ACES+, the continuation of the Academic Careers in Engineering & Science (ACES) program, announced the recipients of the 2018 ADVANCE Opportunity Grant Awards. Nine proposals representing academic disciplines ranging from mathematics to biology to psychological sciences have been awarded a total of $32,126.88.
“We are happy to be able to provide this supplemental funding to catalyze scholarship and research for which there are no other sources of funds,” said Lynn Singer, deputy provost and vice president for academic affairs.
ADVANCE Opportunity Grants are competitive annual awards selected by the Opportunity Grant Oversight Committee, which reviewed a total of thirteen proposals in 2018. Opportunity grants, first launched in 2004 under the NSF-ADVANCE grant ACES, provide small amounts of supplemental support of current or proposed projects and activities where funding is difficult to obtain through other sources. All Case Western Reserve University faculty members are eligible to apply.
Committee members for 2018 were:
- Usha Stiefel, chair, School of Medicine;
- Suchitra Nelson, vice chair, School of Dental Medicine;
- Youngjin Yoo, Weatherhead School of Management;
- Andy Podgurski, School of Engineering;
- Joy Bostic, College of Arts & Sciences; and
- Elizabeth Short, College of Arts & Sciences.
According to the Office of the Deputy Provost, the following is a list of 2018 ADVANCE Opportunity Grant Award winners and information about their projects.
Michael Benard, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $5,000 to explore research testing for geographic variation in an amphibian’s response to temperature variation and climate change.
Mark Chupp, Center on Urban Poverty, Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
Award: $1,500 to further formal research into the development of standards for best practices and approaches to increasing understanding across polarized groups through different approaches to dialogue.
Arin Connell, Department of Psychological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $4,790 for the preliminary examination of the neurocognitive underpinnings of parenting risk in lower income mothers of adolescents.
David Foley, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing
Award: $2,000 for the implementation of QSEN teaching strategy: The Pop-Up Coffee House: Safely promoting relaxation and social interaction during psychiatric-mental health clinicals.
Weihong Guo, Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $2,500 to research computational methods in recovering analog images.
Valerie Haywood, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $2,854 to present current educational research project on formative assessment and its potential impact on both STEM retention rates and reducing the achievement gap for URM students at Plant Biology 2018.
Claudia Mizutani, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $5,000 for the identification of genetic factors responsible for rhythmic behaviors.
Anirban Mondal, Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $3,000 for research on Bayesian emulators and uncertainty quantification for complex physical processes.
Clara Pelfrey, Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine
Award: $3,500 to evaluate leadership development for women in academic medicine: A comprehensive evaluation of the FLEX Professional Development Program.
Longhua Zhao, Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $1,982 to research fluid mechanics of micro-tweezers in the Stokes regime.