Recipients named for Auburn’s research and creative works internal awards for 2022

Published: May 19, 2022

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Recipients of Auburn University’s internal research and creative works funding awards programs have been named for 2022.

The Research Support Program, or RSP, and the Creative Work and Social Impact Scholarship Funding Program, or CWSIS, were established by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. Both programs provide a competitive internal funding source to support faculty and to provide an opportunity for them to experience a small-scale, yet high-quality funding program and refine their projects before competing for larger, external awards.

“This was started last year as a pilot version of a larger intramural award program,” said Bob Holm, associate director of Proposal Services and Faculty Support, the unit that administers the programs. “It enables faculty to participate in a competitive funding program and make improvements to their projects before a commitment to a long-term award program is made. The pilot provides a platform to test what works and what does not.”

The RSP is intended to be an annual cycle funding program to foster the development and growth of innovative and transformational research activities. It builds on faculty expertise, stimulates interdisciplinary collaborations and strengthens seed research activities. It is a strategically focused Auburn investment that promotes promising and impactful new lines of research as well as the growth of collaborative and interdisciplinary teams to build the foundations of science, to overcome scientific and societal challenges and to promote and enhance the quality of life and well-being of individuals, groups and communities.

The CWSIS funding program fosters innovation and discovery and builds faculty reputation and competitiveness. Disciplines associated with CWSIS include design and the arts, humanities and applicable areas within business, education, social sciences and health and well-being.

As a form of research, creative work poses questions and searches for the answers through iterative processes that demand intellectual rigor and hard work. The goals of creative work and scholarship are ultimately tied to making significant contributions to a meaningful and dignified quality of life.

This year’s recipients are:

Research Support Program

Heather Alexander, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, “Estimating Carbon Storage, Fuel Loading and Fire Behavior Consequences in Hurricane-Impacted, Fire-Dependent Forests of the Southeastern U.S.”

Symone Alexander, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, “Decoding Diffusion in Dietary Fiber Networks”

Joseph Bardeen, College of Liberal Arts, “Testing a Single-Session Attention Bias Modification Program for Individuals with PTSD and Maladaptive Behavioral Phenotypes of Threat Processing”

Ming Chen, College of Sciences & Mathematics, “Exploring the Radical Chemistry of Organoboron Compounds”

Siyuan Dai, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, “Isotopic van der Waals Engineering for Phononic Light-Matter Interactions”

Kelly Krawczyk, College of Liberal Arts, “Measuring the Impact of Civil Society on Political Participation in Liberia”

Marcelo Kuroda, College of Sciences and Mathematics, “DNA-Enabled High-Density Storage in Two-dimensional Channel Devices”

Austin Robinson, College of Education, “Can Ketone Supplementation Attenuate the Adverse Cardiorenal Consequences of High Dietary Salt in Human Participants?”

Selim Sukhtaiev, College of Sciences and Mathematics, “Population Dynamics in Complex Media”

Creative Work and Social Impact Scholarship Funding Program

Beverley Rilett, Auburn University Libraries, “19th Century Lit, 21st Century Tech: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for a Digital Humanities Initiative”

James “Rusty” Smith, College of Architecture, Design and Construction, “Optimizing Integration and Adoption of Healthy Building Materials in the Design of Energy Efficient, Resilient Single-Family Building Envelope Assemblies”

More information about these and other funding support programs supported by the Auburn Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development can be found by clicking here.

Submitted by: Mitch Emmons