Office of Research

Off

Mon, 03/31/2025 - 16:31

Postdoctoral researchers on campus are another sign of UM-Dearborn’s growing research culture. But what exactly do postdocs do, and why can they be a game changer for university research?

Postdoctoral researcher Gajendra Singh Chawda is currently researching high-frequency AC microgrids with Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Wencong Su. Photo by Annie Barker

Office of Research update for April 2025

lblouin — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:23:26 +0000

Office of Research update for April 2025 lblouin Mon, 03/31/2025 - 10:23

External Awards Received

U-M Principal Investigator: Tian An Wong
Project Title: Assessing Surveillance Efficacy and Fostering Visions for Community Safety for Social Justice in Detroit, MI
Sponsor: American Council of Learned Societies (via University of Cincinnati)
Awarded Amount: $23,500

The Safety Ain’t Surveillance Coalition is a citywide organization seeking to build non-punitive ways to build safety across our city, without continued reliance on surveillance technologies that strip Detroiters of their privacy while criminalizing Black neighborhoods and people. The research work will involve collaborating with community members to address the current divide between digital justice, racial injustice and public safety. We are carrying out this work by building critical perspectives that inform the protection of rights to privacy in the nation's largest majority-Black city through collaborative analysis, the development of a layered interactive digital map, and corresponding oral histories of Detroiters addressing digital justice, racial injustice and public safety.

U-M Principal Investigator: Jacob Napieralski
Project Title: Building and Enhancing Environmental Education and Stewardship in SE Michigan
Sponsor: DTE Energy Foundation
Awarded Amount: $18,000

The goal of this project is to increase access to and diversity of educational programming at the UM-Dearborn Environmental Interpretive Center for homeschool groups, K-12 classes, community members and our campus community in 2025. Engaging with as many residents (young and old) as possible will generate informed citizens that can tackle tough issues and help shift communities toward sustainability and equity. The project will also support stewardship opportunities to manage the natural area, both in terms of improving the safety and quality of the habitats.

Announcements

Tracking Federal Changes: UMOR Research Blog

The U-M Office of Research has continued to monitor and update their research blog Tracking Federal Changes related to ongoing changes in the federal administration. There you will find useful information such as the process for appealing terminated federal awards, as well as eligibility for the new research funding program that was developed in response to federal stop-work orders.

Resources for Faculty Preparing Proposals to NSF

The Office of Research Administration provides instruction and guidance documents for faculty who are working to prepare a proposal or manage an award from NSF. Interested faculty can find this information at this link in Google Drive.

Research Events in April

U-M Library, Introduction to Zotero for Citation Management
- Zotero, a free citation management tool that lets you easily organize and cite all the resources you use for your research. In this workshop, you will:
  - Set up your Zotero account
  - Learn how to get citations into Zotero
  - Create and organize personal and group libraries
  - Annotate the PDFs you read
  - Add a bibliography and in-text citations in your Google Docs or Microsoft Word document.
  - Please note: To use Zotero, you will need a desktop or laptop computer – not a Chromebook or tablet – capable of downloading software. While having a desktop or laptop is not required during the workshop, it would help if you plan to get your account set up during this session.
- Thursday, April 3, 12-1 p.m., virtual
- Register here
NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Seminars
- The Ann Arbor Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering is hosting an NSF CAREER seminar series and has extended an invitation to interested Dearborn faculty to join. Registration is required- register for individual events using the links below.
- NSF CAREER: How to Address Reviewer Feedback - Friday, April 4, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. - 3725 Bob and Betty Beyster Building
- NSF CAREER: Project Description: The Research Plan - Thursday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF Panel TBD - Thursday, May 8, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. - Ford Library
American Cancer Society (ACS), Extramural Discovery Science Grants Workshop
- The Extramural Discovery Science Grants Workshop, hosted by the American Cancer Society (ACS), will provide tips on applying for the upcoming spring application cycle. The ACS awards research grants and fellowships to promising scientists early in their careers who have unique hypotheses for cancer prevention and study.
- Wednesday, April 9, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Register here by April 7.
IRB-HSBS, IRB On-the-Road Drop-In Session
- Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.
- Wednesday, April 16, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
UM-Ann Arbor Office of Research Development Grant Prix Seminar Series
- UM-Ann Arbor Office of Research Development (ORD) has launched a seminar series on research proposal development, featuring a range of topics designed to boost grant writing expertise. View previous sessions on the ORD YouTube. Grant Prix will continue every third Friday of the month at 12 p.m. starting in February:
  - April 25: NIH Updates to the Biosketch and using SciENcv, virtual
  - May 23: Broadening participation and inclusive excellence in grant proposals, virtual
- Register now for an opportunity to elevate your grant writing skills!

Research Resource Highlight: National Institutes of Health Bio Art Graphics Collection

Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool that is available for researchers. This month, we are featuring the free National Institutes of Health Bio Art Graphics collection.

NIH offers over 2,000 high-quality scientific and medical graphics for free to aid researchers, educators and healthcare professionals. These graphics serve to enhance presentations and research by providing accurate visual representations of complex scientific concepts. The collection includes various file formats, making it easy to use in research papers, presentations or proposals, enhancing their impact. NIH 3D also offers an open, community-driven portal to download, share and create bioscientific and medical 3D models for 3D printing and interactive 3D visualization, including virtual and augmented reality. Access the free collections here: NIH Bio Art Graphics and NIH 3D.

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

The Office of Research maintains a list of selected funding opportunities, organized by college on our website under Announcements. In addition, we encourage you to check out the Hanover Research subject area calendars with funding opportunities which we upload on a regular basis to our website.

Please refer to OVPR’s Tracking Federal Changes 2025 page for more information and updates related to the Trump administration's changes to federal research funding.

Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.

Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.

Off

Mon, 03/31/2025 - 14:19

See which of your colleagues' work is getting funded, browse the calendar of upcoming research events and learn about ways to support your work.

Fixing the damn . . . waterways

kapalm — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 17:04:02 +0000

Fixing the damn . . . waterways kapalm Fri, 03/21/2025 - 13:04

Last Friday, one of Michigan’s largest tourist attractions — which also happens to be a tremendous driver of the state and nation’s economy — reopened for business. Every year, the Soo Locks close in mid-January for about 10 weeks so the Army Corps of Engineers can perform maintenance and ensure this gateway to the Great Lakes — in 2024, the locks enabled 68 million tons of raw materials like iron ore, taconite, coal, crude oil, salt, grain to be delivered to ports from Duluth to Buffalo and beyond — functions smoothly during the shipping season. An unexpected closure for maintenance would be devastating, causing costly delays in everything from auto assembly to food processing. Around 500,000 visitors will head to Sault Ste. Marie, in the northeastern Upper Peninsula, between now and next January to watch ships enter the Poe and Macarthur locks, then be slowly lowered to continue toward Lake Michigan or Lake Huron or raised to enter Lake Superior.

The nation’s extensive network of inland locks receives far less attention, but it is equally vital to the U.S. economy, facilitating the movement of 12 billion tons of commodities worth $770 billion each year. And the need to prevent unexpected malfunction is just as great. In 2003, costs from the closure of the main lock chamber, known as a miter gate, at the Greenup Locks in Kentucky resulted in a loss of approximately $41.9 million from delays and alternative shipping costs. While our nation’s system of lakes and rivers functions much as our highways do, with branching arteries ferrying traffic in multiple directions, there are a couple crucial differences. First, when traffic is blocked, there are no surface roads to hop onto. So when goods can’t make it through a waterway, they have to be delivered by different means, like trucks or trains.

