Gautam Laboratory for Advanced Aerosol Dynamics
and Light Scattering Research 

   Prakash.Gautam@www-dev.dri.edu 

GRANTS & FUNDINGS

Dr. Gautam’s research is currently supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Energy (DoE), and DRI’s internal funding.                      

17)
Title: Coherent Backscattering from Irregular and Compositionally Varied Aerosols: Integrated Laboratory and Modeling Investigations
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI) and Masanori Saito (Co-PI)
Duration: 04/01/2026-03/30/2029
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Funding: $800,000.00 (Estimated)
Status: In Preparation  

16)
Title: CAREER: Quantifying Connections Between Optical and Microphysical Aerosol Properties toward Enhanced Atmospheric Diagnostics and Convergent Research
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI)
Duration: 03/01/2026-02/28/2031
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Funding: $500,000.00
Status: Pending   

15)
Title: AI/ML Algorithms Using Laboratory, Angularly Resolved Light Scattering Data toward Synergistic Lidar and Polarimeter Dust Aerosol Retrievals
Investigators: Prakash Gautam (PI) and Farnaz Hosseinpour (Co-PI)
Duration: 10/01/2025-09/30/2026
Sponsor: NASA
Funding: $125,000.00
Status: Pending  

14)
Title: Measurements of Mineral Dust Particles Phase Functions for NASA Remote Sensing Retrievals
Investigators: Prakash Gautam and Hans Moosmüller
Duration: 08/01/2025-04/09/2026
Sponsor: NV NASA Space Grant
Funding: $50,000.00
Status: Pending      

13)
Title: Collaborative Research: FEC: Optical Properties of Mineral Dust Aerosols: Building Capacity for Use-Inspired Applications Through Experimental and Theoretical Investigations
Investigators: Hans Moosmüller (PI),  Prakash Gautam (Co-PI) , Meghan Collins (Co-PI), Vera Samburova (Co-PI)
Duration: 07/01/2025  – 06/30/2029
Sponsor: National Science Foundation EPSCoR
Funding: $3,260,118.00
Status: Recommended for Funding 

12)
Title: Angularly Resolved Light Scattering from Mineral Dust Particles: A Unified Approach Using Q-and Theta-Space Analysis
Investigators: Prakash Gautam (PI) and Hans Moosmüller (Co-PI)
Duration: 07/01/2025 – 06/30/2028
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Funding: $571,487.00
Status: Recommended for Funding

11)
Title: Integrating Light Scattering, Fluorescence, and Holography with Machine Learning toward Coarse and Biological Aerosol Characterization
Investigators: Hans Moosmüller, Prakash Gautam, and Nic Beres.
Duration: 02/18/2025 – 02/17/2026
Sponser: Department of Energy (DOE)
Funding: $150,000.00
Status: Funded

10)
Title: Generation of pilot data following NASA review panel recommendations; development of a novel research area
Investigators: Vera Samburova (PI) and Prakash Gautam (Co-PI)
Sponsor: Institute Project Assignment (IPA)
Funding: $17,500.00
Status: Funded

9)
Title: Five Wavelength Scattering and Absorption Measurements for Energy, Climate, and Marine Applications
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI)
Duration: 02/01/2025   –  10/31/2025
Sponsor: Department of Energy (DOE), STTR through American Ecotech LLC
Funding: $98,157.00
Status: Declined

8)
Title: Optical Properties of Polydisperse Coated Soot Carbon Aggregates
Investigator: Prakash Gautam ( PI)
Duration: 06/01/2025 – 05/31/2028
Sponsor: NASA
Funding: $135,920.00
Status: Pending

7)
Title: Investigation of backscattering and microphysical properties of mineral dust aerosols: towards Improved atmospheric diagnostics.
Investigators: Prakash Gautam (PI) and Hans Moosmüller (Co-PI)
Duration: 09/01/2024 – 08/30/2027
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Funding: $569,172.00
Status: Declined

6)
Title: Expanded Measurement Spectra Superior Particle Analysis.
Investigators: Hans Moosmüller (PI) and Prakash Gautam (Co-PI)
Duration: 09/01/2024 – 05/31/2026
Sponsor: American Ecotech LLC
Funding: $600,028.00
Status: Funded

5)
Title: A Novel Multi-Angle Forward Light Scattering Setup for Aerosol Characterization
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI)
Duration: 08/01/2024 – 07/31/2025
Sponsor: Innovation Research Program (IRP)
Funding: $42,201.00
Status: Funded

4)
Title: Optical Characterization of Soot Properties Using a Novel Multi-Angle Light Scattering Setup
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI)
Duration: 08/01/2024 – 04/09/2025
Sponsor: NV NASA Space Grant
Funding: $50,000.00
Status: Funded

3)
Title: Light Backscattering from Fresh-to-Aged Soot Particles
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI)
Duration: 06/01/2024 – 05/31/2025
Sponsor: NV NSF HDRFS Seed Grant
Funding: $30,000.00
Status: Funded

2)
Title: A Novel Light Scattering Setup for Perfect Backscattering Characterization of Aerosols.
Investigator: Prakash Gautam (PI)
Duration: 12/01/2023 – 09/31/2024
Sponsor: Institute Project Assignment (IPA)
Funding:  $15,000.00
Status: Funded

1)
Title: Soot Absorption Cross-Section Measurements
Investigators: Hans Moosmüller (PI) and Prakash Gautam (Co-PI)
Duration: 07/01/2023 – 07/31/2024
Sponsor: DOE LANL
Funding: $111,914.00
Status: Funded

Supplementary Funding, Including Student Scholarships

3) NSF EPSCoR Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), Academic Year 25-26. 
Title: Investigation of the Absorptive Properties of Soot from Different Sources Using Multi-Angle Backscattering Setup
Recipient: Russell Christensen, Scholarship amount: $4000
Faculty Mentor: Prakash Gautam,  Receiving amount: $750 (Research Materials and Supplies Purchase)

2) Endowment Funding: $90,000.00 ( Hans Moosmüller: Lab Infrastructure Development)

1) Postdoctoral funding: $50,000.00, Active: 08/01/2022- Contd…