Featured Awards – August 2018

Paul Bologna • Biology
John Gaynor • Biology
Assessment of Clinging Jellyfish Gonionemus Vertens Populations in the Shrewsbury River Estuary and the Manasquan River Estuary – Supplement
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
$35,245
With more support and supplemental funding in year three of this study, Dr. Bologna and Dr. Gaynor 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.

Paul Bologna • Biology
John Gaynor • Biology
Robert Meredith • Biology
Assessment of the Impacts of OCNGS on Gelatinous Zooplankton and Planktonic Community Structure
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
$62,942
Dr. Bologna, Dr. Gaynor and Dr. Meredith’s study hopes to assess the distribution of gelatinous zooplankton and potential impacts of Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS) on planktonic community structure and provide a Metagenomic Composition assessment of planktonic communities and impacts of OCNGS. They will be supported by undergraduate and graduate students of Montclair State University.

Jaclyn Catalano • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Jean Dreyfus Lectureship: A Two Day Biophysical Seminar with a Leading Biochemist
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Inc.
$18,500
Awarded to the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the Jean Dreyfus Lectureship award provides an $18,500 grant to bring a leading researcher to a primarily undergraduate institution to give at least two lectures in the chemical sciences.  Montclair State University will host Karen Anderson, Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Co-Director Developmental Therapeutics (Cancer Center) from Yale University to lead a two-day seminar for MSU’s faculty and students.

Yeng Dang • Earth and Environmental Studies
Junkui Cui • Student
Development of an Innovative and Resilient Emergency Water Treatment (EWT) for Natural Disasters
New Jersey Water Resources Institute
$5,000
With a subaward from Rutgers Univeristy and under the guidance, assistance and supervision from Dr. Yeng Dang, MSU doctoral student, Junkui Cui, project will pursue a new EWT design with ferrate (VI), which has a potential to concurrently remove pathogens, toxic metals, and hazardous organic contaminants with multiple treatment mechanisms. The results of this study will have a deep impact on this country where a majority of citizens are living in the regions potentially impacted by different natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and landslides).

Nina Goodey • Chemistry and Biochemistry
David Konas • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Investigation of Substrate Specificity, Mechanism, and Inhibition of IGPS
National Institutes of Health
$301,781
Dr. Nina Goodey and Dr. David Konas’ project’s goals are to gain new understanding of various substrate-IGPS interactions and to develop new IGPS inhibitors which may have potential as anti-infective agents. Thus, this work is highly relevant to understanding and treating intractable and widespread resistant bacteria. Their project will be supported with work from undergraduate and graduate students at Montclair State University.

Nina Goodey • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Allyssa Angel • Student
Rapid, DNA-Based Test for Ranavirus Detection
New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute
$5,000
As a subrecipient of Rutgers University, Montclair State University graduate student, Allyssa Angel is working to identify aptamers that bind to either to the major capsid protein on the surface of ranavirus or to another ranavirus surface element under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Nina Goodey. These aptamers will then be used in a gold immunochromatographic lateral flow assay format. This format allows for rapid field testing of ponds and frog urine in real time to identify regions in New Jersey where frogs have been infected with ranavirus.

Steven Greenstein • Mathematical Sciences
Eileen Fernández • Mathematical Sciences
Prospective Elementary Teachers Making for Mathematical Learning
National Science Foundation
$422,195
Dr. Steven Greenstein’s project seeks to advance knowledge in the Teaching strand. This project incorporates a novel making experience into the preparation of prospective teachers of K-6 mathematics (PMTs) and documents its influence on their knowledge and identities. The experience will enable PMTs to use digital design and fabrication technologies to produce new tools that support mathematics teaching and learning.

Janet Koehnke • Communication Sciences and Disorders
Maris Appelbaum • Communication Sciences and Disorders
New Jersey Hearing Aid Project – Year 4
New Jersey Department of Human Services
$71,224
With an additional funding of $15,000 starting in 2018, this project will continue to provide low income individuals access to needed hearing aid devices and related audiological services that otherwise are not available due to cost.

