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Notre Dame Research announces 2022 Internal Grant Awardees

The Notre Dame Research Internal Grants Program awards, which aim to support faculty researchers and programs that advance the University’s research, scholarly output, and creative endeavor through a competitive funding process, have been announced for fall semester 2022. Three types of grants were awarded during this cycle: the Faculty Research Support Regular Grant, the Faculty Research Support Initiation Grant, and the new Flip the Script Grant.…

The Notre Dame Research Internal Grants Program awards, which aim to support faculty researchers and programs that advance the University’s research, scholarly output, and creative endeavor through a competitive funding process, have been announced for fall semester 2022. Three types of grants were awarded during this cycle: the Faculty Research Support Regular Grant, the Faculty Research Support Initiation Grant, and the new Flip the Script Grant.

Robert J. Bernhard, vice president for research and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering said, “Notre Dame Research is pleased to have the resources to support research, scholarship and creative endeavor that serves a world deeply in need. This year’s awards cross all disciplines and endeavor to deepen our understanding of history, the arts, STEM, and architecture, and help restore broken communities and environments. They will also strengthen the connections and collaborations that help Notre Dame researchers have a global impact.”

The faculty members receiving awards represent the College of Arts & Letters, the College of Engineering, the College of Science, the Keough School of Global Affairs, the School of Architecture, and the Law School, as well as the Office of the Provost, ND Learning, Notre Dame International, and Notre Dame Research.

The Faculty Research Support Program (FRSP) Regular Grant

The Faculty Research Support Program (FRSP) Regular Grant provides funds to support outstanding research, scholarship, or creative endeavors that will make a major contribution in any field of study.

The 2022 Faculty Research Support Regular Grant awardees are as follows:

María Rosa Olivera-Williams, professor of Latin American literature in the Department of Romance Languages and Literature in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “Rubén Darío at the University of Notre Dame: Two symposia on the World's First Latino Poet.” Rodrigo Javier Caresani, associate professor at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), is a collaborator on this project.

Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, professor of political science and global affairs and director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs, for a project entitled, “Reparations Design and Compliance in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.” Diane Desierto, professor of law and global affairs in the Law School and Keough School of Global Affairs, is a collaborator on this project.

Tatiana Reinoza, assistant professor of art history in the Department of Art, Art History & Design in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “Retorno: Art & Kinship in the Making of a Central American Diaspora.”

Rachel Sweet, assistant professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs, for a project entitled, “Mind the Gap: Conflict Narrative and Violent Control in Civil War Environments—Community Documenter Training Grant.” Khogir Wirya Mohammed, a researcher at Social Inquiry, is a collaborator on this project.

Paolo Vitti, an associate professor of the practice in the School of Architecture, for a project entitled, “Apotheosis: The Mausoleum of Hadrian/Castel Sant'Angelo (Rome).” Additional collaborators on this project include: Selena Anders, assistant professor in the School of Architecture; Luca Evangelisti, a researcher at the University Roma Tre; David Hernandez, associate professor in the Department of Classics in the College of Arts & Letters; and Alessandro Pierattini, assistant professor in the School of Architecture; External partners include: Gilberto Artioli, a professor at the University of Padua; Michele Secco, an associate professor at the University of Padua; Ivana Spadafora, associate professor at the University of Roma Tre; and two architects—Dario Di Girolamo and Noemie Gabay—at Cultrip.

Patrick Yim, assistant professor of violin in the Department of Music in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “Chen Yi and Zhou Long at Notre Dame.” Additional collaborators on this project include Zhou Long, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the Bonfils Distinguished Research Professor of Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and Chen Yi, the Lorena Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.


The Faculty Research Support Program (FRSP) Initiation Grant

The Faculty Research Support Program (FRSP) Initiation Grant provides seed funds to assist faculty initiating new programs of research, scholarship, or creative endeavor.

The 2022 Faculty Research Support Initiation Grant awardees are as follows:

Ann-Marie Conrado, associate professor industrial design in the Department of Art, Art History & Design with a concurrent faculty appointment in the Department of Anthropology, for “Wisdom Traditions and the Practice of Design.”

