January 2022 Research Awards
Dr. Santosh Kumar, director of NIH Center of Excellence for mobile Sensory Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K) and Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $1,039,009 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “mHealth Center for Discovery, Optimization & Translation of Temporally-Precise Interventions (mDOT).”
Dr. Brian Waldron, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering (CAESER), was awarded $300,000 from Memphis Light Gas and Water (MLGW) for his project “MLGW General.”
Dr. Christine Bertz, research assistant professor in the Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREP), was awarded $149,998 from the Smithsonian Institution with the US Department of Education (US DoEd) for her project “Smithsonian Science for the Classroom: Improving Student Achievement Across State Borders and State Standards.”
Dr. Thouraya Al-Nasser, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $120,000 from Tennessee Department of Education (TDoEd) with the US Department of Education (US DoEd) for his project “TEIS Vendor Services.”
Dr. Maxime Paquette, associate professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $70,679.70 from Asahi Kasei America Inc (AKA) for his project “The Influence of Alignment Garment on Running Economy and Lower Limb Mechanics.”
Dr. Vasile Rus, Jack and Jane Morris professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $65,341 from Aptima, Inc with the US Department of Defense (DoD) for his project “PARETO: Predictive Analytics to Realize Effective Training and Operations.”
Dr. Michelle Stockton, unit coordinator and associate professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $50,909 from the USANA Health Sciences for her project “Impact of Active Nutrition program on weight loss and associated measures of health in overweight and obese men and women.”
Dr. Richard Bloomer, dean and professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $47,655 from Nuun & Company, Inc (Nuun) for his project “Nuun SPORT and exercise performance in male and female runners.”
Dr. John Sabatini, distinguished research professor in the Institute for Intelligent Systems, was awarded $36,280 from the Educational Testing Service with the US Department of Education (US DoEd) for his project “Exploring and Assessing the Development of Students' Argumentation Skills.”
Dr. Timothy McCuddy, assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, was awarded $24,960 from the Shelby County Community Services Agency for his project “Evaluation of Shelby County Youth Assessment Center.”
Dr. Courtnee Melton-Fant, assistant professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy, was awarded $20,000 from Shelby County Schools for her project “SCS-Bolton HS Ambassadors.”
Dr. Keri Brondo, professor and chair in the Department of Anthropology, was awarded $1,000 from the National Conference of Governors' Schools Inc (NCoGS) for her project “Playback
Memphis Visit for GSIS.”
December 2021 Research Awards
Dr. Kevin Berisso, assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and AutoID Lab director, was awarded $497,971 from the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute with the US Department of Defense (DoD) for his project “ARM-TEC-21-02-C-07: AI Robot Programming Assistance.”
Dr. Thouraya Al-Nasser, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $175,000 from the Tennessee Department of Education with the US Department of Education for her project “TEIS Vendor Services.”
Dr. Michail Gkolias, faculty in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $122,526.50 from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) with the US Department of Transportation (US DoT) for his projects “FMRI 2021 Admin” and “Evaluation of truck caravanning networks.”
Dr. Sabyasachee Mishra, associate professor and Faudree professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $100,000 from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) with the US Department of Transportation (US DoT) for his project “Modeling the adoption, distribution, and utilization of autonomous delivery robots and delivery lockers in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Dr. Radesh Palakurthi, IHG Endowed Chair of Excellence and professor and dean in the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management, was awarded $94,000 from Shelby County Schools (SCS) for his project “SCS Culinary Arts Program at Bolton High” and $15,000 from Hardeman County Schools with the University of Tennessee - Knoxville (UTK) for his project “Hardeman County School System Educational Partnership Agreement _ Bolton High School.”
*Dr. Latrice Pichon, associate professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was awarded $93,851 from Vanderbilt University Medical Center with the Center For Disease Control (CDC) for her project “Implementation of Rapid HIV Testing and Linkage to HIV Treatment or Prevention Among Vulnerable Populations in Tennessee.”
Dr. Robin Lennon-Dearing, associate professor in the Department of Social Work, was awarded $88,684 from Miriam Hospital with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project “Engaging Community Health Workers to Improve Viral Suppression and Self-Management among PLWH in Shelby County, TN.”
Dr. Santosh Kumar, director, NIH Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensory Data-to-Knowledge (MD2K), and Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence professor in Computer Science, was awarded $77,697 from Regents of The University of Michigan with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Novel use of mHealth Data to Identify states of vulnerability and receptivity to JITALIs.”
Dr. Mark LeDoux, research professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $30,000 from the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation for his project “Banking of Myoclonus-Dystonia Biological Materials.”
Dr. Joel Bumgardner, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $21,318 from Austin Medical Ventures, Inc for his project “Calcium sulfate bone graft materials.”
Dr. Marian Levy, interim dean and professor in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences was awarded $17,862 from Dar Salud Care PLLC with the Novo Nordisk Inc for her project “Prevalence of Obesity and Adiposity-Based Comorbidities Within a Cohort of Adolescents Living in Memphis.”
Dr. Hongmei Zhang, professor and director in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health and PhD program coordinator for Biostatistics, was awarded $16,851 from La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Epigenome-wide association study of childhood asthma.”
Dr. Lily Afshar, professor of guitar in the Department of Music, was awarded $10,172 from the University of Memphis Research Foundation (UMRF) with the Augustine Foundation for her project “9th Memphis International Guitar Festival.”
Dr. Michael Schmidt, associate professor in the Department of Art, was awarded $8,000 from University of Miami with the Florida Department of Health for his project “US waterpipe smoking cessation: Designing and testing warning labels.”