Charles E. Kaufman Foundation

Kaufman Foundation Awards $2 Million for Fundamental Scientific Research at Pennsylvania InstitutionsFunding will support seasoned and early-career scientists while also engaging undergraduate students in research.

PITTSBURGH, Pa, Nov. 4, 2025 – The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation has announced $2 million in grants for faculty at Pennsylvania institutions conducting innovative, fundamental scientific research in the fields of biology, chemistry and physics.

The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation provides research funding through three programs: New Investigator grants for independent, early-career scientists; New Initiative grants for new research collaborations between established investigators; and Integrated Research-Education Grants (IREG) for institutions to provide undergraduate students opportunities to engage with investigators in novel research.

The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation fund was established in 2005 in a bequest from Charles E. Kaufman. Mr. Kaufman was a chemical engineer that spent over three decades with the Hagan Corporation before becoming an active entrepreneur and investor. At the age of 92, Mr. Kaufman formulated the idea for the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation after reading about a foundation that supports fundamental chemistry research in Texas. Mr. Kaufman was inspired to “promote a better and fairer world by supporting those that can make a difference with science."

Upon his passing in 2010, he left $43 million to the Pittsburgh Foundation, of which $33 million was directed to supporting fundamental scientific research in chemistry, biology and physics at Pennsylvania academic institutions. Since 2013, the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation has awarded 120 grants totaling $24.4 million, including this year’s grantmaking.

This year, the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) reviewed 145 letters of intent from scientists at 20 institutions for the New Investigator and New Initiative awards. IREG is an invite-only program and received submissions from 20 institutions this year. After careful deliberation, the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation awarded four New Investigator awards, four New Initiative awards and two Integrated Research-Education Grants (IREG) awards. The awards support research across Pennsylvania at Bucknell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Drexel University, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh.

New Investigator grants support innovative scientists in Pennsylvania as they begin their careers as newly independent investigators. The funding empowers early career scientists to address fundamental questions through novel approaches with the potential for generating transformative intellectual advances.  Four New Investigator grants of $150,000 over two years were awarded to:

  • Molly Bletz, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at The Pennsylvania State University, for “Decoding Mechanisms of Microbiome-Mediated Immunity.” This novel research seeks to understand how host microbes interact with invading pathogens. While research often focuses on a pathogen in isolation, Dr. Bletz is interested in exploring how disease outcomes are driven by complex interactions between fungal pathogens and the host’s resident bacteria, a framework she’s calling the “infectome.” Dr. Bletz’s proposal includes designing and testing synthetic microbial communities with varying compositions to examine host-pathogen dynamics. This research has implications in combating the growing threat of fungal diseases in a variety of ecosystems. As noted by one SAB member, “the scope [of this research] is very ambitious, not just in the breadth of experimental combinations and replicates that are to be performed but also in the data collection, interpretation and integration…this is cool, foundational research.”
  • Juan Chamorro, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, for “Entangled Spin and Orbital States in Transition-Metal Pyrochlore Compounds.” This research aims to investigate how electron interactions can create new quantum states by utilizing pyrochlores, a family of crystals with electrons whose magnetic spin and orbital motion remain in constant motion, even near absolute zero temperatures. Dr. Chamorro seeks to understand if this behavior in pyrochlores could give rise to a “quantum spin–orbital liquid,” a dynamic, entangled state of electrons that resists freezing and could support quantum effects at far higher temperatures than existing materials. This research has implications for expanding our understanding of quantum matter and the development of future quantum technologies. The SAB felt Dr. Chamorro’s expertise in solid-state synthesis has positioned him well to take this innovative proposal from a good idea to realizable.
  • Grace Kenney, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, for “An Unappreciated Yet Widespread Route to the Biosynthesis of Peptidic Natural Products.” This research endeavors to explore an overlooked biological system, ATP-grasp enzymes, that produces peptidic “natural products,” compounds that play a variety of roles in microbial pathways and can have antimicrobial activity. Two more commonly studied biological systems are currently recognized as the major producers of peptidic natural products. Dr. Kenney hypothesizes ATP-grasp enzymes produce a significant unexplored class of peptidic natural products that are not detectable using common methods. Dr. Kenney’s proposal utilizes a combination of biological, chemical, and computational tools to identify, isolate and characterize a set of candidate compounds that, if successful, will enable further research into their biological roles and potential as drugs. One SAB member highlighted that “the success of this research could substantially increase our understanding of the origins of naturally occurring molecules with biological activity. This proposal is well-aligned with the mission [of the Kaufman Foundation]…it is fundamental, and it is high impact.”  
  • Dylan Shropshire, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University, for “From One Host to Another: Deciphering Symbiont Strategies for Host Switching.” This research seeks to investigate a large gap in our understanding of endosymbiont-host relationships by questioning how Wolbachia bacteria, the most common endosymbiont found in over half of all insect species, switches hosts. Dr. Shropshire hypothesizes Wolbachia host switching occurs through shared food and aims to develop a predictive framework to determine when and where host transfers occur. Through this research, Dr. Shropshire endeavors to understand what processes support or prevent new endosymbiont-host relationships from forming. If this research is successful, it may improve methods for introducing Wolbachia into new insect species to protect humans, crops and endangered animals from diseases spread by mosquitoes such as Dengue and Zika. A member of the SAB noted that “the proposal is well written, and the experiments clearly described, with preliminary data supporting the aims…with prospects for good outcomes from this research is excellent.”

