# Collaborative Research: DESC: Type I: Transforming Integrated Electro-Photonic Fabrics for Light Speed Communication and Computation

> **NSF 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · Colorado State University (CO) · $250,000

## Abstract

Current electronic systems that power today's intelligent digital solutions including smartphones, wearables, smart vehicles, and smart home appliances are facing significant limitations in scaling up to meet the performance demands of emerging smart applications. The goal of realizing smart cities, smart agriculture, and smart healthcare is jeopardized due to the bottlenecks facing traditional electronic platforms at the heart of these emerging applications. Silicon photonics represents an innovative paradigm that can overcome these bottlenecks, by supporting light-speed and high throughput communication and computation. However, the design of silicon photonics based smart computing platforms is still in its infancy, with many open challenges. One of the most significant of these challenges is to design integrated electro-photonic platforms that are truly sustainable while also simultaneously minimizing manufacturing costs, energy footprint, and fault susceptibility. This project will take the first steps towards realizing efficient electro-photonic computing platforms that far surpass traditional electronic platforms in terms of performance, energy-efficiency, and reliability. In doing so, this project will help establish a new ecosystem of development of emerging digital intelligence platforms, for multiple application use cases that span datacenters, scientific computing, and edge systems, where photonics is making inroads. This outcome will help reduce costs and overhea

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2450615
- **Awardee organization:** Colorado State University (CO)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** LT9CXX8L19G1
- **PI:** Sudeep Pasricha
- **Primary program:** 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** —
- **Estimated total:** $250,000
- **Funds obligated:** $250,000
- **Transaction type:** Standard Grant
- **Period:** 07/01/2025 → 06/30/2028

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2450615

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2450615, Collaborative Research: DESC: Type I: Transforming Integrated Electro-Photonic Fabrics for Light Speed Communication and Computation. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2450615. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NSF Awards dataset](/datasets/nsf-awards) · CC0 1.0*