Vertically Integrated Projects Announces Catalyst Seed Grant Awards

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Vertically Integrated Projects Announces Catalyst Seed Grant Awards

Vertically Integrated Projects
May 12, 2023

Proposals from more than 10 academic units were among the recipients of the 2023 Catalyst Seed Grants from Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP). The focus of the grants was the creation of new undergraduate research opportunities that are embedded in faculty- or staff-led projects.

Applications were open to researchers from any University of Arizona department, with preference going to interdisciplinary teams involved in long-term, large-scale investigations. The grants were funded by the VIP program's Provost's Investment Fund award (Fall 2021 cycle), along with matching funds from University of Arizona Health Sciences. The matching funds, under the administration of Health Sciences Design, were included to promote outstanding health- and wellness-related research within the VIP program.

A panel of faculty and staff evaluated the submitted proposals and selected 17 for awards. The awarded proposals are listed below.

Proposal Title: Arizona Applied Psycholinguistics Lab (AAPL)
PI/Team Leader: Tania Leal, PhD
Department/Unit: Spanish and Portuguese, College of Humanities

Proposal Title: Arizona Streamgage Catalog (AZStreamCAT)
PI/Team Leader: Martha Whitaker, PhD
Department/Unit: Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Science

Proposal Title: Assessing Discharge Paperwork in Trauma Patients and Its Impact on Patient Health Literacy and Health Outcomes
PI/Team Leader: Abdul Tawab Saljuqi, MD, DrPH
Department/Unit: Surgery, College of Medicine – Tucson

Proposal Title: Automation in and across expert professions
PI/Team Leader: Daniel Menchik, PhD
​Department/Unit: School of Sociology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Proposal Title: Careers in Dance Expansion Project
PI/Team Leader: Tamara Dyke-Compton, MFA
Department/Unit: School of Dance, College of Fine Arts

Proposal Title: Collaborative Anthropology of Reproduction and the Environment (CARE)
PI/Team Leader: Janelle Lamoreaux, PhD
​​Department/Unit: School of Anthropology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Proposal Title: DISCAPAZ: Disability Experiences in the Borderlands
PI/Team Leader: Jacy Farkas, MA, ABD
Department/Unit: Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities, College of Medicine – Tucson

​Proposal Title: Diverse Student Inquiry in Community Engaged Research: Community Gardening Programs for Melanoma Patients as an Approach to Individual and Public Health Resilience
PI/Team Leader: Meghan Skiba, PhD, MS, MPH, RDN
Department/Unit: Biobehavioral Health Science, College of Nursing

Proposal Title: Driving undergraduate research to explore the gut microbiome of shelter animals
PI/Team Leader: Kerry Cooper, PhD
Department/Unit: School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Proposal Title: Expanding undergraduate research opportunities within the VIP BEST-CLIM: Assessing axial growth variability in Ponderosa pine from the Valles Caldera
PI/Team Leader: Flurin Babst, PhD
Department/Unit: School of Natural Resources and the Environment, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Proposal Title: ICREWW VIP Expansion
PI/Team Leader: Martha Whitaker, PhD
Department/Unit: Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Science

​​Proposal Title: Orthopaedic Biomaterials for Bone Health, Healing and Regeneration
PI/Team Leader: David Margolis, MD
Department/Unit: Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine – Tucson

Proposal Title: Sleep studies with obstructive sleep apnea
PI/Team Leader: Salma Patel, MD, MPH
Department/Unit: Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, College of Medicine – Tucson

Proposal Title: StellarScape Immersive Multimedia Project
PI/Team Leader: Yuanyuan He, DMA
Department/Unit: Fred Fox School of Music, College of Fine Arts

Proposal Title: Undergraduate research opportunities in molecular science
PI/Team Leader: Adam Daly, PhD
Department/Unit: Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Science

Proposal Title: Understanding the prevalence, transmission, and the epidemiological trace back investigation of Cyclospora cayetanensis in Fresh Produce Growing Regions
PI/Team Leader: Gerardo Lopez, PhD
Department/Unit: School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Proposal Title: Water Whys Team Expansion
PI/Team Leader: Sara Kobilka, MS
Department/Unit: Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Science

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