We empower scientists and researchers to take Puerto Rico’s knowledge economy to a higher level of excellence
Our Research Grant program offers a structured, systematic, open, and competitive funding mechanism to support the development of science and technology research projects in Puerto Rico. Our program represents a critical source of competitive financial support for fundamental research and commercialization activities that builds the knowledge economy, fuels innovation, and empowers Puerto Rican scientists and entrepreneurs.
The funding initiatives of the Research Grants Program were developed to directly support basic research, applied research and product development through both competitive and non-competitive mechanisms.
Our Vision
Empowering scientists and researchers to take Puerto Rico’s knowledge economy to a higher level of excellence. Continued expansion and investment in the Research Grants Program is among the Trust’s highest priorities with the understanding that the outputs of a robust scientific community engaged in competitive research and development are critical to the creation of meaningful jobs and economic growth in Puerto Rico.
Our Mission
Provide proof-of-concept funding and incentives to advance locally developed R&D projects to become more competitive for federal and private funding and/or commercialization.
OUR WORK
This results in a strong knowledge economy, fuels multisectoral innovation, and enables Puerto Rican scientists and entrepreneurs.
148
research grants awarded since the program’s inception
$16,308,572
total investment
$60,021,220
return of investment
*Numbers based on grantee progress reports (up to April 2024).
Selection process
The Research Grants Program’s selection process is based on standard and recognized peer-review procedures utilized by federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
By strictly adhering to a comprehensive peer review process that assesses the scientific merit of grant applications in a fair, independent, expert-driven, and free from inappropriate influences, the Trust can identify and fund the most promising research or development work.
What type of work they do?
Where are they from?
Argentina | Australia | Brazil | Canada | Denmark | France | Germany | India | Ireland | Italy | Mexico | Portugal | South Africa | Spain | United Kingdom | United States |
Argentina | Australia | Brazil | Canada | Denmark | France | Germany | India | Ireland | Italy | Mexico | Portugal | South Africa | Spain | United Kingdom | United States |
Strategy and Goals
Empowering Puerto Rico’s researchers
The Trust’s Research Grants Program empowers scientists and researchers to take Puerto Rico’s knowledge economy to a higher level of excellence.
The initiatives seek to impact researchers in the academia, non profit research organizations and at the private sector.
Our Initiatives
HEARTS CONFERENCE 2025
The HEARTS Conference (The Puerto Rican Higher Education Assembly of Researchers, Thriving, not just Surviving) is designed to equip faculty with the tools, strategies, and connections needed to drive meaningful change in STEM education for Hispanic students.
Milo Climate Action Academy
Become an agent of change for Puerto Rico! Be part of the first-ever Milo Climate Action Academy, pioneering in Puerto Rico, as we harness satellite data to lead the way in climate innovation.
Forward Research & Innovation Summit – Research and Space Edition
On Thursday, November 30, the 5th edition of the Research and Innovation Summit presented by the Trust for Science, Technology [...]
Send your research to space!
Explore the benefits of conducting research in microgravity
Funding Opportunity, up to $50K In addition, the Trust with Rhodium will cover the cost of the mission, up [...]
Featured Grantees
Meet our current grantees
Scientific Review Board
Andrés J. García, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience
Petit Director’s Chair in Bioengineering and Bioscience
Regents’ Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. García’s research program integrates innovative engineering, materials science, and cell biology concepts and technologies to create cell-instructive biomaterials for regenerative medicine and generate new knowledge in mechanobiology. This cross-disciplinary effort has resulted in new biomaterial platforms that elicit targeted cellular responses and tissue repair in various biomedical applications, innovative technologies to study and exploit cell adhesive interactions, and new mechanistic insights into the interplay of mechanics and cell biology.
In addition, his research has generated intellectual property and licensing agreements with start-up and multi-national companies. He is a co-founder of 3 start-up companies (CellectCell, CorAmi Therapeutics, iTolerance). He has received several distinctions, including the NSF CAREER Award, Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials, Georgia Tech’s Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activities Award, the Clemson Award for Basic Science from the Society for Biomaterials, the International Award from the European Society for Biomaterials, and Georgia Tech’s Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award.
He is an elected Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (by the International Union of Societies of Biomaterials Science and Engineering), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He served as President for the Society for Biomaterials in 2018-2019. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Inventors.
Vanessa Gonzalez-Perez, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean | Access, Diversity and Inclusion for the Natural Sciences and Engineering
GSP Interim Director
The Graduate School | Princeton University
Dr. Vanessa González-Pérez identifies as a woman, scientist, service leader, mentor, coach, and a fierce advocate for the accessibility and success of underrepresented scholars in STEM. She pursued her bachelor’s at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus, followed by a post-baccalaureate experience at the National Institutes of Health. Committed to her interests in biomedical research, she completed a Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She also pursued two postdoctoral positions and worked as an Assistant Research Professor for the School of Pharmacy at Washington State University in Spokane, Washington. She is currently the Assistant Dean for Access, Diversity, and Inclusion in STEM, for the Graduate School at Princeton University. In this role, she combines her professional and personal passion for serving young scholars from historically underrepresented backgrounds by providing accessibility, mentorship, and coaching for success.