Second, shipping lane shutdowns typically last much longer than freeway closures. “You can’t finish the maintenance within one or two days. Sometimes it takes several weeks or several months,” explains Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Zhen Hu. “So we cannot do the maintenance or repair of the locks too frequently. We have to consider the disruption to the supply chain and other transportation, that kind of stuff.”

Armagan Bayram

Currently, lock maintenance scheduling decisions are made based on what might best be described as highly informed guesswork: decision-makers consider the age of the lock, the duration of operation, the results of inspections and other relevant factors — much like you bring your car in for maintenance based on mileage, time of year and whether you hear a strange noise. Using advanced mathematical models and machine learning, Hu and his fellow IMSE Associate Professor Armagan Bayram aim to develop a much more fine-tuned and integrated system to inform lock maintenance schedules. Their work, which will incorporate sensor data from locks along the Ohio River, is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Hu explains it like this: “You have locks in different places along the rivers. On one river, you have maybe 10 locks. The traditional way of predicting failures is just looking at the lock by itself. But using this machine learning model, it allows us to share information across the different locks. If you consider the locks like a patient, when a doctor diagnoses the failures or disease of a patient, they do not only look at that individual, but also consider other similarities among different patients. That can help us to predict failure faster and with higher confidence.”

Data security is especially vital in this project — the monitoring data of the locks, if breached, could compromise national security and have far-reaching economic effects. In the method the researchers will use — known as federated learning — the data remains decentralized rather than stored on a central server, as in more traditional AI-training models, so it is considered highly protected. “This new machine learning approach allows us to preserve the privacy of the data. You do not have to share the data directly,” Hu explains.

A major challenge of the project is that there is a limited amount of data to work with. “Locks typically operate for anywhere from 60 to 90 years and failure is rare,” Hu explains. “Also, a miter gate is not like a car. You have millions of cars, but you don't have that many miter gates. There are only a few hundred in the U.S. This makes it hard to get failure data.” To address this challenge, Hu and Bayram plan to tackle the highly complex task of integrating information from computer simulations with data from real-time, sensor-based observations as they build out their model.

In addition to enabling engineers to set more precise maintenance schedules of individual miter gates, Hu and Bayram’s project aims to analyze the economic impacts on the overall transportation and supply chain networks when one or two locks are shut down. This information could point to the optimal time to take a specific lock out of service, Hu says. “We want to create a framework that will help with making a decision regarding when to perform maintenance, repair or replacement and look at it at a system level, not the individual level. That can reduce unnecessary downtime and reduce the overall system operational costs,” he explains.

”We don’t want to perform the repair too frequently, and we don’t want to perform the repair too late,” Hu adds. In other words, he and Bayram aim to find the sweet spot that will keep both ships and our economy flowing smoothly.

###

Story by Kristin Palm

The preliminary results of Hu and Bayram's research were generated through the support of a digital twin project funded by the United States Army Corps of Engineers through University of California San Diego and Hottinger Bruel & Kjaer.

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering

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Tue, 03/25/2025 - 15:49

In the U.S., ships transport $770 billion worth of commodities via inland lakes and rivers each year. IMSE Associate Professors Zhen Hu and Armagan Bayram aim to make this system more cost-effective and efficient.

IMSE Associate Professor Zhen Hu is leading a project to make inland waterway transport more efficient. Photo by Annie Barker

Office of Research update for March 2025

lblouin — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:22:01 +0000

Office of Research update for March 2025 lblouin Wed, 03/12/2025 - 08:22

External Awards Received

U-M Principal Investigator: Pravansu Mohanty
Project Title: Digital Enterprise Technology for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle Phase II
Sponsor: Department of Defense - Army (via National Center for Manufacturing Sciences)
Award Amount: $1,645,200

This project supports the Army’s Digital Transformation Strategy by creating a collaborative digital engineering environment where industry partners can improve the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of military systems. By using digital tools and models, teams can manage engineering changes more efficiently, optimize supply chains, and reduce costs. The project also includes workforce development efforts, offering training in systems engineering and digital technologies to better prepare professionals for the future of defense manufacturing.

U-M Principal Investigator: Suvranta Tripathy
Project Title: Elucidating the Impact of Early Endosomal pH on SARS-CoV-2 Transport in Cardiomyocytes
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Awarded Amount: $199,327

Cardiac injury is the most frequent complication of COVID-19. We aim to understand how the virus gets into heart cells, hoping to find ways to stop it. The virus is taken into the heart cell within a membrane-bound compartment known as an endosome. The acidity in the endosomes typically increases as the compartment moves from the cell periphery towards the inside. Intriguingly, genetic studies of COVID-19 patients have highlighted the importance of the protein NHE9 in controlling this acidity. Higher levels of NHE9 make the endosome less acidic, which we observed disrupts the virus's journey within the cell and makes it harder for it to infect. This disruption involves how tiny "motor proteins" move the endosomes along pathways within the cell. We will study how changes in NHE9 manipulate the acidity to affect the movement of the virus-containing endosomes, including the role of these motor proteins. The goal is to see if targeting NHE9 could be a new way to stop viral entry and prevent COVID-19 related heart damage.

U-M Principal Investigator: Finn Bell
Project Title: The Least of These: Violence, freedom, and the promise of a new world
Direct Sponsor: American Bar Foundation
Awarded Amount: $36,000

The Least of These traces the legacy of black freedom making in former slave societies. It attends to the ways that emergent collectives imagined and enacted forms of freedom, for themselves and for others, and worked toward a future without bondage. The project does so to better inform how we might design a more just world. The project is led by Reuben Jonathan Miller at the University of Chicago. Bell lends methodological expertise on oral history and research coordination.

U-M Principal Investigator: Zhen Hu
Project Title: Surrogate Modeling for Dynamic Systems Based on Reduced-Order Modeling
Direct Sponsor: Sandia National Laboratories
Awarded Amount: $80,000

Hu will work with researchers from Sandia National Laboratories to develop reduced-order modeling techniques for fast surrogate modeling of computational expensive nonlinear dynamic systems. The surrogate model will accelerate the analysis, monitoring and control of complex nonlinear dynamics systems.

U-M Principal Investigator: Christos Constantinides
Project Title: Leveraging Radical Dynamics to Generate Nuclear Spin Hyperpolarization
Direct Sponsor: Department of Energy
Award Amount: $600,000

This project aims to improve Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technique used to analyze molecular structures, by developing new materials that enhance signal strength. By designing and testing special molecules called radicals, this project aims to make NMR imaging more sensitive and efficient. This could lead to better tools for studying chemistry, materials and even medical imaging.

Announcements

UM-Dearborn Earns the R2 Carnegie Classification

Earlier this month, UM-Dearborn was reclassified as an R2 institution–a designation for universities with high research activity and one of three classifications for doctoral universities, along with R1 (very high research activity) and D/PU (doctoral/professional universities).

This designation comes from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education for universities that award at least 20 research doctorates and have $5 million average annual research spending. It is the first time the university has received this designation. See the Reporter article here!

