Internal Grants

Provide up to $3,000 of funding to assist full-time, active-status researchers with the completion of a project where other funding sources are not available. Researchers from the arts, humanities, and social sciences, broadly defined, are especially encouraged to apply.  There is an expectation that project outcomes will enable researchers to expand their research, creative activities, and/or scholarship.MORE INFORMATION

The Office of Research and Innovation, in partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, will provide up to $8,000 to assist permanent full-time, active-status early career researchers/scholars in the initiation of new scholarship, creative activities, and other research approaches which also provide a professional development opportunity for undergraduate students. Faculty from all disciplines are eligible. There is an expectation of significant scholarship and/or collection of preliminary data for proposal submission to an external funding source. MORE INFORMATION

Up to $10,000 in financial support to assist full-time early career and established mentors in the initiation of new collaborative scholarship, creative activities, and other research approaches. Researchers from all disciplines are welcome.  There is an expectation of significant scholarship for both the early career research and mentor.  In addition, the outcomes should support one or more submissions to an external funding source.

Up to $25,000 in funding to support preliminary activities to form a transdisciplinary/multidisciplinary team that will lead to the development and submission of a large-scale competitive external proposal to an agency that provides full Facilities and Administrative recovery.  Funding may also support an external grant writer/editor with relevant experience, knowledge, and success with the proposed external grant program. 

Jon Rieger Seed Grants

• Understanding fungal microbiome networks supporting imperiled orchid population growth (Konrad Bresin, College of Arts & Sciences)
• Development of inverted glancing angle deposition (I-GLAD) process for antibacterial surfaces (Xiaoyu Chen, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Effect of aging conditions on the bond strength to zirconia (Yash Chitalia, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Overcoming resistance to antiracism: navigating group-level emotions (ORANGE) (Rafael Demarco, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Drinking in Dyads: Understanding the Rewarding Effects of Alcohol in LGBTQ+ Individuals (Derica Goncalves Tavares, College of Arts and Sciences)
• The Gen Z teacher project: Gen Z teacher circles (Austin Hubner, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Lipid profiling in young vs old stem cells (Mahsa Javid, School of Medicine)
• Women’s empowerment through community-based participatory research in Morocco (Katherine Marin, College of Education and Human Development)
• Pop-up Origami-inspired Soft Robotic Surgical Tools for Emergency Surgery (Yara Mekawi, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Minimizing backlash: Examining female scientist’s public engagement efforts (Connor Morozumi and Natalie Christian, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Investigating factors influencing science student retention using peer-led focus groups (Chuang Qu and Kevin Walsh, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Self efficacy and burnout (Pamela Thomas, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)

• Beyond the Addendum: Race, Sexuality, and Body Politics in Adorno’s Critical Theory (Angermann Asaf, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Reading Lessons from the Caribbean (Simona Bertacco, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Child and Parent Emotion and Sleep Study (Sara Bufferd, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Interracial Couples’ Representations in Advertising (Lindsay Della and Siobhan E. Smith-Jones, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Artificial Intelligence Based Computer-Aided Diagnostic (AI-Based CAD) Software for Early and Precise Assessment of Renal Transplant Status (Ayman El-Baz, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Our World, Our Say: Leveraging Arts to Promote Health Equity in Partnership with Youth Impacted by HIV/AIDS in Hai Phong, Vietnam  (Lesley Harris, Andrew Winters and Kyoungmee Byun, Kent School of Social Work)
• Quantification of Metabolism Changes in Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Using Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (He Liqing, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Remaking Indigenous Books: Cultural Translation and Native Literatures, 1833-1973 (Frank Kelderman, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Mass Incarceration, HIV, & Masculinity (Jelani Kerr and Adrienne Smith, School of Public Health and Information Sciences)
• Positively Leading Immigrant West African Athletes and Families in the Global Sport Arena (Sheron Mark, College of Education and Human Development)
• Contributions of leaf-cutting ant nests to tropical forest methane budgets (Andrew Mehring, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Border Capital: Economic Investment and Regional Transformation in Texas’ Operation Lone Star (Margath Walker, College of Arts and Sciences)

Jon Rieger Seed Grants

• Collaborative multimodal sensor fusion with edge intelligence for connected and autonomous vehicles (Sabur Hassan Baidya, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Assessing and responding to psychosocial and health equity needs of immigrant and refugee communities through library partnerships (Rebecka Bloomer, Kent School of Social Work)
• Evaluation of the physicochemical properties of a new bioceramic endodontic sealer: an initial approach (Eduardo Antunes Bortoluzzi, School of Dentistry)
• Emotions, context and alcohol use (Konrad Bresin, College of Education and Human Development)
• Developing 3D-printed lattice nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 tests (Yanyu Chen, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• The impacts of drought on hemp physiology, chemistry, and the microbiome (Natalie Christian, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Multi-pathogen wastewater surveillance system to improve health and stop pathogenic outbreaks within low- and middle-income country communities (Rochelle Holm, School of Medicine)
• Reactions to experiencing discrimination (RED) study (Yara Mekawi, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Quantifying the controls of streamflow permanence and sediment connectivity in urban headwater streams (Tyler Mahoney, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• A physics-based machine learning framework for smart self-adaptable multi-stage manufacturing systems (Luis Segura Sangucho, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Homing in: community engaged research on LGBTQ+ youth houselessness in Louisville, Kentucky (Cara Snyder, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Eliciting expert knowledge in empirical selection of machine learning methods (Xiaomei Wang, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)

• Human mate-copying and the popularity of Halo in an online venue (Michael Cunningham, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Development of a gastric reflux simulator for the analysis of teeth and dental materials (Grace DeSouza, School of Dentistry)
• Youth/young adults of color responding to racial inequities and COVID-19 in listening sessions (Melanie Gast, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Validating techniques for collecting vocal and listening effort during remote and in-person speech-language intervention (Maria Kondaurova, College of Arts and Sciences)
• On the border, between empires: A bioarchaeological examination of health, diet, and biological relatedness in individuals from the cemetery of Oymaağaç during the Roman to Byzantine transition (Kathryn Marklein, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Chance designs recording (John Ritz, School of Music)
• Development of expertise in perception of speech and music (Christian Stilp, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Automating emotional safety and post-traumatic growth: An exploratory study to investigate gender-based violence survivors’ user experiences on social media (Heather Storer, Kent School of Social Work)
• Campus sustainability, community context (Angela Storey, College of Arts and Sciences)
• Antibiotic bone cement intramedullary nails for treating orthopaedic infections (Michael Voor, School of Medicine)
• Exploring the relationships between student behaviors and special education teachers’ physical well-being and instruction: a pilot study (Jeremy Whitney, College of Education and Human Development)
• Effect of powder feedstock on the material characteristics of small-size Ti6Al4V geometries fabricated by laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (Li Yang, J.B. Speed School of Engineering)
• Translation of the Chinese fashion industry: an ethnographic approach (Jianhua Zhao, College of Arts and Sciences)