Congratulations!
The following UTC Faculty and Staff have attracted $288,577 in external grant and contract awards:
Dr. Andrew Denney and Dr. Rick Dierenfeldt (Criminal Justice), in collaboration with the Hamilton County Government, have received $109,321 from the U.S. Department of Justice for the project entitled, “Recidivism Reduction Initiative.”
Dr. Dalei Wu, Dr. Yu Liang, Dr. Yingfeng Wang, Dr. Zihao Wang (Computer Science and Engineering), Katherine Elverd (Music), and Dr. Zibin Guo (Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography), in collaboration with the AI/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity, have received $100,000 from the National Institutes of Health for the project entitled, “Advancing Neurological Rehabilitation through AI-Driven Music Therapy.”
Dr. Donald Reising (Electrical Engineering), in collaboration with Tennessee Technological University, has received $10,146 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “TREN: Building Tennessee Research and Education Network.”
Nyssa Hunt and Charles Mix (Center for Applied Geospatial Data Science (CAGDS)) have received $44,243 from the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership for the project entitled, “National Aquatic Connectivity Mapping (phase 3).”
Dr. Reetesh Ranjan (Mechanical Engineering), in collaboration with the University of Alabama, Huntsville, has received $24,867 from TITOMIC for the project entitled, “Computational and Experimental Development of a High-Speed Cold Spray Gun Prototype.”
Good Luck!
The following UTC faculty and staff members submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $3,836,648 in external funding, if awarded:
Andrew Van Slyke and Dr. Morgan Smith (Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography) have requested $9,473 from the Nautical Archeology Society for the project entitled, “Columbus’ Last Caravels: Testing the Fisherman’s Beach Ballast Pile in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica.”
Angela Dittmar (Arts-Based Collaborative) has requested $24,972 from the Tennessee Arts Commission for the project entitled, “Arts Integration in Midtown: A Catalyst for Community Wellbeing.”
Dr. Bret Eschman (Psychology) has requested $1,321 from Psi Chi, International Honor Society in Psychology for the project entitled, “Developing Resilience: How Temperament Supports Attention after Early Adversity.”
Dr. Caitlin Crews-Stowe (Health & Human Performance) has requested $4,673 from the Alliance of Women Philanthropists – Giving Circle for the project entitled, “”Germs Don’t Stand a Chance!”: A School-Based Hand Hygiene and Cough Etiquette Intervention in Early Elementary.”
Catherine Quinlan (English) and Dr. Lucy Schultz (Philosophy and Religion) have requested $14,450 from the Alliance of Women Philanthropists – Giving Circle for the project entitled, “Urban Farm at Alton Park with Wild Violet Permaculture.”
Dr. Christine Smith (Nursing) has requested $150,000 from the Erlanger Health System for the project entitled, “Affiliated Agreement for the CRNA Program 2026-2031.”
Dr. Donald Reising (Electrical Engineering) has requested $299,374 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Collaborative Research: CPS-CIR: Symbiotic Trust and Identity Management (STIM) Framework for Community-Deployed Precision Agriculture Cyber-Physical Systems.”
Dr. Fatma Ayca Cetinkaya (Mathematics) has requested $35,000 from the UC Foundation for the project entitled, “Inverse Spectral Analysis of Differential Operators.”
Dr. Han J. Park (Chemistry) has requested $70,000 from the American Chemical Society for the project entitled, “Photoacoustic Characterization of Chattanooga Shale Thermal Diffusivity and Porosity.”
Jami Hargrove (Student Health) has requested $25,000 from the Alliance of Women Philanthropists – Giving Circle for the project entitled, “STI Testing and Peer Education Initiative.”
Dr. Jennifer Hogg (Health & Human Performance) has requested $3,000 from the Chattanooga Football Club for the project entitled, “Baseline and ad hoc isokinetic testing for Chattanooga Football Club.”
Dr. Jill Shelton (Psychology) has requested $1,012 from Psi Chi, International Honor Society in Psychology for the project entitled, “Who Makes You Feel ‘You’: Stories of Authenticity Among Adults with Autism.”
Dr. Jin Wang (Mathematics) and Dr. Murat Barisik (Mechanical Engineering) have requested $452,585 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Collaborative Research: eMB: Unraveling the Role of Fluid Dynamics in Plant Cell Growth through a Joint Mathematical and Experimental Investigation.”
Dr. Jisook Kim (Chemistry) has requested $5,971 from the Alliance of Women Philanthropists – Giving Circle for the project entitled, “Hands-on Chem Activities at the UTC STEAMAGINATION Festival.”
Dr. Luis Sanchez Diaz (Physics and Astronomy) has requested $11,350 from the Alliance of Women Philanthropists – Giving Circle for the project entitled, “Electrophysiology Kit to Study Lipid Bilayers, Brain Disease, and Neuromorphic Materials.”
Dr. Meagan Oslund (Nursing) and Dr. Erin Melhorn (Occupational Therapy) have requested $22,550 from The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation for the project entitled, “Leading Collaborative Practice: An Interprofessional Education Badge and Micro-credential Program for Future Health Care Professionals.”
Melissa Laseter (Student Success) has requested $9,244 from FirstGen Forward for the project entitled, “2026 TIAA Innovation Award.”
Melissa Laseter (Student Success) has requested $10,000 from the Alliance of Women Philanthropists – Giving Circle for the project entitled, “2026 AWP Giving Circle – Transfer Mocs Proposal.”
Dr. Shahnewaz Karim Sakib (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $199,955 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Collaborative Research: III: Trustworthy Human-Machine Teaming: Integration of Large Language Models.”
Dr. Sungwoo Yang (Civil and Chemical Engineering) has requested $29,525 from Volkswagen Group of America for the project entitled, “Characterization of Westwood Aerogel for Electric Vehicle Battery Insulation.”
Susan Lazenby (WUTC) has requested $5,000 from ArtsBuild for the project entitled, “ArtsBuild Artists Work in Partnership – Chattanooga History Documentaries.”
Susan Lazenby (WUTC) has requested $5,000 from ArtsBuild for the project entitled, “2026 ArtsBuild United We Create: America 250 – Chattanooga History Documentaries.”
Susan Lazenby, Ray Bassett (WUTC), and Dr. Peggy Douglas (Business Administration) have requested $5,000 from ArtsBuild for the project entitled, “2026 ArtsBuild United We Create: America 250- Oral History Radio Plays.”
Dr. Tian Li and Dr. Rick Mukherjee (Physics and Astronomy) have requested $1,494,520 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Collaborative Research: S-STEM: Building Quantum-Ready Workforce in Tennessee (QuRe-TN).”
Dr. Zihao Wang (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $452,134 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Feature-Manifold Riemannian Flow Matching for Critical Imaging Tasks.”
Dr. Zihao Wang (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $495,539 from the National Institutes of Health for the project entitled, “Enhancing Imaging and Surgical Guidance for Cochlear Implantation Using AI-Driven Techniques.”