Research Highlights
CAE research leverages the distinct combination of aeronautics and engineering, enabling innovative engineered systems for a smarter, more secure and sustainable future that improves lives and makes the universe more accessible to all.
2022 Research Highlights

January
- Professor Hossein Mirinejad is the recipient of an Engineering Research Initiation Grant (ERI) from the National Science Foundation. The ERI program is highly competitive and supports new investigators as they initiate research programs and advance in their careers as researchers, educators, and innovators. Hossein’s two-year, $200K award is focused on creating a data-driven, integrated modeling and control framework for precision dosing in critical care patients. He has plans to include both graduate and undergraduate students in the research.
- Drs. Jason Lorenzon and Syed Shihab have received a research award from the Ohio Department of Transportation (as a sub awardee of Cal Analytics LLC). The project, Open Framework Standards for Combined Aircraft Sensor Network for the State of Ohio to Detect and Track Lower Altitude Aircraft, is focused on creating a centralized clearinghouse for all low altitude airborne sensor data. The CAE team will conduct research to provide a legal framework and cost payback analysis for safe low altitude UAS operations. They will initiate studies to establish the legal policy position and roadmap for UAS integration into the national airspace. The cost payback analysis will identify, quantify, and evaluate benefits and costs for statewide air traffic monitoring of UAS operations. The 8-month study will engage undergrad and graduate students in the research effort.
- Dr. Stephanie Fussell has received a research award, Human Factors Awareness Training for FAA Aviation Safety Specialists within Aircraft Certification and FAA Flight Standards, from the FAA Center of Excellence for Technical Training and Human Performance (as a sub awardee of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ. (ERAU)). Dr. Fussell will work collaboratively with ERAU to evaluate new FAA learner-centered training modules. The team will assess module learning outcomes and complete iterative testing, evaluation, and revision of the modules.
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has awarded Kent State University the esteemed R1 status for research, which is the highest recognition that doctoral universities can receive. The prestigious designation affirms Kent State’s place as an elite research institution and puts the university in the company of universities such as Yale, Harvard and the University of California-Berkeley.
Kent State becomes one of five universities in Ohio to be designated R1, joining Ohio State, the University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio University. Institutions with the R1 designation are considered to have “very high research activity.” Only 146 universities in the nation have R1 status. Kent State, Ohio University and the University at Buffalo are the only Mid-American Conference schools to carry this coveted and esteemed designation.
“This recognition underscores the excellence and the breadth of research and scholarship at Kent State,” said Kent State President Todd Diacon. “This is an amazing accomplishment and a testament to the hard work of our faculty, staff and leadership at Kent State. It is, along with attaining a record-high graduation rate on the Kent Campus and the growing diversification of our student body, one of three signature achievements of the last decade.”
The R1 classification is based on several data points, including the amount of research funding, the number of faculty members, the number of postdoctoral researchers and non-faculty researchers, and the number of doctoral degrees awarded in four main areas.
Over the past five years, Kent State has established five research institutes charged with continuing to build Kent State’s grant funding in areas of particular research strength. These investments combined with a focus on mentoring junior faculty and growing interdisciplinary, collaborative projects have resulted in continued growth in federal funding.
“The R1 designation brings added prestige to Kent State, making the university more attractive to faculty members, postdoctoral researchers and students,” said Doug Delahanty, Ph.D., Kent State’s interim vice president for research and sponsored programs. “It also opens up other funding avenues.”
The Carnegie Classification has been the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for the past four and a half decades. Beginning in 1970, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed a classification of colleges and universities to support its program of research and policy analysis. Classifications are updated every three years. For more information about the Carnegie Classification, visit https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu.
For more information about research at Kent State, visit www.kent.edu/research.
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Media Contacts:
Eric Mansfield, emansfie@kent.edu, 330-672-2797
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595