UMOR Continues to Monitor Updates to Federal Funding

The U-M Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) continues to update their webpage for researchers and administrators to track information related to federal directives that may impact research and federally sponsored projects. Everyone is encouraged to visit this page periodically to view the most recent updates and recommendations from OVPR.

Virtual Gift Card Option for Human Subjects Payments

The Human Subjects Incentives Program (HSIP) has added an option for virtual gift cards that can be e-mailed to subjects. Researchers who have IRB approval to provide gift cards to research participants can submit their requests through our HSIP Request form to obtain such payments, including electronic gift cards.

Research Events in March

M-PACT Career Development Series: Early-Career Faculty as Change Agents
- In this webinar, you will discover strategies to navigate tenure while remaining a committed change agent. Experience insightful discussions with both early-career and seasoned faculty who will share their experiences and lessons learned. The webinar will provide valuable resources to enhance leadership skills and foster advocacy for emerging academic leaders. Designed to both inspire and equip, this session will prepare early-career faculty to excel as both scholars and transformational leaders.
- Registration required
- Wednesday, March 10 @ 12 p.m., virtual
IRWG; Sustaining Feminist Research in an Era of Change
- Join the UM-Ann Arbor Institute for Research on Women & Gender (IRWG) for an engaging town hall focused on navigating the changing research landscape with confidence and innovation. This conversation will highlight the experiences of scholars who have successfully adapted to shifts in politics, policy, funding, and institutional priorities — offering actionable insights for the future. Panelists will share their experiences, discuss strategies and take questions from attendees.
- Thursday, March 13 @ 4-5:30 p.m.
  - In-person (location TBD) and virtual option
  - Registration required
NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Seminars
- The Ann Arbor Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering is hosting an NSF CAREER seminar series and has extended an invitation to interested Dearborn faculty to join. Registration is required- register for individual events using the links below.
- NSF CAREER: Structuring your CAREER for Reviewers - Thursday, March 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: How to Address Reviewer Feedback - Friday, April 4, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - 3336 Duderstadt or Robotics
- NSF CAREER: Project Description: The Research Plan - Thursday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF Panel TBD - Thursday, May 8, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Ford Library
IRB-HSBS, IRB On-the-Road Drop-In Session
- Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.
- Wednesday, March 19, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Wednesday, April 16, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
PERI Winter 2025 Focused Intensive: Strategically Navigating Projects for Public Impact
- The Office of Public Engagement and Research Impacts is hosting a Winter 2025 Focused Intensive, composed of four virtual learning experience sessions between Feb. 21 and March 21 on planning and managing projects for public impact, including designing, implementing, evaluating, and closing projects and partnerships. Participants will explore and apply frameworks, resources and best practices in equitable, collaborative project planning and management to an initiative of the participant's choosing. All U-M faculty, research trainees and research support staff are welcome to apply. Faculty are eligible for $500 in research discretionary funds after completing the final session.
  - Session 3: Keeping Your Project on Track (or Changing Course if Necessary); Friday, March 14 - 10-11:30 a.m., virtual
  - Session 4: Transitioning and Wrapping up for Impact; Friday, March 21, 10-11:30 a.m., virtual
- Registration required
UM-Ann Arbor Office of Research Development Grant Prix Seminar Series
- UM-Ann Arbor Office of Research Development (ORD) has launched a seminar series on research proposal development, featuring a range of topics designed to boost grant writing expertise. View previous sessions on the ORD YouTube. Grant Prix will continue every third Friday of the month at 12 p.m. starting in February:
  - March 28: Budgeting for large-scale proposals, virtual
  - April 25: NIH Updates to the Biosketch (and using SciENcv, virtual)
  - May 23: Broadening participation and inclusive excellence in grant proposals, virtual
- Register now for an opportunity to elevate your grant writing skills!
MICHR, Communicating the Value of Your Research to a Broad Audience: How to Tailor Communications to Specific People or Groups
- This two-hour workshop will teach the importance of value propositions and tailoring research communication in a way that makes it compelling for every audience. Often referred to as the “elevator pitch,” you will have the opportunity to create a short, professional introduction for your research that can be used at any social gathering, departmental meeting, or professional conference. You will learn how to tailor your elevator pitch to fit the different audiences and situations you may face in the future.
- This workshop is sponsored by FastForward, Office of Faculty Development, and MICHR.
- Faculty can register. If you are a U-M staff member or student, please contact Faculty Development at UMMS-Faculty-Development@med.umich.edu to request registration.
- Thursday, March 13 @ 12-2:00 p.m., virtual

Research Resource Highlight: Protocols.io

Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool that is available for researchers. This month we are featuring Protocols.io.

Protocols.io is a free and open-access repository and workflow tool for researchers to collaboratively create step-by-step, interactive, and dynamic protocols that can be read and run on mobile or the web. With protocols.io, you can share protocols with colleagues, collaborators, or specific research communities while maintaining control over who sees your work. Alternatively, you can make your protocols publicly discoverable, ensuring you receive credit and enabling other researchers to build on your work. The platform's versioning, Q&A, and troubleshooting features foster real-time communication. To learn more, please visit the protocols.io website.

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

The Office of Research maintains a list of selected funding opportunities, organized by college on our website under Announcements. In addition, yearly grant calendars organized by subject area provided by Hanover Research are available there as well.

Please refer to the Research Resource Highlight section above for more information and updates related to the Trump administration's changes to federal research funding.

Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.

Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.

Off

Wed, 03/12/2025 - 12:21

See which of your colleagues' work is getting funded, browse the calendar of upcoming research events and learn about ways to support your work.

IRB-on-the-Road

vselke — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:34:00 +0000

IRB-on-the-Road vselke Fri, 02/21/2025 - 10:34

Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.

2025-04-16T14:00:00-0400 to2025-04-16T15:30:00-0400

United States

Online/Virtual

This event is hosted by IRB Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences (HSBS)

Elizabeth Molina

molinael@umich.edu

Link to Zoom

Apply for a RID grant here.

Office of Research update: February 2025

stuxbury — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 16:26:35 +0000

Office of Research update: February 2025 stuxbury Fri, 01/31/2025 - 11:26

External Awards Received

U-M Principal Investigator: Finn Bell
Project Title: Ypsi Farmers & Gardeners Oral History Project
Direct Sponsor: National Endowment for the Humanities (via Michigan Humanities Council)
Awarded Amount: $20,000
The Ypsi Farmers Gardeners Oral History Project is a community-driven, public digital humanities archive that is housed at the Ypsilanti District Library. The project provides a platform for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and/or working-class farmers and gardeners in Ypsilanti to tell their own stories in their own words, thereby connecting the public to often ignored cultural heritage. The stories illuminate cultural resilience, land justice and the importance of growing food in this time of climate crisis. Michigan Humanities funding will allow us to continue the project by: a) convening a community advisory board to guide the project; b) recording 10 more oral histories; c) exhibiting the project to reach audiences beyond Ypsilanti, and d) conducting a participatory evaluation.

U-M Principal Investigator: Doohyun Kim
Project Title: Experimental Characterization of T-GDI Engine for Development of CFD model
Direct Sponsor: Aramco Services Company
Awarded Amount: $53,532.00
Optimization of various engine-operating parameters, such as spark timing and valve timing, is required to fully realize the potential for emission reductions while maintaining fuel economy. 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling of the engine is an effective predictive tool to guide the optimization process. This project aims to experimentally characterize a modern gasoline engine with variable valve duration system, generating a dataset necessary for development of a CFD model. Measurements include temperatures and pressures along the air path, high-speed dynamic in-cylinder pressure for combustion analysis, and emissions.

