EMU Today

YPSILANTI -- Forty-two Eastern Michigan University faculty members representing various disciplines will receive Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowships in 2023-24. The annual fellowships were approved on June 22 by the University’s Board of Regents.

The fellowships are competitive awards given to faculty who submit meritorious research or special study proposals. The fellowships award up to 100% release time from teaching for one semester to help build a foundation for a faculty member’s future research or creative activities and as a base for future additional funding from other sources.

Unlike a sabbatical leave, the fellowship recipients are still expected to fulfill other contractual responsibilities, such as service to the University, during the released time.

The University Research and Sabbatical Leave Committee reviews the Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowship proposals and makes recommendations to the provost and executive vice president of Academic and Student Affairs.

Listed below are the 42 awardees for 2023-24 Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowships:

• Brittany Albaugh (Chemistry). “Analysis of UHRF2 Mutants to Study Novel Structural Histone Binding Interactions.”

• Ruth Ann Armitage (Chemistry). “Weaving a Narrative: Using Mass Spectrometry to Investigate Textiles from the Darkhad Valley, Mongolia.”

• Suleiman Ashur (Visual and Built Environments). “A Comparative Spatial Case Study of Traffic Crashes in Construction Work Zones in Michigan.”

• Adam Bogedain (Visual and Built Environments). “Potential Detours Women Experience in Higher Education Construction Management Degree Selection.”

• Darren Bolger (Health Promotion and Human Performance). “Validity of Markerless Motion Capture System (OpenCap) for Prosthetic Patient Use.”

• Noel Brock (Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems). “The Use of S Corporations by the Rich and Powerful to Avoid Payment of Social Security.”

• Omar Abed Alkarim Darwish (Information Security and Applied Computing). “Detecting Written Documents by chatGPT for the Cybersecurity Domain Using Machine Learning.”

• Marguerite DeBello (Nursing). “Development of an Educational Health Literacy Strategy: Evaluating Methods to Impact Knowledge, Application and Confidence of Nursing Students?”

• Jason DeMarte (Art and Design). “Tangential Intentions: Flawless Representations of a Flawed Future.”

• Ratan Dheer (Management). “Sustaining Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Modern Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.”

• Margaret Dobbines (English Language and Literature). “Color-Blind and Color-Conscious Casting in Contemporary Film and TV Adaptations of Victorian Novels by Charles Dickens.”

• Cory Emal (Chemistry). “Molecular Profiling and Authentication of Varietal Honeys Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Multivariate Analysis.”

• Xianghong Feng (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “Post-Fieldwork Data Analysis and Writing for A New Research Project: Social Change and Ritual Life in South China.”

• Jeff Guthrie (Chemistry). “Aptamer-Based Fluorescent Sensor for the Detection of Perfluorooctanoic Acid.”

• Carla Harryman (English Language and Literature). “Lines for Ron Allen, a Surrealist of Detroit.”

• Naomi Hashimoto (Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders). “Using EEG to Understand Phonological Processes in Young and Older Adults.”

• Raed Jarrah (Visual and Built Environments). “Automation-Assisted Academic Advising Algorithm.”

• Caralee Jones-Obeng (Africology and African American Studies). “Homogenous Complexity: An Exploration of Black Racial Unity and Ethnic Diversity in Houston, Texas.”

• Kristin Judd (Biology). “How do Small Dams Affect Aquatic Ecosystem Metabolism and Greenhouse Gas Production?”

• Andrii Kashliev (Computer Science). “Storing and Querying Scientific Metadata Using Big Data Databases.”

• Roxanne Katus (Mathematics and Statistics). “Determining Velocity in the near-Earth Space.”

• Phillip Lewis (Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems). “The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Explaining Job Performance Among Professionals in the United States and Mexico.”

• Dustin London (Art and Design). “The Potentiality of Emptiness in Pictorial Space.”

• Uttara Manohar (Communication, Media and Theatre Arts). “Moving from Performative Allyship to Centering Black Voices: Opportunities to Use Social Media as a Tool for Racial Equity Activism and Education.”

• Lon Mitchell (Mathematics and Statistics). “Rainbow Cascades and Infinite Tiling.”

• Ryan Molloy (Art and Design). “Creating a Chromatic Hebrew Font.”

• Inae Oh (Health Promotion and Human Performance). “The Development and Validation of the Olympic Consumption Value Scale.”

• Alankrita Pandey (Management). “Overburdened at Work and at Home: How Informal Caregiver Strain Impacts Work Outcomes and What Organizations can do to Help.”

• Valerie Pauli (Nursing). “Exploring Impacts of Student-Nurse Relationships: Views from Across the Curriculum.”

• Renuka Roche (Health Sciences). “Characterizing Occupational Performance and Role Fulfillment Deficits in Post COVID-19 Condition and Developing Occupation-Focused Interventions for this Population.”

• Amy Sacksteder (Art and Design). “Embedded: Fusing Contemporary Painting and Ceramics through a New Series of Oil Paintings with Inserted Tiles.”

• Sarah Shea (Social Work). “Trauma Training for Public Library Staff: A Pilot.”

• Heather Shouldice (Music and Dance). “Major Revision of Materials for Teaching ‘Learning Sequence Activities’ in Music Education.”

• Brian Spolans (Art and Design). “Tragic Mountain.”

• John Staunton (English Language and Literature). “Micro-Financing Cultural Capital: Re-Serializing fin-de-siècle American Women Writers for 21st Century Contexts.”

• Zuzana Tomas (World Languages). “Examining the Value of Wellness Integration in TESOL Teacher Education Coursework.”

• Audrey Viguier (World Languages). “This is my Personal Freedom: Rethinking French Feminist Olympe de Gouges’ Fight for Gender Equality.”

• Moira Visovatti (Nursing). “Yoga for Cognitive and Immune Function in Colorectal Cancer.”

• Sarah Walsh (Health Sciences). “Healthcare Case Studies for a Changing Population: An Interprofessional Approach to Aging - Developing a Scholarly Book Proposal.”

• Jamie Ward (Communication, Media and Theatre Arts). “Moving from Performative Allyship to Centering Black Voices: Opportunities to Use Social Media as a Tool for Racial Equity Activism and Education.”

• David Wozniak (Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems). “Behavioral Economic Differences Between Ethnically Diverse Communities.”

• Chuyang Yang (Technology and Professional Services Management). “Applying Satellite-based Transponder Signals to Enhance Accessibility of U.S. National Airspace System.”

About Eastern Michigan University
Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 14,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and its graduate school. National publications regularly recognize EMU for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. Visit the University’s rankings and points of pride websites to learn more. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website. To stay up to date on University news, activities and announcements, visit EMU Today.