CoRS Research Awards

Helping faculty build interdisciplinary communities of scholars on campus

The Division of Research & Innovation has completed the 2022 Communities of Research Scholars (CoRS) Program call for proposals and has awarded 22 grants. The CoRS Program is designed to cultivate interdisciplinary discourse and nurture the growth of research affinity groups across campus. Awards ranged from $2,500-$5,000 and all projects will be completed by March 31, 2022.

2022 awards have been granted to:

Abu Mohammed Naser Titu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, “Socioecological Determinants of Cardiometabolic Health in Memphis: Establishment of a Database"
Alexander Headley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, “Identifying Opportunities for Renewables and Energy Storage in the Mid-South”
Brennan Berg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Sport Commerce, “Name, Image, and Likeness in Tennessee: A Historic Policy Change for College Athletics”
Carolyn Kaldon, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, CREP, “University Schools Engaged Scholarship & Research Consortium (USES+RC): Grant Writing Awards”
Daniel Foti, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, “Development of collaborative hypersonic research at the intersection of aerothermodynamics and materials science”
Davia Downey, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Public and NonProfit Administration, “Disaster Studies Consortium”
Deborah Moncrieff, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, “Our team is breaking through invisible barriers to literacy”
Deundra Hearne, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Nursing, “Nursing Workforce Diversity: An Exploration of Minority Nurses Intent to Pursue Doctoral Studies”
Gloria Carr, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing, “Grandparents’ Views on Grandparent Caregiving”
Jani Johnson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, “Exploring potential mediating/moderating effects of negative emotionality on outcomes with hearing aids for older adults”
Jennifer Turchi, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, “Convening minds to address youth justice and youth violence in Memphis, TN”
Leah Windsor, Ph.D., Associate Professor, English/Applied Linguistics, Institute for Intelligent Systems, “Convening minds to address youth justice and youth violence in Memphis, TN”
Leigh Harrell-Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Counseling, Education Psychology & Research, “Memphis Women+’s Mentorship Network”
Lily Afshar, Professor, Music, “Hiring a Third-Party to Do a Needs Assessment Survey of Faculty, Staff and Students in the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music and write a Report to be Used for Future Grant Proposals”
Marty Lang, M.F.A., Assistant Professor, Communication and Film, “The University of Memphis/MVP3 Studios Master Class Series”
Meredith Ray, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biostatistics, “Developing a multidimensional and data-driven understanding of sexual positioning identity among cisgender men who have sex with men”
Nicholas Simon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Psychology, “Establishing a data pipeline to decipher the neural basis of risky decision-making”
Reba Umberger, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing, “Exploring the role of social determinants of health on sepsis readmissions among survivors of sepsis within the national readmission dataset”
Sarah Leat, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Social Work, “Research on Intimate Partner Violence Collaborative”
Simranjit Khalsa, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Sociology, “Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion"
Xiaolei Huang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Computer Science, “Moral Foundations and Vaccine Hesitancy of Traditional Communities in the Southern US”
Yong Yang, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Social and Behavioral Sciences, “Examine the influence of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak to health behaviors and mental health”

Congratulations to all CoRS recipients and good luck with your initiatives! If you have questions about the CoRS program, email researchdev@memphis.edu.