U-M Principal Investigator: Joan Remski
Project Title: Accelerating STEM Success at the ÿ�մ��
Direct Sponsor: U.S. Dept of Treasury (via State of Michigan Dept of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential)
Awarded Amount: $319,746.00
This project proposes to intentionally transform the experience for first-time college students majoring in STEM by improving teaching and learning in several highly enrolled gateway courses. In addition to the redesign of curriculum, the project plans to provide these students with a personalized and scalable digital coaching platform that has been proven to enhance both academic performance and persistence. These outcomes will be achieved by engaging STEM faculty with course redesign programming through the Gardner Institute and by working with the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor to implement the learning tool ECoach on the UM-Dearborn campus. Coordinated by the Office of the Provost, the campus has a dedicated, diverse and engaged group of faculty and staff members, with a strong track record of student-centered innovative practices, who are eager to complete this transformational work.

U-M Principal Investigator: Mathumai Kanapathipillai
Project Title: Novel bioinspired nanoformulation to treat oxidative stress associated NETosis
Direct Sponsor: American Heart Association
Awarded Amount: $200,000
Neutrophils are a vital part of the body’s immune system. During immune defense they release web-like structures that are termed as neutrophil extracellular matrix (NETs). Under stress, neutrophil extracellular matrix formation has been shown to play a major role in pathogenesis of organ injury. Among the diseases associated with oxidative stress and NETosis, we focus on pulmonary hypertension (PH) as a disease model. PH is a life-threatening pulmonary vascular disease. Recent therapeutic approaches for PH only partially improve symptoms and survival. Targeting NETosis with novel PH drugs could help PH patients. In this proposal, we propose a novel approach to treat PH. We will use novel drug molecules inspired by nature, and nanotechnology to package the identified drugs. First, we will test the drug molecules in healthy and PH patient cells. Next, we will form nanoparticles with effective drugs and test the efficacy and safety in a mouse PH model at our collaborators lab at Wisconsin Medical College. Students will visit our collaborator’s lab to learn and participate in the PH model studies. The project could have a positive impact on the treatment of PH.

Announcements

Tracking Federal Funding Updates
The U-M Office of the Vice President for Research has created a webpage where researchers and administrators can track updates related to new federal directives that may impact research and federally sponsored projects. Everyone is encouraged to visit this page periodically to view the most recent updates and recommendations from OVPR.

The National Science Foundation has also created a webpage dedicated to the NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders.

Virtual Gift Card Option for Human Subjects Payments
The Human Subjects Incentives Program has added an option for virtual gift cards that can be e-mailed to subjects. Researchers who have IRB approval to provide gift cards to research participants can submit their requests through our HSIP Request form to obtain such payments, including electronic gift cards.

Call for Nominations: OVPR Research Faculty & Staff Awards
The Dearborn community is strongly encouraged to consider nominating UM-Dearborn staff and faculty for the annual OVPR Research Faculty & Staff Awards.

Research staff and faculty play a critical role in supporting and advancing university operations. OVPR is seeking nominations for its series of awards to recognize members of its the UM research community whose work helps advance knowledge, solve challenging problems, create new products, and enhance quality of life.

Research Staff awards are open to all regular non-faculty staff members employed by any unit of the University of Michigan’s three campuses. Students, tenured/tenure track, clinical track and research track faculty are not eligible for these awards. Submit your nominations by Feb. 12.

To honor the scholarly work of research faculty, OVPR also encourages nominations for its Collegiate Research Professorship Award, Research Faculty Achievement Award and Research Faculty Recognition Award. The newly established Research Faculty Mentor Award has been created to recognize the outstanding research faculty who have demonstrated excellence in mentoring and celebrate the crucial role that mentorship plays in the professional and personal development of emerging researchers. Learn more Research Faculty Awards and submit your nominations by Feb. 19.

Campus Grants Updates
Open Invitation: The Open Invitation Campus Grants are now closed because funding for the FY25 cycle has been exhausted. Funding for the next fiscal year is anticipated to be announced in July 2025.

Competitive: The winter cycle of the Office of Research Competitive Campus Grants is now open for applications, with a submission deadline Monday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m.

The Competitive Campus Grants below are available to all UM-Dearborn tenured/tenure-track faculty. We regret to inform you that due to budgetary constraints, we will not be able to reopen the Thematic Research Planning Grants during the FY2025 Winter Cycle.

Research Initiation and Development (RID) Grants aim to assist faculty and research staff with the development of innovative, collaborative research proposals that will advance the UM-Dearborn mission. The program supports proposals which will help place the principal investigator (PI) and the research team in a strong position to receive additional, external funding from federal agencies, foundations, and/or industry.

Budget floor: $10,000; Budget ceiling: $20,000

Scholars (SCH) Grants support research, scholarship, and creative activities in the arts. This program is intended for projects with funding needs not usually addressed by other support programs within or outside the University.

Budget floor: $6,000; Budget ceiling: $10,000.

Apply for a SCH grant here.

More information about the campus grants programs including eligibility, previously funded projects and frequently asked questions can be found on our Campus Grants webpage. For additional questions, please email Dbn-CampusGrants@umich.edu.

Research Events in January

NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Seminars
- The Ann Arbor Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering is hosting an NSF CAREER seminar series and has extended an invitation to interested Dearborn faculty to join. Registration is required- register for individual events using the links below.
- Resources for Education, Outreach, Diversity, and Evaluation - Thursday (2/13) 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: Structuring your CAREER for Reviewers - Thursday (3/13) 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: How to Address Reviewer Feedback - Friday (4/4) 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - 3336 Duderstadt or Robotics
- NSF CAREER: Project Description: The Research Plan - Thursday (4/10) 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF Panel TBD - Thursday (5/8) 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Ford Library
IRB-HSBS, IRB On-the-Road Drop-In Session
- Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.
- Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Wednesday, March 19, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Wednesday, April 16, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
PERI Winter 2025 Focused Intensive: Strategically Navigating Projects for Public Impact
- The Office of Public Engagement and Research Impacts is hosting a Winter 2025 Focused Intensive, composed of four virtual learning experience sessions between Feb. 21 and Mar. 21 on planning and managing projects for public impact, including designing, implementing, evaluating, and closing projects and partnerships. Participants will explore and apply frameworks, resources and best practices in equitable, collaborative project planning and management to an initiative of the participant's choosing. All U-M faculty, research trainees and research support staff are welcome to apply. Faculty are eligible for $500 in research discretionary funds after completing the final session. Applications are due Feb. 7.
  - Session 1: Developing a Collaborative Guiding Vision & Strategy; Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 - 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m., virtual
  - Session 2: Elements of an Effective and Equitable Project Plan; Friday, Feb. 28, 2025 - 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m., virtual
  - Session 3: Keeping Your Project on Track (or Changing Course if Necessary); Friday, March 14, 2025-10 a.m. -11:30 a.m., virtual
  - Session 4: Transitioning and Wrapping up for Impact; Friday, March 21, 2025 - 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m., virtual
- Registration required
UM-Ann Arbor Office of Research Development Grant Prix Seminar Series
- UM-Ann Arbor Office of Research Development (ORD) has launched a seminar series on research proposal development, featuring a range of topics designed to boost grant writing expertise. View previous sessions on the ORD YouTube. Grant Prix will continue every third Friday of the month at 12:00 p.m. starting in February:
  - Feb. 28: NIH 101, virtual
  - March 28: Budgeting for large-scale proposals, virtual
  - April 25: NIH Updates to the Biosketch (and using SciENcv, virtual
  - May 23: Broadening participation and inclusive excellence in grant proposals, virtual
- Register now for an opportunity to elevate your grant writing skills!
MICHR, Collaborative Research: A Virtual Training
- Collaborative Research, which includes Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Community Engaged Research (CEnR), is a process to address community priorities and issues such as health disparities. After participating in this session, attendees will be able to discuss:
  - the rationale for this type of research
  - the continuum for community engagement
  - phases for partnership formation, maintenance, and sustainability
  - the benefits and challenges of conducting collaborative research
- Thursday, Feb. 6, 2-5 p.m., virtual
- Register here

