Featured Awards – March 2014

‌Erin Bunger and Eden Kyse (Center for Research and Evaluation on Education and Human Services, CEHS) received $37,036 in total from the New Jersey Department of Health, the New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids and Partners for Health Foundation in support of the “Evaluation of the ShapingNJ Healthy Communities Grant Program.” This project will provide evaluation services to assess the implementation and outcomes of the ShapingNJ Healthy Communities Grant Initiative. The initiative brings together three funders and awards grants to 30 not-for-profit and local health agencies in predominantly high-risk communities. Grantees implement strategies to make healthy eating and active living easier for community members.

NASA awarded Mark Chopping (Earth and Environmental Studies, CSAM) a $13,321 supplement for “Forest and Shrub Mapping with MISR” which uses a geometric-optical model inversion approach to allow the large area mapping of forest and shrubs in grasslands. Dr. Chopping is using data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Earth Observing System Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer.

‌Gerard Costa (Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, CEHS) was awarded a $342,362 supplement for “The Coordinating Center at Montclair State University (CC-MSU)” by the NJ Governor’s Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism. Through collaborative, multidisciplinary and reflective leadership, the Coordinating Center at Montclair State University (CC-MSU) will provide Program Sites with supervision, support, and streamlining of practices resulting in increased efficiency, reduced costs and relevant project outcomes for persons affected by ASD. The CC-MSU includes a Principal Investigator with experience in both collaborative leadership and treatment of ASD, in partnership with experts in research and evaluation, information technology, biostatistics, administration, and ASD clinical research and treatment. In addition, the CC-MSU benefits from the wide range of expertise within the research, training, administrative, and academic support structures at the pedagogically excellent and experientially diverse Montclair State University.

Sandra Passchier (Earth and Environmental Studies, CSAM) received a $24,899 subaward from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership for “Expedition 347 Baltic Sea Onshore Science Party.” Dr. Passchier is serving as a science party member on an Integrated Ocean Drilling Program expedition. These expeditions are designed to advance scientific understanding of the Earth with the participation of science experts from its member nations.

The Spencer Foundation awarded‌ Alina Reznitskaya (Educational Foundations, CEHS) $50,000 for “Measuring Argument Literacy Skills of Elementary School Students.” Argument literacy is defined as the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments when reading and writing. The project will target Spencer’s Teaching, Learning and Instructional Resources initiative, which supports novel solutions for examining and assessing student learning. It will develop and validate two sets of measures that include alternate forms to be used in pre- and post-testing, thus allowing teachers to measure students’ growth over time.