Previous Recipients

2026

Name

Department

Project

Dr. Ashley AdamsBiologyDeep Soil as a Biodiversity Refuge and Driver of Ecosystem Resilience
Dr. Chi-Wei ChenBiologyDeveloping a dNTP Assay to Advance an NIH R15 Proposal on Ovarian Cancer
Dr. Mohammad JavidianComputer ScienceRiverCam AI: Real-Time River Discharge Estimation from Surface Imagery for Flood Resilience
Caleb JohnsonEnglishMoney Game: A Novel
Dr. Ina KimAnthropologyBook Project–Detecting the Unnatural: Data, Bodies, and Ecological Imaginaries in Post-Nuclear Japan
Dr. Hannah LeClairEnglishRenovated Landscapes: Victorian Realism after the Picturesque
Dr. Yeganeh MadadiComputer ScienceDevelopment and Study of an Innovative Humanoid Teaching Assistant Robot to Enhance Undergraduate Learning
Dr. Doris Morgan RuedaHistoryJuan Crow Juvenile Justice: Doing Time in the Arizona Borderlands, 1907-1967
Dr. Kelly RenwickInterdisciplinary StudiesImproving Food Security and Health Outcomes among the Latine Population in Rural NC through a Food Navigator Program
Dr. Brittany RobertsEnglishBecoming-With: Ecological Ethics and the More-Than-Human Worlds of Russian and American Horror
Dr. Cassidy SandovalPsychologyMind, Body, and Bump: Exploring Perinatal Body Image and Eating Behaviors
Dr. Sidonia SerafiniEnglishPrint Commons: Black Writing and Cultivating in the Presses of Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, 1892-1916
Dr. Cody TaylorGovernment and Justice StudiesLow Income Community Representation on Community Development Finance Institution Boards
Dr. Kirstin WaldkoenigPhilosophy and ReligionReframing the Individual: Vulnerability, Sexual Violence, and Social Vitality
Dr. Karlee WestremMathematical SciencesCombinatorial Relations of Specht Module Dimensions
Dr. Stephen WhitePsychologyEvaluating Phytochemicals for Anxiolytic and/or Antidepressant Effects
Dr. Zhiyuan YaoGeography and PlanningRural EV Charging Accessibility Through Data-Driven Optimization

2025

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Mohammed AdjietehMathematical SciencesQuantile Least Squares for Robust-Efficient Fitting and Validation of Loss Models
Dr. Nancy AsenChemistry and Fermentation SciencesStructure-function Relationship and Application of Oilseed Protein Isolates or Concentrates Derived from Fermentation-assisted Extraction
Dr. Brooke BurrowsPsychologyBridging and Bonding during Hurricane Helene: The Influence of Politics, Religion, and Social Class on Disaster Relief Efforts
Dr. Annu DaftuarInterdisciplinary StudiesA Critical Reading of Transnational Adoption Laws in India
Dr. Cara FioreBiologyDeveloping a Biological Oceanography NSF Proposal
Dr. Seth GroomsAnthropologyThe Lumbee River Archaeology Project (LRAP)
Dr. Thomas GrossPsychologyConnecting Prevention-focused Measurement and Educator Social/Emotional/Behavioral Data-use Training Scholarship
Dr. Peaches HashEnglishTeaching Arts-Based Research Book Proposal
Dr. Anna HollemanSociologyReligion as a Source of Support and Struggle for LGBTQ Family Formation
Dr. Yeganeh MadadiComputer ScienceHumanoid Robots Powered by Large Language Models to Enhance Communication with Autistic Children
Dr. Brad PhillisHistoryDescended Equally from Royal Seed: Crusade and the Counts of Flanders, 1071-1204
Dr. Christoph SchmitzLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesPeter Weiss & Dietmar Dath
Dr. Nazia SharminComputer ScienceModeling Adversary Intentions in Network Security: A Framework for Proactive Threat Detection and Defense
Dr. Rashmi SinghMathematical SciencesImpact of Professional Development on Math Story Framework in Elementary Prospective Teachers' Lesson Design
Dr. Elizabeth TrudeauSociologyProviding Services for Male Survivors
Dr. Adelya UrmanchePsychologyGirls Just Want to Have Fun(ding)
Dr. Hui WangGeography and PlanningResilience and Resistance of Riparian Vegetation to Drought: Insights from the Upper Tennessee River Basin
Dr. Zhiyuan YaoGeography and PlanningAssessing Public Transit Transfer Performance Using GTFS and Ridership Data in Boone, NC

