Research Awards

This page highlights recent research awards received by faculty and staff across the University of Memphis, showcasing the scope, scale, and impact of their work. These awards support innovative research, creative activity, and community-engaged projects spanning transportation, public safety, health, education, the arts, and workforce development.

Collectively, they reflect strong partnerships with federal, state, industry, and nonprofit funders and underscore the University’s commitment to advancing knowledge, addressing real-world challenges, and creating lasting impact locally and beyond.

Dr. Susan Neely-Barnes, Professor of Social Work, received $1,390,291 from the Health Resources and Service Association (HRSA) for her project “INterprofessional TEams GRounded in Apprenticeship, Technology, and Evidence.”

 

Rodrigo Villalpando-Vizcaino, Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER) received $508,845 from the State of Tennessee Megasite Authority of West Tennessee (MAWT) for his project “Megasite: Hydrogeological Studies.”

 

Dr. Yufeng Zhang, Associate Professor in the College of Health Sciences, received $467,837 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for project “Collaborative proposal: Applying cell biology and biochemistry to understand honest signaling via red feathers.”

 

Dr. Meghan McDevitt-Murphy, Professor of Psychology, received $439,383 from the Heath Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for her project “Building the Memphis Opioid Workforce: Graduate Psychology Education.”

 

Dr. Yang Yong, Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, received $365,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “The Impact of Cumulative Information and Communication Technology Use on Dementia Risk: A 10-Year Study of Rural Community-Dwelling Older Adults.”

 

Dr. Stacy Lu, Assistant Professor in the College of Health Sciences, received $260,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her project “Improving infant feeding supports for parents with developmental disabilities.”

 

Kathryn Ramsey, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, received $225,000 from The Urban Child Institute for her project “MLP/Memphis CHiLD.”

 

Dr. Emily Puckett, Associate Professor of Biology, received $167,866 from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game for her project “Developing and Applying Genomic Tools for Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) in Southeast Alaska.”

Dr. Satish Kedia, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Assistant Dean of the School of Public Health, received $157,581 from the State of Tennessee for his project “Evaluating and Advancing Evidence-Based Strategies to Combat Tennessee's Opioid Crisis from the Stakeholders' Perspective.”

 

Dr. Thouraya Al-Nasser, Clinical Assistant Professor of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership and Director of the UofM Autism Treatment, Training and Research Clinic, received $143,750 from The Urban Child Institute for project “UofM Autism Treatment, Training, and Research Clinic.”

 

Dr. Charles Garner, Associate Professor of Chemistry, received $89,999 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for his project “Development of Nanocellulose-Metal Organic Frameworks for Sensing and Degrading Agrochemicals.”

 

Keith Humphrey, Chief of Police, received $81,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice for his project “FY27 VOCA – Police Service Grant.”

 

Dr. Sabyasachee Mishra, Professor of Civil Engineering received $74,799 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation for his project “Household Travel Survey in West TN.”

 

Dr. Philip Pavlik, Dunavant Professor of Psychology, received $60,396 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “Improving STEM K-12 learning using optimal spaced retrieval in Podsie, an existing adaptive educational technology platform.”

 

Dr. Ranganathan Gopalakrishnan, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, received $50,000 from the National Science Foundation for his project “NSF I-Corps Dry Powder Delivery.”

 

Dr. Angela Hargrave, Senior Director of Student Services for University Schools, received $50,000 from the Tennessee Department of Education for her project “FY27 Behavioral Partnership Support.”

Dr. Susan Elswick, Department Chair and Professor of Social Work, received $47,917 from The Urban Child Institute for her project “SPARK-E, (S)upporting (P)reschoolers to (A)chieve (R)eadiness for (K)indergarten Summary- Expansion (E).”

 

Dr. Meredith Ray, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, received $44,860 from Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation-Tipton for her project “Lung Cancer Collaboration with Baptist Memorial.”

 

Dr. Michelle Brasfield, Associate Professor of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research, received $37,750 from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for her project “Using Classroom Calming Corners for Emotional Regulation.”

 

Dr. Hongmei Zhang, Professor of Epidemiology, received $31,262 from the National Institutes of Health for her project “House dust-mite allergen-specific T cell subsets in allergy and asthma.”

 

Dr. Linda Jarmulowicz, Professor and Dean of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, received $25,000 from the American Speech Language Hearing Foundation for her project “What's that Sound? Evaluating Spoken Language and Phonological Processing Development for Spanish-English Bilingual Children.”

 

Dr. Chrisann Schiro-Geist, Professor of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research, received $20,000 from the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging for her project “Systems Approach to Life Transitions Using AI-Driven Virtual Reality(SALT-VR)- A new methodology of Enabling Technology for Employment of Persons with Disabilities.”

 

Mary Tucker, Chief Policy and Compliance Officer for University Schools, received $4,755 from the U.S. Department of Education for her project “IDEA Preschool.”