Featured Awards – August 2013

Sandra Adams (Biology & Molecular Biology, CSAM) and Douglas Larkin (Secondary & Special Education, CEHS) were awarded $1,447,272 by the National Science Foundation for Montclair State University Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, which will recruit, prepare, and support 30 new science teachers for New Jersey’s high-need K-12 school districts.

‌‌Concetta Donvito (Director, Montclair State University Network for Educational Renewal, Center of Pedagogy, CEHS) was awarded $35,000 by East Orange School District for “Professional Development for General Education Teachers & Inclusion Teachers.” The project’s goal is to provide professional development and consultation services to General Education and Inclusion Teachers in the East Orange Public Schools to build capacity for improving student achievement measures by focusing on enhancing and improving learning for students and teachers.

The US Department of Education awarded Jennifer Goeke (Curriculum & Teaching, CEHS) $278,908 for “Restructuring Preservice Preparation for Innovative Special Education (RePPrISE) – Year 3.” The purpose of this project is to restructure MSU’s existing post-baccalaureate MAT Dual Certification program to prepare middle and secondary educators through three interdisciplinary strands of teacher preparation: Inclusive pedagogy; Intensive content area preparation in mathematics or science; and Integrative STEM (iSTEM) education.

Steven Greenstein and Erin Krupa (Mathematical Sciences, CSAM) were awarded $225,803 by the National Science Foundation for “Noyce at Montclair: Preparing the Effective Elementary Mathematics Teacher (PE2MT)” to design and develop an “enhanced” undergraduate mathematics program to recruit, prepare, and support teachers for effective elementary mathematics teaching in classrooms in New Jersey’s high-needs K-12 schools.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Jeffrey Issler and Robert Ferrara (Fire Safety) $23,400 for “USFA Fire Prevention Grant (Assistance to Firefighters Grant)” in support of the Resident Assistant Fire Academy, which teaches MSU resident assistants the importance of evacuations and prevention in a tangible setting through the use of live fire exercises, as well as annual summer training to teach resident assistants about policies regarding fire code and fire prevention.

Yanyan Li and John Specchio‌ (Health & Nutrition Sciences, CEHS) received $15,000 from Panasonic for “Panasonic Inverter Microwave Oven Project” which will explore the effect of different cooking methods, including Inverter microwave oven, traditional microwave ovens, steaming, and boiling, on the nutrient retention.

Lisa Lieberman (Health & Nutrition Sciences, CEHS) received a $32,791 subaward for the second year of a five-year project from Inwood House/Conrad Hilton Foundation for “Adolescent Family Life Program.” Montclair State University is engaging in a sub-award contract with Inwood House to provide evaluation services for the funded project. MSU will continue to be a five-year partner in the study of Inwood House’s Adolescent Family Life program, in order to evaluate the efficacy of Inwood House’s continuum of care for pregnant and parenting teens, when enhanced by specific additional services.

The Corporation for National and Community Service awarded $260,347 to Bryan Murdock and Krystal Woolston (Service Learning and Community Engagement) and Randall FitzGerald (NJ School of Conservation) for “EECO AmeriCorps Program – Year 1.” The program will engage 20 AmeriCorps members who will support public schools, the NJ School of Conservation, community- and faith-based organizations, non-profits, and other civic organizations in Northern New Jersey.

Teresa Rodriguez (Art Galleries) was awarded $12,828 by the NJ State Council of the Arts in support of the George Segal Gallery’s mission to propagate culture and art through exhibitions, educational and scholarly programs, focusing on contemporary art.

The National Institutes of Health awarded $139,734 to Stephanie Silvera for the second year of ”Exploring Sociodemographic and Behavioral Factors Underlying Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Cancer Prevention Behaviors in New Jersey.” These disparities are explained, in part, by unequal access to cancer screening across socioeconomic and racial groups. These findings will serve to examine the complex interaction between socioeconomic status and health behaviors, and how they differ between non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White, and Hispanics in New Jersey, which has one of the highest cancer rates in the nation.

Diana Thomas (Mathematical Sciences, CSAM) received a $10,859 subaward from the University of Alabama for the first year of the National Institute of Health-funded project “Short Course on the Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research.” The goals of the short course are: to expose early investigators (doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows) from the mathematical sciences and obesity research areas to the language and methodology at the interface of both disciplines; facilitate collaborations between the two groups through effective contact; and guide early investigators interested in conducting research at the interface of the mathematical sciences and obesity on the next career steps.

Jedediah Wheeler (Arts and Cultural Programming) was awarded $49,513 by the NJ State Council of the Arts in support of Peak Performances’ innovative programming of distinguished artists who push the boundaries of conventional art forms and who work outside of preconceived comfort zones—programming that has featured 28 world premieres and 31 US premieres in 9 seasons.