Winter Time in Aggieland

Welcome to the College of Education and Human Development -Research and Development  (CERD) Winter 2018 Newsletter. As a support office to the college,  we provide assistance to faculty members in pre and post award areas of research,  as well as outreach services to the community.  Our goal is to assist in the development and submission of research proposals, coordinate award documentation and manage post-award financial activities. We provide workshops for faculty and graduate students on grant submission, grant-seeking, and create compelling, competitive proposals. And we serve as a liaison to schools and other stakeholders in your research programs. The CERD pre and post award staff are happy to meet with you in your office to discuss any questions you have about your submission, project account, or outreach activities. Click to view our organizational chart

Research Dean’s Corner

by Dr. Susan Bloomfield

Let’s hop right into the news from the last few months!

Reflections on our new Vice President for Research:  Dr. Mark Barteau’s selection was announced mid-January and his start date is just around the corner:  February 15.   Dr. Barteau is coming to us from the University of Michigan, where he served as Director of the UM Energy Institute and held the inaugural DTE Energy Professor of Advanced Energy Research post.  A distinguished scholar, he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  Before he moved to U of M in 2012, he was on the faculty of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware for 30 years and served as their Senior Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives for 5 years.  In that post, he was remarkably successful in parlaying the Obama stimulus packages into a huge boost in funded research portfolios for UD, among other accomplishments.

During the interview process with other Associate Deans for Research, both Gerianne Alexander (Liberal Arts) and I pressed Dr. Barteau on his ideas for supporting research efforts in the humanities and social science disciplines.   He cited some interesting initiatives he had spearheaded at Delaware, including awarding   ”incentive funds” to colleges based on their research expenditures which, for those colleges receiving low IDC rates on their funded projects (typical in our College and in Liberal Arts), was used to defray research administration fees.  The Eagle’s front page report on 1/20/18 cited his charge as incoming VPR as “furthering the university’s research mission by working to grow federal funding, strengthen research infrastructure, promote the value of research, encourage commercialization partnerships and ensure research compliance”.  Barteau was quoted as stating, “I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity.”   I truly hope all of us are as excited about his arrival over the next year (time will tell).  My impressions are that he takes seriously the charge to support all disciplinary areas and their unique research needs.  Rest assured, I will keep our College’s unique needs and interests at the forefront at the meetings our University Research Council has with the VPR and his executive staff.

Welcome to Tracy LaTourette and Amber Cervantez, new Business Coordinators in CERD: We are excited to add two very competent new staff to our office.  Please see their bios and pictures which appear later in this newsletter.

Kudos to  2 CEHD PI’s receiving PESCA funding:  Projects proposed by Deanna Kennedy (HLKN) and Jia Wang (EAHR) were selected to receive funding under the VPR’s Office Program to Enhance Scholarly and Creative Activities (PESCA), out of a total of 15 awards totaling over $250,000.  Our College is well-represented among the awardee list; only the College of Engineering had more funded project (3).   Here are the successful projects:

1. Kennedy.    The role of augmented feedback in the control and learning of motor tasks in individuals with developmental coordination disorder.    $9970
2. Wang.     The unheard voices:  International students’ experiences integrating into US higher education.   $25,000

Congratulations to CEHD faculty receiving Catapult Awards:   We received 24 applications for this year’s Catapult competition.   After reviews from the Faculty Advisory Committee (teaching/outreach projects) and from the College Council of PI’s (research projects), the top 10 scoring applications were selected for funding.  [Big thanks go out to those hard-working reviewers, who provided 3 reviews/application.]  Two center directors applied and were funded $5,000 each for activities boosting faculty affiliate involvement and/or research productivity.  Below is a list of this year’s  Catapult Awardees.

 

Friendly reminder: help us help you create the most competitive proposals and submit your proposals as early as possible! Last summer SRS published its policy that full text of proposals, in addition to all required financial sections, be submitted to SRS pre-award administrators five business days ahead of the deadline for submission to the sponsor. We understand the demands of teaching, research and service on your time, so simply request that College faculty/staff who choose to work with us on your proposals contact Jesús (EPSY, TLAC) and Gabe (HLKN, EAHR) as early in your planning as possible so they can work with SRS to establish internal deadlines for a smooth submission of your proposal.  [If you fill out the online Proposal Notification Form at http://cerd.tamu.edu/preproposal-form/, this will automatically route forward to Jesús or Gabe; estimates in some blocks is fine.]   Contacting us early allows Jesús and Gabe time to double-check all required proposal elements (financial and narrative) for accuracy and completeness.

