UAH’s OVPRED to award $280,326 in internal research funding

Dr. Susan Alexander’s proposal on the public health impact of air quality changes in Alabama was one of seven selected to receive $280,326 in internal funding through the OVPRED’s Individual Investigator Distinguished Research program.

Michael Mercier | UAH

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) today announced that seven proposals have been selected to receive $280,326 in internal funding through its Individual Investigator Distinguished Research (IIDR) program.

"We are very pleased to be able to support these research efforts this year and are excited by the potential that each project represents," says Dr. Ray Vaughn, UAH vice president for research and economic development. "UAH has a very strong research tradition, and these seven proposals were selected by a committee as those representing strong potential for additional external funding."

The IIDR program has been in existence for several years and is designed to encourage the growth and development of UAH scholarship in all academic areas. Funds are awarded competitively on the basis of scholarly and/or creative merit, the potential for accomplishing the stated goals of the project, and the potential for attracting further support.

This year’s winning proposals, which were selected by the IIDR Committee from among 31 submitted across campus, comprise the following:

• Susan Alexander, College of Nursing, "Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Address the Public Health Impact of Air Quality Changes in Alabama"
• Junpeng Guo, College of Engineering, "Light Trapping in Gold Nanotrenches for Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Enhanced Biochemical Sensor"
• Anusree Mukherjee, College of Science, "Synthesis of Molecular Catalysts for Production of H2 Using Light"
• Udaysankar Nair, Earth System Science Center, "Coupled Human-Natural System Approach for Urban Studies"
• Jeffrey Neuschatz, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, "Eyewitness Identification Confidence"
• Sarma Rani, Propulsion Research Center, "Spatial and Orientational Dynamics of Non-Spherical Particles in Turbulent Flows through Heterogeneous CPU+GPU Supercomputing"
• Seyed Sadeghi, College of Science, "Metal-Oxide Plasmonic Metastructures: Making Semiconductor Quantum Dots Super-Fluorescent Using Hot Electrons and Exciton-Plasmon Coupling"

"We certainly wish each researcher the very best and look forward to the results of their efforts," says Dr. Vaughn.