Tulane University wins rare $6 million National Science Foundation grant — one of only nine nationwide — to build the South’s next innovation engine

Tulane University has been selected for a four-year, $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program. The grant, one of only nine such awards available nationwide, focuses on transforming academic research into tangible solutions that benefit the public.

The grant will support SMART (Success Model to Advance Research Translation) Tulane, a university-wide initiative designed to help move faculty and student discoveries beyond the laboratory and into new technologies, licensed products, startup companies and high-wage careers in the Gulf South.

"SMART Tulane represents the critical next step in a transformation we have been building for more than a decade," Tulane President Michael A. Fitts said. "We have the research talent, we have the Innovation Institute, and with the Charity redevelopment project we will greatly expand our world-class facilities and research infrastructure. The National Science Foundation's support will allow us to build the systems, training and culture that connect all of these assets into a single translational engine. This project will ensure that discoveries made at Tulane reach the marketplace, create well-paying jobs and strengthen the Gulf South economy for generations to come."

The initiative will be led by Kimberly Gramm, David and Marion Mussafer Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer at the Tulane Innovation Institute. Co-investigators for the initiative include Donald Gaver, the Alden J. "Doc" Laborde Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Ibrahim Demir, the Michael A. Fitts Presidential Chair in Environmental Informatics and Artificial Intelligence in the School of Science and Engineering.

"By broadening the societal and economic returns on research across all of Tulane's schools, SMART Tulane will advance prosperity in our region and bring research to market with innovations that have global benefits," Gramm said. "This grant gives Tulane the resources to help researchers understand the path from proof of concept to commercialization."

The ART program, supported by the NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, seeks to advance U.S. scientific and economic leadership by building capacity and increasing the number of robust translational research ecosystems in institutions of higher education that span the full geography of our nation.

The award Tulane received was a Track 2 GROW award, which supports research-intensive universities seeking to significantly expand their capacity to bring discoveries to market. The award is particularly significant in Louisiana and the Gulf South, where growing research investment and innovation activity are creating new opportunities to bring university discoveries to market. Tulane's federal research funding has nearly doubled in the last decade.

At its core, SMART Tulane addresses a structural problem common to research universities in under-resourced regions: world-class science being produced without the infrastructure, incentives or pathways to bring it to market. The initiative approaches this problem on multiple fronts simultaneously.

SMART Tulane will certify more than 120 research translation leaders, called ART Ambassadors, across all nine of Tulane's schools, creating a network of faculty who understand and champion the path from discovery to deployment. An additional 152 undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers will receive hands-on translational training through fellowships, Seed Translational Research Projects, I-Corps programming and the Tulane University Innovation Institute's Founder Lab. Participants will gain skills in customer discovery, intellectual property strategy, market assessment and venture formation.

"This much-needed funding will allow us to dramatically enhance the support we offer faculty-led Seed Translational Research Projects. Expanding on Tulane's existing Provost's Proof of Concept Fund, our faculty will now benefit from grant funding, mentorship and crucial access to commercial expertise," said Robin Forman, Tulane's senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. "We will be able to more effectively advance the most promising innovations while accelerating and amplifying the direct benefits of Tulane discovery to the broader society."

By year four, SMART Tulane aims to support 12 or more startup formations annually, more than double the current rate of five per year. Jobs created from this effort are expected to have median salaries of $80,000, nearly three times the regional median income, making this not just an innovation effort but a workforce story for New Orleans and Louisiana.

"I'm thrilled about the support for Strategic Translational Research Projects - they are the engine that will transform Tulane discoveries into startups, products and high-wage careers," Gaver said. "It's like rocket fuel for science, engineering and innovation. This funding lets us back our best ideas with the postdoctoral researchers, resources and expertise they need to succeed."

A distinctive feature of SMART Tulane is the development of artificial intelligence-enabled tools designed to identify market opportunities, scout intellectual property and match Tulane innovations with potential industry partners.

"We are leveraging our expertise in generative AI and agentic workflows to fundamentally rewire how technology transfer operates," Demir said. "By deploying intelligent agents to autonomously scout IP, analyze market fit and match innovations with industry needs, we plan to remove friction from commercialization, ensuring that Tulane and the broader Louisiana ecosystem can translate breakthroughs into societal impact with unprecedented speed and efficiency."

Central to the ART Track 2 model, Tulane will partner with Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), which has consistently ranked among the top universities in the nation for technology commercialization and startup formation. Georgia Tech will help adapt and embed its proven practices within Tulane's Gulf South mission and research priorities.

This grant-funded work will accelerate alongside Tulane's plans to transform the historic former Charity Hospital building in downtown New Orleans into a national hub for research, discovery and economic development with scientists, students, entrepreneurs and industry partners working side by side.

The practices, tools and institutional strategies developed through this initiative will be shared with peer institutions, particularly those in under-resourced regions, so that the benefits of a stronger national research translation ecosystem will extend far beyond New Orleans.