Voices of Impact 2018:    Kudos to the presenters this year (listed below)!  I joined a large crowd of 200-ish to hear polished and really engaging talks from these 12 CEHD faculty.   Translating the significance of our research to the public is really important and serves us all well.

Joanne Olson, TLAC: The decline of science education in elementary schools
Valerie Hill-Jackson, TLAC: The occupational stress of teaching

Patrick Slattery, TLAC: Engaging students through transformational learning
Lisa Wigfall, HLKN: The importance of HPV vaccination and detection
George Cunningham, HLKN:  LGBT inclusion in sport
Jan Hughes, EPSY: How grade retention affects educational attainment and success
Carly Gilson, EPSY: Preparing individuals with disabilities for the workplace by improving social skills
Tim Elliott, EPSY: Using technology to provide mental health services to rural communities
Nanc Watson, EAHR: Understanding and engaging in conflict
Jean Madsen, EAHR: Understanding inclusion and equity in schools as student demographics change
Lisa Baumgartner, EAHR: Creating a path to coping and healing by understanding chronic illness’ effects on individual identity

John Buchanan, HLKN: How advances in virtual reality technology can aid in home rehabilitation

 

Finally, a belated happy new year to all reading this missive—may 2018 bring all you hope for in your work here at A&M.   Your innovative research is an important contribution to Texas and the nation.

 

Best regards,

Sue Bloomfield
Associate Dean for Research

 

Catapult Awards Announced for 2018

Investigator-initiated awards:

PI:  Khalil Dirani (Assoc. Professor, EAHR); Co-PI’s: Jia Wang (EAHR) and Rhonda Fowler (EAHR)
Faculty Engagement and Student Success
$30,000

PI:  Jeffrey Gagne (Asst. Professor, EPSY);  Co-PI’s: Rebecca J. Brooker (Psychology) and Idean Ettekal (EPSY)
A Comprehensive Investigation of Early Self-Control Development and School Readiness
$29,331

PI:  Carly Gilson (Asst. Professor, EPSY); Co-PI: Christopher Thompson (EPSY)
The Job Coaching Academy: A Proposed Training Program for Job Coaches in Special Education Transition Programs
$30,000

PI:  Marlon James (Asst. Professor, TLAC);  Co-PI’s:   Cheryl Craig (TLAC), Valerie Hill-Jackson (TLAC), and Gwen Webb-Hasan (EAHR)
Addressing Critical Junctures in Teaching and Teacher Education: The USTAR+1 Program
$30,000

PI:  John Lawler (Professor, HLKN); Co-PI’s:  Lih Kuo (College of Medicine), Shaodong Guo (Nutrition & Food Science), and Chaodong Wu (Nutrition & Food Science)
Novel Approaches to Combatting Disuse Skeletal Muscle Atrophy: Breakthroughs in Mechano- and Nutrient-sensing
$30,000

PI:  Sam von Gillern (Clinical Asst. Professor, TLAC); Co-PI’s:  Emily Cantrell (TLAC), and Jui-Teng Li (EPSY)
Developing Coding Literacy Skills with Diverse Young Children
$20,180

PI:  Lisa Wigfall (Asst. Professor, HLKN) ; Co-PI:  Marie Latortue (College of Dentistry)
HIV Prevention Education Program for Dental Students: A Feasibility Study
$30,000

PI:  Kay Wijekumar (Professor, TLAC); Co-PI’s:  Julie Thompson (EPSY), Andrea Beerwinkle (TLAC), Ledric Sherman (HLKN), and Malt Joshi (TLAC)
Promoting Reading Comprehension and Learning with Multimodal Science Texts (PRISM)
$30,000

PI:   Robert “Jay” Woodward (Clinical Assoc. Professor, EPSY);  Co-PI’s:  Mary Margaret Capraro (TLAC), Robert Capraro (TLAC), Edie Cassell (TLAC), Carly Gilson (EPSY), Helen Muyia (EAHR), Dawn Parker (TLAC), Krystal Simmons (EPSY), and Julie Singleton (TLAC)
Up, Up, and Away: Expanding and Enriching CEHD Global Education Experiences
$30,000

PI:   Traver Wright (Research Asst. Professor, HLKN); Co-PI’s:   Melinda Sheffield-Moore (HLKN), Randal Davis (Wildlife and Fisheries Science)
Aerobic Respiratory Capacity in Sea Otter Tissues: Metabolic Insight into Hypermetabolism
$22,100

