News

University of New Orleans Awards Over $400,000 for Research and Scholarly Endeavors

January 24, 2019

The University of New Orleans awarded more than $400,000 in research grants and awards to 24 faculty members and 75 undergraduate students on Wednesday (Jan. 23) during its annual Achievements in Research, Creativity and Scholarship awards ceremony held in the University Center’s ballroom.

The awards presentation, hosted by the Office of Research, underscored the power of research and the opportunities that exist for UNO scholars at all levels and areas of the campus, Matt Tarr, vice president for research and economic development, said.

Easels were placed around the ballroom that held posters highlighting some of the endeavors over the past year by faculty, staff and students.

“We’re here to support those activities—research, creativity and scholarship—across the entire campus, whether that’s faculty members, staff members or students, both graduates and undergraduates,” Tarr said.

In total, the awards amounted to $403,083 invested in promising research and scholarship being conducted by UNO students and faculty.

President John Nicklow said Tarr’s office is helping the University build on its rich heritage of research.

“Today’s event is extremely befitting our status as the only public research university in New Orleans and one of only two Carnegie R2 institutions in the entire state,” Nicklow said. “For more than six decades now this institution has had a strong heritage of research and that legacy, that heritage, is going to be a strong part of our future.”

He also applauded award winners for their dedication.

“Research makes professors better teachers, it improves student engagement and elevates the success of the entire institution,” Nicklow said. “I’m grateful for your dedication to both your discipline and this institution. Each of you play an integral role in helping the university fulfill its research mission.”

Representatives from the University of New Orleans Research Council, which reviews nominees, presented the following prizes:

Creativity, Research and Scholarship Awards are presented to innovative faculty members who have distinguished themselves in research activities. Winners receive a one-year fixed price of $7,500 for early-career awards and $10,000 for career awards.

Early-Career—Research Focus
Stephen G. Ware
Career—Creativity and Scholarship Focus
Anne Boyd Rioux
M. Kabir Hassan
Career—Research Focus
Weilie Zhou

Creative Endeavor Opportunity (CEO): the goal is to provide support for faculty to launch programs of research, scholarship, exhibition or performance that will ultimately result in increased research and creative activity on campus. Winners are required to submit reports at the end of their projects. The budget cap is $10,000.

Elaine Brooks
Richard Goodman
Yotam Haber
Ariya Martin
Diane Maygarden
Brian Seeger

Stimulating Competitive Research (SCoRe): the goal is to equip principal investigators with seed money to apply for external grant opportunities. Winners are required to make a proposal to an outside agency. The budget cap is $15,000.

Jim Amdal
Shaikh Arifuzzaman
Ioannis Georgiou
Tara Tolford
Mark Trudell
Stephen G. Ware

Interdisciplinary Grant Development (IGD): the program requires participation from two or more colleges or departments. The aim of the program is to stimulate fundable, interdisciplinary research across substantially distinct disciplines. Winners are required to make a proposal to an outside agency. The maximum funding for this program is $17,500 per investigator with up to three investigators allowed per project.

Simon Lailvaux and Tamjidul Hoque
Damon Smith and Viktor Poltavets

Leveraging External Enterprise Program (LEEP): the program supports visits to UNO by external scholars, researchers or artists to enrich the campus, improve scholarly productivity, or enhance the university reputation. Projects will involve short-term visits to UNO by external experts in any appropriate format. The budget cap is $3,500.

Anna Mecugni
Michelle Thompson

International Collaboration with Austria or France: the goal is to stimulate research collaborations between UNO and institutions in Austria or France. While funding is open to all disciplines, successful proposals will clearly demonstrate capacity for building UNO’s international reputation, creating unique products or developing future external funding opportunities. The budget cap is $5,500.

Yotam Haber
David Podgorski
Bethany Stich

Tolmas Scholars, are awarded student worker positions through the Privateer Undergraduate Research and Scholarly UNO Experience (PURSUE) and the College of Sciences Undergraduate Research Program (CoSURP). Each program introduces undergraduate students to research opportunities while working with UNO faculty members. The programs were funded in part by a generous contribution from the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust.

PURSUE allows for up to 100 paid hours of scholarly work at $15 per hour. CoSURP allows for up to 100 paid hours of scholarly work for spring 2019 and another 100 hours for fall 2019 at $15 per hour.