Research Resource Highlight: Tracking Federal Changes 2025

Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool for UM researchers. This month we are featuring the OVPR update webpage Tracking Federal Changes 2025.

On the Tracking Federal Changes page, the OVPR will convey new information about changes that affect research funding at federal agencies. This page includes links to relevant executive orders and communications from individual agencies, e.g.OMB Memo M-25-13: Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance. See the Tracking Federal Changes 2025 webpage for all updates.

The OVPR has also set up a new email address to improve information sharing. It is <research-questions@umich.edu>. All UM researchers and staff can use it to send questions about agency changes. If you have information about federal funding changes from which other members of our community can benefit, please consider sending this information to the email address so that OVPR can share it effectively.

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

Please refer to the Research Resource Highlight section above for more information and updates related to the Trump administration's changes to federal research funding.

Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.

Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.

Off

Fri, 01/31/2025 - 16:25

See which of your colleagues' work is getting funded, browse the calendar of upcoming research events and learn about ways to support your work.

Office of Research update for January 2025

lblouin — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 14:35:21 +0000

Office of Research update for January 2025 lblouin Mon, 01/06/2025 - 09:35

External Awards Received

U-M Principal Investigator: Birhanu Eshete
Project Title: DeResistor: Detection Resilient Probing of Censorship Middleboxes
Sponsor: U.S. Department of State (through SRI International)
Award Amount: $299,002

Under the Internet Freedom Annual Program, Eshete will collaborate with SRI International in support of research and development activities that will enhance DeResistor prototyping, existing system performance evaluation, and system integration and software distribution. This research will support the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace goals to protect the open, interoperable, secure and reliable Internet.

U-M Principal Investigator: Weidong Xiang
Project Title: Revitalize Auto Industry: Elevating Automotive Workforce Excellence through Cybersecurity and AI Innovation
Sponsor: National Security Agency (through Oakland University)
Award Amount: $249,130

Xiang’s team will collaborate with researchers at Oakland University to develop a tutorial on Cybersecurity in C-V2X in 5G/6G systems and present workshops on Physical and Network Layer Security in CAN and Security in Autonomous Driving and Navigation.

U-M Principal Investigator: Adam Sekuler
Project Title: Peace Through the Lens: Arab and Jewish American Film Initiative
Direct Sponsor: The Ravitz Foundation
Award Amount: $18,000

"Peace Through the Lens: Arab and Jewish American Film Initiative" is a transformative educational program set for Fall 2025. The goal of the program is to empower students through collaborative filmmaking with Arab American and Jewish American filmmakers, fostering mutual understanding, empathy and dialogue, while challenging stereotypes and contributing to peacebuilding efforts amidst historical and contemporary conflicts. Funding from this project will support filmmaker residencies and community events, aiming to enrich both students' educational experiences and community cohesion.

U-M Principal Investigator: Junaid Farooq
Project Title: 5G Hardware Encryption Cybersecurity Integration Evaluation
Direct Sponsor: Opex Systems, LLC
Total Sponsor Authorized Amount: $45,000.00

This project aims to assess the impact of hardware security module (HSM)-based encryption on the performance of real-time over-the-air communication in private 5G networks. With the perception that hardware encryption provides significantly enhanced security compared to software-based methods, this project seeks to evaluate the validity of this claim through a dual-pronged approach: theoretical analysis and practical implementation. By integrating HSMs into the encryption process, the project will measure the trade-offs between the increased security assurances and the potential performance implications, such as latency and throughput, in ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) scenarios. The outcomes will provide a comprehensive understanding of the feasibility and effectiveness of deploying HSM-based encryption in next-generation wireless networks, informing best practices for secure and efficient 5G communication systems.

Announcements

Call for Nominations: OVPR Research Faculty & Staff Awards

The Dearborn community is strongly encouraged to consider nominating UM-Dearborn staff and faculty for the annual OVPR Research Faculty & Staff Awards.

Research staff and faculty play a critical role in supporting and advancing university operations. OVPR is seeking nominations for its series of awards to recognize members of the U-M research community whose work helps advance knowledge, solve challenging problems, create new products and enhance quality of life.

Learn more here and submit your nominations by Feb. 12.

Learn more here and submit your nominations by Feb. 19.

NSF Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator Seeking Experts

The NSF Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator (R2I2) program is seeking experts from diverse sectors and disciplines to cover the wide range of scientific topics and partnerships represented in the R2I2 proposals. The R2I2 program supports collaborative, community-engaged initiatives to develop and implement scalable solutions to climate-related resilience challenges by translating recent research advancements in Earth system science into practical applications.

The program supports translation of existing earth systems science to practical solutions that address regional resilience challenges. Serving as a reviewer is a great way to help your community, better understand how NSF reviews proposals and get insight into NSF's new investments in translational research.

You can fill out the potential reviewer survey.

Research Events in January

IRB-HSBS, IRB On-the-Road Drop-In Session
- Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.
- Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Wednesday, March 19, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
- Wednesday, April 16, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
Responsible Conduct of Research for K Scholars, MICHR
- MICHR will offer the popular Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) for K Awardees this winter/spring. RCR4K is a seminar that is designed to meet the requirements of the NIH K-23, or any federal or non-federal career development grant. To ensure compliance with NIH regulations, these sessions will be held in-person at NCRC.
- The five-session (10-hour) seminar is mostly interactive, practice-based, and focused on addressing RCR issues (ethics, integrity, and regulatory matters) that have arisen in the course of your own funded research. It’s relevant, interactive, and includes mentoring from experienced faculty. Registration Required.
  - Session 1: History of research ethics & Human subjects research regulations; Wednesday, Jan. 15, 3-5 p.m.
  - Session 2: Research integrity: falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism; Wednesday, Feb. 19, 3-5 p.m.
  - Session 3: Authorship & Plagiarism; Wednesday, March 19, 3-5 p.m.
  - Session 4: Clinical Trial Design: The Support Trial; Wednesday, April 16, 3-5 p.m.
  - Session 5: Public Health Research & Research with data and specimens: Henrietta Lacks and the Common Rule debate; Wednesday, May 14, 3-5 p.m.
NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Seminars
- The Ann Arbor Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering is hosting an NSF CAREER seminar series and has extended an invitation to interested Dearborn faculty to join. Registration is required; register for individual events using the links below.
- NSF CAREER: Broader Impacts with Impact - Thursday, Jan. 23, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- Resources for Education, Outreach, Diversity, and Evaluation - Thursday, Feb. 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: Structuring your CAREER for Reviewers - Thursday, March 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: How to Address Reviewer Feedback - Thursday, April 4, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Location TBD
- NSF CAREER: Project Description: The Research Plan - Thursday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF Panel TBD - Thursday, May 8, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Location TBD

Research Resource Highlight: AI Letter of Support Writer

Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool that is available for researchers. This month we are featuring the UM Medical School’s AI Letter of Support Writer, an innovative tool that can quickly generate multiple versions of tailored letters, saving time and overcoming the challenge of starting from a blank page.