2024

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. John BrooksGovernment and Justice StudiesPresidential Communications and Agency Rule-Making
Dr. Ruth CarmiSociologyIntersectionality, the Israeli-Palestinian Prolonged Conflict, and the Israeli Welfare State
Dr. Mac-Jane CraytonGovernment and Justice StudiesResearch Manuscript Writing on Voluntarism & Development of Proposals for Russell Sage Foundation/Carnegie Corporation Initiative
Dr. Vanessa EvansEnglish“Other Languages, Other Landscapes, Other Stories”: Reading Resurgence in the Contemporary Indigenous Novel
Dr. Mark HillsComputer ScienceA Formal Approach to Safer, More Understandable Programs
Dr. Christopher MarierGovernment and Justice StudiesADPD Evaluation
Dr. Matthew MeierPsychologyCognitive and Personality Correlates of Mind Wandering
Dr. Savannah MurrayEnglishThe Dam Fighters: Commons Environmental Rhetoric and Activism
Christine QuattroGeography and PlanningIn Harm's Way: Residential Zoning Classifications and Environmental Injustice
Dr. Stephanie Tsakeu MazanLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesSaartjie Baartman, Pocahontas, Anne Frank. Mémoires racisées ? Une lecture de 53 cm de Bessora.
Dr. Juhee WooSociologyUnderstanding Black Women's Smoking Behaviors through Local Contexts in the U.S.

2023

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Ashley AdamsBiologyA Trait-based Framework for Understanding Plant Responses to Altered Precipitation Regimes
Dr. Michael EngPhilosophy and Religion“Sounds of Subjection: Black Thinking’s Maternal Call in Fred Moten’s Heideggerian Poetics”
Dr. Tinghao FengComputer ScienceA Semi-Intelligent Approach for Epileptic Seizures Detection Using EEG Brain Signals
Dr. Robert FreelandSociologyCultural Misperceptions and the Gender Wage Gap
Dr. Mohammad Ali JavidianComputer SciencePerformance Debugging in Software Systems through the Lens of Causality
Dr. Hye-Sung KimGovernment and Justice StudiesDeveloping Proposals for the Korea Foundation's Policy-Oriented Research Program Grant and NSF Security and Preparedness (SAP) Grant
Dr. Paul LucasGovernment and Justice StudiesMeasuring the Successful Operation of Veterans Treatment Courts Through Their Adherence to the 10 Key Components: An Exploratory Examination
Dr. Jessica MartellInterdisciplinary StudiesGreenwashing and the Global Pastoral
Dr. Raja RahimHistoryOur Ball, Our Game: The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Assocation and the History of Black College Basketball in the United States, 1912-1992
Dr. Kelly RenwickInterdisciplinary StudiesFood Insecurity and Health Inequity among the Latinx Community in the North Carolina High Country
Dr. Todd StincicBiologySex Differences in Energy Balance
Dr. Peter ThompsonGovernment and Justice StudiesArmed Conflict and Maternal Health Outcomes in Africa: A Geospatial Analysis
Dr. Xiaofei TuLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesBook Manuscript "Women’s Autobiographies and 20th Century Chinese Revolution (1921-1949)"
Dr. Matthew WrightSociologyIntergenerational Relationships Among Older Cohabitors