PURSUE

Cory Ashby
Mentor: D. Ryan Gray
Haley Bannon
Mentor: D. Ryan Gray
Victor Barboza Pereira
Mentor: Ting Wang
Misty Begnaud
Mentor: D. Ryan Gray
Simeon Benit
Mentor: Juliette Ioup
Leah Bordle
Mentor: Steve Mumford
Gracelyn Bower
Mentor: Brandon Taravella
Marvin Bryan
Mentor: John Overton
Bianca Canizare
Mentor: Joel Atallah
Kielee Clemen
Mentor: Michelle Thompson
Wesley Cognevic
Mentor: Kendal Leftwich
Hallie Collop
Mentor: Xiaochuan “Vincent” Yu
Chelsea Duplanti
Mentor: Mary Clancy
Meagan Ebank
Mentor: Donald Zimmerman
Charles Escud
Mentor: Jeffrey Gray
Gage Haa
Mentor: Jeffrey Gray
Sheniyah Halliburto
Mentor: Francis Adeola
Gaige Hargrav
Mentor: Steve Mumford
Rachel Haye
Mentor: Elyria Kemp
Dylan Hunte
Mentor: Yotam Haber
Patrick Jame
Mentor: Malay Ghose Hajra
Candace Jerr
Mentor: Elliott Beaton
Wingate Jone
Mentor: Linxiong Li
Dikshanta K
Mentor: M. Kabir Hassan
Madeleine Koerne
Mentor: Xiaochuan “Vincent” Yu
Anastassia Kosmopoulo
Mentor: Brandon Taravella
Chloe Krak
Mentor: Gina Rosa
Megan Kuckr
Mentor: Mary Clancy
Justin Livingsto
Mentor: Laszlo Fulop
Abby Marti
Mentor: Steve Mumford
Emily Marti
Mentor: Bernard Rees
Daniel Mauri
Mentor: Leszek Malkinski
Skyler McCre
Mentor: D. Ryan Gray
Jessy Mogre
Mentor: Steve Mumford
Mikhail Morga
Mentor: Weilie Zhou
Harihar Ojh
Mentor: Gina Rosa
Madison Owe
Mentor: Chris Surprenant
Vilma Anette Perez Villator
Mentor: Yotam Haber
Nicholas Phillip
Mentor: Bethany Stich
Hunter Prott
Mentor: Weilie Zhou
Jourdan Puya
Mentor: Xiaochuan “Vincent” Yu
Dorian Reardo
Mentor: David Beriss
Miyra Ros
Mentor: Malay Ghose Hajra
Hannah Rubian
Mentor: Malay Ghose Hajra
Terrell Shield
Mentor: Phoebe Zito
Charles Thompso
Mentor: Tara Tolford
Victoria Tidwel
Mentor: Tara Tolford
Vinh Tra
Mentor: M. Kabir Hassan
Luis Velazque
Mentor: Ting Wang
Jeniffer Zero
Mentor: Matthew Tarr

CoSURP

Kelli Allen
Mentor: Elliott Beaton
SydniCherise Austin
Mentor: Juliette Ioup
Brittany Bergeron
Mentor: Benjamin Samuel
Nicole Broussard
Mentor: Jairo Santanilla
Anish Chand
Mentor: Phani Vadrevu
Jacob Frick
Mentor: Wendy Schluchter
Rana Ghannam
Mentor: David Podgorski
Jason Hall
Mentor: Stephen Ware
Mina Hibino
Mentor: Matthew Tarr
Katherine Humpal
Mentor: David Podgorski
Dana Karkoutli
Mentor: Joel Atallah
Reecha Khanal
Mentor: Tamjidul Hoque
Jonathan Lewis
Mentor: Steven Rick
LePaul Love
Mentor: Christopher Summa
Danielle Mangipano
Mentor: Martin O’Connell
Jordan Peralez
Mentor: Phani Vadrevu
Sanjiv Pradhanang
Mentor: Shaikh Arifuzzaman
Julia Robe
Mentor: Juliette Ioup
Anna Rusnak
Mentor: Joel Atallah
Matthew Shields
Mentor: Phoebe Zito
Dahlia Siprut
Mentor: Carla Penz
Veronica Spicer
Mentor: Tamjidul Hoque
Leah Tevis
Mentor: Robert Mahon
Kirsten Turner
Mentor: Elliott Beaton
Kourtney Weaver
Mentor: Wendy Schluchter