How it works: users begin by tailoring the suggested prompt template. Next, copy/paste the prompt into the platform to generate a draft letter of support. Users can submit the same prompt multiple times for different letter variations. The AI Letter of Support Writer uses U-M Maizey, which is part of the U-M generative AI toolset. Level-1 access and login are required.

Assistance or questions about the platform can be directed to ummsresearch@umich.edu.

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

The Office of Research publishes a list of selected funding opportunities, organized by college, every month on our website under Announcements. Yearly grant calendars organized by subject area provided by Hanover Research are available there as well.

Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.

Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.

Off

Mon, 01/06/2025 - 14:35

See which of your colleagues' work is getting funded, browse upcoming research events and find resources to support your work.

Campus Colleagues: Vessela Vassileva-Clarke

lblouin — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 13:34:17 +0000

Campus Colleagues: Vessela Vassileva-Clarke lblouin Wed, 12/18/2024 - 08:34

Chat with UM-Dearborn’s Director of Research Development Vessela Vassileva-Clarke about her life growing up in Bulgaria, and it’s not surprising to learn that she once dreamed of becoming a diplomat. Her parents were both staff in the Bulgarian military. She attended an English-language high school, where she learned not only English but French and exercised her deep interest in history any chance she got. Her childhood, adolescence and young adulthood overlapped a transformative period in Eastern Europe — a time when the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain collapsed, and Bulgaria strengthened relations with Western Europe and the U.S., events that would ultimately culminate in both EU and NATO membership. Above all, Vassileva-Clarke loved to travel and experience other cultures. Working as a foreign officer at a dynamic time in Bulgaria's history seemed like an exciting way to build a life around seeing the world.

In this month’s Campus Colleagues, we talk with Vassileva-Clarke about her initial career path, some unexpected life turns and how her work now helps drive the university’s growing research culture.

Speaking up landed her an embassy gig.

In college, Vassileva-Clarke dug into subjects that would put her on a diplomatic career track. As an undergraduate, she majored in economics with a concentration in military studies. For her master’s, she focused on international political relations and security issues. She excelled as a student, and toward the end of her master’s program, her no-nonsense style landed her an internship in the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria. “Some students from political science were invited to participate in a meeting with the American ambassador in Bulgaria,” she recalls. “This was during NATO's intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and I guess I was the only one in the room who questioned some of the actions. I dared to tell the ambassador that what he was telling us was whitewashed. We knew there were bombs falling in Bulgaria by mistake.” Shortly after, the embassy's head of public relations reached out to Vassileva-Clarke to see if she wanted to intern at the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria. “Sometimes, I guess putting a person on the spot pays off. They wanted people who could think for themselves and not take a story at face value,” she says.

Vassileva-Clarke flat out loved the internship. For one, she was amazed by just how much of the inner workings of the embassy she got to observe, and it taught her a lot about the nuances of diplomatic work. For example, one of her jobs was to compile summaries of important issues in the Bulgarian press for the U.S. ambassador. She said it was eye opening to see how her interpretations of events, which were informed by her perspective as a Bulgarian citizen and someone who had a global mindset, often differed dramatically from the interpretations of the U.S. Embassy staff. “Something the majority of Bulgarians considered super positive could be seen as something super negative,” she says. “It showed me how misunderstood a nation could be, or how wrongly a nation could interpret international events, if you only have the insights from within the nation, without understanding the rest of the world.”

In the U.S., life took an unexpected turn.

Another part of Vassileva-Clarke’s internship focused on strengthening economic ties between Bulgaria and the U.S., which encompassed both looking for business opportunities for American investors and taking Bulgarian businesspeople to the U.S. In the second phase of that project, she got a couldn’t-refuse offer to continue the internship in the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, D.C., where her life took an unexpected turn. She met her future husband, an American businessman, and as the two contemplated whether to build their life together in Bulgaria or in the U.S., they ultimately decided on the latter. She did initially try to help him learn Bulgarian, “but the reality was, since I already spoke English, I had many more opportunities to work in the U.S. than he would have had in Bulgaria,” she says.

Now rooted in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, Vassileva-Clarke briefly explored working at the U.S. State Department. But when she learned only citizens could work as foreign officers, she took a job as a project coordinator in engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where she quickly learned she had a strong interest in working with faculty on research projects. Within two years, she pivoted to a different position at Hopkins as a project manager at the cross-disciplinary Systems Institute, where she worked with engineers, data scientists, medical researchers, urban planners and international relations experts on major interdisciplinary research projects. “Hopkins was a dream come true,” she says. “I learned a lot. I was constantly working with smart people doing cool things. And we had so many international students and research scientists coming from other countries that, in some ways, it was bringing the world to me. I wasn’t a representative of a country, but I was helping countries work together.” Plus, she says, when you’re bringing together experts (and egos) from so many different disciplines, it pays to have a trained diplomat in the room. She jokes that her internship at the embassy in public relations “definitely paid off.”

The next twist: a move to Michigan.

While at Hopkins, Vassileva-Clarke dug deeper into her newfound passion for working with research teams by completing the university’s master’s in research administration program. The new degree turned out to be great preparation for her family’s next big life pivot. Her son was a talented hockey player, and the family decided to move from Maryland to Michigan so he could attend the Rolston Hockey Academy in Oak Park. She says it was pure luck that UM-Dearborn was looking to recruit for a new position in research development, a field that focuses on the intricacies of helping researchers secure resources for their work. Vassileva-Clarke says it was an exciting challenge. When it comes to research, Hopkins is basically the elite of the elite; research is something everyone “lives and breathes,” she says. UM-Dearborn had deep roots as an education-focused institution but had a more sporadic history of faculty research. The new leadership was trying to change that, and it would be Vassileva-Clarke’s role to help support the growing ranks of ambitious, talented, young faculty who had big research goals but who weren’t always experienced in securing funding. Vassileva-Clarke’s is a behind-the-scenes role, encompassing some really tangible things like networking events and grant writing workshops for faculty. But it’s also about building relationships with people in key positions in funding institutions, keeping up to date on their priorities, knowing all the little “back doors and peculiarities” of the different federal agencies, and nurturing mentor-mentee relationships between faculty, including with very experienced researchers on the Ann Arbor campus. “A lot of researchers have great ideas and they think funders will give them money just because their idea is great,” Vassileva-Clarke explains. “But the reality is they’ll only give you money if you help them do something they already want to do. So the trick is presenting your idea in a way that actually helps them. Grant writing is not academic writing. It’s a sales pitch.”