2022

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Dylan BlackstonInterdisciplinary StudiesTrans*plantations of Life: How Capital Makes and Changes Kinds (Book Project)
Dr. Allison FredetteHistoryTumult and Temptation: Love and Divorce in Postbellum Western North Carolina
Dr. Jon GordonSociologyVigilant: Violence and Community Transformation in Medellín, Colombia.
Dr. Kinji ItoLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesTranslating Overlooked Literary Works
Dr. Marc KisselAnthropologyFunding for Writing "Biological Anthropology-the Basics"
Dr. Johnnie LotestaSociologyRightward in the Rustbelt: Political Parties, Policy, and the Crisis of Representation
Dr. Bethany MannonEnglishI Grew Up in the Church: The Activist Rhetoric of Contemporary Evangelical Women
Dr. Nii OkineMathematical SciencesRatemaking in a Changing Environment
Dr. Roshani SilwalPhysics and AstronomyFinalize the X-ray Irradiation Setup and Perform Spectroscopic Measurements at the NIST Electron Beam Ion Trap Facility
Dr. Kyle StevensEnglishAgainst Bodies: Cinema, Identity, and Inner Voice in the Age of Headphones
Dr. Juhee WooSociologyExamining the "African American Smoking Paradox" Through a Local Context in North Carolina
Dr. Stephanie YepPhilosophy and ReligionHagiographical Innovation and Aniconism in the Work of Majid Majidi

2021

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Rachel BleichBiologyNIH Proposal on Upper GI Microbiome
Dr. Jeff CarterGovernment and Justice StudiesThe Politics of Hawks and Doves
Dr. Megen CulpepperChemistry and Fermentation SciencesProposal Development for an NIH R15 AREA award
Dr. Adrienne ErazoLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesTraumatized Identities in Transit: Central American Migration in Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Cultural Production
Dr. Sarah EvansGeological and Environmental SciencesCan’t Take the Heat? Modeling Thawing Permafrost Landscapes in the Warming Arctic
Dr. Cameron GokeeAnthropologyBandafassi Regional Archaeological Project: Current Research & Future Funding
Dr. Cuong MaiPhilosophy and ReligionThe Earth, the Waters, and the Souls of Dead Humans: The Terrain of Local Power in Traditional Vietnam (ca. 1300-1800)
Dr. Clarice MoranEnglishNext Level Grammar for a Digital Age Book Project
Dr. Elizabeth PeregoHistoryWar-Torn Algeria as Woman: Gendered Representations of Conflict and Islam on the Verge of 9/11
Dr. Andrew PolonskyComputer ScienceHi-TEQ: Higher Theories of Program EQuivalence
Dr. Paul SebastianLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesAppalachian State University-University of Salamanca Virtual Conversation Exchange
Dr. Julie Shepherd-PowellInterdisciplinary StudiesDiversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Global Roots of Appalachian Mountain Dance
Dr. Song ShuGeography and PlanningMonitoring Snow Accumulation in Appalachian Mountains with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and NASA Satellite Observations
Dr. Roshani SilwalPhysics and AstronomyStudy the Effects of X-ray Irradiation on Biological Cells and Apply for External Funding to Build an Ion Trap
Dr. Christian WallenChemistry and Fermentation SciencesSynthesis of Catalysts for Removal of Hydrogen Sulfide from Natural Gas

2020

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Felicia ArriagaSociologyThe ‘Unintended’ Consequences of Crimmigration : ICE, Local Law Enforcement, and Justice in a New Destination Community
Dr. Cole EdwardsGeological and Environmental SciencesWriting an NSF Grant That Questions the Widely Held Notion That Anoxia Was the Main Driver of the Late Devonian Mass Extinction
Dr. Allison FredetteHistory"Murdering Laura Foster: Violence, Gender, and Memory in Appalachian North Carolina"
Dr. Christopher HoldenPsychologyThe Effects of Socioeconomic Stressors on Relationship Functioning
Dr. Heather OndercinGovernment and Justice StudiesPoliticized Identities and the Partisan Gender Gap
Dr. Johnathan SuggGeography and PlanningVisual communication and the cartography of climate change