CJ Jones, the William Payden Associate Professor of German in the Department of German & Russian Languages and Literatures in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “The Medieval Liturgy of the Dominican Order: A New Edition of the Rubrics.” Fr. Innocent Smith, OP, assistant professor of homiletics at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, is a collaborator on this project.

Matthew Kloser, director of the Notre Dame Center for STEM Education and an associate professor of the practice in the Institute for Educational Initiatives, for a project entitled, “Exploring the Relationship Between Classroom Factors and Teacher Value-added Measures in High School Biology Classrooms.”

Nuno Moniz, associate research professor in the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, for a project entitled, “The 20W Experiment: Machine Ability and Human Intelligence.” Don Brower, a computational scientist in the Center for Research Computing, is a collaborator on this project.

Samuel Rund, research assistant professor in the Center for Research Computing with a concurrent appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science, for a project entitled, “Demonstrating the feasibility of smart (digital) mosquito traps to replace human landing catches in experiments to understand mosquito bednet-avoiding circadian behaviors.” Yaw Afrane, an associate professor at the University of Ghana, is a collaborator on this project.

Clemens Sedmak, professor of social ethics and director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs, for a project entitled, “The Contribution of ‘Peripheries Research’ to European Studies.” Additional collaborators on this project include: Maurizio Albahari in the Department of Anthropology; Eileen Hunt in the Department of Political Science; Mary Keys in the Department of Political Science; Karrie Koesel in the Department of Political Science; and Paul Perrin in the Keough School of Global Affairs. The project also includes an external partner: Marek Babic, the dean of the faculty of arts and letters and associate professor of history at the Catholic University in Ružomberok (Slovakia).

Sophie White, professor of American Studies with concurrent appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies and History in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “His Master’s Grace: Extrajudicial Violence, Punishment, and Mercy, A Digital Humanities Comparative Study of Britain and France’s Slave Societies.”


Flip the Script Grants

New in 2022, the Flip the Script fund provides grants to faculty at Notre Dame to support efforts to convince sponsors and donors to fund research, scholarship and creative endeavor that is aligned with the University’s mission to be a “powerful means for good.” In many situations, scholars must adapt their research objectives to the priorities of research sponsors and donors. This grant opportunity, funded by the Bernhard Endowment for Excellence that was recently established by the members of the Graduate Studies and Research Advisory Committee, are intended to “flip the script” by providing funding for efforts to make a convincing case to such sponsors or donors that mission-aligned projects at Notre Dame should be included in their funding portfolio.

Vice President Bernhard commented, “We chose this year to use the new Endowment for Excellence funds to experiment with a new concept aimed at raising awareness of funders of scholarly issues at the heart of the mission of Notre Dame. We received 28 inspiring proposals that illustrate how committed our faculty are to the mission of the University and the great need there is for support of different research ideas than are commonly funded. I wish we could have supported more of the proposed ideas."

The 2022 Flip the Script Awardees are as follows:

Nitesh Chawla, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and director of the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, for “AI for Humanity: Overcoming the Evaluation and Monitoring Gap.” Additional collaborators on this project include Nuno Moniz, associate research professor at the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, and Jaron Porciello, associate professor of the practice at the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society.

Ying (Alison) Cheng, a professor in the Department of Psychology, for a project entitled, “Trustworthy AI Lab for Education (TALE).” Collaborators on this project include Alex Ambrose, ND Learning; John Behrens, ND Learning; Nitesh Chawla, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Meng Jiang, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Dan Lapsley, Department of Psychology; Toby Li, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Cheng Liu, Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society; Fang Liu, Department of Applied and Computational Math and Statistics; Nuno Moniz, Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society; and Xiangliang Zhang, Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Thérèse Cory, the John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies in the Department of Philosophy in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “Appreciating Traditions of Reasoning at Notre Dame.”