The work is clearly paying off. Just a few years ago, about 60% of UM-Dearborn’s research funding came from industry, with the remainder coming from federal and state agencies, as well as foundations. In the nearly five years that Vassileva-Clarke’s been here, that ratio has basically flipped, with the total dollar amount for research funding growing by approximately 50% compared to FY21. And beyond the numbers, she sees other promising signs that UM-Dearborn’s research culture is growing in all the right ways. There’s support from the leadership. There is an emphasis on hiring ambitious young faculty who have a strong interest in research. Faculty are strengthening ties to Ann Arbor — the largest public research institution in the U.S. The university is launching more graduate programs, which are essential to attracting students to power research labs. We’re even starting to recruit more post-docs. “The other thing I find very encouraging is I’m hearing more stories of senior faculty helping junior faculty,” she says. “I’ll be telling someone they should do this and this and this, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, yes, professor so-and-so already told me that.’ That’s a very good sign. That means building this research culture is happening already.”

She’s enjoying the path she chose.

Vassileva-Clarke loves her career. But she says she does occasionally think back to the thrills of working in an embassy and what it would have meant for her life had she followed that path. After she became a naturalized citizen, she did consider returning to that line of work. But she says it’s a hard life for families, and since she sincerely enjoyed what she was doing with researchers, she decided against it. “Of course, sometimes, I still think about how different my life could have been, but this is human nature, right?” she says. “When presented with two choices, no matter what we choose, one day we will wonder if the option we did not pick might have been better, more exciting, easier, more enjoyable — you name it. So, occasionally, I have nostalgic musings. But no regrets.”

###

Story by Lou Blouin

Off

Wed, 12/18/2024 - 13:33

UM-Dearborn’s director of research development talks about what’s driving the university’s burgeoning research culture and why she almost became a diplomat.

Director of Research Development Vessela Vassileva-Clarke started at UM-Dearborn in 2020 and has been vital to growing the research enterprise at the university. Photo by Julianne Lindsey

Office of Research update for December 2024

lblouin — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 14:19:15 +0000

Office of Research update for December 2024 lblouin Mon, 12/02/2024 - 09:19

External Awards Received

Principal Investigator: Hong Tae Kang
Project Title: Adhesive Bonded Joint in Electrical Vehicle Battery Packages
Sponsor: General Motors Company
Award Amount: $102,417

This project seeks to characterize durability of adhesive joints in EV battery pack applications. Kang will identify performance of adhesives under fatigue loading: mechanical, thermal and combination of mechanical and thermal. Adhesives can have significantly different coefficient of thermal expansion compared to the substrates which they connect. Hence, under thermal loading, adhesives can see significant stresses and under cyclic thermal loading they can fatigue. Among other engineering applications, this research can help develop fatigue CAE models of the adhesive.

Announcements

Winter Break Campus Closure Impact on Office of Research Services

As the holiday season approaches, this is a reminder that OR staff will not be available during the Winter Break. Please be aware of the following UM-Dearborn Office of Research closure dates and the potential impact on your proposal timelines — the closure dates do not count as work days in your lead time:

The UM-Dearborn Office of Research will be CLOSED from 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20, 2024 until 8 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.

How will this affect proposal timelines? UM-Dearborn Office of Research work on proposals will be paused during the Chancellor's additional time off dates, and our staff will not be available during this time. Depending on the needs of the individual PIs and/or teams, the research development (RD) staff will work out specific arrangements with everyone who needs RD support around the holidays. To meet U-M's internal research administration (RA) deadlines, the following internal due dates will apply:

For proposals due to the sponsor between Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024 and Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, the RA staff must receive your final, ready-to-submit proposal by 12 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20.

Research Events in December

Public Engagement Workshops and Community of Practice
- The Public Engagement and Research Impacts team is hosting a fall workshop series to support researchers in developing public engagement skills to translate their research, scholarship or creative practice for societal impact. Participants will learn about public engagement frameworks, explore how to communicate across disciplines and beyond academia, and gain tools for fostering effective and equitable partnerships.
Storytelling for Community Building: Dec. 6, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., virtual

The fall community of practice will focus on research communication – especially communication of research agendas and societal impacts to broad audiences. These dynamic and hands-on sessions will give participants an opportunity to apply new communication skills by drafting and revising a pitch for an explainer or op-ed piece.

Sticky Messaging and Audience Engagement, Dec. 11, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
IRB-HSBS, IRB On-the-Road Drop-In Session
- Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.
- Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2-3:30 p.m., virtual
Communicating the Impacts of Your Research - Hanover Grants
- This webinar will focus on helping researchers articulate the significance and broader implications of their work, including an overview of research impacts, the importance of dissemination, and methods for communicating impact.
- Dec. 19, 2024, 12-12:45 p.m., virtual
- Registration required
Taubman Library Global Health Webinar Series - Webinar 5: Exploration of Global Data Sources for Sexual & Reproductive Health
- In recent years, examination and application of global and regional sexual and reproductive health (SRH) data by researchers, policymakers and learners has been increasingly viewed through multiple lenses. SRH is impacted by and impacts phenomena including, but not limited to, a global pandemic, ongoing conflict and displacement, climate change and national policy shifts. This introductory webinar is an opportunity to begin exploring open SRH data sources in a global context.
- Dec. 5, 2024, 9 a.m., virtual
NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Seminars
- The Ann Arbor Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering is hosting an NSF CAREER seminar series and has extended an invitation to interested Dearborn faculty to join. Registration is required. Register for individual events using the links below.
- NSF CAREER: Broader Impacts with Impact - Thursday, Jan. 23, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms, 3rd Floor LEC
- Resources for Education, Outreach, Diversity and Evaluation - Thursday, Feb. 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms, 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: Structuring your CAREER for Reviewers - Thursday, March 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms, 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: How to Address Reviewer Feedback - Thursday, April 4, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Location TBD
- NSF CAREER: Project Description: The Research Plan - Thursday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms, 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF Panel TBD - Thursday, May 8, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Location TBD

Research Resource Highlight

Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool that is available for researchers. This month we are featuring the OVPR Office of Research Development Proposal Library.

Reviewing successful grant proposals is crucial when writing your proposal to gain invaluable insights into what funding agencies prioritize and deem impactful. By examining these funded applications, you can identify key components such as structure, tone and specific language that resonate with reviewers. Additionally, it helps you understand the level of detail and types of evidence that are typically required to support your project’s feasibility and significance.

The Proposal Library is available to all U-M faculty and staff with grant proposal examples from major federal funding agencies and foundations. Make sure to add the library to your bookmarks. If you would like to contribute your proposal to the library, please email dbn-research@umich.edu.

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

The Office of Research publishes a list of selected funding opportunities, organized by college, every month on our website under Announcements. In addition, yearly grant calendars organized by subject area provided by Hanover Research are available there as well.

Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.

Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.

Off

Mon, 12/02/2024 - 14:18

View December’s research events, learn about opportunities to support your work and find out how the winter break will impact research services.

