Presidential Excellence Grants

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Presidential Excellence Grants 2023

  • Sheila Alicea, School of Natural Sciences
  • Amir Amini Sedeh, The Bill Munday School of Business
  • Lisa Holleran, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • Dustin Joubert, School of Natural Sciences  
  • Jooyoun Lee, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • Drew Loewe, School of Arts and Humanities
  • Nicholas Chad Long, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • Michelle Robertson, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • Alexandra Robinson, School of Arts and Humanities
  • Christina Thornell, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • Joseph Vitone, School of Arts and Humanities
  • Jane Xie, The Bill Munday School of Business

Kelly Coblentz Bautch, Professor of Religious and Theological Studies
Proposal: Angels and Demons: A Handbook and Presentation at the International Society of Biblical Literature Meeting

Hollis Hammonds, Professor of Art
Proposal: Not formally named - Climate Crisis creative research collaboration with Sasha West

Brian Sheerin, Associate Professor of English
Proposal: Counting People: Politicizing the 'Multitude' in Early Modern Drama

Joe Vitone, Professor of Photocommunications
Proposal: Cammino Materano and Family Records

Amy Concilio, Associate Professor of Environmental Science
Proposal: Carbon Storage Potential of Native Restored Grasslands of the Texas Hill Country

Lisa Holleran, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Proposal: Mentoring Program: SEU Students and Youth on Probation

Angela Ju, Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Political Science
Proposal: Copyediting book manuscript - Immigrant Political Incorporation in Another America: Brazilians of Japanese and Jewish Heritage

Michelle Robertson, Professor of Sociology
Proposal: Intimate Inequalities in the Global World

Haydory Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Economics
Proposal: Does the Interest Rate Spread Predict Stock Market Volatility?  Analyzing the Short-Run and Long-Run Dynamics Between Interest Rate Spread and Stock Market Volatility

Omid Jadidi, Assistant Professor of Operations Management
Proposal: Sustainability: How to Manage Deteriorating Inventory

Jane Xie, Associate Professor of Finance
Proposal: Does Finance Committee Create Value for Shareholders? An Analysis of Chief Financial Officer Compensation

Meredith Claire Edwards, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Proposal: NSF Building Capacity for New Faculty in Biology Grant: Directed Evolution and Evaluation of Pectinolytic Yeast for Bioethanol Production

Emily Barton, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: The impact of Pandemic-Related Stress on Alcohol Use Among College Students

Jason Callahan, Professor of Mathematics
Proposal: Continuing Research Productivity in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Amy Concilio, Associate Professor of Environmental Science
Proposal: Climate Change Impacts on Native and Invasive Grasslands of the Texas Hill Country

Katherine Goldey, Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Intimacy in the Time of COVID: Pandemic-Related Stress and Sexual Desire

Sheila Gordon, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts 
Proposal: Liz and LadyBird: Whistlestop 1964!

Hollis Hammonds, Professor of Art
Proposal: Awake in the Dark

Eamonn Healy, Professor of Chemistry
Proposal: A Biophysical Model for the Human Heat Shock Response to SARS-CoV2

Lisa Holleran, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice 
Proposal: Anti-Sympathy Instruction in Death Penalty Cases

Angela Ju, Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Political Science
Proposal: Rethinking Political Incorporation Domestically and Transnationally in Brazil

Jooyoon Lee, Associate Professor of Global Studies 
Proposal: Hiroshima and Military Nostalgia

Adam McCormick, Associate Professor of Social Work
Proposal: Examining the Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Experiences of LGBTQ+ Youth in the Foster Care System

Michelle Robertson, Professor of Sociology
Proposal: Intimate Inequalities in the Global World

Alex Robinson, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: not named (will complete artwork for a solo exhibition at Women and Their Work, group exhibition in New York and at the Contemporary Austin art museum)

Jamie Rose, Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric
Proposal: Document Design and Validity Theory: How a Unified Curriculum Actually Looks

Amr Swid, Assistant Professor of Management 
Proposal: Helping Women Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Triumphs

David Thomason, Associate Professor of Political Science
Proposal: Civics Life in Rural Texas: Understanding the Rural/Urban Divide

