ECU announces recipients of Research Development Awards
East Carolina University’s Division of Research and Graduate Studies awarded 21 faculty members more than $485,000 this spring in development awards for research projects.
“These awards provide seed funds for faculty members to develop preliminary data for a major research grant application to an external sponsor,” according to the division Vice Chancellor Deirdre Mageean. “The goal of this program is to increase both the amount of externally supported research at ECU and the number of faculty members with external support.”
Past recipients of these awards have obtained, to date, 17 grants totaling almost $2.5 million.
This year’s recipients are the following:
–Tarek Abdel-Salam (engineering) with Gerald Micklow (engineering): “The Use of Triethylaluminum as a Scramjet Fuel Condition and Ignition Source,” $15,101.
–William Allen (chemistry): “Hosts for an Uninvited Guest: Binding PFOS with Designed Ligands,” $19,980.
–Purvis Bedenbaugh (engineering) with Audrey Jenkins (comparative medicine) “Representation of Speech Sounds in the Auditory Thalamus,” $20,000.
–Yan-Hua Chen (anatomy and cell biology): “Acute Renal Tubular Necrosis in Claudin-7 Deficient Mice,” $35,000.
–David Nash Collier (pediatrics) with Allison S. Danell (Chemistry): “Organophosphate Pesticides and Obesity,” $20,000.
–D. Reide Corbett (geology) with J.P. Walsh (geology) and Lisa Clough (biology): “Towards an estuarine ecosystem model: waves, seabed dynamics and benthic community changes in a shallow estuary,” $23,725.
–Scott Curtis (geography), with Ahmed Salahuddin and Mohd Lokman (of University College of Science and Technology Malaysia (KUSTEM): “Mesoscale Convective Systems in the Coastal Environment of Malaysia; A Collaborative Initiative Between ECU & KUSTEM,” $22,318.
–Omur Cinar Elci (public health), with Muge Akpinar-Elci (family medicine), Kristen Borre (NCAI): “Identifying upper airways problems among agricultural growers and workers in Eastern North Carolina,” $20,000.
–Timothy Gavin, (exercise and sports sciences) with G. Lynis Dohm (physiology) Joseph Houmard (exercise and sports sciences), Walter Pories (surgery): “Reversal of diabetes by gastric bypass surgery: Role of improved skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity,” $35,000.
–Timothy Johnson, (internal medicine/cardiology): “Pharacokinetics and Biodistribution of No Releasing Dendrimers,” $19,915.
–Claudia Jolls (biology): “Long-term Ecological Research at ECU West Research Campus: Plants and their Insect Herbivores,” $17,320.
–Yumin Li (chemistry): “Viral Membrane Fusion and the Dengue Virus,” $19,880.
–Matthew Mahar (exercise and sports sciences), with Katrina DuBose (exercise and sports sciences): “The impact of a faculty/staff wellness program on health behaviors,” $19,948.
–Gerald Micklow (engineering) with Tarek Abdel-Salam (engineering): “Modeling of Biodiesel Fuel Sprays for Direct Injection Diesel Engine Configurations,” $15,198.
–Mariavittoria Pitzalis (internal medicine/cardiology) with Wayne Cascio, Timothy Johnson (internal medicine), Robert Lust (physiology): “Development and validation of an experimental model of dyssynchronous heart failure,” $35,000.
–Christa Reiser (sociology) with Kenneth Wilson (sociology): “Evacuation Decisions: The role of Family Pets,” $19,705.
–Marcela Ruiz-Funes (foreign languages) with Lida Cope (English): “Dual Language Immersion: Language, Literacy, and Identity Development in Rural Eastern North Carolina,” $17,638.
–Ruth A. Schwalbe (biochemis