American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funding for UM Research

According to the website ScienceWorksForUS, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, also known as the stimulus) provided some $21 billion for scientific research and development, the purchase of scientific equipment, and science-related construction. To date The University of Mississippi has received a total of $2,730,555 in ARRA funding for research (projects listed below). An additional $190,152 in ARRA financial aid funding (scholarships and Pell grants) has also been awarded to UM.

Emanuele Berti

Physics

National Science Foundation, $150,000
Gravitational Waves from Black Hole Binaries: Modeling, Astrophysics and Strong-field Tests

James Cizdziel

Chemistry and Biochemistry

National Science Foundation, $494,094
MRI: Acquisition of a High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer for the Mid-South Region

Thomas Clancy

National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law

US Department of Justice, $500,000
Education and Resources for Judges on Technology-Assisted Crimes Against Children

Stephen Cutler

Medicinal Chemistry

National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources, $584,617
Center of Research Excellence in Natural Products Neuroscience (NCRR Administrative Supplement)

Alan Gross

Psychology

Subaward of the Oxford Public School District/US Department of Education, $29,346
Clinical Psychology Training Program

Carolyn Higdon

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Mississippi Department of Health, $184,476
Early Intervention Quality Assurance and Improvement – Center of Excellence

Ikhlas Khan

National Center for Natural Products Research

Subaward of the University of Kentucky/National Institutes of Health, $385,095
Advancing Drug Development in Medicinal Plants using Transcriptomics and Metabolomics

Daniell Mattern

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Subaward of the University of Alabama/National Science Foundation, $66,791
Optimally Designed Unimolecular Rectifiers

Brice Noonan

Biology

National Science Foundation, $178,333
Collaborative Research: Ants of the Southwest Indian Ocean and East Africa (ASWEA): Assessing Phylogenetic Diversity and Biogeographic Linkage Across the Mozambique Channel

Kristine Willett

Pharmacology

National Institutes of Health, $86,219
Roles of CYP1 and 19 in Fundulus Steroids and PAH Metabolism (Administrative Supplement)

Jordan Zjawiony

Pharmacognosy

National Institutes of Health, $71,584
Chemistry and Pharmacology of Newly Emerging Psychoactive Plants

For more information about ARRA funding for research across the nation, visit the ScienceWorksForUS website, an initiative of the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and The Science Coalition.

UM Student Selected to Attend 2010 Meeting of Nobel Laureates

UM chemistry graduate student Shana Stoddard has been selected as one of only 98 U.S. students to attend the 2010 Meeting of the Nobel Laureates in Lindau Germany. Shana joins a total of 698 students from around the world in being selected to attend this meeting (her name is on p. 30 of the Young Researchers list). At this meeting, Shana will have the chance to interact with 66+ Nobel Prize Winners (23 in chemistry). Shana's sponsor for this meeting is the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, which will be covering her travel expenses.  Thanks to ORAU, and congratulations to Shana.

UM Research Funding News

Proposal and Award Activity

UM faculty and staff submitted 18 external funding proposals and received 10 external funding awards during January 2010. For a complete listing, see the Monthly Report.

Faculty Travel Support

The ORSP's Faculty Travel Support program provides funds for UM faculty members to take part in development activities that will lead to new or extended research, scholarly or creative work, but typically does not support travel to a conference for presentation of completed work unless the request includes specific development activities beyond the conference itself.

Examples of research purposes for which faculty have recently received support include:

  • Conduct on-site library research on primary source material
  • Meet with book collaborators and publishers while at conference
  • Attend special focus symposium and meet with subject expert
  • Conduct field work with collaborators and develop new field research course
  • Expand ongoing research project by conducting in-person interviews in new location

Faculty Travel Support guidelines, application, and FAQ are available from the ORSP Internal Support page.

Additional Information

Speaking of COS

Since 2004 The University of Mississippi has been a subscriber to COS , the largest and most comprehensive source of funding opportunity and expertise information on the Web. COS provides services for scholarship and research in ALL academic disciplines and research areas, enabling researchers and scholars to communicate, exchange information, and find the people, tools, and funding programs that are important to their work.

If you are not yet represented with a COS profile, you can enter your own information into the system. The University’s subscription allows access to and use of this service at any computer with a UM IP address; once registered in the system, users can also access the service from off-campus. To register and enter your profile, go to http://registration.cos.com/cos/basic.html. To update an existing profile, go to http://login.cos.com/.

OR – you can have us do it for you. As a part of its continuing effort to develop and promote UM research and researchers, the ORSP offers the COS Profile Entry Service. Faculty and research staff who wish to enter or update profile information can e-mail a CV to the UM COS Liaison.

COS membership is a valuable tool provided to you free of charge at The University of Mississippi. Its purpose is to help us help you! More information is available on the ORSP’s COS page, or from the UM COS Liaison in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

Don’t know about COS?

