Research Awards
August 2025
Dr. Susan Neely-Barnes, professor, director and chair in the Department of Social Work, was awarded $600,000 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for her project “INterprofessional TEams GRounded in Apprenticeship, Technology, and Evidence.”
Dr. Meghan McDevitt-Murphy, professor in Clinical (Psychotherapy) in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $439,383 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for her project “Building the Memphis Opioid Workforce: Graduate Psychology Education.”
Dr. Duane McKenna, professor in the department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $268,783 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “Investigating chemosensory evolution in longhorned beetles using a comparative phylogenomic framework that integrates genomic, morphological, and biochemical data.”
Dr. Thomas Sutter, professor and W. Harry Feinstone Chair of Excellence in Molecular Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded $244,983 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “Microbial Regulation of the Keratinocyte AHR.”
Dr. Naomi Eichorn, assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, was awarded $180,738 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project “Information processing biases in adults who stutter: Behavioral and eye-tracking indices of threat-related attention allocation.”
Dr. Susan Elswick, faculty director and Principal Investigator in the Interprofessional Community Health Clinic, was awarded $150,000 from The Urban Child Institute (TUCI) for her project “School Mental Health Access to Resources through Teletherapy (SMART) Research, Training, and Treatment Center.”
Dr. Richard Bloomer, dean and professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $110,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS) for his project “Substance Use Prevention Among Vulnerable Youth.”
Dr. Elena Delavega, professor in the School of Social Work, was awarded $108,042 from the Church Health Center of Memphis for her project “Improving Behavioral Healthcare for the Latinx Community in Memphis.”
Keith Humphrey, Chief of Police, was awarded $81,000 from U.S. Department of Justice (US DoJ) for his project “VOCA - Police Service Grant.”
Amaia Iratzoqui-Greenfield, associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, was awarded $76,089 from ALCO Management Inc. for her project “Responsive Safety Intelligence System for Alco Residential Communities.”
Thouraya Al-Nasser, clinical assistant professor & director of Clinical Services in Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, was awarded $75,000 from Urban Child Institute (TUCI) for her project “UofM Autism Treatment, Training, and Research Clinic.”
Dr. Vasile Rus, Jack and Jane Morris Professor in the Department of Computer Science, was awarded $72,457 from U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for his project “Advancing Competency Training With Recent Developments in Artificial Intelligence, Learning Engineering, and Learning Sciences.”
Dr. M. David Rudd, distinguished Professor of Psychology was awarded $58,716 from US Department of Defense (DoD) for his project “Web-Based Provider Training for Brief Cognitive Behavior Therapy (BCBT) for Suicide Prevention.”
Dr. Philip Pavlik, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, was awarded $57,725 from National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project “Improving STEM K-12 learning using optimal spaced retrieval in Podsie, an existing adaptive educational technology platform.”
Dr. Gregory Washington, director of the Center for the Advancement and Youth Development (CAYD), was awarded $50,000 from the Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis for his project “Family Digital Inclusion Project.”
Dr. Leah Windsor, associate professor in the Department of English and director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems (IIS) was awarded $49,964 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for her project “Southern Illinois (SoIL) Farmer Network Soil Health Workshop.”
Dr. Jamie Brunsdon, assistant professor in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded $49,814 from Lilly Endowment for his project “Ascend University of Memphis.”
Dr. Stephanie Ivey, professor, in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, was awarded $43,000 from the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis for her project “Girls Experiencing Engineering 2022-23,” and $35,000 from Battelle for her project “TSIN - West TN STEM Hub.”
Dr. Mathhew Smeltzer, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health in the School of Public Health, was awarded $35,000 from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for his project “Predoctoral Research Training Program in Global Hematology and Public Health.”
Dr. Stephen Diko, assistant professor, in the Department City and Regional Planning, was awarded $31,683 from Memphis Medical District Collaborative for his project “Medical District Park Planning.”
Dr. John Jeffries, research professor in the School of Public Health, was awarded $18,753 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his project “ECG-AI Based Prediction and Phenotyping of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction.”
Dr. Xiao Shen, sociate professor in the Department of Physics and Materials Science, was awarded $10,770 from Vanderbilt University for his project “Theoretical Study of Defect Generation in Electronic Materials.”