New Initiative grants support the collaboration of investigators with strong research records to develop interdisciplinary, novel approaches to address fundamental scientific questions that require expertise beyond that of any single researcher. Four New Initiative grants of $300,000 over two years were awarded to:

  • Martin Claassen, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, and Liang Wu, Ph.D., co-investigator and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, for “Hybrid Phases of Light and Matter in Strongly-Correlated Cavity Quantum Materials.” This research aims to better understand how light and the fluctuations of photons can alter the magnetic and electronic properties of materials. The proposal utilizes a novel experimental approach that includes placing materials in optical cavities, structures that trap and shape light at the scale of single photons, in order to measure the “fingerprints” of quantum properties of light as it passes through the cavities. If successful, Dr. Claassen and Dr. Wu will reveal and harness entirely new states where light and matter become inseparably intertwined. This research has implications in advancing technologies in quantum sensing and information. The SAB was excited by how the proposal leveraged Dr. Wu’s expertise in fabricating quantum materials with Dr. Claassen’s expertise in strong light-matter coupling.
  • Douglas Jerolmack, Ph.D., principal investigator and the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and Nathaniel Trask, Ph.D., co-investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania, for “Learning the Geometry of Failure.”  This research seeks to braid together two previously separate threads of research, in a new collaboration, to learn the geometry of failure. Previously, Dr. Jerolmack helped to discover universal behaviors in the geometry of fracture networks, like those on the surface of Earth and other planets. These fracture networks are hierarchical, and exceptions in the hierarchy may indicate the presence of water. However, the number of fracture networks analyzed is statistically insignificant due to the time-consuming nature of discovering and analyzing these networks. Additionally, using snapshots of planetary images may not be sufficient to diagnose its formative processes. This proposal seeks to address these problems by developing a machine learning model that will learn the rules of fracture network growth and to establish a rigorous link to material properties. This proposal outlines how to train Dr. Trask’s pioneering Machine Learning (ML) framework with remote imaging and Dr. Jerolmack’s laboratory findings on the suspected role of water in fracture networks. If successful, this research has implications in aiding in the discovery and interpretation of water-influenced fracture patterns on Earth and on other planets. The SAB was impressed and excited with the creativity of this proposal and noted that this work is highly interdisciplinary, including geoscience, mechanical engineering, physics and computer science.
  • Catherine von Reyn, Ph.D., principal investigator and associate professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems at Drexel University, and Denise Garcia, Ph.D., co-investigator and associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy at Drexel University College of Medicine, for “Astrocyte Regulation of Synaptic Partner Matching in Developing Neural Circuits.” This research seeks to address a gap in our understanding of how brains acquire their complex neural wiring diagram, a system comprised of billions of neurons that find and connect with appropriate partners to form neural circuits. Current research to understand how these neural circuits are formed is based on neuron-neuron interactions, excluding supportive glial cells, an abundant non-neuronal cell in the nervous system. Dr. von Reyn and Dr. Garcia’s proposal digs into the question of why astrocytes, a type of glial cell, express genes that have been implicated in neuronal wiring and the impact of astrocyte-neuron interaction on neural circuit formation. The experimental design of this proposal utilizes both vertebrate and invertebrate astrocytes in a parallel approach to identify wiring principles that are conserved between species. This research has implications in developing innovative strategies to mitigate nervous system dysfunction and promote neural circuit repair. The SAB noted that this proposal provided strong preliminary data for both aims, and a series of well-designed experimental strategies are presented for the proposed research.
  • Xiang Yang, Ph.D., principal investigator and the Kenneth K. & Olivia J. Kuo Early Career Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, and Juan José Mendoza Arenas, Ph.D., co-investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh, for “Small-Scale Turbulence as a Quantum System.”  This research seeks to address a known problem in how turbulence is modeled. Currently, turbulent flows are modeled as fixed and deterministic, which fails to capture the chaotic features of turbulence. This proposal aims to represent turbulence as probabilistic events by modeling it as states of many-qubit quantum systems. This collaboration combines expertise in fluid dynamics and quantum computing to develop a new class of algorithms that can run on emerging quantum hardware. This research has implications not only in physics but also chemistry and biology by expanding our ability to simulate and understand complex multiscale systems. The SAB noted that “this research opens a high-risk, high reward pathway towards scalable, physically grounded models for multiscale systems. Compelling proposal with strong letters of support.”