CENTER awards:

Nicolaas Deutz (HLKN) and Traver Wright (HLKN)
CTRAL Clinical Research Symposium
$5,000

George Cunningham (HLKN) and Matt Walker (HLKN)
Continuing Education Offered by the CSMRE
$5,000

New Awards: October 4-February 9, 2018

Name	Agency	Title	Funding
EAHR
Beverly Irby (PI) & Mario Torres (Co-PI)	US Department of Education	Preparing Academic Leaders: Teachers of English Learners Building Instructional Capacity– Project PAL	2,750,392
Beverly Irby (PI); Jean Madsen (Co-I); Karen Smith (Co-I); Mario Torres (Co-I); Gwen Webb-Hasan (Co-I)	US Department of Education	Accelerated Preparation of Leaders for Underserved Schools (A-PLUS): Building Instructional Capacity to Impact Diverse Learners	21,158,910
Beverly Irby (Co-PI)	Texas Education Agency	2017–2018 Online Bilingual Education Certification Preparation Course Trainings Grant	2,800
Beverly Irby (PI)	US Department of Education	Massive Open Online Professional Informal Individual Learning (MOOPIL) for Bilingual and ESL Teachers, Paraprofessionals, Administrators, and Families	2,932,487
Fred Nafukho (Co-PI); Stanislav Vitha (PI)	Texas A&M Agrilife Research – USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture	Table to Farm: A Sustainable, Systems-based Approach for a Safer and Healthier Melon Supply Chain in the U.S.	174,186
Luis Ponjuan (PI)	Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities – NSF	The Status Report on Engineering Education	20,000
Jia Wang (PI); Mary Alfred (Co-PI); and Fredrick Lawrence (Co-PI)	TAMU Office of the Vice President for Research – PESCA	The Unheard Voices: International Students’ Experiences Integrating into U.S. Higher Education	25,000
EPSY
Sara Castro-Olivo (PI) & Elena Quiroz, Universidad Pedagogica Nacional (Co-PI)	TAMU Office of the Vice President for Research – CONACYT	Evaluating the Social-Emotional and Academic Realities of Migrant Mexican Children: From Assessment to Intervention	25,000
Timothy Elliott (PI)	Central Texas Veterans Health Care System	IPA with Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS)	12,629
Rafael Lara-Alecio (Co-PI) & Fuhui Tong (Co-PI)	US Department of Education	Preparing Academic Leaders: Teachers of English Learners Building Instructional Capacity– Project PAL	312,077
Rafael Lara-Alecio (PI) & Fuhui Tong (Co-PI)	Texas Education Agency	2017–2018 Online Bilingual Education Certification Preparation Course Trainings Grant	640,849
Rafael Lara-Alecio (Co-I) & Fuhui Tong (Co-I)	US Department of Education	Accelerated Preparation of Leaders for Underserved Schools (A-PLUS): Building Instructional Capacity to Impact Diverse Learners	760,327
Rafael Lara-Alecio (Co-PI) & Fuhui Tong (Co-PI)	US Department of Education	Massive Open Online Professional Informal Individual Learning (MOOPIL) for Bilingual and ESL Teachers, Paraprofessionals, Administrators, and Families	443,026
Laura Stough (PI)	Association of University Centers on Disabilities – Department of Health and Human Services	Resources for Disasters and Disability Directory for Individuals with Disabilities and their Families Experiencing the Effects of Hurricane Harvey	28,506
HLKN
Susan Bloomfield (PI) & Rihana Bokhari (GA)	American College of Sports Medicine	The Benefits of Exercise During Disuse Extend Beyond Weight-bearing Alone	2,228
Susan Bloomfield (PI)	Baylor College of Medicine – NASA	Will Use of Long-Acting, Reversible Contraceptives Mitigate Bone Loss in Female Rats During Simulated Exploration Class Missions?	115,328
Heather Clark (Co-PI) & James Burdine (PI)	Episcopal Health Foundation	Brazos Valley Community Health Resource Centers: A Case Study	11,280
Stephen Crouse (PI) & Steve Martin (Co-PI)	Taylor Fire Department	City of Taylor Fire Dept Annual Testing/Physicals – Multi-Year	114,953
Nicolaas Deutz (PI)	Abbott Nutrition	Preclinical Study in Pig Sepsis Model to Evaluate the Efficacy of HMB on Whole Body Protein Turnover using Pulse Labeling Methodology	76,000
Nicolaas Deutz (PI) & Marielle Engelen (Co-PI)	Abbott Nutrition	Effects of Low Fose of Fish Oil (EPA+DHA) vs. combined EPA+DHA and HMB or Curcumin Supplementation on Protein Metabolism, Muscle Mass and Functional Capacity in Moderate to Severe COPD	337,496
Nicolaas Deutz (Co-PI) & Hans Schuessler (PI)	TAMU College of Science	Strategic Transformative Research Program: Assessment of Metabolism with Exhaled Breath Biomarkers	25,000
Nicolaas Deutz (Co-PI) & Gerald Cote (PI)	National Science Foundation	Engineering Research Center for Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Populations (PATHS-UP)	30,225
Marlene Dixon (PI)	Leadership Foundations	Highway of Hope Basketball Program – Pilot Project	28,818
Whitney Garney (PI); Idethia Harvey (Co-PI); Katharine Miller Nimmons (Co-PI)	Texas Department of State Health Services	Department of State Health Services Tobacco Quit Line Evaluation and Outreach Assistance	176,137
Deanna Kennedy (PI)	TAMU Office of the Vice President for Research – PESCA	The Role of Augmented Feedback in the Control and Learning of Motor Tasks in Individuals with Developmental Coordination Disorder	10,000
Ledric Sherman (PI)	Texas A&M University Health Science Center – NIH	Physical Activity Impacts of a Planned Activity-Friendly Community: The What, Where, When and Why of Environmental Approaches to Obesity Prevention	297,939
Kelly Wilson (PI) and Whitney Garney (Co-PI)	DHHS-PHS-Office of Adolescent Health	Integrating Teen Pregnancy Prevention Innovative Practices (iTIP)	1,796,295
TLAC
Cheryl Craig (PI)	Writers in the Schools	WITS Collaborative Evaluation	106,920
Cheryl Craig (PI)	University of Houston – NSF	University of Houston: Learning through Informal and Formal Experiences (UH-LIFE)	29,134
Michael de Miranda (PI)	National Academy of Sciences	K12 Teacher Credentialing in Engineering in the 50 States	5,000
Joanne Olson (PI)	Iowa State University – NSF	TEC-STEM Partnerships: Teachers & Engineers Collaborate for STEM in K-5	66,895
Dean’s Office
Arlen Strader (PI)	Baylor College of Medicine – NASA	TRI Data Support	10,742

