Sponsored Programs announces winners of grant-in-aid awards

The Office of Sponsored Programs has announced the winners of faculty and equipment grant-in-aid awards.

This year, the Research Council awarded 16 grants totaling $63,314.

"We wish all our recipients the best with their research," said Fariba Deravi, director of Sponsored Programs.

The winners are:

John Aho, Biology, equipment, $6,500

Biological Responses to Stream Restoration - This equipment will allow Aho to capture fish for evaluating the effects of urbanizations on aquatic systems as well as recovery following restoration.

Jan Bulman, History, $4,500

A Case of Sorcery in Fourteenth-Century Gevaudan - This project will put the trail of Etienne Pepin into the wider historical context by describing the conflict that made enemies and allies of the powerful lord Garin d’Apcher, the king of Majorca, and the bishop of Mende.

Connie Buskist, Early Childhood, Elementary and Reading Education, $2,325

Using Video Recording to Examine Pre-Service Teachers' Use of Conversation Scaffold and the Coaching Skills of Reading Specialist Candidates - This project will investigate pre-service teachers’ use of a specific instructional strategy in teaching children during an on-campus field experience and in-service teachers’ abilities to provide adequate coaching to the pre-service teachers.

Michael Esco, Physical Education and Exercise Science, $4,500

Cardiovascular Autonomic Responses Between Treadmill and Cycle Ergometer Exercise - The purchase of this BioHarness will allow Esco and his colleagues to better analyze heart rhythm, via electrocardiography and respiration (i.e., breathing) rate.

Pryce Haddix, Biology, $3,954

Use of Continuous Culture to Investigate Pigment and Energy Management by the Bacterium Serratia Marecescens - This research will further define the relationships among the major factors influencing pigment reproduction used to modulate cell density.

Samantha Harvey, English and Philosophy, $2,500

Transatlantic Transcendentalism:  Emerson and Coleridge, Spirit and Nature Prospectus - This project will undercover more original archival material regarding the Coleridge-Emerson connection and James Marsh’s connection with Coleridge.  To date, there is not a single book devoted to the vital connection between the two.

Georgia Holmes, Speech and Hearing Clinic, $4,239

Effectiveness of Listening and Auditory Communication Enhancement (LACE) Training for Different Degrees of Hearing Loss - This project will determine the objective and subjective benefits of computer-based listening therapy for patients with mild or severe hearing loss.

Pia Knigge, Political Science and Public Administration, $1,828

American Muslims Reflecting on Terrorism - This project will explore ordinary Muslims' thinking of the very issues that are at the core of their collective identity and their social image.

Jeanne Kuhler, Physical Sciences, $1,168

Ongoing Synthesis of an Inhibitor of Cell Density-dependent Processes in the Bacterium Serratia Marcescens - This project will synthesize a known inhibitor of pigmentation in Serratia marcescens.  Use of this inhibitor in separate bacterial growth experiments is expected to decrease cellular energy levels, thereby confirming a positive regulatory role for prodigiosin pigment or related metabolites in cellular energy production.

Jackie Manning, Foundations and Secondary Education, $1,100

E-mentoring African-American Males in the School of Education at Auburn University at Montgomery - To assess whether e-mentoring African-American males pursuing admission to Professional Education at AUM will help them to successfully navigate the process to admission and graduation.

Rhonda Morton, Counselor, Leadership and Special Education, $200

Basic Competency Skills for Paraprofessionals - This project will determine the amount of professional training provided to paraprofessional who work mainly with the special needs population with the Alabama Public Schools.

Nathan Okia, Biology, equipment, $6,409

Leptin Effects on LβT2 Cells and Estrogen Effects on Leptin Levels of the Mouse Uterus - This project will elucidate the role of leptin on LβT2 cells and by extrapolation on the primary gland.  It also will help clarify the role of leptin on the uterus, another important estrogen target organ of mammalian reproduction.

Crystal Wagner, Fine Arts, equipment, $4,500

Plastic Grotto:  New Research in Printmaking Techniques - This specialized equipment will be used in the intaglio etching processes, screen printing, relief processes in combination with other material.

Barbara Wiedemann, English and Philosophy, $1,500

Poetry Manuscript, the Death of a Pope and Other Poems - Wiedemann will gather information to complete a manuscript of poems centered on Rome and Italy.

Terry Winemiller, Sociology, equipment, $14,000

3D Survey and Analysis Enhancements for Archaeology and Geography - This equipment will greatly enhance Winemiller's ability to survey and map archaeological sites as well as process, analyze and disseminate scientific findings to the research community.

Terry Winemiller, Sociology, $4,000

Discovering Early Occupation:  Excavations in Principal Groups and Survey of Remote Areas at Chichicaste and Dos Quebradas, Honduras - This project will clarify the nature and chronology of data within the context of a relic eastern Honduras culture region organized around a system of exchange and interaction crosscutting six diverse regions including Mesoamerica, the Intermediate, Antilles, Chibcha, Inca and Amazon Culture Areas.

Oct 15, 2009