Research Awards
August 2023
Dr. Cody Behles, director of Research and Innovation in the Division of Research and Innovation, was awarded $580,000 from the Delta Regional Authority for his project “Proposal to the Delta Regional Authority for Capacity Research Opportunity Pilot Project.”
Dr. Deranda Lester, research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $432,051 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her projects “Oxytocin projections mediate social and drug reward” and “Oxytocin Mediates Phasic and Tonic Dopamine Release.”
Dr. Daniel Foti, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $350,000 from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for his project “Cavitation Erosion: Model to Full Scale.”
Dr. Qianyi Cheng, research scientist in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $327,397 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project “Data Mining and Machine Learning Guided QM/MM and QM-Cluster Modeling of Enzymatic Reactions.”
Dr. Kathryn Ramsey, assistant professor and director of the Medical Legal Partners Clinic in the School of Law, was awarded $300,00 from the University of Memphis Research Foundation (UMRF) with the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund for her project “Everytown MLP Legal Fellow,” and $350,000 from The Urban Child Institute (TUCI) for her project “MLP/Memphis CHiLD.”
Dr. Sabyasachee Mishra, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $299,998 from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) with the Federal Highway Administration for his projects “UTAP: Tennessee Statewide Land Use Model Enhancements with Local Validation and Implementation” and “Public Messaging and Behavior Change Systems for Circular Economies.”
Dr. Thomas Sutter, professor and W. Harry Feinstone Chair of Excellence in Molecular Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $252,560 from the University of Pennsylvania with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Microbial Regulation of the keratinocyte AHRThis is resubmission: 1R01 AR079856-01A1.”
Dr. Loretta Rudd, clinical professor & program coordinator of Child Development and Family Studies in the College of Professional & Liberal Studies, was awarded $250,000 from The Urban Child Institute (TUCI) for her project “Community Partnership to Enhance Kindergarten Readiness Through Quality Caregiver/Parent-Child Interactions.”
Dr. Nathan DeYonker, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded $186,061 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “CAREER: A Model-Building Platform for Rational, Reproducible, and Rigorous Computational Enzymology.”
Dr. Mitchell Withers, associate research professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $185,831 from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for his project “CERI 2023 Deferred Maintenance.”
Dr. Eraina Schauss, associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology & Research, was awarded $185,000 from The Urban Child Institute (TUCI) for her project “Fostering Resilience and Well-being in the Pediatric Trauma Population: Counseling Interventions for an At-Risk Population.”
Dr. Amir Hadadzadeh, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $160,000 from Medtronic Incorporated for his project “Metal Additive Manufacturing: Process-Structure-Property Relationship.”
Dr. Daniel Larsen, professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, was awarded $139,569 from the West Tennessee River Basin Authority for his project “Post-construction Hydrologic Monitoring of the Sandy Creek Stream Restoration Project,” and $28,141 from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for his project “Geologic mapping of the Tecopa 7.5' quadrangle, California: A Pleistocene lake, a river and a canyon.”
Dr. Melanie Burgess, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology & Research, was awarded $113,989 from the U.S. Department of Education (US DoEd) for her project “ASPIRE: Advancing School Counseling Programs by Increasing Representation and Experiences.”
Dr. Kristoffer Berlin, clinical professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $108,975 from Wayne State University with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Family mHealth Intervention to Improve Health Outcomes in Black Youth with Type 1 Diabetes: A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial.”
Dr. Christos Papadopoulos, professor and Sparks Family Chair of Excellence in Global Research Leadership in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $107,208 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his projects “Collaborative Research: CCRI: NEW: Open Community platform for Sharing Vehicle Telematics Data for Research and Innovation” and “Collaborative Research: IMR:MM-1B: Privacy in Internet Measurements Applied To WAN and Telematics.”
Derek Myers, Chief of Police in the Department of Police Services, was awarded $81,000 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. Thouraya Al-Nasser, clinical assistant professor and director of Clinical Servicesand UofM Autism Treatment, Training and Research Clinic, was awarded $50,000 from The Urban Child Institute (TUCI) for his project “UofM Autism Treatment, Training, and Research Clinic.”
Dr. Bert Burraston, associate professor and Department Chair in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, was awarded $43,234 from Methodist LeBonheur Community Outreach with the U.S. Department of Justice (US DoJ) for his project “Evaluation of eSHIFT.”
Dr. Richard Sweigard, dean of the Herff College of Engineering, was awarded $39,600 from Tennessee State University (TSU) with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.”
Dr. Jeffrey Marchetta, professor and undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $36,610 from Vanderbilt University with the National Aeronautics and Space Admin (NASA) for his project “University of Memphis Space Grant Program” and $30,000 from Tennessee Technological University with the U.S. Department of Energy (US DoE) for his project “TN 3-Star Industrial Assessment Center.”
Dr. James Murphy, professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $35,742 from Washington State University (WSU) with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Integration of Motivational Interviewing and Behavioral Economics Theories to Enhance Measurement of Client Language as a Mechanism of Behavior Change.”
Dr. Huigang Liang, professor, coordinator and FedEx Chair of Excellence in the Department of Management Information Systems, was awarded $19,491 from The University of Texas at Austin with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “A sensor-controlled digital game-based approach to improve self-care behaviors among adults diagnosed with hypertension in a Native American community.”
Dr. Minhae Cho, assistant professor in the Department of Social Work, was awarded $17,900 from the Seoul National University with the National Research Foundation of Korea for her project “National Research Foundation Of Korea project.”
Dr. Mohd Ali, associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, was awarded $10,000 from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for his projects “Artificial Intelligence Controlled Variable Capacitor for Wind Generator Stabilization” and “Mitigation of Adverse Effect of E3 HEMP on Power Transformers by Intelligent Controller Based Variable Resistor.”
Adriana Dunn, assistant director of the Art Museum, was awarded $8,900 from the Tennessee Arts Commission with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for her project “Paul R. Williams Websites Relaunch Project.”
Dr. William Shaltis, associate professor of Percussion in the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, was awarded $6,400 from the Tennessee Arts Commission with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for his project “The Marimba of Mexico.”
Dr. Emerson Bowers, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $2,250.38 from the American Ornithological Society for his project “Host and brood-parasite nestling mouth coloration and parental care: an experimental test.”
Dr. Diana Ruggiero, professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages and Literature, was awarded $1,000 from Teach Access for her project “Accessibility Module. The Teach Access Faculty Grant Awards.”