Recipients of the 2022 Seed Funding Program Announced

Thirty-two teams representing colleges across the university and several centers were selected for 2022 Seed Funding awards, the third year the program has been available to faculty.

The program, a result of a collaboration between the Office of Research and the Office of the Provost, is aimed at facilitating research, which is likely to attract external funding while enhancing the visibility of UCF.

A total of $1 million was awarded in two categories: Exploratory Research Awards (ER1) and Interdisciplinary Awards (IR). ER1 is for those projects that initiate new high-risk, high-reward activities, which will strengthen faculty credentials and make them more competitive by allowing them to collect preliminary data appropriate to their discipline prior to submission of external grant funding applications. IR awards are meant to encourage new or expanding interdisciplinary teams to engage in convergence activities that lead to externally funded, large grant proposals requiring preliminary data and proof of established multi-PI engagement. This category promotes research that can only be achieved through collaboration.

Exploratory Research Awards (ER1)

More than 50 applications were received for ER1 and 23 were selected. The recipients include the following:

Stephen Hopkins

College of Arts and Humanities

Research at Cornell University’s Fiske Icelandic Collection for an Article and Book Chapter

Herbert James

College of Arts and Humanities

Pipeline to Better Placemaking: Using Digital Realities to Observe, Teach & Engage in the Creation of Place

Vijay Ganesh Hariharan and Douglas Eric Boyd

College of Business

Effect of Corporate Actions on Consumer Perceptions

Jennifer Peck and Kristina Childs Fisher

College of Community Innovation and Education

A Longitudinal Analysis of School-Based Referrals to Florida’s Juvenile Justice System

Varadraj Gurupur

College of Community Innovation and Education

Developing the Causal Network to Identify Factors Leading to Data Incompleteness of Electronic Health Records

Yue Ge

College of Community Innovation and Education

Managing Emergency Operations by Public-Private Partnerships: A Pilot Study

Zhaomiao Guo

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Optimizing Resilience of Transportation and Power Systems with Decentralized Medium- and Heavy Duty Electric Vehicles

Kausik Mukhopadhyay and Kaitlyn Crawford

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Thermally Functional, Mechanically Durable, UV-Resistant Coatings for Dust Mitigation

Ka Wai Kwok

College of Engineering and Computer Science

In-space Manufacturing of Large Composite Structural Architectures

Paul Gazzillo

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Studying How Programmers Express Ideas as Code to Improve Software Security

Nancy McIntyre and Jeanette Garcia

College of Health Professions and Sciences

Mindfulness-based Judo to Enhance Engagement in Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction for Students with Autism: A Feasibility Study

Eunkyung Lee and Cassie Odahowski

College of Health Professions and Sciences

Understanding the Disparities of Quality of Life Among Hispanic Breast Cancer Survivors in Florida

Annette Khaled and Yelena Piazza

College of Medicine

Exploratory Biospecimen Collection for Validation of New Clinical Markers

Wencai Zhang and Xiaoman Li

College of Medicine and College of Engineering and Computer Science

Kynurenine Signaling Promotes Tumor Initiation in Early-Stage Lung Cancer

Melinda Donnelly and Linda Walters

College of Sciences

Building Capacity for Large-Scale Seagrass Restoration in Florida’s Estuaries

Denisia Popolan-Vaida

College of Sciences

Ozone: A Promising Agent to Enhance and Control Combustion and Ignition Processes; Understanding the Mechanism of Ozone-assisted Oxidation Reactions

Anna Forsman

College of Sciences

Purple Popsicle Purging: Extreme Climate Events as Major Selective Agents Shaping Population Genomics of Migratory Purple Martins

Mihai Vaida

College of Sciences

Implementation of a Transient Reflectivity Setup for Ultrafast Charge Carrier Investigations in Dye and Plasmonic Sensitized Devices

Xiaoming Yu

College of Optics and Photonics

Preliminary Research on Laser Patterning of Hydrophobic Surface for Ocean-going Vessels

Eric Bradley

Florida Space Institute

Measuring Particles Above an Airless Body Using a Dual CubeSat Laser Transmitter and Receiver

Sean Mondesire

Institute for Simulation and Training

Adaptive Tutoring System for Data Analytics

Yajie Dong and Shuo “Sean” Pang

NanoScience Technology Center and College of Optics and Photonics

Solution Processed Lead-free Perovskite Photodiode for Monolithic Short Wavelength Infrared (SWIR) Image Sensors

Tingting Zhang

Rosen College of Hospitality Management

Healthy Returns, “Healthy” Care: Supporting New Mothers in Direct Care Workforce

Interdisciplinary Awards (IR)

More than 23 applications were received for IR and nine were awarded. The recipients include the following:

Emily Johnson, Anastasia Salter, Amy Giroux and Mel Stanfill

College of Arts and Humanities

CAH*LAB: Multiplying Interdisciplinary Innovation

Michelle Taub, Joel Schneier, Angela Rounsaville and Dawn Eckhoff

College of Community Innovation and Education, College of Arts and Humanities, and College of Nursing

Tracking College Students’ Self-regulated Writing Processes During Revision-based Tasks Across Disciplines: Are Writing Processes Domain-general or Domain-specific?

Jihua Gou, Subith Vasu and Artem Masunov

College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, College of Sciences, Institute for Simulation and Training, and NanoScience Technology Center

Ultra-high Temperature Ablative Composites for Thermal Protection Systems in Extreme Environments

Necati Catbas, Joe Kider and Lori Walters

College of Engineering and Computer Science, Institute for Simulation and Training, and College of Arts and Humanities

MAPS – Mobile Assessment for Civil Infrastructure Preservation using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Nicole Dawson and Lauren Bislick Wilson

College of Health Professions and Sciences

Investigating the Interplay between Cognitive, Linguistic and Physical Function in Adults with Aphasia

Christa Cook, Blake Scott, Nathan Holic, Sandy Galura and Clint Bowers

College of Nursing, College of Arts and Humanities, and College of Sciences

Strengthening Hospital Nurses’ Mental Well-being Through a Peer Support Training Program Involving Comic Testimonials

Ladda Thiamwong, Joon-Hyuk Park, David Fukuda and Rui Xie

College of Nursing, College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Health Professions and Sciences, and College of Sciences

Development of Light Physical Activity (LPA) Guidelines for Safe and Effective Physical Activity Intervention in Ethnically Diverse Older Adults

Shana Harris, Barbara Andraka-Christou, Anya Andrews and M.H. Clark

College of Sciences, College of Community Innovation and Education, and College of Medicine

The Co-use of Opioids and Methamphetamine: Causes, Practices and Harm Reduction Responses to an Emerging Polysubstance Use Trend in the United States

Alison Cares, Kim Anderson and Amie Newins

College of Sciences and College of Health Professions and Sciences

Life Happens: The Impact of Adverse Life Experiences on College Students’ Well-being and Academic Performance

These award recipients will present an update about their work at next year’s Student Research Week celebration. Award recipients from 2021 will present on their work at this year’s Student Research Week, March 28-April 1.