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MU faculty members Betsy Baker and David Crespy

Previous Research Council Grant recipients Betsy Baker and David Crespy made the most of their funds.

The University of Missouri’s Division of Research, Innovation and Impact awarded the first round of 2023-24 Research Council grants on Oct. 2 to faculty from five colleges and schools.

This internal funding of up to $15,000 supports research, scholarship and creative endeavors that lead to book contracts, juried theatre and music performances, art exhibits, peer-reviewed articles and the generation of pilot data to bolster proposals for external funding.

Several years ago, Research Council funding enabled Betsy Baker, professor of learning, teaching and curriculum, to do initial fieldwork with first graders.

“I was able to examine the feasibility of using speech recognition (e.g., Siri, Alexa) to support young children’s reading development,” Baker said. “Based on these findings, I collaborated with the eMINTS National Center and secured a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop and provide professional learning for nearly 100 teachers in rural Missouri who impact over 1,900 elementary students.”

Last year, David Crespy, a professor in the Department of Theatre, used Research Council funds to extend and amplify his efforts as a Fulbright Scholar when he took on the daunting task of writing six plays about the Spanish roots of the Jewish communities of Thessaloniki and Veria.

“The Fulbright funds cover your travel and living expenses; however, this leaves little money for additional research costs,” Crespy said. “To write and research the plays, I visited more than 15 Jewish quarters. Without my Research Council grant, I would not have been able to afford to travel to each location, which often required several days of visiting Jewish heritage sites, libraries and museums.”

During the 2023-24 academic year, faculty will have three more opportunities to apply for Research Council funding through InfoReady. Deadlines:

  • Oct. 9, 2023.
  • Jan. 16, 2024.
  • March 12, 2024.

For more information, email Internal Funding staff.
 

First round of funded projects 

Chosen from Research Council Grant proposals submitted Aug. 21, 2023.
 

ARTS, HUMANITIES, SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

InvestigatorProject Title
Claire Altman
Associate Professor, Health Sciences
Climates of Exclusion and Immigrants' Occupational Health
Katina Bitsicas
Assistant Professor, Digital Storytelling
Glyphosate Dreams
Stephen Karian
Professor and Catherine Paine Middlebush Chair, English
English Digital Images for Oxford Pope Poems Edition
Hannah Paul
Assistant Professor, Government and Public Affairs
Does Intergroup Empathy Bias Influence How Race Affects Support for Resettled Refugees?

 

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS

InvestigatorProject Title
Mark Daniels
Associate Professor, Surgery and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
The Role of the Scaffold Molecule POSH in B Cells
Richard Ferrieri
Research Professor, Chemistry
Validating a New Grafting Approach for Maize Using Radiotracer Imaging and Nuclear Counting Techniques at MURR
Diana Gil Pagés
Associate Professor, Surgery, Bioengineering, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Development and Characterization of a Novel Murine Model of Canine Osteosarcoma to Study Performance of T Cell-Targeted Immuno-Therapeutics
Kun-Eek Kil
Assistant Research Professor, Radiochemistry and Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry
Collaborative Research for the Development of Carbon-11 PET Radiotracers for Mu-Opioid Receptors
Jian Lin
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
4D Printing of Personalized Left Atrial Appendage Occluders for Atrial Embolism Patients
Hyeong Suk Na
Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering
Optimal Deployment of Capacitated Fast Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles on a Directed Highway Network
Patrick Shiu
Professor, Biological Sciences
Identification of Silencing-Deficient Mutants in Neurospora
Emma Teixeiro
Associate Professor, Surgery and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Identifying Novel Factors That Control Long-Term Immunity Against Respiratory Infections
Steven Van Doren
Professor, Biochemistry    
Enzyme Controlling Synthesis of Oils and Biofuel in Crops: Validation of Structural Models