Rebecca Thompson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Proposal: Assessing the Impact of Structural Defects and Disorder on Biomolecular Sensing by Mixed Self-Assembled Monolayers

Emma Woelk, Associate Professor of German
Proposal: Yiddish, German and the Expressionist Theater: Jewish Identities in Interwar Europe

Jane Xie, Associate Professor of Finance
Proposal: Finance Committee and M&A Activities

Peter Adhihetty, Associate Professor of Kinesiology
Proposal: The Effect of Short-Term Spaceflight on Apoptotic Markers in Mouse Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle

Sheila Alicea, Associate Professor of Kinesiology
Proposal: Hilltoppers on the Move: A Peer-Mentored Exercise Program for St. Edward's University Students

Jessica Boyette-Davis, Associate Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Mitigation of Threat Detection in Pain Catastrophizers Using Guided Meditation

Amy Concilio, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
Proposal: Impacts of Drought on Ecosystem Function and Services in the Texas Hill Country

Chris Flynn, Associate Professor of English
Proposal: Romanticism and Travel: Essays on the Travels of William Wordsworth and Lord Byron, 1793-1824

Katherine Goldey, Associate Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: The Effect of Financial Stress on Academic Performance and Physiology in First-Generation College Students

Selin Guner, Associate Professor of Global Studies and Political Science
Proposal: International Relations: Theory and Practice

Eamonn Healy, Professor of Chemistry
Proposal: A Unified Mechanistic Language for Organic Chemistry

Angela Ju, Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Political Science
Proposal: Language Politics in Brazil's Public Schools

Adam McCormick, Associate Professor of Social Work
Proposal: Social Work and Masculinity: A framework for intervention

Mitch Phillipson, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Proposal: Combinatorial Models on RNA-like Sequences

Michelle Robertson, Professor of Sociology
Proposal: Intimate Inequalities in the Global World

Alex Robinson, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: Place and Identity

Tammie Rubin, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: Expanded Experiences & Immersive Installations

Sung Won Suh, Assistant Professor of Finance
Proposal: The Impact of Home Purchases by Foreign Buyers on Austin Housing Market

Joe Vitone, Professor of Photocommunications
Proposal: Cultura dell'Agricoltura & Family Records

Jeanetta Williams, Professor of Psychology
Proposal: Changing One's Academic Major: Influences of Procrastination, Personality, and Perceived Challenge among Diverse Undergraduates

Jane (Qian) Xie, Associate Professor of Finance
Proposal: Corporate Social Responsibility on Financial Decisions and Performance

Sheila Alicea, Associate Professor of Kinesiology
Proposal: Effects of a peer-supported physical activity program as an adjunct in the treatment of depression and anxiety in college students.

Jessica Boyette-Davis, Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Virtual Reality as a Means to Decrease Prostaglandin Release and Consequent Pain in Healthy Volunteers

Katy Goldey, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Sculptorades, Cloodles, and Cameos, Oh My! Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Cranium Game for the General Psychology Classroom

Hollis Hammonds, Professor of Art
Proposal: A Senseless Culture of Violence

Eamonn Healy, Professor of Chemistry
Proposal: Is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) a prion disease?

Sarah Henseler, Professor of Psychology
Proposal: Emerging Adults Encounter Religious Differences: A Comparison of American and Moroccan Responses

Adam McCormick, Associate Professor of Social Work
Proposal: Quantitative Approach of Family Acceptance of LGBTQ Youth

Michelle Robertson, Professor of Sociology
Proposal: Intimate Inequalities in the Global World

Tammy Rubin, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: Continuation

Bilal Shebaro, Associate Professor of Computer Science
Proposal: The Effect of Acquisition Footprints in Computer Memory Forensics

Brian Sheerin, Associate Professor of English
Proposal: Practical Fictions: Tudor Mathematics and the Poetic Imagination

Sung Suh, Assistant Professor of Finance
Proposal: Institutional Investors and Real Estate Fund Returns

David Thomason, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Proposal: Tell me Lies, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies - The Normative Value of Political Myth in Liberal Democratic Thought