Jennie Grillo, the Tisch Family Associate Professor of Theology in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “The vita et pax initiative.” Collaborators on this project are: Nathan Eubank, the Rev. John A. O'Brien Associate Professor of Theology; Kevin Grove, CSC, assistant professor in the Department of Theology; Carlos Garcia Alayon, a third-year PhD student in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity; and Maria Sermersheim, a first-year MTS student in Biblical Studies.

Matthew Kloser, director of the Center for STEM Education and an associate professor of the practice in the Institute for Educational Initiatives, for a project entitled, “Translational Research Project in Faith-Informed STEM Education.” Michael Szopiak, a Research Associate at the Center for STEM Education, is a collaborator on this project.

Paul Kulesa, Berthiaume Family Professor of Neuroscience and professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, for a project entitled, “An Affordable Solution to Osteoarthritis in Low- and Lower-Middle Income Countries by Partnering NASA/Industry/Academic Microgravity Studies.” Jennifer Kasemeier, senior research specialist at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, is a collaborator on this project.

Daniel Miller, associate professor of environmental policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs, for a project entitled, “Building knowledge of the relationship between forests and poverty: A proof of concept for a global study.” External partners include: Kathy Baylis, professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Andrew Kinzer, International Director for the Africa Area for Eden Restoration Projects in Nairobi, Kenya; Peter Newton, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder; and Johan Oldekop, Senior Lecturer in Environment & Development at the University of Manchester.

Marc Müller, assistant professor of hydrology and water resources in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences in the College of Engineering, for a project entitled, “Launching the ‘Realizing Rights for Water Consortium.’” Collaborators on this project include: Ellis Adams, associate professor in the Keough School for Global Affairs; Diane Desierto, professor in the law school and in the Keough School for Global Affairs; and Ray Offenheiser, the William J. Pulte Director of the Pulte Institute for Global Development.

Raymond Offenheiser, the William J. Pulte Director of the Pulte Institute for Global Development and distinguished professor of the practice in the Keough School of Global Affairs, for a project entitled, “Flipping the Script for solidarity and capacity strengthening to confront closing democratic spaces and challenges to human rights for research in Central America.” Collaborators on this project include: Tom Hare, senior researcher and co-director of the Central America Research Alliance (CARA) at the Pulte Institute for Global Development; María Estela Rivero Fuentes, senior research associate and co-director of CARA; and partner institutions from the Pulte Institute-convened Central America Research Alliance.

James Rudolph, assistant professor of industrial design in the Department of Art, Art History & Design in the College of Arts & Letters, for a project entitled, “The Value of Vision: Design Thinking to Advance Nanotech Research for the Common Good.” Nosang Myung, the Bernard Keating-Crawford Professor of Engineering, is a collaborator on this project.

Samuel Rund, research assistant professor in the Center for Research Computing with a concurrent appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science, for a project entitled, “Lifting As We Climb: Building the Research Capacity of Catholic Universities in Africa, Together.” Jackline Oluoch-Aridi, director of Notre Dame International’s Nairobi Global Centre, is a collaborator on this project.

The Notre Dame Research Internal Grants Program recently announced that applications are open for grants to support library acquisitions and equipment restoration and renewal. Both opportunities are open to any full-time regular Notre Dame faculty members—including tenured and tenure-track faculty as well as teaching and research faculty, library faculty, and professors of the practice. Proposals are due by March 20, 2023.

For more information on all internal grant programs within Notre Dame Research, including past recipients and more, please visit https://research.nd.edu/our-services/funding-opportunities/faculty/internal-grants-programs/.

Contact:

Brett Beasley / Writer and Editorial Program Manager

Notre Dame Research / University of Notre Dame

bbeasle1@nd.edu / 574.631.8183

research.nd.edu / @UNDResearch

About Notre Dame Research:

The University of Notre Dame is a private research and teaching university inspired by its Catholic mission. Located in South Bend, Indiana, its researchers are advancing human understanding through research, scholarship, education, and creative endeavor in order to be a repository for knowledge and a powerful means for doing good in the world. For more information, please see research.nd.edu or @UNDResearch.

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