prioritization of the plant world and a real epiphany that we need new forms of coexistence and partnerships between plants and people.”
The Future of Flight
The fundamental design of aircraft hasn’t changed in over 100 years. This is an exciting investigation into whether the future of flight could look fundamentally different.”
The Time Is Ripe
The grand challenge is making this process so cost-effective that the cost of making a sensor and putting it on lettuce or other product would be essentially zero.”
Bringing the Heat
I came up with the idea on a cold night. I was thinking about how much heat is wasted through conventional systems, and began brainstorming ways to develop architectures that could transfer and release heat more efficiently.”
The latest news
MIT announces 2025 Bose Grants
Call for Proposals: 2025-26 Professor Amar G. Bose Research Grants
Recently awarded projects
“Drawing inspiration from the human eardrum, we designed a fiber that can convert traditional textiles into fabric microphones that can detect nanometer-scale displacements generated by audible acoustic waves.”
Sounds of Life
“The Earth is a giant hydrogen factory, with the potential to produce enough clean hydrogen to last for 250,000 years.”
Beneath the Surface
“If we want to build more sustainably, we need to change our material palette and construction processes. We need to build with nature, not against it.”
Material Fitness
“Sharks are the quintessential oceanographers: 200 million years older than dinosaurs and engineered to sample the ocean in search of food since the Late Ordovician Period.”
Breathless
A
Lifelong
Passion
For Dr. Bose, tackling research that broke the mold wasn’t a hobby—it was a way of life.