Jennifer Veninga, Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Proposal: A Theology of Witness: Vision and Memory in a Suffering World

Joe Vitone, Professor of Photocommunications
Proposal: Culura dell'Agricoltura & Family Records

Peter Wake, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Proposal: Literature and the Idea of Withdrawal in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

Jane Xie, Associate Professor of Finance
Proposal: Corporate Governance, Firm Performance and Risk-taking in Scapegoating Firms

Debra Zahay-Blatz, Professor of Marketing
Proposal: Crowdsourcing and Ideation in the New Product Development Process

Stephen Dilley, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Proposal: A Philosophical Analysis of the Incursion of Metaphysics into Scientific Argumentation

Hollis Hammonds, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: The Space Between (new works on memory and the "collective consciousness")

Jack Musselman, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Proposal: Should the Fiddler on the Roof Sing Hip-Hop instead? Ethics in Arts Administration

Alexandra Robinson, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: New Drawings: "Dahs and Dits" and "Checks and Balances"

Tammy Rubin, Assistant Professor of Art
Proposal: Women & Their Solo Exhibition

Jessica Boyette-Davis, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Determining the Effectiveness of Inquiry-Based Learning in a STEM Field

Amy Concilio, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
Proposal: Benefits of Prairie Restoration in Urban Green Spaces of Austin TX

Katherine Goldey, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Does Communication Moderate Associations Between Love Attitudes & Relationship Satisfaction in Couples?

Selin Guner, Associate Professor of Global Studies
Proposal: Turkish-U.S. Relations

Adam McCormick, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Proposal: Quantitative Approach of Family Acceptance of LGBTQ Youth

Michelle Robertson, Associate Professor of Sociology
Proposal: Intimate Inequalities in the Global World

Tom Yufik, Associate Professor of Psychology
Proposal: Examination of Mental Illness in the Austin Start-Up Community

Steve Fletcher, Associate Professor of Secondary Education
Proposal: Left Brain Right Brain Institute 鈥 A novel faculty professional development model

Elisabeth Johnson, Associate Professor of Literacy
Proposal: Embodiment and literacies: Teaching, learning, and becoming in a post-world

Charles Hauser, Associate Professor of Bioinformatics
Proposal: A Multifactor Analysis of Impact of Fire on Soil Fungal Community Structure

School of Behavioral and Social Sciences

Jessica Boyette-Davis, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience鈥
Proposal: Pain Perception in Athletes vs. Non-athletes as a Result of Perceived Competition

Kathleen Brown, Associate Professor of History
Proposal: Bearing Witness to Christian Faith and Practice: California Ministers鈥 Opposition to Militarism in World War I

Laurie Heffron, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Proposal: Post-Detention Access to Services and Well-Being Among Immigrant Women and Children

Katherine Goldey, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Proposal: Physiological Pathways from Cognitive Appraisals to Social Behavior

Selin Guner, Associate Professor of Global Studies
Proposal: What are the causes and consequences of the recent military coup attempt on Turkish politics?

Sarah Henseler, Professor of Psychology鈥
Proposal: Belief Challenge and Identity Among College Students: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study

Jooyoun Lee, Assistant Professor of Global Studies/Political Science
Proposal: War Memory and Foreign Policy in International Hierarchy and Korean Popular Culture in Asian and in North America

Adam McCormick, Assistant Professor of Social Work
Proposal: Research project for publication 鈥 addressing systemic barriers that LGBTQ youth encounter in the child welfare system

Rachael Neal, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Proposal: Constructing Whiteness: Sustaining Anti-Racist Ideologies

Delia Kothmann Paskos, Associate Professor of Psychology
Proposal: Preparing a manuscript for publication on Art Therapy and Alzheimer鈥檚 Research Study and Planning for Implementation of Seminar on Sexual Assault and Self-Defense 

Michelle Robertson, Associate Professor of Sociology
Proposal: NSF ADVANCE Program Adaptation Grant Application

School of Education

Elisabeth Johnson, Associate Professor of Literacy
鈥≒roposal: Research project: collaborative self-study of pre-service teachers and a teacher educator鈥檚 digital crossings

