Research Awards
July 2022
Dr. Brian Waldron, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Director of the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering, was awarded $1,095,798 from Memphis Light Gas and Water for his project “MLGW aquitard year 5.”
Dr. William Hunter, professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $700,000 from Vanderbilt University with the Tennessee Department of Education for his project “Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Behavior and Academics.”
Dr. Vasile Rus, Jack and Jane Morris professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $650,600 from the U.S. Department of Education for his project “CODE: Investigating and Scaffolding Students' Code Comprehension Processes to Improve Learning, Engagement, and Retention.”
Dr. Jeremy Whittaker, associate Dean for Student Success and Inclusion in the Loewenberg College of Nursing, was awarded $636,212 from the Health Resources and Services Administration for his project “Supporting the Retention of Next Generation Registered Nurses,” and $628,003 from the Health Resources and Services Administration for his project “Supporting the Retention of Next Generation Registered Nurses.”
Dr. Tracy Collins, FNP director and clinical professor in the Loewenberg College of Nursing, was awarded $579,685 from the Health Resources and Services Administration for her project “Health, Education, and Access for Rural Tennesseans.”
Dr. Loretta Rudd, clinical professor and program coordinator in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies, was awarded $448,876 from The Urban Child Institute for her project “Community Partnership to Enhance Kindergarten Readiness Through Quality Caregiver/Parent-Child Interactions.”
Dr. Amaia Iratzoqui- Greenfield, associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, was awarded $376,524 from the State of Tennessee, Office of Criminal Justice Programs with the U.S. Department of Justice for her project “Increasing Collaboration among Domestic Violence Agencies.”
Dr. Eraina Schauss, associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology & Research, was awarded $350,000 from The Urban Child Institute for her project “Fostering Resilience and Well-being in the Pediatric Trauma Population: Counseling Interventions for an At-Risk Population.”
Dr. Kathryn Ramsey, assistant professor of Law and Director of the Medical Legal Partnership Clinic in the Department of Law, was awarded $350,000 from The Urban Child Institute for her project “MLP/Memphis CHiLD.”
Mr. Scott Schoefernacker, associate director of Water in the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering, was awarded $350,000 from Shelby County Government for his project “Groundwater Monitoring Network and Public Education on Water in Shelby County.”
Dr. Latrice Pichon, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences in the School of Public Health, was awarded$348,889 from the Centers for Disease Control for her project “Ending the HIV and Stigma Syndemic: Re-framing Health Education Content for Southern Black Churches,” and $35,700 from the State of Tennessee with the Center for Disease Control for her project “National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) 2022.”
Dr. Francisco Muller-Sanchez, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Material Sciences, was awarded $315,791 from the National Aeronautics and Space Admin for his project “The Keck OSIRIS Nearby AGN Survey: Characterizing the Physical Mechanisms Driving Feeding and Feedback in Active Galaxies.”
Dr. Christos Papadopoulos, professor and Sparks Family Chair of Excellence in Global Research Leadership in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $299,582 from the National Science Foundation for his project “EAGER: C2DIT: Community Continuous Distributed Internet Traffic Datasets.”
Dr. Karen Weddle-West, Vice President of Student Academic Success in the Department of Counseling, Educational, Psychology and Research, was awarded $297,600 from the U.S. Department of Education for her project “University of Memphis Upward Bound.”
Dr. Huigang Liang, professor and FedEx Chair of Excellence in MIS in the Department of Business Information and Technology, was awarded $230,000 from FedEx Corporate Services, Incorporated for his project “Improving FedEx Supply Chain Demand Forecasting in Turbulent Environments.”
Dr. Thomas Sutter, professor and W. Harry Feinstone Chair of Excellence in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $215,250 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “A core transcription factor complex of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor.”
Dr. Stephanie Ivey, associate dean for research and professor in the Herff College of Engineering, was awarded $201,420 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation with the Federal Highway Administration for her project “TDOT Critical Knowledge Gaps, Existing Knowledge Management Practices and Cultural Readiness,” $20,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation for her project “TSPCB,” and $35,000 from Gannett Fleming Inc with the Panasonic Corporation of North America for her project “Fleet Electrification Research.”
Dr. Weizi Li, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $174,789 from the National Science Foundation for his project “CRII: III: Towards Effective and Efficient City-scale Traffic Reconstruction.”
Dr. Debra Bartelli, research associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health and Director of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Public Health, was awarded $171,672 from the Hope House with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for her project “TBC Hope House HOPWA.”
Derek Myers, chief of police in the Department of Police Services, was awarded $158,034 from the State of Tennessee, Office of Criminal Justice Programs with the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Financial Research for his project “VOCA Grant.”
Dr. Mitchell Withers, associate research professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $154,194 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Operation of the Mid-America Integrated Seismic Network 2020-2024-CERI.”
Dr. Michail Gkolias, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $150,074 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation with the Federal Highway Administration for his project “More Effective Use of Tennessee Waterways to Account for Competing Uses and Address Freight Congestion.”
Dr. Sabyasachee Mishra, associate professor and Faudree professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $150,000 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation with the Federal Highway Administration for his project “Influencing Mode Shift through Behavioral Change Strategies.”
