SLU, The Ohio State University and Purdue University Form the Center for Accurate Georeferencing of the Environment (CAGE)
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University, along with The Ohio State University and Purdue University, will establish a new, innovative industry-university cooperative research center. A $2.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation will fund the launch of CAGE, the Center for Accurate Georeferencing of the Environment. SLU will receive $500,000 to support its campus operations.
“This center across the three universities will address today’s challenges in Artificial Intelligence and geospatial,” said Vasit Sagan, Ph.D., professor of geospatial science and associate vice president for geospatial research at SLU.
Vasit Sagan, Ph.D., professor of geospatial science and associate vice president for geospatial research at SLU. Photo by Sarah Conroy.
Sagan said CAGE is true user-oriented and use-inspired research. The teams at each university will collaborate to solve concrete problems, with each team approaching the project from its own area of expertise. The SLU team will focus on core geospatial sciences (remote sensing, GPS/PNT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) with applications in GPS alternatives, precision agriculture, and geospatial data analytics driven by industry partners.
Ohio State will address the foundational core of geodesy, photogrammetry and computer vision, while Purdue researchers will focus on navigation and robotic automation for monitoring infrastructure and natural resources.
The member-based center will work with over a dozen industry partners and government agencies who contribute membership funds to the research and development efforts at the center. Those companies and agencies will come together to form a board, bring their R&D challenges to the center, and fund submitted research proposals from three universities as solutions to their R&D needs.
“They will vote to fund the research and development,” Sagan said. “We will develop solutions to current, concrete problems facing the government and industry today.”
Industry partners and other member organizations are expected to contribute an additional $1 million per year to the center over the next five years. The NSF grant funds the operational costs of the Center. The Center is expected to launch in early 2026 with the formation of its board. Sagan expects the first projects will be chosen in late spring.
“This is a unique NSF-funded Industry-University Cooperative Research Center,” Sagan said. “It allows industry to come in and support advancing scientific research and development.”
National Science Foundation’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers generate breakthrough research by enabling close, sustained engagement between industry innovators, world-class academic teams and government agencies.
The Ohio State University’s center is led by Charles Toth, Ph.D., research professor of civil, environmental and geodetic engineering at OSU and executive director of CAGE.
Ayman Habib, Ph.D., the Thomas A. Page Professor of Civil Engineering in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, is the site director at Purdue University.
About the School of Science and Engineering
Saint Louis University formed the School of Science and Engineering in 2022 to better meet the future needs of its students and faculty. The school brings together select departments from the College of Arts and Sciences — chemistry, computer science, earth and atmospheric sciences, and physics — with the former Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology. To learn more about the School of Science and Engineering, visit slu.edu/science-and-engineering.
About Saint Louis University
Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic research institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 13,300 students a rigorous, transformative education that challenges and prepares them to make the world a better place. As a nationally recognized leader in research and innovation, SLU is an R1 research university, advancing groundbreaking, life-changing discoveries that promote the greater good.