Katie Peterson, Assistant Professor of Reading鈥
Proposal: Developing Socially Just Ideologies in a Teacher Education Program

Kris Sloan, Associate Professor of Education
Proposal: The Uberization of Teacher Credentialing: The 鈥淩evolution鈥 will not be Theorized

School of Humanities

Alan Altimont, Associate Professor of English
Proposal: Marbod of Rennes: Selected Works

Emily Bernate, Assistant Professor of Spanish
鈥≒roposal: Evaluations of Morphological and Lexical Politeness Strategies in United States Spanish

Mary Brantl, Associate Professor of Art
Proposal: Hagel & Mieth 鈥搕hrough a Jack London Lens

Kelley Coblenz Bautch, Associate Professor of Religious and Theological Studies鈥
Proposal: Context through Texts: Religious Practices and Communities Revealed by Pseudepipgraphal Literature & an Emerging Project: an Edited Volume on the Historical Jesus

Christopher Gerben, Assistant Professor of Writing & Rhetoric
Proposal: Social/Media/Writing: The Rhetorics of Online Interactions

Hollis Hammonds, Associate Professor of Art鈥
Proposal: 鈥淭he Space Between Believing and Forgetting鈥

Jena Heath, Associate Professor of Journalism
Proposal: The China Stories: Exploring the Changing Narrative of Chinese Adoption

William Kennedy, Professor of Photocommunications鈥
Proposal: Hybrid Digital Imaging Technology and production of new work

Alexandra Robinson, Associate Professor of Art鈥
Proposal: Dahs and Dits and Commitment Issues

Tammie Rubin, Assistant Professor of Art
Proposal: Always & Forever, Visual Study of the Great Migration

 Brian Sheerin, Associate Professor of English
Proposal: Something from Nothing: Literary Theory and Radical Imagination in Early Modern England

Mary Helen Specht, Assistant Professor of English鈥
Proposal: Research for second novel loosely based on the end of Georgia O鈥橩eefe鈥檚 life

Jennifer Veninga, Assistant Professor of Religious and Theological Studies
Proposal: A Comparative Theology of Witness: Trauma, Testimony and Solidarity in a Global Context

Joseph Vitone, Professor of Photocommunications鈥
Proposal: Family Records Photography and Italian Language Study

Peter Wake, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Proposal: Hegel and Comedy 鈥 completion of scholarly article

Sasha West, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
Proposal: Solastalgia: A Manuscript of Poems

Emma Woelk, Assistant Professor of German鈥
Proposal: Well ich ajch derzejln a majsse: Fred Wander鈥檚 Yiddish storytelling between Revival, Redemption and Critique

School of Natural Sciences

Kaitlyn Phillipson, Assistant Professor of Mathematics鈥
Proposal: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Convex Codes

Bill Quinn, Professor of Biology and Computer Science
Proposal: Guiding Student Research in Plant Physiology

Bilal Shebaro, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Proposal: Crime Scene in a Digital World: An interdisciplinary course for the 21st century crime fighters

Casey Sherman, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Proposal: Periodic Orbit Structures of Billiards on an Equilateral Triangle, Orbit Structures of Homeomorphisms on Cantor sets and Continua

Santiago Toledo, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Proposal: Research: Collaborative research involving undergraduates to synthesize and study a family of metal complexes that mimic the active site and reactivity of Ni-ARD

The Bill Munday School of Business

David Altounian, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship鈥
Proposal: Summer Entrepreneurship Program

Katherine Lopez, Assistant Professor of Accounting
Proposal: An Exploration of Accounting Role Identities Expected by the Public

Catherine MacDermott, Professor of Management
Proposal: Framing employability deliverables in BCOMM around the personal brand: A pedagogical strategy for developing students鈥 unique value proposition in the marketplace

Wesley Pollitte, Assistant Professor of Marketing鈥
Proposal: Evaluation of Experiential Learning: Does it Motivate Students to Take a Deep Learning Approach?

Debra Zahay Blatz, Professor of Marketing
Proposal: The Organizational Challenges in Teaching Digital Marketing