Office of Research update for November 2024

lblouin — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:17:06 +0000

Office of Research update for November 2024 lblouin Mon, 11/04/2024 - 08:17

External Awards Received

U-M Principal Investigator: Hafiz Malik
Project Title: PFI:RP: Reliable Electronic Device Authentication to Protect Supply Chain
Direct Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Amount: $1,000,000

Malik will develop advanced technology to reliably authenticate electronic components — such as Electronic Control Units (ECUs), Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), and sensors, among others — in systems like autonomous vehicles, robots and smart infrastructure in order to create prototypes that verify the integrity of these devices throughout a vehicle's life. He will use unique digital signatures for each device to enhance data traceability and quickly identify faults, which protects transportation systems from cyber threats posed by counterfeit parts.

U-M Principal Investigator: John Chenoweth
Project Title: A More Complete Story of the River Raisin: Phase II of The River Raisin Archaeological Project
Direct Sponsor: National Park Service, Department of the Interior
Award Amount: $169,121
See full Reporter story

U-M Principal Investigator: Zhen Hu
Project Title: Hybrid Modeling for Streamflow Prediction and Machine Learning Model Deployment
Sponsor: Department of Defense via subcontract from Hottinger Bruel & Kjaer Solutions LLC
Award Amount: $254,999

The objective of this project is to develop machine learning models that integrate physics-based simulation with field observation, so that the accuracy of river discharge predictions can be improved. The improved prediction accuracy of river discharge can lead to more effective decision regarding flood mitigation and resource allocation. After the development of the method, the machine learning models will be deployed in real-world applications for testing and demonstration.

U-M Principal Investigator: Areen Alsaid
Project Title: Driver Distraction and Fatigue Mitigation Strategies
Direct Sponsor: MOBIS Technical Center
Award Amount: $58,999

The project will explore real-time mitigation strategies for distraction and fatigue during driving. By investigating innovative solutions — such as conversational agents that act as in-car co-pilots — and implementing subtle, subconscious strategies like adaptive lighting to enhance attention and focus, Alsaid will assess the effectiveness of these interventions and their impact on sustained driving performance over time.

Announcements

Holiday Office Closures — Impact on Timelines

As the holiday season approaches, please be aware of the following campus closure dates and the potential impact on proposal timelines — closure dates do not count in your lead time:

The UM-Dearborn Office of Research will be CLOSED:

from 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22 until 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 2
from 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20 until 8 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 2

How will this affect proposals? UM-Dearborn Office of Research will pause work on proposals during the Chancellor's additional time off dates and our staff will not be available during this time. Therefore, the following internal due dates will apply:

For proposals due to the sponsor between Thursday, Nov. 28 and Thursday, Dec. 5, we must receive your final, ready-to-submit proposal by noon on Friday, Nov. 22.
For proposals due to the sponsor between Thursday, Dec. 26 and Wednesday, Jan. 8, we must receive your final, ready-to-submit proposal by noon on Friday, Dec. 20.

Please plan accordingly. Failure to meet the timelines provided by our office means we may be unable to provide support or services and your proposal may be at risk of not being submitted. Please email our office if you have any questions about timing and deadlines.

Internal Deadlines and Lead-time Reminder

Please review our pre-award timeline and services webpage to ensure you are providing sufficient lead time to receive the services and support you need. Late proposals obstruct our ability to provide services across campus and this can negatively impact your fellow faculty.

Although we request a minimum of 20 work days lead time, complicating factors such as those below create additional complexities and need additional days of lead time to prepare as follows:

cost sharing requirement – five days for college pre-approval
subcontracts to other institutions in your proposal – four days per subcontract
multiple investigators submitting senior personnel documents – three days
special sponsor forms required (e.g. DOE budget forms, Environmental Questionnaire, non-standard sponsor systems) – five days
Ann Arbor or Flint personnel included will need their unit review and approval – two days per department

Please help us to provide the best services possible by respecting our request for sufficient lead time and by following the timeline provided by your proposal specialists.

Research Events in November

Integrating Theoretical Frameworks into Grant Proposals - Hanover Grants
- The integration of theoretical frameworks into a grant narrative can strengthen the rationale and impact of your project. This session will dive into the importance of theoretical frameworks, the selection of the appropriate framework for your proposal, and the art of seamlessly weaving your framework into a proposal narrative.
- Nov. 21, noon; virtual
- Registration required
The Study’s Funded! Now What? Tips to Navigate Study Start-Up
- In this workshop, you will learn best practices in preparing for a new study before you submit an IRB application or for beginning a new phase of the research. You will get expert tips from an experienced coordinator that will help you save time, effort and money later in your study.
- Nov. 14, 10:00 a.m.-noon; virtual
- Registration required
How to Organize and Sustain Collaborative Research: Learning from the Program on Women’s Healthcare Effectiveness Research (PWHER)
- IRWG Director Dr. Melynda Price will lead a conversation with members of the Program on Women’s Healthcare Effectiveness Research (PWHER) at Michigan Medicine.
- This session will cover key questions such as: How did your group begin, and how do you sustain an intellectual community? If you have applied for grants, at what point did you know you were ready to take on collective research projects?
  - Nov. 8, 2-3:30 p.m.; 2239 Lane Hall
  - Registration Required
IRB-HSBS, IRB On-the-Road Drop-In Session
- Elizabeth Molina, the UM-Dearborn Health and Services and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB-HSBS) liaison will be resuming the virtual “IRB On-the-Road” sessions once a month for any study team members who would like to have a one-on-one discussion about any questions they may have about the IRB process.
- Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2-3:30 p.m.; virtual
NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Seminars
- The Ann Arbor Office of the Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering is hosting an NSF CAREER seminar series and has extended an invitation to interested Dearborn faculty to join. Registration is required- register for individual events using the links below.
- NSF CAREER: Project Description Overview, Thursday, Nov. 21, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: Broader Impacts with Impact, Thursday, Jan. 23, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- Resources for Education, Outreach, Diversity and Evaluation, Thursday, Feb. 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: Structuring your CAREER for Reviewers, Thursday, March 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF CAREER: How to Address Reviewer Feedback, Thursday, April 4, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Location TBD
- NSF CAREER: Project Description: The Research Plan, Thursday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Johnson Rooms 3rd Floor LEC
- NSF Panel TBDx, Thursday, May 8, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Location TBD
Public Engagement Workshops and Community of Practice
- The Public Engagement and Research Impacts team is hosting a fall workshop series to support researchers in developing public engagement skills to translate their research, scholarship or creative practice for societal impact. Participants will learn about public engagement frameworks, explore how to communicate across disciplines and beyond academia, and gain tools for fostering effective and equitable partnerships.
Envisioning Impacts: Nov. 20, 10:00 a.m.-noon; Michigan Union, Pond Room
Storytelling for Community Building: Dec. 6, 10:00 a.m.- noon; virtual

Sticky Messaging and Audience Engagement, Dec. 11, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Research Resource Highlight

Every month, the Office of Research features a resource and/or tool that is available for researchers. This month, we are featuring the Mobile Technologies Core, facilitated by the U-M Eisenberg Family Depression Center.

The Mobile Technologies Core provides investigators across the University of Michigan the support and guidance needed to utilize mobile technologies and digital mental health measures in their studies. Experienced faculty and staff offer hands-on consultative services to researchers throughout the University – regardless of specialty or research focus.

Services include:

Upcoming Funding Opportunities

Use the updated U-M Research Commons to look up internal (to U-M) funding opportunities and Limited Submission opportunities open to Dearborn researchers.

Contact the UM-Dearborn Office of Research if you would like more information about submitting a proposal to any of the programs.