Research Awards
August 2024
Dr. Linda Jarmulowicz, dean in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, was awarded $1.3M from
U.S. Department of Education (US DoEd) for her project “2024 SLP Tuition Reimbursement.”
Dr. Susan Neely-Barnes, professor and director chair in the department of Social Work, was awarded $529,999
from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for her project “Recruiting
Interprofessional Scholars for Excellence in Childhood, Adolescence, & Young Adulthood”
(RISE-CAY).
Dr. Qianyi Cheng, assistant Professor 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. Thomas Goebel, assistant professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded
$299,809 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “How do faults
respond to rapid stressing rate changes?: A study of induced earthquakes in geo-reservoirs
and implications for aftershock triggering.”
Dr. Hongmei Zhang, professor of Biostatistics, EBE Division Director in the School of Public Health,
was awarded $201,912 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project
“Clusters of Epigenetic Networks at Birth and Asthma Incidence in Children.”
Dr. James Murphy, professor in the department in Psychology, was awarded $200,319 from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “A Qualitative Analysis of Social and Behavioral
Processes Associated with Self-Change in Drinking in an Existing Cohort of Black and
White Emerging Adults.”
Dr. Nicholas Simon, associate professor in the department in Psychology, was awarded $173,417 from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Circuit-specific catecholamine
regulation of sensitivity to delayed punishment.”
Dr. Gregory Washington, professor in the School of Social Work and director of the Center for the Advancement
and Youth Development (CAYD, was awarded $121,004 by the Substance Abuse & Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for his project “Mobile University Services
for Integrated Community Care (MUSICC).”
Dr. Richard Bloomer, dean and professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $102,000 from
US Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS) for his project “Substance Use
Prevention Among Vulnerable Youth.”
Dr. Amy Curry, associate professor in the department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $100,039
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project “Bridges to Baccalaureate
Research Training Program at The University of Memphis.”
Dr. Sabya Mishra, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $75,000 from the National
Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “CIVIC-PG Track B: Rural transit solutions
to Enhance Access & Connectivity for Blue Oval City Hub (REACH).”
Dr. Shahram Pezeshk, chair and professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $71,577
from the US Geological Survey (USGS) for his project “Adjusting CEUS Ground Motion
Models for Use in Coastal Plain Considering the Sediment Thickness.”
Dr. Chris Cramer, research professor for the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI),
was awarded $68,027 from the US Geological Survey (USGS) for his project “Horizontal
and Vertical Site Amplification and CEUS Crustal Attenuation Models: Joint Tomography
for Site Response and Q: Collaborative Research with the University of Memphis and
Tetra Tech Inc.”
Dr. Mark Gillenson, professor in the Department of Management Information Systems in the Fogelman College
of Business and Economics, was awarded $61,250 from the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) for his project “Testing & Evaluation Course Instruction and Research in Support
of Information Technology Systems.”
Dr. Elena Delavega, professor in the Department of Social Work, was awarded $60,655 from the Church
Health Center of Memphis for her project “Improving Behavioral Healthcare for the
Latinx Community in Memphis.”
Dr. Brian Waldron, associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies in Engineering and associate professor
in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $52,346 from the City of Germantown
for his project “City of Germantown WHP.”
Dr. Jessica Amber Jennings, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $50,000
from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “NatureFound Biotech I-Corps
Team.”
Dr. Thomas Goebel, associate professor in the Department for Center for Earthquake Research and Information,
was awarded $50,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “Machine
Learning Empowered Automaton of Seismic Monitoring Systems.”
Dr. Stepanie Ivey, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $41,000 from the Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis for her project
“Girls Experiencing Engineering 2024-25” and $26,134 from the National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) for her project “NCHRP 20-44(49) Research Implementation - Strategies
for Overcoming Barriers.”
Dr. Vipin Agarwal, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $35,140
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Active and Nonlinear
Models for Cochlear Mechanics.”
Dr. Sandra Nichols, professor Chair, in the Instruction Curriculum Leadership department was awarded
$35,000 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) for her project
“Service Agreement: UTHSC All Kids Academy.”
Dr. Lindsey Feldman, associate professor in the department of Anthropology, was awarded $29,835 from
the Innovate Memphis for her project “Applied Anthro Fellow 2024-25.”
Dr. Shawn Brown, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $26,043
from 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. Wei Lyu, assistant professor in the School of Public Health was awarded $25,032 from the Iowa
Department of Health and Human Services (IDHHS) for his project “Fostering Economic
Mobility.”
Dr. Meredith Ray, associate professor, Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health
and Program Coordinator for Biostatistics in the School of Public Health, was awarded $12,092 from the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) for her project “Optimizing HIV prevention for highly vulnerable methamphetamine-using
sexual minority men.”
Dr. Kristoffer Berlin, professor, Clinical (Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies) in the department of
Psychology was awarded $12,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his
project “Family Health Intervention to Improve Health Outcomes in Black Youth with
Type 1 Diabetes: A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial.”
Dr. Gary Stinchcomb, assistant professor in the department of Earth Sciences, was awarded $10,500 from
the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her project “Collaborative Research: The
influence of climate and tectonics on Miocene ecosystems and faunal evolution in the
East African Rift, Kenya.”
Dr. Laura Casey, professor, in the department of Instruction Curriculum Leadership was awarded $4,050
from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for her
project “University of Memphis SMART Center Block Grant.”
Dr. Joel Bumgardner, professor and holder of the Chair Excellence in the department of Biomedical Engineering,
was awarded $3,796 from the Hera Health Solutions Inc for his project “In vivo evaluation
of resorbable, implantable hormonal contraceptive.”