Check out our COS page, the January 2005, September 2006, and March 2007 newsletter articles, and/or the COS home page. COS is for all UM faculty in all academic disciplines and research areas.

Bits & Pieces

BJA Podcasts

The Bureau of Justice Assistance has introduced the BJA Justice Podcast Series. These podcasts are designed to provide listeners with the latest information in innovations, practices, and perspectives from the field of criminal justice. An expert in the chosen field is interviewed in each podcast, providing an opportunity for listeners to gain new insights about critical issues.

In the first edition, James H. Burch, II, Acting Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is joined by Kristina Rose, Acting Director of the National Institute of Justice, to talk with William Bratton, former Chief of Police of the Los Angeles Police Department and former Police Commissioner of the New York City and Boston Police Departments, about his thoughts regarding the evolution of policing.

Future podcasts include:

  • Part 2: An Interview with Chief William Bratton Regarding the Concept of Predictive Policing.
  • An Interview with Tim Murray, Executive Director of the Pretrial Justice Institute About Pretrial Justice and the Crucial Role Reentry Programs Play in the Justice System.
  • An Interview with Major Sam Cochran of the Memphis Police Services Discussing the Importance of Crisis Intervention Teams.

NOAA Launches Climate Service Office and Web Portal

To help satisfy the growing demand for information about climate change, the US Department of Commerce is establishing the NOAA Climate Service, a new office dedicated to sharpening the focus on understanding and addressing fast accelerating climate-related needs across all sectors.

The new NOAA Climate Service will enable a better response to the millions of requests for climate information from people planning infrastructure, and operations, and to meet the growing demands of the public, business, industry, and decision makers.  The NOAA Climate Service will better serve the public by providing more accessible, relevant and user-friendly information.  Additionally, the NOAA Climate Service will be better prepared to work with other service and science providers from academia, the business community, and other government agencies to help deliver the climate information needed by society.

A new website — www.climate.gov — will serve as a single point-of-entry for and expand access to NOAA’s climate information, data, products and services.

A Few Program Announcements and Deadlines

NSF Major Research Instrumentation ~ Internal Deadline February 24

The National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in the United States' institutions of higher education, museums, science centers, and not-for-profit organizations. This program especially seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, by providing shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments. Internal preproposals will be reviewed by a university committee consisting of representatives from the ORSP and the College, Schools, or Departments from which preproposals are received. Candidates selected by the committee will prepare full proposals to be submitted by the University of Mississippi to the National Science Foundation at the April 21 deadline. For complete information about the internal application and selection process, including deadlines, please see the UM ORSP NSF MRI 2010 web page.

RWJF Active Living Research and New Connections Grants ~ Deadline April 14

This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) program supports research to inform policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity among children and adolescents, decreasing their sedentary behaviors and preventing obesity. RWJF places special emphasis on strategies with the potential to reach children and youths ages 3 to 18 who are at highest risk for obesity: African-American, Latino, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian-American and Pacific Islander children, as well as children who live in under-resourced and lower-income communities. This CFP includes funding opportunities for (1) grants on specified research topics; (2) dissertation awards; and (3) New Connections grants made available through the Active Living Research program.

Additional Resources

Congratulations from the VCRSP

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs oversees funding for research, service, and education projects. These activities complement the fundamental aspects of The University of Mississippi’s mission and are among its most tangible contributions to the future. Funding for these activities is one of the best measures of a university’s success in engaging with national and international communities.

All of us who have sought funding to test our ideas know that it is difficult and that the communities to which we belong are highly competitive. That spirit of competition is critical and it contributes more than a little to the relief and excitement a researcher feels on receiving a funding award.

Listed below are our colleagues who have been notified of external funding awards in the last calendar month. Please join me in congratulating them. The news of their discoveries and the importance of their contributions are part of all of our futures and the future of Ole Miss.

Alice M. Clark Signature

Alice M. Clark, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs

Summary of Awards Received in January 2010

PI Name PI Department/Unit Co-PI Name/s
Abadie, AnnCenter for the Study of Southern Culture
Easson, Gregory LUniversity of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterRobinson, Harold
Gilbert, KennethJamie Whitten National Center for Physical AcousticsMobley, Joel
Hallam, Jeffrey SHealth, Exercise Science and Recreation ManagementGamble, Abigail
Repka, Michael APharmaceuticsMajumdar, Soumyajit
Rutherford, David (2 awards) Public Policy LeadershipLovorn, Carley
Sabatier, JamesJamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics
Waxler, RogerJamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics
Woodard, TimInternational Programs
  • January 2010 Report: A list of awards received and proposals submitted by The University of Mississippi in the previous month.
  • January Proposals Submitted: 18 from 17 Principal Investigators
  • January Awards Received: 10 totaling $1,280,934
  • FY10 Year-to-Date Number of Active Sponsored Projects: 485
  • FY10 Year-to-Date Number of Active Investigators: 267