EMU Today

YPSILANTI – Prairie restoration, early wildfire detection, the dialogues of Confucius and the effects of COVID-19 at the county level.

Those are just a few of the topics Eastern Michigan University faculty members will pursue as part of a rich assortment of research, scholarly and creative projects or activities this summer under a series of awards approved Thursday, April 22 by the EMU Board of Regents.

The Summer Research/Creative Activity Awards are intended to encourage and support the endeavors of full-time tenured or tenure-track EMU faculty during the summer months (May-August) by providing stipends of $12,000 for outstanding proposals in lieu of summer teaching assignments.

Faculty may apply in teams. Each team member is allowed to request a full award, but each benefiting member must submit a full electronic application.

The 40 Summer Research Awards for 2021 include the following faculty members, listed alphabetically along with their academic department and project topic.

Steven Backues, (Chemistry). “Improving Computational Modeling Tools to Estimate the Size and Number of Autophagic Bodies.”

Peter Blackmer, (Africology & African American Studies). “Completion of Research and Manuscript Revisions for Book on Social Movements and Urban Uprisings in the Urban North.”

Patrice Bounds, (Leadership & Counseling). “Feeling Like a Fraud: Counseling Students’ Perception of the Imposter Phenomenon and its Relationships with Perfectionism, Self-Esteem, and Counselor Self-Efficacy.”

Adam Briggs, (Psychology). “Determining the Prevalence of Children with Autism Who Experience Delays to Behavioral Therapy in Michigan and Understanding the Needs of their Family.”

Brian Bruya (History and Philosophy). “Dialogues of Confucius: A Complete Translation.”

Sarah Cox, (Special Education). “Including Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the General Education Classroom: Teacher Experiences of Student Needs.”

Karen Ann Craig, (Accounting and Finance). “Persistent Risk-Taking and Bank Recovery from the 2007 Financial Crisis.”

Elizabeth Donovan, (Technology & 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.”

Bradley Ensor, (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “Archaeological Investigations of Coastal Communities at the Camaronera Lagoon, Veracruz, Mexico.”

Catherine Gammon, (Health Promotion and Human Performance). “Exploring University Students’ Management of Food Insecurity and Food Pantry Utilization.”

Emily Grman, (Biology). “Four projects in pursuit of better prairie restoration.”

Carla Harryman, (English Language and Literature). “Good Morning: A Work of Performance Poetry in Pandemic Time.”

Christine Hume, (English Language and Literature). “All the Women I Know, a text image book.”

Tareq Khan, (Engineering Technology). “Early Wildfire Detection and Notification using the Internet of Things.”

Kasim Korkmaz, (Visual & Built Environments). “Resiliency Roadmap Toolkit Development for Historical Churches in Michigan.”

You Li, (Communication, Media, & Theater Arts). “Assessing the Role Performance of Solutions Journalism in a Global Pandemic and Public Sentiment Toward Solutions to COVID-19 Around the World.”

Dustin London, (Art & Design). “There is No Command-Z for Life: Abstract Painting Beyond the Digital.”

Sheila Longpré, (Health Sciences). “Fathers Diagnosed with Cancer: The Impact of Cancer Care on Parenting.”

Amanda Maher, (History and Philosophy). “Producing, Policing, and Punishing of Literacy.”

Vijay Mannari, (Engineering Technology). “Advanced 3D-Printing Materials: Prototype Development and Evaluation.”

Uttara Manohar, (Communication, Media, & Theater Arts). “The Role of Social Support in Disarming the Effects of Racial Microaggressions.”

Alexandros Maragakis, (Psychology). “Assessing the Utility of the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 in Pediatric Primary Care Using Item Response Theory.”

Bill Marino, (University Library). “Access vs. Privacy: The Prevalence of 3rd Party Tracking Cookies in Library Resources.”

John McCurdy (History and Philosophy). “Homosexuality and the American Revolution: The Sodomy Trials of Lt. Robert Newburgh.”

Laura McMahon, (History and Philosophy). “Two Papers on Phenomenology and Politics in a Diverse World.”

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

Ryan Molloy, (Art & Design). “Reviving Letterpress Wood Type Die-cutting and Stamping Techniques.”

Megan Moore, (Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology). “Assessment of the Accuracy of Multiple 3D Digitization Modalities for a Virtual Research Collection: A Study of the Human Skeletal Remains from the Roman-Byzantine Era Site of Antiochia ad Cragum, Southern Turkey.”

Eric Portenga, (Geography & Geology). “Michigan’s Glacial History Revisited: A Bid for EMU’s First NSF CAREER Award.”

Toni Pressley-Sanon, (Africology & African American Studies). “Edits and Revisions of Full Manuscript: ‘Lifting as They Climb: Black Women Buddhists, Autobiography, and Collective Liberation’.”

Pejman Rezakhani, (Visual & Built Environments). “Empirical Study of Single-Family Housing Recovery and Property Abandonment Following Valley Fire in California.”

Renuka Roche, (Health Sciences). “A qualitative study of current rehab practices for muscular dystrophies: Views and experiences of rehab professionals.”

Andrew Ross, (Mathematics & Statistics). “Streamlining Biological Measurements of Cellular Images using Machine Learning.”

Ken Saldanha, (Social Work). “Children in the Fields”

Amanda Stype, (Economics). “Examining the Causes and Impacts of COVID-19 at the County Level.”

Charles Teague, (Accounting and Finance). “Board Declassification and Corporate Payouts: Substitutes or Complements?”

Zuzana Tomas, (World Languages). “Examining Teachers’ Online Writing Instruction for English Learners.”

Weitian Tong, (Computer Science). “Efficient Task Scheduling in Mobile Computing.”

Moira Visovatti, (Nursing). “Forgiveness:  An Intervention to Reduce Distress and Improve Quality of Life in Individuals with Serious Illness.”

William Welsh, (Geography & Geology). “Mapping Community Infrastructure Resilience and Sensitivity in Southeast Michigan.”

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.