Research and Development
Grants
The Coleman Institute's mission is to catalyze and integrate advances in science, engineering, and technology to promote the quality of life and independent living of people with cognitive disabilities. The Institute's primary mechanism to do this is by providing funding to CU faculty researchers on all of CU's campuses, and their research partners worldwide. Grants are made using several criteria:
- A focus on applied cognitive technology for use by people with intellectual, developmental and related cognitive disabilities or their caregivers
- The quality of the research and/or development being proposed
- Evidence of interdisciplinary and multi-campus or multi-institutional collaboration
- Ability to leverage federal grants and other funding
- Potential for technology transfer and commercialization of intellectual property
- Dissemination of research results or developments
The Institute makes grants that provide seed funding for research that may lead to patent-protected intellectual property and ultimately, commercialization. Since its inception, the Institute has allocated more than 130 grants involving over 60 faculty and graduate students. Coleman Institute research commitments have also assisted CU faculty in securing significant grant funding from Federal and private agencies.
A major investment of the Coleman Institute has been in the co-funding of two federal government center grants from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). In 2004, NIDRR initiated funding for the nation's first Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies (RERC-ACT). In a peer reviewed national competition, the University of Colorado succeeded in securing the Center. In 2009, the grant was re-competed. Once again, the University of Colorado succeeded. The combined federal grants exceed $9 million and the combined commitment by the Coleman Institute for RERC-ACT I (2004-2009) and RERC-ACT II (2009-2014) was over $1.6 million. Cathy Bodine, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Anschutz Medical Center continues to serve as principal investigator.
Institute funding has supported research and development on "smart" transportation systems, "smart" residential care systems, a personal digital assistant (PDA) based speech training program for children with Down syndrome and patients with Parkinson's, recreation technology adapted for people with cognitive disabilities, computer-based technology for teaching reading to students with cognitive limitations, and web-based resources for teachers, parents, and students with disabilities in the Boulder Valley public schools. Funding has also been provided for an initiative to promote accessibility of the World Wide Web for people with cognitive disabilities including standardization of technologies, a single sign-on system, content adjustments, and specialized user support.
Biomedical science and technology projects funded by the Institute include drug delivery systems for conditions such as schizophrenia, immunological studies of AIDS/HIV, the development of bio-compatible electrodes for in vivo recording and stimulation in the brain using Cellular Engineering Micro Systems and wireless telemetry, and non-human stem cell research in a mouse model of Down syndrome. In addition, the Coleman Institute provided critical funding for graduate student fellowships to support the establishment of the PhD program in Geropsychology at UCCS and it continues to provide developmental funding to the UCCS Center for Aging, in support of a new National Center on Aging Caregivers for People with Cognitive Disabilities.
The Institute provides funding for research and development projects on new technologies and new applications. Advances have been made in areas such as batteryless-wireless power for sensors and devices, and software solutions that map on to new open source opportunities, like Google's Android project. The Institute has a national presence in the area of cognitive technology on the Web, both in the development of standards and in policy directions. Biomedical science and technology projects funded by the Institute include a drug delivery system for conditions such as schizophrenia and epilepsy, immunological studies of AIDS/HIV with potential pharmacological interventions, the development of bio-compatible electrodes for in vivo recording and stimulation in the brain using Cellular Engineering Micro Systems and wireless telemetry, an investigation of drugs to prevent decline in cognitive function, and non-human stem cell research in a mouse model of Down syndrome.
View some Examples of Active Coleman Institute Funded Research.
Link to the Coleman Institute's largest funded project: CU's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies (RERC-ACT).
View the list of Current University of Colorado Faculty who Have Received Coleman Institute Grants.
Derivative Commercialization of Intellectual Property
The Coleman Institute encourages commercialization of intellectual property derived from the research and development efforts of faculty by working closely with CU's Technology Transfer Office (TTO). The Institute encourages commercialization of research and development-generated intellectual property for the benefit of people with cognitive disabilities and in some cases, for the advancement of biomedical and biotechnical applications with wider society benefit as well. The Institute also participates in partial ownership of the intellectual property based on invested grant funds to faculty who also have other grant funding. Two of the Institute's funded projects have been leveraged with investments through the State of Colorado and the University of Colorado TTO's Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant Program and a third received a Proof of Concept grant from TTO directly.
Fellowships and Sponsorships
To support the research and development activities, The Coleman Institute Fellowship Program makes awards in three categories: graduate fellowships, postdoctoral fellowships, and faculty fellowships. In addition, the Institute provides sponsorships for disability/technology conferences and makes small grants for other mission-related special opportunities.
