Research Awards
November 2025
Dr. Stephen Zanskas, Professor of Counseling, Education Psychology & Research and Associate Dean for Research Personnel in the College of Education, was awarded $925,657 from the U.S. Department of Education for his project “Rehabilitation Counselor Long-term Workforce Development Grant (RCWD).”
Dr. Mohd Hasan Ali, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded $500,000 by the Department of Homeland Security for his project “DHS/FEMA-CTG 25: Cybersecurity in Drone and AI-Enabled Threat Detection.”
Dr. Eddie Jacobs, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Senior Researcher in the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER), was awarded $400,000 from the Office of Naval Research for his project “UxS Degraded Environment Facility.”
Dr. Marie van der Merwe, Associate Professor and Applied Physiology & Nutrition Program Coordinator in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $202,447 by the National Institutes of Health for her project “Determining the contribution of microbial-derived metabolites to immunosurveillance in obesity-driven cancer risk.”
Dr. Bernie Daigle, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, was awarded $191,392 from the U.S. Department of Defense for his project “Advancing Precision Psychiatry for Military Service-Related PTSD by Enhancing Knowledge of Clinical Subtypes and their Endophenotypes.”
Dr. Subhash Jha, Associate Professor of Marketing and affiliate faculty member in the Center for Transportation Innovations in Education and Research (C-TIER) was awarded $185,749 from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office for his project “Distracted Driving.”
Dr. Shahram Pezeshk, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Center for Disaster Recovery and Resiliency (CDRR), was awarded $85,191 from the U.S. Geological Survey for his project “Non-ergodic Ground Motion Models for Central and Eastern United States.”
Dr. John Sabatini, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and a member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems, was awarded $76,350 from the U.S. Department of Education for his project “Developing and implementing a technology-based, reading comprehension instruction system for adult literacy students.”
Dr. Thomas Goebel, Associate Professor in the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, was awarded $76,135 from the National Science Foundation for his project “CAREER: From slow to fast, micro to macro, single events to cascades: A multi-scale study of seismic event triggering in lab and nature.”
Dr. Ali Fatemi, Ring Companies Endowed Professor and Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded $70,000 from the United States Navy for his project “Advanced Fretting Life Prediction Method for Naval Aerospace Applications.”
Dr. Mojtaba Khajeloo, Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Research Education and Policy (CREP), was awarded $62,972 from the Health Resources and Services Administration for his project “Reimagining Education for Advanced Careers in Healthcare (REACH).”
Dr. Meghan McDevitt-Murphy, Professor of Psychology, was awarded $48,621 from the National Institutes of Health for her project “The effectiveness of text-based messaging strategies for preventing subsequent problematic alcohol use among technical trainees in the U. S. Air Force.”
Dr. Jill Dapremont, Professor and Department Chair for Family, Community and Health System Science in the Lowenberg College of Nursing, was awarded $47,322 from the National Institutes of Health for her project, “Health Disparities: Black Women and Breast Cancer.”
Dr. Mohammadreza Davoodi, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded $21,000 from the National Science Foundation for his project “Intelligent control systems for soft artificial muscles.”
Dr. Wendy Torres, Associate Professor of Teaching and Director of Executive Education Programs in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics Department of Management, was awarded $16,662 by the US Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences for her project “Mitigating the Impacts of Personnel Turnover for Teams in the FOE.”
Dr. Kristoffer Berlin, Professor of Psychology, was awarded $1,206 from the National Institutes of Health for his project “Effect of time-based energy intake goals on weight loss during obesity treatment.”