Integrated Research-Education Grants support research that directly engages undergraduate students alongside innovative scientists. Two IREG grants of $100,000 over two years are awarded to:

  • Hasan Arslan, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Bucknell University, for “Switchable Supramolecular Hosts for Catch-and-Release Systems.”  This research seeks to better understand how changes in structure affect binding strength in catch-and-release systems and develop a reversible molecular switch to catch and release polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), environmental pollutants found in soot and oil spills. The molecular switch will contain a hydroquinone component that can respond to two different inputs: acid/base and reduction/oxidation.  If successful, this switch will offer a new level of control for molecular binding. This research has implications for improving the detection and removal of PACs from the environment. The proposal aims to engage undergraduate students through coursework and in the lab by building and testing a variety of these molecular switches, learning to use a diverse scientific toolkit and discovering the direct link between a molecule's design and its function. Dr. Arslan hopes to inspire future scientists and highlight the connections between organic chemistry and other disciplines. The SAB felt this proposal “could significantly impact student learning by countering the tendency of undergraduate students to “silo” topics from one course to another through this proposal’s incorporation of laboratory techniques and topics that are relevant to multiple courses.”
  • Casey Schmidt, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Lafayette College, for “Harnessing the Power of Students to Discover and Characterize New Regulators of Histone Gene Expression.”  This research aims to address a gap in our understanding of histone locus body (HLB), a molecular factory that produces histone MRNAs. Currently, all HLB components have not been identified, and it is unclear how the components work together to produce histone mRNAs. If successful, Dr. Schmidt will uncover novel HLB members and gain a deeper understanding of histone mRNAs production. This proposal engages undergraduate students through both coursework and laboratory experience. Students in Dr. Schmidt’s Molecular Genetics course will search for new HLB members, and then students in Dr. Schmidt’s Cell Biology course will validate those findings. Summer researchers will build on these findings to determine the exact role of the new HLB members in the production of histone mRNAs and identify how they function with other HLB components.  Undergraduate students engaged in this research will learn experimental skills and gain experience in scientific communication by sharing findings through presentations and publications. The SAB applauded the clear and organized layout of Dr. Schmidt’s proposal, noting there is a clear product for students at all three phases.