This Smart and Connected Communities Integrative Research Grant (SCC-IRG) project supports research that aims to develop systems that help robots navigate public areas in a safe and socially acceptable manner. While robots have great potential to improve communities by providing services such as delivery, safety patrol, and sanitation, they are still limited in their ability to autonomously manage the complexities of real-world public walkways, which often feature sprawling obstacles, unmaintained sidewalks, and varying weather conditions.

Public sector peer-run behavioral health organizations (PROs) are essential providers supporting Americans facing tough times. These organizations offer holistic care that extends beyond mental and behavioral health to include services such as housing, employment support, and income assistance. However, many PROs operate with limited staffing and outdated infrastructure, making it difficult to meet rising service demands.

Many rural US residents live in aging, substandard housing with limited access to insurance, infrastructure, and services, leaving them at risk of displacement and financial loss from extreme weather events. This Smart & Connected Communities Integrative Research Grant (SCC-IRG) project addresses a critical national challenge: how to help rural communities better forecast and plan for housing resilience in the face of natural hazards.

Evacuation and public sheltering move people from harm’s way and are common life-saving strategies in response to severe weather such as flooding and hurricanes. However, some citizens may exhibit lower propensities to evacuate and seek public shelter due to transportation challenges, past experiences, risk perceptions, and concerns about the availability of critical services at shelters.

This civic-university partnership develops a low-cost approach to monitor Alaska's Qanirtuuq river, located on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta. Rural villages are among the 75% of Alaskan communities with fewer than 1,000 people who rely primarily on subsistence, including the iconic pacific salmon. Like much of the Arctic, the Y-K Delta has grappled with unpredictable salmon escapements, and river dynamics threaten infrastructure and shipping routes.

City centers nationwide are rapidly evolving from a traditional downtown into a vibrant “Central Activity District.” Yet, city leaders, small businesses, and residents lack timely, trustworthy data on how people move through and experience these public spaces. This pilot project will convert existing security cameras into privacy-preserving “urban intelligence sensors.” Instead of transmitting recognizable faces, each camera’s video is processed on a small computer installed on-site, where people are represented only as anonymous motion heatmaps.

Electricity demand is rising rapidly across the U.S., driven by the expansion of energy-intensive facilities such as battery plants and data centers. While demand-side programs offer a flexible solution to manage peak loads, many communities are often left out due to high costs and limited access to existing energy storage systems that support participation in demand-response initiatives and reduce grid dependence during power disruptions. Our goal is to strengthen U.S. energy resilience by developing an affordable, general-purpose alternative to existing storage systems.

The objective of this Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) project is to support research on building and piloting a prototype system that uses artificial intelligence and sensor data to automatically detect unpermitted closures. It seeks to enable real-time monitoring of road closures, guide inspectors with optimized routing tools, and support permit staff with better data for future planning. Right-of-way closures—such as the blocking of streets, sidewalks, and bike lanes for construction, delivery, or special events—are an everyday reality in cities.

The objective of this NSF Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) Stage 2 project is to explore and demonstrate an alternative model of rail transit development that revitalizes underutilized—or “legacy”—rail through partnerships. Rail transit in the United States faces several challenges that drive up costs and delay implementation: technical complexity requiring expensive signaling and inspection systems, complex regulatory hurdles, rigid funding structures that limit financial innovation, and reliance on costly feasibility studies to justify demand.

Traditional Hunger Relief Organizations (HROs) have gaps in their ability to serve food-insecure households, operating from a limited number of locations and for limited hours, and often relying on purchased food that doesn’t directly reduce local food waste. Micro-pantries are small, decentralized, unattended, shared food pantries and fridges that allow local residents and businesses to donate food within their own neighborhoods.