Ten faculty members receive funding for research and creative projects
The John C. Baker Fund and the Ohio University Research Committee has awarded nearly $100,000 to faculty members for their research and creative projects.
A total of 10 faculty members were given awards for the fall cycle.
The awards are given out in two cycles each year, said Carma West, grant development coordinator.
The goal is to try to fund about a third of the proposed projects, said Roxanne Malé-Brune, director of grant development and projects in the Graduate College..
“For the best proposals, the faculty members don’t just show their expertise, they also show their passion,” she said. “When you read a proposal like that, you just can’t help but be in awe of what they do.”
Here are the fall recipients and their project ideas:
Melissa Haviland, associate professor of printmaking
Haviland will collaborate with video artist David Colagiovanni to work with a large format 20-inch-by-24-inch Polaroid camera that is one of three remaining in the world to create a photography project.
Though five of these cameras were originally created, two are out of commission, and the remaining three have limited film, Haviland said.
“It’s about the size of a small Fiat,” she said. “We are using it primarily because of the instant quality, and it gives results that are not possible with other (cameras).”
Molly Morris, biological sciences professor
Morris said she will use the Baker Fund money to finish a project she started about a year ago on the mating behaviors of fish.
Morris has worked with collaborators in Sweden and Mexico, as well as a graduate student, to collect fish and analyze different behaviors between those that use forceful mating tactics and fish that only use courtship.
“On campus, I see a lot of our students and how they’re meeting and their social skills, and it’s interesting just to think that fish have to go through this process as well,” Malé-Brune said.
Josh Birnbaum, instructor of photography
Birnbaum plans to photograph bluegrass musicians in the Appalachian region, a project he said he hopes to turn into a book.
He received $8,000 from the Ohio University Research Committee.
“I’ve always had an influence in music,” Birnbaum said. “My dad always played bluegrass music even though I lived in California.”
Birnbaum said he plans to start his project by photographing people in Athens in February.
“My camera is my tool for investigation and a way to invite myself into other people’s lives,” he said.
Kelly Williams, lecturer of biology
Williams will research how the environment and certain behaviors can affect how well a baby hooded warbler develops and survives.
Specific factors affect how long the hooded warbler offspring can survive depending on where they live. Some birds live longer than others because of their surroundings, Williams said.
“If the nestlings are healthier in the warmer nests, then they may have a better chance of survival,” she said. “If there’s lots of food in the environment, maybe they don’t have to spend as much time collecting food.”
Fuh-Cherng Jeng and Brandie Nance, professors of communication sciences and disorders
Jeng and Nance received $10,580 from the Baker Fund to complete a project using computer modeling to see how the brain stem of American and Chinese newborns reacts to different voice pitches.
Xia Jing, assistant professor of clinical informatics/health administration
Jing was awarded $12,000 from the Baker Fund to study the development of online data filtering, analysis and visualization for large data sets.
Vincent Caranchini, an associate professor of interior architecture
Caranchini was given nearly $12,000 to work with “Architectural Residues.”
His page on OU’s School of Art and Design website describes him as “an artist who is interested in the social relationship of paintings and space.”
Alycia Stigall, an associate professor of geological sciences
Stigall will use a nearly $8,000 award from the OU Research Committee to work on a proposal “Constraining the timing of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) in North American brachiopods.” She is also currently working on a project funded by the National Science Foundation that focuses on the species’ niches over time in animals preserved in rocks near Cincinnati, according to her page on the College of Arts and Sciences website.
Todd Fredricks associate professor of family medicine and Brian Plow a professor of media arts and studies
Fredericks and Plow will team up to create “The Veterans' Project: A Documentary for Health Care Providers.” The $7,629 they received from the OU Research Committee will provide funding for phase one of the project.
Youmee Kim, assistant professor of piano
OU Research Committee awarded Kim with $5,000 to record American Contemporary Piano Music. Kim specializes in 20th Century American piano music and has performed throughout Korea and North America, according to her page on the College of Fine Arts website.
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