AUGUST 2026 AWARDS AND PROPOSALS

Congratulations! The following UTC Faculty and Staff have attracted $2,054,283 in external grant and contract awards:

• Dr. David Aborn (Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science) has received two awards from the National Park Service: $50,616 for the project entitled, “Inventory of Birds to Inform Management at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefields,” and $85,401 for the project entitled, “Inventory of Breeding and Wintering Birds to Inform Management Decisions at Carl Sandburg National Historic Home.”
• Dr. Belinda Lee (Center for Community Career Education) has received $374,217 from the US Department of Education for the project entitled, “University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Upward Bound Program.”
• Dr. Kara Hamilton and Dr. Joel Harden (Health & Human Performance) have received $15,000 from Fast Break Athletics for the project entitled, “2027 Fast Break Phase III.”
• Dr. Morgan Smith (Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography), in collaboration with Florida State University, received $21,377 from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for the project entitled, “Reevaluating BOEM’s Guidelines for Identifying Submerged Pre-Contact Archaeological Sites in the Gulf of Mexico: an Extensive Geoarchaeological Approach.”
• Charlie Mix and Nyssa Hunt (CAGDS) have received $10,000 from the Mainspring Conservation Trust for the project entitled, “Mainspring Conservation Trust – Conservation Priority Model Update.”
• Dr. Deborah McAllister and Dr. Jennifer Lynberg (School of Education), in collaboration with Middle Tennessee State University, received $17,741 from the Library of Congress for the project entitled, “Exploring Science and Mathematics with Library of Congress Resources.”
• Dr. Donald Reising and Dr. Joshua Tyler (Electrical Engineering), in collaboration with SRI International, received $40,000 from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the project entitled, “2025 IARPA End-Gen-TA2.”
• Dr. Amanda Hardin (School Psychology), in collaboration with the Tennessee Department of Education, requested and received $450,000 from the US Department of Education for the project entitled, “Project INSPIRE: Increasing School Psychologists in Under-Resourced Environments.”
• Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi and Michael Roeser (CECS – Dean’s Office) have received $500,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission for the project entitled, “Enhancing Workforce Development in Appalachia through Advanced Engineering Lab Equipment.”
• Dr. Deborah McAllister, Dr. Jason Gordon, Dr. Jennifer Lynberg (School of Education), and Dr. Aniekan Ebiefung (Mathematics) have received $300,000 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Track 2: Graduate Yearlong Experience And Residency for Acquiring STEM Teaching Competencies (GradYEAR).”
• Dr. Ziwei Ma (Mathematics) has received $189,931 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Collaborative Research: SCH: Rehabilitation Evaluation of Neurologic Motor Disorders using Wearable Sensors.”

Good Luck! The following UTC faculty and staff members submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $2,168,565 in external funding, if awarded:

• Dr. Jared Pienkos and Dr. Meredith Barbee (Chemistry) have requested $25,000 from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for the project entitled, “2026 Dreyfus Lectureship at UTC.”
• Dr. Rahul Jayan (Mechanical Engineering) has requested $490,283 from the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the project entitled, “Development of softFQEq machine-learned interatomic potentials.”
• Brett Fuchs, Sean O’Brien, Walker Anderson, Austin Holland, Preston Marlin, Jason Patty, and Matthew Holzmacher (Campus Law Enforcement), have requested $188,988 from the US Department of Justice for the project entitled, “UAS for Public Safety.”
• Dr. Joshua Ammons (Economics) has requested $18,648 from the Institute for Humane Studies for the project entitled, “Free Society Grant for Undergraduate Programming.”
• Nyssa Hunt (CAGDS), in collaboration with the Limestone Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council, has requested $5,419 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for the project entitled, “LVRC&D/ARSN Stream Prioritization Screening Tool.”
• Sybil Baker, Dr. Justin Wymer (English), and Rebecca Brantley (Art), have requested $2,000 from the South Arts for the project entitled, “Poetry in Conversation: A Meacham Writer’s Workshop Feature.”
• Dr. Abdel Karrar and Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi (Electrical Engineering) have requested $37,750 from the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners for the project entitled, “2027 TBAEE Annual Grant – Engineering.”
• Catherine Kendall and Jessica Etheredge (Interior Design) have requested $10,584 from the Tennessee Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners for the project entitled, “2027 TBAEE – Interior Design.”
• Dr. Gokhan Erdemir, Dr. Serkan Varol, Dr. Gazi Akgun, Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu, and Dr. Ahad Nasab (Engineering Management and Technology), have requested $372,035 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “REU Site: Human-Centered Urban Intelligence: Robotics and Data Analytics for Safe and Connected Mobility.”
• Dr. Jejal Reddy Bathi, Dr. Venkateswara Kode (Civil and Chemical Engineering), Charlie Mix (CAGDS), and Dr. Lisa Piazza (Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor) have requested $99,200 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “REU Site: Research Experience for Field Sampling, Analyzing and Database Development of Microplastics.”
• Dr. Rick Mukherjee (Quantum Center) has requested $41,756 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “QUantum Interconnect Link, Tennessee (QUILT X-Lab) A Foundry-Manufacturable Microwave-to-Optical Quantum Interconnect.”
• Dr. Serkan Varol, Dr. Gokhan Erdemir, Dr. Gazi Akgun (Engineering Management and Technology), Dr. Navid Aghakhani (Data Analytics), and Dr. Vahid Rasouli Disfani (Electrical Engineering) have requested $371,902 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Research in Neurotechnology and Human-Centered Intelligent Systems.”
• Dr. Yingfeng Wang (Computer Science and Engineering) has requested $505,000 from the National Science Foundation for the project entitled, “Collaborative Research: III: RUI: Video-Contextual Reliability Warning System for AI-Assisted Breast Ultrasound Diagnosis.”