10 UAH faculty proposals get cross-college research funding

Jim Steele | UAH

Ten proposals received $49,999 in total funding from the 2016-17 Cross-College Faculty Research program sponsored by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.

The grants help facilitate interdisciplinary interaction between UAH faculty from more than one college around a common research theme.

Proposals were submitted for review from UAH tenured and tenure-track faculty who had a desire to create interdisciplinary, cross-college research groups on campus.

“I firmly believe that interdisciplinary research activity by our faculty often leads to external funding, and these seed grants are designed to support collaboration between faculty of different colleges who agree to work together on research efforts leading to a proposal to an external funding agency,” says Dr. Ray Vaughn, vice president for research and economic development.

The collaborative teams meet on a regular basis to share research ideas. Each team must prepare at least one proposal to an external funding agency within the first 12 months after receiving the award.

There is an opportunity for continued funding for the second year of a previously awarded CCFR effort if the research group is successful in its first year.

“I believe this program has been a catalyst for the increase in UAH external proposal submissions,” Dr. Vaughn says. “My hope is that it leads to more novel proposals that will be accepted and funded by those agencies receiving and reviewing these proposals.

”Awarded proposals, their principal investigating faculty and the collaborating colleges are:

• “Fiber-Optic Acousto-Ultrasonic Sensing in Composite Structures,” Dr. Lingze Duan, College of Science/College of Engineering;
• “Nanostructure Surface Plasmon Biochemical Sensing for Early Detection of Huntington Disease,” Dr. Junpeng Guo, College of Engineering/College of Science;
• “Solar Coronal Loop Identification and Magnetic Field Model Validation via Automated Deep Learning,” Dr. Qiang Hu, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research/College of Engineering;
• “Game Assisted Research and Education of Materials Development,” Dr. Eunseok Lee, College of Engineering/College of Science;
• “Using Mass Spectrometry (MS) and Nuclear Resonance Spectrometry (NMR) to Identify Neurological Modifying Metabolites in the Plasma, Urine and Brain of a Mouse Model of Tyrosinemia Type 1,” Dr. Gordon MacGregor, College of Science/College of Nursing;
• “Improving Outcomes in Amputees: Feasibility of Underwater Treadmill Training and definition of Lower Limb Kinematics,” Dr. Shannon Mathis, College of Education/College of Engineering;
• “Deep Generative Context Modeling and Learning Methods for Big Data Compression,” Dr. David Pan, College of Engineering/College of Science;
• “Proposed Materials Working Group at UAH,” Dr. Judith Schneider, College of Engineering/College of Science/College of Nursing;
• “Development of Innovative Technologies for Advanced Water Treatment and Pollution Control,” Dr. Tinting Wu, College of Engineering/College of Science;
• “Climate Weather Data Informed Condition Assessment for Critical Infrastructures,” Dr. Hongyu Zhou, College of Engineering/College of Science.