Vanessa stands for service leadership, mentoring, and promoting accessibility. She enjoys listening, learning, and interacting with students, administrators, and faculty from institutions throughout the nation. As a facilitator, she often volunteers her experiences and perspectives with local and national organizations promoting developmental opportunities for young scholars. Altogether, her upbringing (first-gen/low-income), motivations, and sense of urgency to create change fuel her dedication to paving the way for future generations of scholars in higher education and professional programs
Carlos E. Crespo-Hernández, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean for Research
College of Arts and Sciences,
Case Western Reserve University
Dr. Crespo-Hernández is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts and Sciences, Member of the American Chemical Society Selection Committee for the Ahmed Zewail Award in Ultrafast Science and Technology, Faculty Advisor of the Chemistry Graduate Student Organization, Program Coordinator for the American Chemical Society SEED Summer Research Program in the Department of Chemistry, Member of the Industry Engagement and Innovation Advisory Committee at CWRU, Member of the Development Therapeutics Program of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (CWRU School of Medicine), and an Associate Editor for the Photochemistry and Photobiology journal of the American Society for Photobiology.
He is a recipient of the prestigious NSF Faculty CAREER Award (CHE-1255084), the 2016 John S. Diekhoff Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, the 2018 Mort Mandel Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Service given by the Department of Chemistry at CWRU and was nominated for the 2022 John S. Diekhoff Award for Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring. He has given more than 100 national and international presentations and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including 5 review articles and 4 invited book chapters. Dr. Crespo-Hernández has published over 300 national and international research abstracts and currently holds 1 USA patent and 2 invention disclosures.
His current research program is both multi- and interdisciplinary and focuses primarily on the fields of ultrafast electronic spectroscopy, chemical dynamics, computational chemistry, photochemistry, organic synthesis, and cellular photobiology with applications to photodynamic therapy, photomedicines, organic and environmental photochemistry, and energy conversion processes. Aside from his research, professorship, mentoring, administrative, and editorial work, Dr. Crespo-Hernández is also a passionate advocate for advancing underrepresented communities’ scientific learning and careers.
Yajaira Sierra Sastre, Ph.D.
Engineering Project Manager – Mars Sample Return and the Artemis VIPER rover missions
NASA Glenn Research Center
Dr. Yajaira Sierra Sastre is a materials scientist, explorer, educator, and passionate leader with more than fifteen years of R&D and project management experience in academia, start-ups, and the US federal government. Yajaira earned her B.S. degree from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and a Ph.D. in Nanomaterials Chemistry from Cornell University. As part of her doctoral studies, she also conducted research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. After earning her PhD, Yajaira worked for two companies serving the biomedical, textiles, and energy sectors.
Yajaira currently serves at NASA Glenn Research Center as Engineering Project Manager for the Mars Sample Return and the Artemis VIPER rover missions. Prior to NASA, she was a senior research scientist at the US Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing where she managed projects for the development of anticounterfeiting technologies for US banknotes. In 2013, Dr. Sierra Sastre was selected from over 700 candidates, and was the only Hispanic, to participate in a NASA-funded Mars analog mission. Yajaira lived with five crewmembers for four months in conditions of confinement and isolation, in a habitat located on Mauna Loa volcano, Hawaii. During that time, she led research operations onsite, including a space food study, exploration of lava tubes, and the evaluation of antimicrobial clothing for astronauts. A teacher-turned scientist, Yajaira is extremely passionate about STEM education and has built multiple coalitions for the execution of citizen science initiatives in The Americas. She was recently selected by the company Meta (Facebook, Inc) to join an esteemed group of writers and public figures on their new Bulletin platform. Yajaira has been a highly qualified applicant for the NASA Astronaut Candidate Program and aspires to fly to space someday.
Marcos López Casillas, Ph.D.
Research Manager – Puerto Rico Public Health Trust
Director of the Laboratory for Genomic Surveillance of CoVID-19 in Puerto Rico
Marcos Lopez Casillas was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He completed his BS in chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao in the lab of Dr. Antonio E. Alegria, his Ph.D.: in biochemistry in the lab of Daniel J Smith at the University of Akron, and was an NIH-NCI post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biophysics and cancer biology in the Department of Biophysics of the Medical College of Wisconsin in the lab of Balaraman Kalyanaraman. Currently, he is the Director of the Research Institute of the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, Research Manager of the Puerto Rico Public Health Trust, and an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. In addition, Dr. Lopez is the Director of the Puerto Rico COVID-19 Variant Surveillance Initiative, a multi-million-dollar genomic surveillance laboratory capacity for the Puerto Rico Department of Health.
The Lopez lab is interested in establishing the role of altered metabolic perturbations, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and redox cell regulation in human diseases, including cancer, inborn metabolic disorders in children, preeclampsia, and transplant immunology. To address this, the lab employs a combination of ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and extracellular flux analyzers to understand and provide extremely sensitive and comprehensive views of metabolism, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and redox regulation in biological systems and human disease. The research program has extensive experience measuring metabolic flux, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and metabolism, developing mitochondria-targeted pro-drugs, and detecting reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in vitro and in vivo.