Pankaj Lal • Earth and Environmental Studies
CAREER: Geographic Sustainability, Socioeconomic Uncertainty, and Environmental Consequences: Exploring Place-based Opportunities for Bioenergy Sustainability – Year 5
National Science Foundation
$80,305
In year five of this project, Dr. Pankaj Lal will explore place based solutions for cellulosic bioenergy sustainability, through a unique approach that coordinates three strands of research: fuzzy logic theory based geospatial suitability, stated preference survey and stochastic analyses based socioeconomic uncertainty, and life cycle assessment based environmental analyses. Two dominant cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks, namely switchgrass in Midwestern US and pine in Southern U.S., will be studied.

Douglas Larkin • Secondary and Special Education
Sandra Adams • Biology
Studying the Retention of Novice Science Teachers by Learning from School District Induction and Mentoring Programs – Year 1
National Science Foundation
$431,398
In year one and first phase of a five-year grant, Dr. Douglas Larkin and Dr. Sandra Adams will investigate the five-year science teacher retention rates in four U.S. states (New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), and then examine and describe high-quality induction and mentoring programs in identified school districts through a set of case studies that will promote best practices in design and implementation.

Donna Lorenzo • Health Careers
Montclair State University Upward Bound Project – Year 2
U.S. Department of Education
$275,155
Funding for year two of Montclair State’s Upward Bound Project (UB) delivers educational opportunities for currently enrolled high school students, who come from low level income families and/or who are potential first-generation college attendees. UB provides fundamental support for participants to succeed in their current level of education as well as preparing them in their pursuit of higher education.

Bryan Murdock • Center for Community Engagement
Randall FitzGerald • New Jersey School of Conservation
William Thomas • New Jersey School of Conservation
Krystal Woolston • Center for Community Engagement
Montclair State University EECO Project
New Jersey Commission on National and Community Service
$365,518
Since 2014, the Center for Community Engagement at Montclair State University, in partnership with the Orange Public Schools have been awarded with the first-ever University-Assisted Full-Service Community Schools grant in New Jersey to support the Orange Community School Initiative. With a renewed grant and two new faculty members included in this program, Dr. Murdock and his team will continue to engage twenty AmeriCorps members who will support the development and implementation of a full service university-assisted UACS community school project in Orange, NJ public schools.

Robert Reid • Family Science and Human Development
Pauline Garcia-Reid • Family Science and Human Development
Paterson Coalition against Substance Abuse (P-CASA) – Year 6
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services/SAMHSA
$125,000
In year six of this program, Dr. Reid and Dr. Garcia-Reid seek to develop the infrastructure of an anti-drug coalition targeting at-risk racial and ethnic minority adolescents in Paterson’s 1st Ward. As a collaborative effort between Montclair State University and a diverse group of community stakeholders, P-CASA will introduce evidence-based environmental prevention strategies to meet the goals of the Drug Free Communities Grant Program, which are to increase community collaboration and reduce substance use among youth aged 12–17.

David Rotella • Chemistry and Biochemistry
John Siekierka • Chemistry and Biochemistry
Development of Inhibitors of P. falciparum cGMP Dependent Protein Kinase (PfPKG) for Malaria Chemoprevention – Year 2
National Institutes of Health
$253,047
In year two of this three-year grant, Dr. Rotella and Dr. Siekierka’s collaborative research grant with Rutgers University supports the design, synthesis, and characterization of potential inhibitors of P. falciparum Protein Kinase G (PfPKG) as antimalarial agents.

Jennifer Urban • Family Science and Human Development
Miriam Linver • Family Science and Human Development
Evaluating STEM Scouts: The Design of a Comprehensive Evaluation Plan and Feasibility Study
National Science Foundation
$193,617
Dr. Urban and Dr. Linver’s project is a pilot program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The aims of the study are to: (1) lay the groundwork for a future research project by developing a detailed theory of change for STEM Scouts that highlights the hypothesized interactions between STEM outcomes and Positive Youth Development/Social-Emotional Learning outcomes; (2) pilot three new enhancements to the SEP (Systems Modeling, STEM Learning Ecosystem Modeling, and Model Verification); and, (3) determine the feasibility of conducting a national scale study of STEM Scouts by conducting a detailed analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and a data inventory. The project will utilize an Evolutionary Evaluation approach and the Systems Evaluation Protocol.

Bradley van Eeden-Moorefield • Family Science and Human Development
Ijeoma Opara • Student
Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research – Year 2
National Institutes of Health/ NIDA
$15,627
Funded as a subaward from New York University, pre-doctoral fellow Ijeoma Opara from NYU will engage in research in year two of this grant 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.