Funded Proposals (2/1/2015-2/28/2015)
CONGRATULATIONS!
The following UTC faculty and staff recently attracted $40,950 in external grant and contract awards:
Dr. Susanne Burgess, Director of Music Education at the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts, received $750 from the Alabama Institute of Education in the Arts to facilitate two workshops for early childhood practitioners and elementary educators. The workshops will focus on aligning musical learning with literacy learning and addressing key musical goals for young children.
The Graduate School of Computational Engineering Research Team attracted an additional $21,200 from CHI Engineering to perform physics-based simulations of potential LNG spillage over dike walls.
Dr. Deborah McAllister, UC Foundation Professor of Education, received $12,750 from Vanderbilt University’s Tennessee Space Grant Consortium to continue conducting workshops for elementary grades preservice teachers. The goals of the workshops are to improve participants’ skills in mathematics and science and encourage classroom activities and experiences that actively engage students.
Dr. Laurie Melnik, Interim Director of the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts, secured $250 from the Hunter Museum of American Art to co-facilitate a workshop that aims to increase medical students’ self-awareness as physicians working with diverse populations.
Dr. Marcia Noe, Professor of English and Director of Women’s Studies, received $6,000 from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature to cover the costs of her time spent as editor-in-chief of the Society’s two publications, MidAmerica and Midwestern Miscellany. Both publications are published twice a year, and Noe will manage the peer review process, chair the Society’s publications committee, communicate with prospective authors, conduct final editorial decision-making and coordinate logistics for the publications of the journals.
Submitted Proposals (2/1/2015 – 2/28/2015)
GOOD LUCK!
The following UTC faculty and staff members submitted proposals with the potential to generate over $2,641,799 in external funding, if awarded:
Drs. Shellie Acocello (Health & Human Performance), Nancy Fell (Physical Therapy), Amanda Clark (Psychology), and Barry Kamrath (Education) submitted a preliminary proposal to NineSigma to conduct research on the perceived norms of concussions and how they are reported. The project plans to actively engage high school football coaches in transformational leadership training and high school student athletes in team consensus building, in order to highlight the perceived concussion reporting norms in high school athletics.
Ms. Shirl Gholston (Student Support Services) requested $1,273,730 from the U.S Department of Education to continue the work of UTC’s Student Support Services (SSS) Program in the 2015-2016 academic year. The SSS Program works to ensure retention and graduation of UTC students who come from underrepresented backgrounds by providing peer mentoring and peer tutoring.
The Graduate School of Computational Engineering Research Team requested $13,500 from the UT-Battelle Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a project that corresponds to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors.
Dr. Linda Hill (Nursing) submitted a proposal to the Health Resources and Services Administration to continue the Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship program, which provides scholarships for full-time nurse anesthesia students. The goal is to increase the number and diversity of nurse anesthetists and to encourage graduates to practice in health professional shortage areas.
Dr. Joanie Jackson, Ms. Heather Stanfield, Ms. Lindsey Pearse, Ms. Anna Miller (Nursing), and Dr. Amanda Clark (Psychology) requested $1,761,130 from the Health Resources and Services Administration to implement an approach to increase the number and preparation of preceptors to provide guided clinical experience to students pursing their Masters’ of Science in Nursing. By the end of the project, up to 45 new Family Nurse Practitioners and 200 preceptors will be engaged with the new curriculum, orientation, and evaluation tool.
Dr. Joseph Kizza (Computer Science and Engineering) requested $399,957 from the National Science Foundation to develop and test an effective, low-cost virus monitoring and early warning framework that will provide timely dashboard information to first responders and health professionals. The project will produce a system that alerts communities to the presence of a dangerous virus in the shortest time possible.
Drs. Joseph Kizza and Farah Kandah (Computer Science and Engineering) submitted a preliminary proposal to the Cyber Research Institute (CRI) to study Airborne Networks and Web of Trust Authentication problems. Through the use of newly developed models and algorithms, the project will address the strategic priorities of the CRI and Air Force Research Laboratory by offering dual-use applications in both military intelligence and critical infrastructure needs.
Dr. Deborah McAllister (Education) requested an additional $30,472 from Vanderbilt University’s Tennessee Space Grant Consortium to continue conducting workshops for elementary grades preservice teachers. The goals of the workshops are to improve participants’ skills in mathematics and science and encourage classroom activities and experiences that actively engage students.
Ms. Ginny Reese (Continuing Education), Dr. Helen Eigenberg, and Ms. Karen McGuffee (Criminal Justice) requested $38,000 from the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence to conduct a Victim Assistance Academy on UTC’s campus during the summer 2015 semester. The purpose of the academy is to provide basic-level training to victim advocates.
Dr. Don Reising (Electrical Engineering) requested $24,082 from the Department of Defense to work with the self-guided or “smart” munitions that are currently being used by the U.S. Air Force. The project aims to develop a weapon seeker that is capable of performing automatic target detection, discrimination, and classification, on-board and in-flight.
Dr. Mina Sartipi (Computer Science and Engineering) requested $174,660 from the National Science Foundation to develop a hierarchical communication model that meets the strict demands of modern automation systems without needing additional structural changes. Additionally, the project’s work on communication systems will minimize the risk of component failure and reduce the potential for energy and material waste.
Dr. Mina Sartipi (Computer Science and Engineering) submitted a preliminary proposal to the Department of Energy to design the next-generation energy delivery network. By improving the observability and controllability of the energy delivery network, the project plans to create a system that balances efficiency against the potential costs to the environment.
Dr. Endong Wang (Engineering Management and Technology) requested $199,998 from the National Science Foundation to develop big data-based techniques for assessing sustainability of post-occupied built environments. Two dorm rooms and one institutional office building at UTC and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be used as the built environments for the research activities.