Dr. David Arellano, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $149,999 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation with the Federal Highway Administration for his project “Automatic Tools for Quick and Accurate Construction Cost Estimation for Retaining Walls.”
Dr. Xiaofei Zhang, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $148,749 from the National Science Foundation for his project “Collaborative Research: PPoSS: Planning: Efficient and Scalable Learning and Management of Distributed Probabilistic Graphs.”
Dr. Santosh Kumar, director of the NIH Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K) and Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $115,445 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “mHealth Center for Discovery, Optimization & Translation of Temporally-Precise Interventions.”
Dr. Jessica Jennings, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $112,729 from the National Science Foundation for her project “CAREER: Tethered biofilm dispersal signals for long-term protection of engineering materials.”
Dr. Richard Bloomer, dean and professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $102,000 from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for his project “Substance Use Prevention Among Vulnerable Youth.” Co-PI: Dr. Theresa Okwumabua.
Dr. Myounggyu Won, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $99,764 from the National Security Agency for his project “GenCyber 2022.”
Dr. Charles Langston, director and professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $91,790 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Embayment Seismic Excitation Experiment 2022 (ESEE 2022).”
Dr. Thomas Watson, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $88,857 from the National Science Foundation for his project “CAREER: Structural Communication Complexity.”
Dr. Shahram Pezeshk, chair and professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $80,333 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Hybrid Empirical Ground-Motion Models with Simulation-based Site Amplification Factors for the Island of Hawaii Based on an Updated Strong Ground Motion Database.”
Dr. Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos, assistant professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $67,930 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Characterizing earthquake rupture propagation during the 1811-12 New Madrid earthquakes using dynamic rupture model.”
Dr. Chris Cramer, research professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $51,327 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Coastal Plain Amplification and Hazard Model for the National Seismic Hazard Maps: Collaborative Research with University of Memphis, North Carolina State University.”
Dr. Paul Simone, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $48,740 from Foundation Instruments with the National Institutes of Health for his project “SBIR Phase II: Evaluation of Feasibility of the TotalTHM-NOW for drinking water treatment plants to improve water quality, reduce costs, and lower cancer risks.”
Dr. John Sabatini, distinguished research professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $41,097 from the U.S. Department of Education for his project “Developing and implementing a technology-based, reading comprehension instruction system for adult literacy students.”
Dr. Dorian Burnette, associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, was awarded $39,786 from the National Science Foundation for his project “Collaborative Research: Medieval to Modern Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Great Plains.”
Dr. James Murphy, professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $35,018 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “Behavioral economic and wellness-based approaches for reducing alcohol use and consequences among diverse community-dwelling emerging adults” and $10,713 from the University of Rhode Island with the National Institutes of Health for his project “Developing a Positive Approach to Substance Use Prevention in North American Indian Adolescents.”
Dr. Fawaz Mzayek, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, was awarded $34,654 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center with the National Institutes of Health for his project “Tennessee Heart Health Network: Implementing Patient-Centered Practices in Primary Care to Improve Cardiovascular Health.”
Dr. Carl Herickhoff, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $30,000 from the American Heart Association for his project “James E. West Graduate Fellowship.”
Dr. Courtnee Melton-Fant, assistant professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy, was awarded $29,975 from the Russell Sage Foundation for her project “Gender and race heterogeneity: The effect of worker-related preemption policies on economic outcomes.”
Dr. Wendy Griswold, associate professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education in the Department of Leadership, was awarded $25,000 from Kansas State University with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for her project “Evaluating Technical Assistance to Brownfields.”
Dr. Tracy Bruen, clinical assistant professor and director MS Clinical Nutrition in the Department of Health Sciences, was awarded $24,048 from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for his project “Memphis Grows - A Landmark Farm Specialty Crops and UofM Clinical Nutrition Collaboration to increase growth and sales of specialty crops in urban farms and encourage education.”
Dr. Youngsang Kwon, associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, was awarded $22,326 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Mapping Spatio-temporal Groundwater Storage Changes in Memphis Aquifer: Integration of GRACE satellite, Ground-based Estimates and Hydrologic Modeling approach.”
Dr. Kristoffer Berlin, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $17,896 from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with the National Institutes of Health for his project “Translating basic habituation research to childhood obesity treatment.”
Mr. Manohar Aggarwal, instructor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, was awarded $9,900 from the National Science Foundation for his project “ICODOE 2022.”
Dr. Marian Levy, interim dean and professor in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was awarded $7,279 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for her project “Analyze Focus Groups.”
Mark Hendricks, instructor in the Division of Health Systems, Management and Policy, was awarded $7,000 from the Tennessee Public Health Association for his project “Public Health Leadership Workshop.”
Dr. Xiaolei Huang, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $5,000 from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities for his project “Causal Modeling of Human Confounding Bias in Patient-reported Outcome Assessment.”
Dr. Meredith Ray, associate professor and Master Program Coordinator for Biostatistics in the School of Public Health, was awarded $3,750 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for her project “Statistical Evaluation-Agreement with UTHSC.”