Featured Awards – April 2014

Yang Deng (Earth & Environmental Studies, CSAM) and Hanieh Soleimanifar (PhD student, Environmental Management) received $5,000 from the New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute for “Development of a new, effective and low-cost adsorption material to enhance Low Impact Development (LID) techniques for prevention of urban stormwater pollution in New Jersey.” This project provides a new preliminary research plan to apply low-cost water treatment residual (WTR, an industrial waste)-coated mulch for enhancement of bioretention basins for removal of typical stormwater pollutants in an urban environment.

The National Science Foundation awarded Eric Forgoston and Lora Billings (Mathematical Sciences, CSAM) $28,110 for “Understanding the Dynamics of Stochastic Disease Spread in Metapopulations – Travel Supplement” for international travel to the Netherlands in support of their current NSF-funded project. Dr. Billings is the co-organizer for the workshop “Fluctuations in population biology, epidemiology, and evolution” at the Lorentz Center in Leiden scheduled for August 11-15, 2014. The workshop will include a diverse group of 40 researchers from around the world, and both Drs. Forgoston and Billings are scheduled to give invited lectures. This supplement will support the travel of six US students and/or junior faculty to attend this workshop and visit local researchers to explore new interdisciplinary collaborations.

Eden Kyse (The Center for Research and Evaluation on Education and Human Services, CEHS) was awarded $5,300 by the New Jersey Community Development Corporation for “Preschool Focus Group Technical Assistance and Training.” The Center for Research and Evaluation on Education and Human Services (CREEHS) provided technical assistance and training on focus groups to the New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC) in Paterson, NJ. In an effort to inform their ongoing early learning initiative, the NJCDC aimed to collect qualitative data from parents and guardians of preschool students at early learning centers around the city of Paterson. CREEHS staff provided technical assistance through support in developing an appropriate and sufficient focus group protocol. The CREEHS team also developed and delivered a training workshop to a group of NJCDC staff in how to conduct focus groups, including best practices, common pitfalls, and a series of role playing activities. Once NJCDC staff completed the focus groups, CREEHS provided support around qualitative data analysis and summary.