Discovery @TWU

Gumienny awarded USDA grant

Tina Gumienny (biology) has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for her project aimed at identifying surface coat lipids of a free‐living roundworm and a pig parasitic roundworm and understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling production of the roundworm’s protective lipid surface barrier layer. The goal is to identify novel targets for anthelmintic drug development and thereby provide a foundation for developing novel anthelmintic approaches to protect crops and livestock from nematode infection. (11-28-18)

Moore, Evans among PIs on federal library grant

TWU School of Library and Information Studies faculty members Jennifer Moore and Sarah Evans are two of the three co-principal investigators of a $46,000 Institute of Museums and Library Services grant awarded to the University of North Texas. The grant project is titled “Preparing Librarians for Data Literacy Leadership.”

Amerih awarded for study

Husny Amerih (occupational therapy, Denton) has been awarded a $60,000 subcontract from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as the TWU site PI for a field-initiated development grant from National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. Amerih will collect data from the disability community in the Denton area and test the usability and validity of the newly-developed ARB-NextGen (Accessibility Ratings for Building) assessment app. Noralyn Pickens (occupational therapy, Dallas) is acting as a consultant on the project.

Pislariu awarded Noble Research Institute subcontract

Catalina Pislariu (biology) has been awarded a $330,000 subcontract from the Noble Research Institute on a grant from the National Science Foundation for her project to establish symbiotic interactions with nitrogen fixing soil bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Educational and outreach components will benefit society by training the next generation of scientists and informing the general public on the benefits of low‐input agriculture.

Denton IRB to host workshops

The Denton Institutional Review Board (IRB) will host a series of workshops throughout the academic year. Each workshop in the series will focus on a different topic related to the board’s process and requirements. The first workshop is scheduled from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in ACT 301 and will include a discussion of the general process for submitting an IRB application. This workshop is open to all faculty, students or staff who are interested in research involving human subjects. Please RSVP to irb@twu.edu. The session will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. Please note that those who are watching the session remotely will not be able to ask questions or interact during the session.

TARGET (Equipment) Program applications available

Applications are available for the 2018-2019 TARGET (Equipment) Program and are due Monday, Oct. 29. Approximately $410,000 has been allocated for equipment to support faculty teaching and research. Contact Donna Scott Tilley (Research and Sponsored Programs) at 81-3401 or Jörg Waltje (Center for Faculty Excellence) if you have questions.

Du awarded grant for flavor study at TWU

Xiaofen Du (nutrition & food sciences) has been awarded a $64,000 grant from Firmenich Aromatics for her study of consumer liking for flavored waters with sugar reduction at different levels. Formula for flavor with different types of flavors, beverage secondary functions and different levels of sugars will be provided by Firmenich, then the consumer study will be conducted at TWU. The project will help to understand what are the optimum and tolerant sugar levels for the selected flavored waters and how a secondary function adds value to consumer liking.

Averitt awarded NIH grant for study of trigeminal pain

Dayna Averitt (biology) was awarded a $385,000 National Institutes of Health grant for her project that will evaluate the potential for hormone modulation of serotonin’s ability to turn on pain mechanisms in trigeminal sensory neurons. If so, novel drugs targeting peripheral serotonin receptors may be highly effective at treating trigeminal pain, such as migraine headaches, in women. (9-5-18)

Grant application materials available

Application materials are available for the 2018-19 Creative Arts and Humanities Grants Program. This program supports TWU faculty projects in areas that ordinarily have limited opportunity to receive external grant funding, yet have the potential to enhance scholarship and TWU’s profile nationally and internationally. Up to $5,000 may be requested to support these projects and all full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty may apply. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2. Program guidelines and application forms are available on the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs website. (9-5-18)

Gumienny, Bergel awarded NIH grant

Correction: Biology faculty members Tina Gumienny and Michael Bergel have been awarded a $130,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health for their project that investigates whether aging affects a DNA defense mechanism against UV radiation. Results may identify potential therapeutic options for cell protection from UV radiation. The grant amount was listed incorrectly in an earlier issue. (9-5-18)

Guidelines available for travel grant programs

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs is now accepting applications to two different 2018-2019 travel grant programs.

The Travel Assistance Fund program enables faculty to defray some of the travel costs associated with presenting scholarly outcomes at professional conferences and meetings that have been peer-reviewed, juried or selected by the major associations or societies in their fields. It also supports travel where they will receive a major award from those organizations. Applicants must be full-time faculty of Texas Woman’s University with a teaching appointment for 2018-2019. There is no deadline for this program; applications are accepted on a rolling deadline. Only one trip per person may be funded in a fiscal year, and a maximum of $800 per award will be funded. Application materials can be found on the ORSP website.

The Program Officer Visit Travel Grant program provides funds for TWU faculty to visit program officers. Faculty may request support for travel to attend meetings with sponsoring agency program officers in Washington, D.C. and other locations. The goal of the program is to improve the competiveness of proposals for external funding by facilitating interaction with prospective sponsors. Visits with program officers also give faculty members opportunities to provide general information about TWU. There is no deadline for this program; applications are accepted year round. Applications will be reviewed by the vice provost for research within two weeks of receipt. Application materials can be found on the ORSP website.

Click here for information on all internal funding programs through ORSP.

Grant program application materials available

Application materials for the Proposal Development Grant Program for Fall 2018 now are available. Proposals will be due Tuesday, July 24. The program provides release time or summer salary to a faculty member or research team for development and submission of a proposal for external funding. The grant will provide funds to support the cost of a replacement instructor for one 3-credit-hour course during the academic year and summer salary. The amount of funding provided will be based on the actual cost of the replacement instructor during the academic year. Program guidelines and application materials are available on the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs website. (6-20-18)

Hersch awarded Veterans Affairs grant

Gayle Hersch (occupational therapy, Houston) has been awarded a $6,000 grant from the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center for her study to adapt and develop Montessori Activity Programming for use with veterans residing in VA long-term care settings. The intent of the project is to test the implementation and sustainability of the programming in these community living centers by systematically evaluating intervention questions of treatment frequency duration, efficient training approaches for new sites and necessary modifications for uptake in the VA healthcare system. (6-13-18)

Keele, Lewis receive nursing research grant

Rebecca Keele (nursing, Denton) and Audra Lewis have been awarded $5,000 from the National League of Nursing (jointly funded with the Southern Nursing Research Society) for Lewis’ dissertation research, “Development of the Nurses’ Attitudes to Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) Interaction Scale.”

EPA grant to start next phase of Butterfly Garden

Biology faculty members Camelia Maier, Diana Elrod and Claire Sahlin (biology and multicultural women’s and gender studies) have been awarded $75,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency for their project to start phase II of the TWU Butterfly Garden and research the practices that enhance the habitat for wild pollinators and domesticated bees. The gardens will create habitats for pollinators, become educational observatories and research laboratories, and contribute to water conservation and pollution reduction. 

Grant aimed at educating rural librarians

Ling Hwey Jeng (School of Library and Information Studies) has been awarded $500,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian Program for a three-year project aimed at creating a comprehensive and sustainable Master of Library Science/Community Informatics curriculum to educate a cohort of 20 librarians from small, rural communities in Texas. Co-principal investigators are library sciences faculty Carol Perryman and William Senn.