16 faculty members receive fellowships
Sixteen faculty members have been awarded $10,000 Faculty Research Grant summer fellowships from the Office of Research Services and Sponsored Programs.
“Our goal is to provide seed money to get projects off the ground,” said Laura Gelfand, associate professor of art history, who chairs the committee that reviewed the proposals. “For projects in the sciences, we try to assess the feasibility of the project and the likelihood that the project will be able to attract further funding as it is developed.”
The committee also awards projects in the humanities, social sciences, nursing and the arts.
Gelfand, who has served on the review committee for a number of years, said the task of reading the proposals is time consuming, but rewarding.
“I love seeing what my colleagues are doing,” Gelfand said. “It makes me proud to be part of this university.”
The amounts of the fellowship awards increased by $2,000 this year. The maximum award is $10,000. More than 60 applications were received, a record.
One of the recipients, Dr. Michael Ferrara, assistant professor of mathematics, said the award will give him an opportunity to advance his work in graph theory.
“I have a few publications related to the fellowship topic,” Ferrara said. “This award will enable me to travel this summer to meet with my collaborators so that we can break some new ground. Our work, if successful, will be the foundation for proposals to the National Science Foundation and/or the National Security Agency.”
Ferrara’s project is titled “New Approaches to Graph Linkage.” The other fellowship recipients are listed below, along with their department and the title of their project:
- Mr. Stephen Aron, Music, The Mendelssohn Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words)
- Dr. Kevin Cavicchi, Polymer Engineering, Investigation of an Alternative Method for the Synthesis and Fabrication of Sulfonated Block Copolymer Membranes
- Dr. James Diefendorff, Psychology, Understanding Emotional Labor: A Multi-Level Investigation of the Event-Level and Person-Level Influences on Emotion
- Dr. Robert Joel Duff, Biology, Development of Microsatellites for Molecular Genetic Studies of Clamshrimp
- Dr. John Huss, Philosophy, Of Microbes and Men: Metagenomics and Human Individuality
- Dr. Li Jia, Polymer Science, Fabrication of Antireflective Moth-Eye Structure
- Dr. Edward Lim, Chemistry, In Search of Molecules that Act as Electrical Wires, Rectifiers and Switches
- Dr. Stephanie Lopina, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Polymer Scaffolds for Skin and Muscle Tissue Engineering
- Dr. David Modarelli, Chemistry, Using Single-Molecular Spectroscopy to Study Electron-Transfer Through Amino Acids
- Dr. Rolando Ramirez, Biology, Aortic Occlusion in the Pregnant Rat: A Model of Preeclampsia
- Dr. Aaron Schmidt, Psychology, Toward an Understanding of the Within-Person Effects of Self-Efficacy on Performance
- Dr. Matthew Shawkey, Biology, An Integrative Analysis of the Biophysics, Biochemistry and Evolution of Avian Plumage Color
- Dr. Prashant Srivastava, Marketing, New product Development, Organizational Learning, and Market Orientation
- Dr. Igor Tsukerman, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tunable Photonic Metamaterials and Structures
- Dr. Jie Zheng, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Exploring Kinetics and Structures of Chemical and Alzheimer’s Amyloid Protein Formation: A Molecular Study
The Office of Research and Sponsored Services and the Faculty Research Committee will host a colloquium on Nov. 7 to give faculty members and students to the chance to see the projects by their colleagues and professors. The event also will enable those interested in applying for a grant to see what the committee has funded previously.