Research Awards
September 2022
Dr. Gary Emmert, interim dean in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $1,242,933 from the Memphis and Shelby Crime Commission for his project “Public Safety Institute” and $44,179 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Cooperative Research Agreement between the University of Memphis and USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center.”
Dr. Shahram Pezeshk, chair and professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $1,000,000 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation for his project “University Technical Assistance Program (UTAP) - University of Memphis.”
Dr. Christos Papadopoulos, professor and Sparks Family Chair of Excellence in Global Research Leadership in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $871,098 from the National Science Foundation for his project “Collaborative Research: CCRI: NEW: Open Community platform for Sharing Vehicle Telematics Data for Research and Innovation.”
Dr. Laura Casey, professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $861,072 from the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for her projects “UofM CBEI Services” and “UofM Home/Community Based Early Intervention (HCBEI) Services/Community Based Early Intervention (HCBEI) Services.”
Dr. Jennifer Mandel, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $811,531 from the National Science Foundation for her project “Collaborative Research: RESEARCH-PGR: Comparative genomics of the capitulum: deciphering the molecular basis of a key floral innovation.”
Dr. Brian Waldron, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Director of the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering, was awarded $598,000 from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for his project “TDA Phase 2.”
Dr. Brandt Pence, associate professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $414,136 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “Mitochondrial determinants of monocyte dysfunction in aging.”
Dr. Claudio Meier, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $337,975 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation for his project “Stormwater Conveyance from Bridge Decks.”
Dr. Qianyi Cheng, research scientist in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $327,646 from the National Institutes of Health for their project “Data Mining and Machine Learning Guided QM/MM and QM-Cluster Modeling of Enzymatic Reactions.”
Dr. Stephanie Ivey, associate dean for research and professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $318,455 from Federal Railroad Association for her project “Women in Rail.”
Dr. Kathryn Howell, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $203,606 from the University of Notre Dame with the National Institutes of Health for her projects “Pregnant Moms' Program.”
Dr. Jasbir Dhaliwal, executive vice president for Research in the Division of Research & Innovation, was awarded $200,000 from Epicenter for his project “Epicenter Cooperative Agreement.”
Dr. Daniel Foti, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $149,892 from the U.S. Department of Energy for his project “Building partnerships for development of sustainable energy systems with atmospheric measurements.”
Dr. Xinhua Yu, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, PhD Program Coordinator for Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, was awarded $85,221 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center with the U.S. Department of Defense for his project “Does Military Traumatic Brain Injury Increase the Risk for Developing Early Onset Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment?”
Dr. Brian Meredith, assistant Vice Provost and associated Dean in the Department of Graduate School, was awarded $61,875 from the Tennessee Higher Educ Commission for his project “TN Doctoral Scholars Program.”
Dr. Mark Gillenson, professor in the Department of Business Information and Technology, was awarded $61,875 from the Tennessee Higher Educ Commission for his project “TN Doctoral Scholars Program.”
Dr. Marie van der Merwe, APAN Program Coordinator and associate professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $45,590 from Compound Solutions for her project “The acute effect of a theacrine-based supplement on mobilization of various stem cells populations.”
Dr. Mohammed Yeasin, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Computer Engineering, was awarded $43,243 from the Indiana University with the National Institutes of Health for his project “Neural Dynamics Underlying the Emergence of Auditory Categorization and Learning.”
Dr. William Jackson, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, was awarded $34,952 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Geology of the Leapwood 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, McNairy County, Tennessee.”
Dr. Anna Falkner, assistant professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $30,322 from Illinois State University with the Library of Congress for her project “Teaching Memphis School History Project.”
Dr. Lindsey Feldman, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, was awarded $26,798 from Innovate Memphis for her project “Ethnographic Support for City Innovation.”
Dr. Madhusudhanan Balasubramanian, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded $26,552 from Alion Science and Technology with the Department of Homeland Security for his project “Testing & Evaluation Course Instruction and Research in Support of Information Technology Systems.”
Dr. Xiangen Hu, professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $25,000 from the American Institutes for Research for his project “AIR and University of Memphis AutoTutor Project.”
Dr. Shawn Brown, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $23,757 from the Mississippi State University with the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board for his project “Impacts of charcoal rot (Macrophomina phaseolina) epidemiology on drought resistant soybean cellular metabolism and accompanying tissue microbiome for identifying alternative breeding targets under increasing environmental stress.”
Dr. Gina Tillis, assistant professor and teaching and undergraduate learning Specialist of the River City Partnership in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $20,000 from the University of Southern California with The Spencer Foundation for her project “A Difference of Degree: Considering the Capacity of an Afro-Latinidad framework in Preserving the Institutional Identity of Hispanic-serving HBCUs.”
Dr. Carolyn Kaldon, research associate professor in the Center for Research in Educational Policy, was awarded $19,175 from Battelle for her project “TSIN Rural STEM Collaborative General Evaluation.”
Dr. Deepak Venugopal, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $16,000 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “RI: Small Investigating techniques that couple Markov Logic and Deep Learning with applications to discovering strategies to improve STEM learning.”
Dr. Meredith Ray, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health and Master Program Coordinator for Biostatistics, was awarded $13,581 from the Research Foundation of CUNY with the National Institutes of Health for her project “Optimizing HIV prevention for highly vulnerable methamphetamine-using sexual minority men.”
Dr. Alexandrea Golden, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $11,500 from the Society for Research in Child Development for her projects “Understanding Peer Racial Socialization Amidst a Pandemic of Racism: A Qualitative Study with Black Adolescents” and “Need for Mentoring, Cohort support, and Research Funding.”
Dr. James McCutcheon, associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, was awarded $11,473 from the City of Memphis Police Department with the U.S. Department of Justice for his project “Evaluation of Sexual Assault Kit Testing.”
Dr. Caitlin Porter, assistant professor in the Department of Management, was awarded $9,000 from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology for her project “The Impact of Internal and External Visibility on Time to Promotion and Retention of Women in Academic Medicine.”
Dr. Bentuo Zheng, professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, was awarded $8,400 from the Simons Foundation for his project “The Geometry of Banach Spaces.”
Dr. Nichelle Robinson, director and professor in the of Teacher Education and Clinical Practice, was awarded $8,333 from the University of Florida with the U.S. Department of Education for her project “CEEDAR - Professional Development.”
Dr. Joel Bumgardner, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $1,500 from Karamedica for his project “Chitosan characterizations.”