2019

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Emanuele AlvesChemistry and Fermentation SciencesDevelopment and Validation of a Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction Method for Analysis of Mitragynine and Its Derivatives in Kratom Beverages
Dr. Kara DempseyGeography and PlanningThe Political Geography of International Forced Migration
Dr. Belinda WalzerEnglishThe Right Time: Human Rights, Temporality, Rhetoric

2018

NameDepartmentProject
Dr. Darci GardnerLanguages, Literatures, and CulturesHow Fictions Exploit Cognitive Biases
Dr. Jennifer GeibBiologyApp State as an REU Site: Research on Species Interactions in the Southern Appalachians
Dr. Cameron GokeeAnthropologyUndocumented Migration Project: Art Installation and Co-Edited Volume
Dr. Mary KinkelBiologyAnalysis of Gut Motility Disorders Using a Novel Model
Dr. Ellen LamontSociologyThe Mating Game: Courtship in an Era of Gender Upheaval
Dr. Scott RelyeaHistoryLearning to Be Colonial: ‘Effective Occupation’ and Early Twentieth Century Chinese Settlement of Eastern Tibet
Dr. Hasthika RupasingheMathematical SciencesA New Regularization and Variable Selection Estimator - HRLR
Dr. Kyle StevensEnglishEditing The Oxford Handbook of Film Studies
Dr. Lasanthi WatagodaMathematical SciencesA New Regularization and Variable Selection Estimator - HRLR
Dr. Dieter WeberChemistry and Fermentation SciencesWeber Research Lab Summer Experience in Organic Synthesis
Dr. Twila WingrovePsychologyEvaluations of Sexual Consent in Sexual Assault Trials

2017

NameDepartment
Dr. Maryam AhmedBiology
Dr. Andrew BellemerBiology
Dr. Sushmita ChatterjeeInterdisciplinary Studies
Dr. Jeff ColbyGeography and Planning
Dr. Megen CulpepperChemistry and Fermentation Sciences
Dr. Jill EhnennEnglish
Dr. Rick ElmorePhilosophy and Religion
Dr. Amy GallowayPsychology
Dr. Kim HallPhilosophy and Religion
Dr. Davis HankinsPhilosophy and Religion
Dr. Andrew HeckertGeological and Environmental Sciences
Dr. Sarah Beth HoptonEnglish
Dr. John Paul JamesonPsychology
Dr. Brad JohnsonPhysics and Astronomy
Dr. Mary KinkelBiology
Dr. Cathy MarcumGovernment and Justice Studies
Dr. Scott MarshallGeological and Environmental Sciences
Dr. Courtney McGaheePhysics and Astronomy
Dr. Jessica MitchellGeography and Planning
Dr. Kevin MullinixGovernment and Justice Studies
Dr. Robert NorrisGovernment and Justice Studies
Dr. Michael OpataBiology
Carla RamsdellPhysics and Astronomy
Dr. Nicholas ShawChemistry and Fermentation Sciences
Dr. Stef ShusterSociology
Dr. Stephen SommerChemistry and Fermentation Sciences
Dr. Benji SouzaLanguages, Literatures, and Cultures
Dr. Maggie SuggGeography and Planning
Dr. Jason WhiteHistory
Dr. Lauren WoodsChemistry and Fermentation Sciences

2016

NameDepartment
Dr. Gabriele CasaleGeological and Environmental Sciences
Dr. Brooke ChristianChemistry and Fermentation Sciences
Dr. Cuong MaiPhilosophy and Religion
Dr. Elizabeth ShayGeography and Planning
Dr. Andrew SmithPsychology
Dr. Alice WrightAnthropology