Fellowship awards to support faculty research and creative activity this academic year at Eastern Michigan University

YPSILANTI – A youth mentoring model as a collaboration between universities and K-12 public schools. Development of a virtual reality digital human patient room for nursing students and research on error elimination in medication administration. And a contract for new vaccine research and development under COVID-19.

Those are among the topics 42 faculty members will pursue under the annual Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowships approved June 10 by the EMU 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 percent 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 the 2021-22 Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowships:

Eric Acton, English Language and Literature. "Linguistic Theory and the Interpretation of Artistic Expression."

Brittany Albaugh, Chemistry. "Elucidating a Novel UHRF1 and Gene Marker Interaction in Cancer Development."

Fathi Amsaad, Information Security and Applied Computing. "A Novel Security Approach for the Detection of the Embedded Hardware Trojans."

Ruth Ann Armitage, Chemistry. “Plasma Chemical Oxidation for Accelerator Mass Spectrometric Radiocarbon Dating of Textile Fragments and Rock Paintings.”

Ji-Hung Choi, Marketing. "A Contract for New Vaccine Research and Development (R&D) under COVID-19."

Matthew Cook, Geography and Geology. "African American History Museums as Pedagogical Sites."

Sarah Cox, Special Education. "Peer Coaching to Improve Academic Outcomes for Secondary Students with ASD."

Ratan Dheer, Management. "Entrepreneurship during Crises: Examining the Effects of COVID-19 and Beyond."

Elizabeth Donovan, Technology and Professional Services Management. "Proposed Book Entitled: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: A History of Efforts to Understand Sex Trafficking and Shape a Public Policy Response."

Cory Emal, Chemistry. “Fingerprinting of Varietal Honeys Pre- and Post-Fermentation using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR).”

Xianghong Feng, Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology. "Two Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles: Individualization, Family Ties, and Village Governance in Ethnic Tourism in China."

Rob Halpern, English Language and Literature. “What Was 'Gay Fiction'?"

Carla Harryman, English Language and Literature. "Against Interpretation of the Heartland: Performance Poetry and Poetry in Prose."

Celeste Hawkins, Social Work. "Making Youth Matter | The Development of a Youth Mentoring Model as a Collaboration between Universities and K-12 Public Schools."

Beth Henschen, Political Science. "Counting on the Courts: Public Trust and Confidence in the Judiciary."

Lewis Hershey, Marketing. "A Proposal to Support Three New Articles in the Interdisciplinary Field of Financial Planning for People with Special Needs."

Holly Hopkins, Nursing. “Implementation and Utilization of Physical Examination Teaching Associate Programs: A Scoping Review.”

Kevin Karpiak, Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology. “Connecting Civilian Oversight to the Everyday Practices of Policing in Ypsilanti, MI.”

Roxanne Katus, Mathematics and Statistics. “Understanding Connections Between Earth’s Magnetotail and Ionosphere Through Imaging.”

Kasim Korkmaz, Visual and Built Environments. “Risk Assessment and Hazard Mitigation Strategy Development for Dams in Michigan.”

Steven Krause, English Language and Literature. “Online Teaching and the ‘New Normal’.”

Peggy Liggit, Biology. “Impact of Virtual Mentorship on Instructor Professional Development with Online Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Sheila Longpré, Health Sciences. “Identifying Occupations of Children with and without a Diagnosis of Cancer.”

Andrew Mansfield, Engineering. “Initial Investigation of the Deconstruction of Plastic Waste in Supercritical Water.”

Camilla McComb, Art & Design. “The Power of Conceptual Thinking: A Guide for Designing & Implementing Meaningful Concept-Based Visual Art Lessons.”

Salar Mesdaghinia, Management. “Obstacle or Opportunity: The Role of Work Meaningfulness in Promoting Employees’ Mental Health and Positive Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Maria Milletti, Chemistry. “Mechanistic Investigation of an Alkylation Reaction Leading to the Development of Pharmaceutical Compounds.”

Ryan Molloy, Art & Design. “Creating Multi-script Chromatic Letterpress Type.”

Hakil Moon, Marketing. “Analyzing the Influence of AI-enabled Digital Marketing on Brand Equity: The Moderating Role of Consumer Innovativeness in Technology.”

Elif Persinger, Marketing. “Comparing Consumer Habits Before and After the COVID- 19 Pandemic: How Permanent is the Change?

Steven Ramold, History and Philosophy. “Discipline in Dixie: Military Justice in the Confederate Army.”

Jodonnis Rodriguez, Accounting and Finance. “The Effect of Gender Diversity on U.S. Funds' Investment Performance.”

Eric Schulz, Management. “Employee Pay Dispersion and Its Relationship to Organizational Performance.”

Heather Shouldice, Music and Dance. “Three Related Research Studies Pertaining to Gender in the Secondary Band Teaching Profession.”

Emadeddin Tanbour, Engineering. “Development of a Virtual Reality Digital Human Patient Room for Nursing Students -- Research on Error Elimination in Medication Administration.”

Herman Tang, Engineering. “Writing a Textbook Titled ‘Quality Planning and Assurance -- Principles, Approaches, and Methods for Product and Service Development’.”

Weitian Tong, Computer Science. “Learning From Past Experience for Online Bipartite Matching.”

Christina Topolewski, Social Work. “Examination of Non-Medical Prescription Opioid Use among Individuals with Disabilities.”

Moira Visovatti, Nursing. “Assessment of a Forgiveness Intervention to Reduce Distress in Individuals with Serious Illness.”

Shiri Vivek, Marketing. “Essential or Sacrificial? The Role of Frontline Employees in Crises and Change.”

Annette Wannamaker, English Language and Literature. “Critical Empathy: Utopian Children’s and Young Adult Literature for Dystopian Times.”

Stephanie Wladkowski, Social Work. “Interprofessional Communication Regarding Live Discharge from Hospice.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 16,000 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. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.

June 10, 2021

Written by:
Morgan Mark

Media Contact:
Morgan Mark
mmark@emich.edu
734-487-4402