Featured Awards – May 2017

Heather Benton • Theatre and Dance
Wendy Gilbert-Simon • Global Education Center
Devised Theatre Project of the Americas: US and Chile
US Department of State
$42,000
This project–funded by a subaward from the Partners of the Americas Foundation–will expand a collaborative theatre student exchange pilot program developed with Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile, into a sustainable exchange to create a newly devised theatre piece. It will create a platform that utilizes artistic collaboration to help students explore the intersections between cultures and cross barriers, despite language differences.

Paul Bologna • Biology
John Gaynor • Biology
Assessment of clinging jellyfish Gonionemus vertens populations in the Shrewsbury River Estuary and the Manasquan River Estuary – Supplement
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
$30,797
This supplemental funding will provide data to identify and quantify the distribution and abundance of G. vertens–invasive clinging jellyfish–from the Shrewsbury Estuary and the Manasquan River Estuary.

Jason Dickinson • Robert D. McCormick Center for Child Advocacy and Policy
Summer Housing Internship Program – SHIP FY17
NJ Department of Children and Families
$127,496
This program–funded by a subaward from Rutgers University–offers an alternative to recipients of the New Jersey Foster Care scholarship who lack the financial, family and social connections to secure safe and stable housing in the summer months. Students between the ages of 18 and 22 are given the opportunity to receive quality housing and paid internship positions throughout the summer months. Ten students participate in the SHIP program, on Montclair State University’s campus for 11 weeks, beginning in June of each year.

Jinshan Gao • Chemistry and Biochemistry
RUI: Glycan Characterization and Quantitative Analysis via Free Radical Induced Dissociation
National Science Foundation
$103,000
Dr. Gao’s project will develop a new approach for glycan characterization and quantitation by combing the merits of free radical chemistry and mass spectrometry.
 

Nina Goodey • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Keith Lange • Undergraduate Student, Chemistry and Biochemistry
ASBMB Undergraduate Research Award
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
$1,000
This project will elucidate the structure of both WbDHFR and BmDHFR to help find selective inhibitors which will effectively eliminate the parasitic presence of these two worms in humans. Once the crystal structures from both organisms are resolved, Mr. Lange, along with Dr. Goodey’s lab, will begin testing several possible inhibitors.

Donna Lorenzo • Health Careers
Montclair State University Upward Bound Project – Year 1
US Department of Education
$257,500
This 5-year project will serve Eastside High School/Campus, which is comprised of three Schools/Academies in the target area of Paterson, NJ, providing 52 students with a six-week commuter summer session followed by an academic component comprised of 25 Saturday sessions. Emphasis will be placed on identifying eligible students who are low income and first generation.

Jennifer Urban • Family and Child Studies
Proposal to Evaluate the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center to Promote Adolescent Health, Character and Well-Being: Translation and Dissemination Core
John Templeton Foundation
$106,521
Dr. Urban’s project, funded by a subaward from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will develop a complete evaluation plan and subsequently assess the implementation (process) and outcomes of the Center to Promote Adolescent Health, Character and Well-Being’s Translation and Dissemination Core (TDC). The TDC’s goals are to reframe expectations surrounding adolescence to focus on positive potential, and translate and disseminate research in character development in an accessible and actionable style.

Jude Uy • Counseling and Psychological Services
Jaclyn Freidman-Lombardo • Counseling and Psychological Services
Project Suicide Awareness Violence Education and Response (Project SAVER) at Montclair State University
US Department of Health and Human Services/SAMHSA
$102,000