CPI Updates

by Dr. Daniel Bowen

The CEHD CPI was busy last semester with reviewing the many, excellent Catapult grant applications. Congratulations to all the Catapult grant recipients!

In addition to this service we have been discussing and developing specific guidelines for graduate student-parenting accommodations, specific to faculty PIs and their GAs whom are anticipating or experiencing the arrival of a child. We hope that these guidelines will facilitate discussions and strategies that ease graduate student-parents’ anxieties during these challenging, yet exciting, times in their lives. We are also in early discussions with IT regarding PI technology inventory concerns.

Our next meetings are scheduled for February 21^st at 11:30 am at Rudder, room 502, and May 8^th at noon at Heaton, room 211. If you have any PI-related concerns or issues that you would like to raise or discuss at these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me at dhbowen@tamu.edu.

 

 Pre-Award Updates

The Pre-Award group is pleased to announce they will be starting a video series on topics related to research, specifically items of interest to the faculty in our college.  The first video will be on Revising and Resubmitting Rejected Proposals.  We will be distributing this video in March and will add it to the CERD website.

We would very much like to hear from you on topics you would like covered in future videos, please share your ideas at cehdpreaward@tamu.edu

 

 

Funding Opportunity Search

  Funding Opportunities vary from federal, state to local and industry. We’ll be providing some select opportunities to highlight in coming newsletters. In this issue, we have provided common funding agencies that are used by our faculty and who have awarded grants to TAMU as well as a short description at the type of research they look to fund. In some instances, agencies will fund research in your area that you wouldn’t think. Be sure to peruse through each of these to see what opportunities you can take advantage of. As always, email us for more tailored funding opportunity search at cehdpreaward@tamu.edu.

 

New Funding Flyers are available for CEHD.

