Featured Awards – March/April 2018
Posted in: Featured Awards
Marc Favata • Mathematical Sciences
Gravitational-wave Science for 3rd Generation Detectors
Simons Foundation
$107,814
Dr. Favata plans to work in collaboration with colleagues at the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. The research will focus on improving models of gravitational wave (GW) emission to learn more about their sources and better understand general relativity. The overall science goals of the research are to (i) improve existing waveform models, (ii) apply them to data collected during LIGO’s third observing run, and (iii) understand their implications for future detectors.
Colette Feehan • Biology
Promoting the Health and Resiliency of Florida’s Coral Reef Ecosystem: Enhancing Herbivory by Restoring Long-Spined Urchin (Diadema antillarum) Habitat
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
$18,362
Dr. Colette Feehan and her team are conducting research to examine the health and resiliency of Florida’s coral reef ecosystem. A grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will allow for rapid-response research following Hurricane Irma, including establishment of new study sites, and replacement of equipment lost during the storm.
Anna Feldman • Linguistics
Workshop on Natural Language Processing for Internet Freedom
National Science Foundation
$15,760
This award funded by the National Science Foundation will allow Dr. Anna Feldman to conduct a workshop that will strengthen research on Internet freedom by bringing together researchers working in the field of Natural Language Processing, computer science and social sciences. It fosters collaboration between theoreticians and practitioners working in academic or industrial settings, across disciplines. The keynote talks that are given by three experts from the U.S. to foster discussion among the participants and inspire future research and collaborations.
Carlos Molina • Biology
Post-translational Regulation of Inducible cAMP Early Repressor and its Implications in Cancer – Year 1
National Institutes of Health
$321,219
Dr. Carlos Molina has been awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health to study the mechanisms and physiological consequences of ICER ubiquitination and subcellular localization, and it will use melanoma as a paradigm for the study. The project has an overarching goal to determine the functional consequences of ICER post-translational modifications in cancer.
Kirsten Monsen • Biology
Nina Goodey • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Lisa Hazard • Biology
Rapid Detection test for Ranavirus
Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians
$3,000
This award, funded by the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians, will support Dr. Kirsten Monsen, Dr. Nina Goodey, and Dr. Liza Hazard’s continuing research of the development and testing of a rapid detection test for Ranavirus in the field. By being able to detect Ranavirus immediately in the field, this team hopes to minimize the use of methods which are time-consuming, expensive, and require significant experience, training, and specialized, and often require expensive equipment.
Jennifer Robinson • Center of Pedagogy
Building Teacher Leadership Capacity to Support Beginning Teachers (Year 3 Supplement)
New Jersey Department of Education
$21,118
This supplemental award, given by the New Jersey Department of Education, will continue to support Dr. Robinson’s program to leverage the power of school-district-university partnerships to improve support for novice teachers in New Jersey by preparing teacher leaders to be mentors who will then support new teachers. Through this program, it is expected that participating districts will improve student outcomes by building their capacity to improve beginning teacher practices, teacher retention, and school culture.
John Siekierka • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Celgene Corporation Sponsored Research Agreement: Development of Anti-Parasitic – Supplement
Celgene Corporation
$127,600
This project funded by the Celgene Corporation will allow Dr. John Siekierka to continue to perform phenotypic screenings of Celgene compounds. Dr. Siekierka and his team will also continue to perform a variety of imaging studies, confocal microscopy, EM and TEM to characterize drug-induced morphological changes. The objective of the study is to provide as much mechanistic detail as they can on drug action.
Jennifer Urban • Family Science and Human Development
Growing Relational Virtues in Parents and Children
John Templeton Foundation
$27,982
This project was made possible by a subaward from the University of California, Berkeley, through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Dr. Jennifer Urban’s project will have three primary components, all contributing to an overarching goal of bridging the gap between research on character virtue development – particularly “relational” virtues such as generosity, gratitude, and forgiveness – and the daily lives of parents. Dr. Urban will serve as coordinator of the evaluation work and will focus on, specifically, the first convening and the follow-up evaluation support for participating programs as they finalize program designs, identify research foundations, and develop and implement evaluation plans.
Jennifer Urban • Family Science and Human Development
Miriam Linver • Family Science and Human Development
Boy Scouts of America National Character Initiative – Supplement
Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr., Foundation
$5,766,783
During the first phase of this project and with the support from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), Dr. Jennifer Urban and Dr. Miriam Linver will plan and develop the most rigorous study and associated measures to assess and define staff practices that promote youth character development. Through the project, they will articulate, measure, and assess the practices of BSA adult staff and volunteers and the impacts on character development for youth participants and adult volunteers.
Bradley van Eeden-Moorefield • Family Science and Human Development
Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research
National Institutes of Health/NIDA Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
$23,484
Funded as a subaward from New York University, pre-doctoral fellow Ijeoma Opara from NYU will engage in research with a focus on producing multiple manuscripts each year of this study with Dr. Robert Reid of Family Science and Human Development as her advisor. The broad program of research covered across these manuscripts will seek to examine factors that reduce the likelihood of engaging in substance use and risky sexual behaviors among urban adolescents of color. Some of the mitigating factors will include empowerment, sense of ethnic identity, and other resiliency skills.
Jedediah Wheeler • Arts and Cultural Programming
Mobility Grant for Angelica Lidell
Accion Cultural Espanola (AC/E)
$7,325
Angelica Liddell will perform “Esta Breve Tragedia de la Carne” in a rare US appearance for 4 performances in April 2018. Inspired by the work of Emily Dickinson, she uses Dickinson’s repeated use of the word “bees” and her self-imposed confinement, represented as a solitary chair, as the springboard for her imaginative interpretation of the poet’s tumultuous inner life.
Meiyin Wu • Passaic River Institute
Lee Lee • Biology
Jessica Miller • Earth & Environmental Studies
Revisiting the Musconetcong River after Ten Years
Delaware Watershed Research Fund/William Penn Foundation
$340,000
Funded as a subaward from the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, Dr. Meiyin Wu and her team plan to replicate a 2007 water monitoring study of the Musconetcong River to investigate the changes in water quality and quantity after 10-years of efforts implementing best management practices and watershed restoration in the Lower Musconetcong watershed.