Funded Proposals (4/1/2015-4/30/2015)
CONGRATULATIONS!
The following UTC faculty and staff recently attracted $396,735 in external grant and contract awards:
Mr. Andy Carroll, GIS Manager at the Center for Academic and Innovative Technologies, secured $100,000 from the Lyndhurst Foundation to establish the Interdisciplinary Geospatial Teaching Lab (IGTLab). The IGTLab will facilitate applied research in multiple fields through partnerships with faculty, experts, and industry leaders in the fields of ecology, geology, conservation, environmental science, business, marketing, computer science, archaeology, planning, architecture, engineering, and education. Carroll also received $35,000 from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build an interactive paddling and blueway guide website for all major tributaries and established recreation sections of the Tennessee River system. This project is part of a direct request from TVA, the State of Tennessee, and National Park Service.
The Graduate School of Computational Engineering Research Team attracted a number of awards from a variety of funding sources; all will support research using computational simulation methods. They received $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. Additionally, the research team secured another $162,643 from three other sponsors – SmartTruck Systems, LLC, Office of Naval Research, and High Performance Technologies Inc. – to continue ongoing simulation activities performed by the center.
Drs. Greg Heath, Assistant Provost for Research and Engagement, and Jerald Ainsworth, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, secured an additional $74,042 for year two of a five-year, $403,186 award from the National Institutes of Health to enhance and expand biomedical and biobehavioral research on UTC’s campus. Over the next four years, Drs. Heath and Ainsworth plan to continue to actively engage community, regional, state, and national partnerships to foster collaborative biomedical and biobehavioral research opportunities for UTC faculty and students.
Ms. Ginny Reese, Director of Continuing Education, in collaboration with the UT Institute for Public Service, attracted $11,550 from the U.S. Department of Justice to continue the Southeastern Command and Leadership Academy. The program targets senior law enforcement professionals from small to full-sized agencies, and the academy addresses community policing, leadership and supervision, budgeting, litigation, and crisis management, among other topics.
Submitted Proposals (4/1/2015 – 4/30/2015)
GOOD LUCK!
The following UTC faculty and staff members submitted proposals with the potential to generate over $3,196,272 in external funding, if awarded:
Ms. Sandy Cole (Center for Community Career Education) requested $99,984 from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to support the highly successful Each One Reach One (EORO) program in partnership with the Hamilton County Department of Education. In addition to offering various avenues of support and resources, the CCCE will focus on clinical experiences to prepare pre-service teachers for the realities of education, recruit candidates for critical needs areas of Hamilton County’s public schools, and provide early intervention and preparation for the PRAXIS exam.
Dr. Trevor Elliott (Mechanical Engineering) requested $47,000 from Denso North America Foundation to fund a capstone design project for mechanical engineering students entering the intercollegiate Baja SAE design competition. Through the project, student will design, fabricate, and test an off-road vehicle prototype that can withstand harsh conditions and rugged terrain, while developing leadership, organization, and management skills.
Drs. Trevor Elliott, Charles Margraves, and Abdul Ofoli (Mechanical Engineering) requested $329,850 from Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to augment previously funded work at the Center for Energy, Transportation and the Environment (CETE). The project aims to add two cleaner, alternative energy solutions to existing systems for electric vehicles and busses, expanding the CETE’s ability to demonstrate a vast variety of clean energy alternatives and their impact on the environment in a meaningful way to students and the general public.
Drs. Jennifer Ellis, James Tucker, Hinsdale Bernard, Ms. Susan Millican (Education), Dr. Joseph Kizza, and Ms. Kathy Winters (Computer Science) requested $1,245,693 from the National Science Foundation to implement “Project EPIC – Expanding Participation in Coding.” Project EPIC will expose participants to computing literacy, skills, and available computing career opportunities, while measuring the effectiveness of intervention strategies to enhance teacher training and increase the number of minority and female students prepared to pursue post-secondary degrees in computing disciplines.
Dr. Nicholas Honerkamp (Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography) requested $1,115 from St. Simons Land Trust to perform an archaeological survey and mapping of the Cannon’s Point Preserve. The project will provide St. Simons Land Trust with data concerning the aerial extent of historic archaeological remains at this site.
Drs. Yukie Kajita, Jennifer Boyd (Biology), Li Yang (Computer Science), Jin Wang, Cuilan Gao (Mathematics), Makiko Hori (Sociology), Dawn Ford (Walker Center for Teaching and Learning), and Mr. Andy Carroll (Center for Academic and Innovative Technologies) requested $633,071 from the National Science Foundation to develop and implement a two-year collaborative STEM and computer science program called “Integrating Geospatial Technology and Computer Science for Real-World Environmental Problem Solving.” By teaming up with local high schools, the program aims to improve the current STEM and computer science academic environment in this region.
Drs. Seong Park and Helen Eigenberg (Criminal Justice) requested $39,982 from the US Department of Justice to conduct an empirical study on both victims’ risk and perpetrators’ violence, in addition to their interactions, in cases of sexual violence. By analyzing the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, the study plans to fill a void in research on the distribution of sexual victimizations.
Dr. Donald Reising (Electrical Engineering) requested $16,000 from the Southeastern Center for Electrical Engineering Education to expand research on the use of radio frequency signals to aid wireless network security. The project plans to augment research on the applicability of radio frequency signals by looking at the effect of multipath channel interference on RF- DNA fingerprinting.
Mr. Perry Storey, Mr. William Floyd (Challenger Center), and Dr. Pamala Carter (Education) requested $489,199 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to implement the Earth Odyssey project at UTC’s Challenger Center. By helping students understand earth science concepts and challenging them to apply what they’ve learned to different scenarios, the program will build environmental literacy for students and teachers in the Tennessee Valley Region.
Drs. Li Yang, Joseph Kizza, Dalei Wu, and Ms. Kathy Winters (Computer Science) requested $294,378 from the National Security Agency Central Security Service to improve the approaches used in Information Assurance (IA) education. The project will focus on developing faculty workshops, studying different IA methodologies used, and building a portal to share resources across the education and scientific community.