Click CEHD Funding Flyer 2017

New Policy: Effective immediately, proposals that require a reduced IDC waiver will not be submitted to the sponsor until the corresponding waiver has been approved by the college and VPR’s office. For further information, contact your RDO representative Jesus Palomo or Gabe Rivera .

 

 

Seed funding for basic research has been an effective model for early investigators or for established investigators to launch into new initiatives. However, with government funding on a steady decline, researchers are turning towards foundations and private funding to fill the gap. The following articles/links provide some insight into the world of foundation and private funding and where to look.

• Why Universities and Foundations Should Get Together Sooner
• Private Funding for Science
• 100 Places to Find Funding for Your Research

 Post Award Updates

CURRENT FIRST CONTACTS FOR ALL EXTERNAL GRANT/CONTRACT BUSINESS ITEMS

HLKN, TLAC:   Adriana Burnett       adrianab@tamu.edu, 845-4982

EPSY, EAHR:   Clayton Holle           cholle@tamu.edu,  845-8734

New Post Award Contacts at SRS

EAHR & HLKN:    Shelly Grassinger    sgrassinger@tamu.edu    458-5902

EPSY, TLAC, & Dean’s Office:     Deanna Hawley    dhawley@tamu.edu     862-5949

 Welcome to Tracy Latourette  and Amber Cervantez as Business Coordinators with our Post Award team.

Tracy LaTourette, a Texas native grew up in South Texas where she lived with her family until graduating high school and moving  to College Station for school. She has spent most of her career working in retail, the longest being with Sam’s Club for over 11 years with 6 of those years in retail management. She has been in charge of a little bit of everything from hiring, evaluating, scheduling and training as well as being in charge of the overall safety within a facility. She wanted a change from retail and obtained the Business Coordinator I position with CERD. Tracy has been married to her husband Kenneth since June 2007.  They have a son,  Braeden (8) and a daughter Aubrey (4). In her spare time,  Tracy enjoys spending time with her family, reading a good book or watching movies.

 

Amber Cervantez, a Waco native earned her B.S. in Business from Tarleton State University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Educational Human Resource Development with Texas A&M University. Before moving to the College of Education and Human Development as a Business Coordinator II, Amber worked for Payroll Services as a Financial Specialist. In her free time she enjoys fishing, attending Aggie football, baseball and basketball games and eating at Torchy’s Tacos.

 

WorkDay Entries

With the implementation of the new HR software Workday, it may be unclear how research % effort and source of funding changes on your projects should be processed.  Please note that any changes to research payroll, including funding source changes and % effort modifications, should be provided to the CERD post award office ( Adriana Burnett or Clayton Holle ) for processing; they will be happy to help.  Faculty and research staff should not enter these changes into Workday. 

Equity Hiring Plan

The College of Education and Human Development has recently implemented an Equity Hiring Plan as a protocol for hiring staff members to enhance equity and increase the opportunity to generate a diverse applicant pool.  These guidelines should be followed for all staff positions, including research titles.  The CERD Post Award team can assist with ensuring that these guidelines are followed and can help to answer any questions you may have.

The guidelines can be found by clicking here

 

Outreach Services

The Outreach Services for CERD are busy developing more partnerships and opportunities than ever before. Outreach Coordinator, Amy Jurica Hinnant, attended the Texas Charter School Conference in Grapevine in the fall and made some key connections with charter schools around the state. Charter schools including International Leadership of Texas, YES Prep, KIPP Academy, Responsive Ed, IDEA,  and Harmony are all charter schools in the state of Texas.  With 675 campuses serving over 270,000 in the state, charter schools can be an option for  your research projects.  Most recently, Amy  presented at and attended the Mid Winter Conference held in Austin. This annual conference hosted by TASA (Texas Association of School Administrators) brings superintendents, principals and instructional leaders of all kinds from around the state to confer and further develop as professionals.  Texas A&M CEHD was well-represented by graduate research assistants from EAHR including Nahed Abdelrahman, Lixia Qin, Elsa Villarreal and Donna Druery.  These ladies were smiling faces at the exhibitor table. In addition to the TASA conference, the State Board of Education hosted the second annual Learning Roundtable.  State Board of Education Chair, Donna Bohorich, led the day long discussions on “Recruiting, Preparing and Retaining Top Teachers”.  Attending the annual TASA Mid Winter Conference provides great opportunities to develop and maintain contacts with public school districts and state leaders.  If you need assistance with a current project or know of one you will be working on in the future, contact Amy at the CERD office to schedule an appointment to develop ideas of people and places to fit your research.