Faculty support led to COVID-19 testing innovation
Your Legacy
Faculty support led to COVID-19 testing innovation
As the COVID-19 pandemic developed, Professor Brian Cunningham (Intel Alumni Endowed Chair) and his team were able to pivot their research to focus on studying the COVID-19 genome and develop a portable detection tool. Professor Cunningham and his team directly benefit from donor support through his chair position which provides flexible funding for innovative research and teaching opportunities. His COVID-19 research is just one example of how the generosity of our donors allows our faculty to flexibly respond to real-world problems - particularly in times of crisis.
Our donors help our educators, researchers, and problem-solvers find solutions to the most challenging local, national, and global issues - every day. Support from our alumni and friends is vital to our ability to recruit and retain exceptional faculty, remain competitive with our peers, and bolster moonshot projects that have the potential to rapidly improve our world.
“We pivoted to study the genome of COVID as soon as it became available and then developed genome specific ways of detecting it using the camera that's in a mobile phone in conjunction with a microfluidic cartridge that would have all the agents for doing the test inside it.”
Brian Cunningham
Intel Alumni Endowed Chair
Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
You can be a part of our work
Support to the Grainger Engineering Priority Fund provides vital, unrestricted funding that allows us to strategically invest in critical initiatives and supports our most pressing needs - including how we respond in times of global crisis.
Among the many ways gifts to the Grainger Engineering Priority Fund supports The Grainger College of Engineering, the generosity of our alumni and friends allows us to address challenges, both new and those we can’t anticipate.
Honoring a Legacy While Supporting the Future
- Gifts In Action
- August 31, 2022
Building a Community of Support
- Gifts In Action
- April 22, 2021