2019-2020 President's Faculty Grant Winners
African social actors, moral power and the mobilization for peace
The proposed scholarly research project is the completion of a book manuscript on examining African social actors’ nonviolent resistance to internal political conflict in the...
An Electronic Nose to Monitor the Health of Palms with Lethal Bronzing Disease
An electronic nose (e-nose) system is composed of an array of chemical gas sensors with partial specificity, a signal conditioning circuit, and a suitable pattern recognition/machine...
Antihyperglycemic Treatment Intensification and Clinical Outcomes: A Pilot Study
Type 2 diabetes poses a societal burden within the United States (U.S.), despite the health care system spending millions of dollars on complexantihyperglycemic regimens that have a high pill...
Assessment of the Status of Chemotherapy‐Induced Neuronal Damage Biomarkers
Peripheral neuropathy (PN) affects 40% of all patients who receive chemotherapy for any cancer type, and its occurrence can lead to discontinuation of drug treatment....
Burnout Prevention Wellness Programs in Clinical Training preservice experiences
The importance of addressing student personal wellness has gained attention and importance in the helping professions, including counseling and psychology (Thompson, Amatea, & Thompson,...
Can Cells Talk Using Light? Quantifying Bacterial Photon Communication
Cell-to-cell communication coordinates cellular activity and is therefore fundamental to the functioning of biological systems, including bacteria, and tissues of the human body, such as the brain....
Cell Penetrating Peptide Transfection and Genetic Engineering of Stem Cells
Research into micro- and nano-biological processes has spiked in the last few decades due to technological advances and new methods for visualizing molecules and events within cells. These...
Characterization of Deep‐water Habitats using a Commercial Grade Mini‐ROV
Surveys of habitats within SCUBA diving depth limits have been exhaustive, while the deeper regions of the world’s oceans remain one of the least known areas of our planet. Previous...
Demystifying the Interactions of Angiotensin 1‐7 with its Receptors
The renin-angiotensin system is notorious for causing inflammation and cardiovascular disease, but is also a contributor to cancer and dementia. But there is a protective arm of the RAS,...
Development of Assessment Strategies for Undergraduate Research Based Courses
Experiential and career-based learning opportunities are exciting for students and instructors alike. They allow for a classroom to become a place of discovery and exploration in ways that...
Does serotonin augment the facilitatory effect of winning on aggression in women?
Winning social competitions increases self-esteem, morale, status, and, sometimes, safety. In addition to these intuitive effects, winning briefly increases hormones that can...
Effects of Oxytocin on Cell Cycle in the Early Stage of the Brain Development
Autistic spectrum disorders are a common and very heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral disorders in the general population. Complex changes of cellular and molecular...
Empirical Study of Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship in Florida
The title of the proposed research study is "Empirical Study of Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship in Florida." Existing literature documents many barriers to women entrepreneurship such...
Factors structuring parasite communities: testing alternatives to distance decay
Parasites are ubiquitous components of all major ecosystems, but the biogeographical factors that determine parasite species richness and community composition remain poorly studied. Previous...
Formidable: Separating the effects of power from size, strength, and sex
Most people would not be surprised to learn that the social order of our closest non-human primates is determined by size and strength. The biggest and the strongest are the ones who hold the most...
Heavy Metal Contamination in Port Everglades ‐ Preparing for Ecological Impacts
Ports are complex environments due to their geometry (quays, channels, and piers), the presence of human activities (vessel traffic, yards, industries, and discharges), and natural forces...
How the molecular vibrations of water may prevent skin cancer
Skin cancer is by far the most common cancer worldwide. It has been well established that exposure to ultraviolet light (usually from the sun or tanning beds) significantly increases the...
HTS assay for modulators of expression of RBM3 in drug-resistant prostate cancer
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men in the US [1]. There are multiple drugs including hormonal therapies used to...
Impact of Human Adrb1 Gene Arg389Gly Polymorphism on Heart Failure Patients
Need/background: Beta blockers are an important component of therapy in patients with current or prior symptoms of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Current evidence and...
Interdisciplinary Timeline Assessment of Brain Injury in NFL Players and Fighters
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease that is clinically similar to Alzheimer's disease. CTE is caused by repetitive head impacts (concussive and...
Mathematical Models of Vector‐Borne Diseases in Florida
Vector-borne diseases (VBD), including dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have recently emerged and spread throughout the Americas, Asia, and elsewhere....
Megadroughts and the last glacial dust, White River Badlands, Great Plains, USA
Histories of dune field activity provide important information on regional and global climate change. While dune fields are complex systems, generally they are active during periods of...
Metabolic and Molecular Axes in Neuronal Differentiation
What are the specific effects of cellular metabolism that define neuronal cell fate and what are the underlying signaling cascades. These are some of the questions that will be investigated during...
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Detecting Mycotoxin Subgroup
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic, debilitating and complex medical condition. The disease remains poorly understood and ME/CFS research has been underfunded...
Novel Approach to Enhance the Robust Osteogenesis of Human Gingival Stem cells
Reconstruction of craniofacial bone defects caused by tumor and trauma as well as such congenital malformation as cleft palate presents clinical challenge. The purposes for the reconstruction of...
Optimal Sarcoma Exosome Isolation Techniques from Cells and Blood
Sarcomas cause significant morbidity and mortality, particularly among children, with about 13,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the U.S. The nvariety of sarcoma subtypes affect tissue of...
Synthesis of Metal‐Binding Polymers for Water Purification
Water is one of the most precious resources on our planet, making up roughly two thirds of the earth's surface. Despite the abundance of water, access to clean water has become increasingly...
The Effects of Fit 5 and Gardens on Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are at greater risk than the overall population for lifestyle-related diseases such as cardio–metabolic conditions....
Using Bowhead Whales as a Multi‐Decadal Contaminant Recorder in a Warming Arctic
The western Arctic bowhead whale migrates annually along the edge of the Arctic Ocean, incorporating environmental contaminants via diet into their tissues. Natural and anthropogenic contaminants...