Grants Awarded to FDU
Over the past four months, Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) has secured millions of dollars in funding to support faculty and administrators engaged in interdisciplinary education and institutional research initiatives. Below are detailed descriptions of these awarded grants, which underscore FDU’s commitment to advancing innovative academic and research endeavors.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) Collaborative Research
The National Science Foundation has provided a collaborative project between FDU and the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) with a $400,000 grant that will fund institutional research capacity-building resources. The project is titled “Collaborative Research: EPIIC: The Concept CAFE (Collaborative Activities Fostering Exploration): Innovation Brewing.” According to Carolynn Julien, executive director, grants/sponsored projects (Metro), this collaboration focuses on building our capacity for research projects between university faculty, industry partners and community stakeholders, while simultaneously developing the regional workforce for these three entities.
Based on the project’s abstract, FDU and UMD will support one another as they move the following activities forward: (1) enhancing communication strategies for collaborating with outside entities; (2) growing the internal faculty seed grant program; (3) advancing meaningful relations with regional industry through intentional and directed communication about campus research capabilities and accomplishments; (4) facilitating faculty interaction with the private sector by enhancing sponsored project support and assuring awareness of existing campus resources; and (5) empowering faculty to build new partnerships with grant-writing support and targeted seed grant opportunities.
The grant is being jointly led by Carolynn Julien; Annie Rohan, nursing and dean, nursing/allied health (Metro); and Hong Zhao, electrical engineering (Metro). “I’m extremely proud of this grant that will provide resources for our grants office and also critical resources and tools for our faculty to support their research efforts,” Julien said.
Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Opioid-Impacted Family Support Program
The University has received a new grant from the Department of Health and Human Services – Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) — a total of $2,241,079 for the next four years — effective September 30, 2024.
The project, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Supporting Treatment and Recovery through Opportunities and Nurturing Growth in Families (FDU STRONG), will train 108 community health workers (CHW) to support children and families impacted by opioid and substance-use disorders and to prevent mental health challenges and substance misuse in youth by developing and implementing a certificate program.
FDU STRONG has already established two primary training sites with the Center for Family Services and CarePlus New Jersey. It will offer tuition and stipend support, job training, support students in securing employment activities as CHWs and expand partnerships with agencies in medically underserved communities serving youth and families.
Andrea Cole, social work (Flor), serves as the project’s principal investigator. Other members are Zakia Clay, social work, and director, Master of Social Work program (Flor); Melissa Slavin, psychology (Metro); and Anthony Tasso, psychology, and deputy director, psychology/counseling (Flor).
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $390,000 grant to Yong Guo, pharmaceutical sciences, and chair, pharmaceutical sciences (Flor), for his research on the “Quantitative Assessment of Retention Mechanisms in Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography.”
According to Guo’s project summary, his proposed study “directly addresses the research needs in separation science and, if completed, will significantly advance the current understanding of Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography (HILIC), which has become an indispensable tool in biomedical, food and pharmaceutical research.”
In addition, his research will have a significant impact on undergraduate and graduate education in STEM disciplines by incorporating a strong research component in the curriculum. The funding will also enable Guo, as principal investigator, to train both undergraduate and graduate students in separation science — providing them with “a solid foundation in theoretical aspects and practical skills in applying separation technologies to solving problems in biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.” FDU has established infrastructures to serve students with Hispanic backgrounds. However, the faculty often lacks research funding to attract minority students to the STEM disciplines. The proposed research will provide the underrepresented students with much needed research experiences, which is critical to recruiting and retaining those students in chemistry. It will also allow Guo to continue his summer research program geared specifically for high-school students who are interested in science.
Wake Forest University-Lilly Endowment Inc.
The Program for Leadership and Character – The Educating Character Initiative
“Nurturing Global Citizens of Character,” a research study by Robert McGrath, psychology, deputy director of clinical training and project director, and Benjamin Freer, psychology, director of psychology/counseling and cofounder, Center for Empathy Research and Training (both Metro), received a $50,000 grant from Wake Forest University (WFU), Winston-Salem, N.C., through a sponsorship of the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
The award will allow McGrath and Freer to develop a new curriculum for two Core courses: UNIV1001 Transitioning to University Life and UNIV1002 Preparing for Professional Life. These new curricula will focus on developing character based on the three essential elements: heart, will, and mind. These lessons will be applied in the context of global citizenship, how to be a person of character in an increasingly globalized and digital world.
An abbreviated version of the UNIV1001 curriculum is already being piloted. Self-ratings by students and focus groups will be used to evaluate the pilot, and a full version of the curriculum will be rolled out in Spring 2025. Sections of Core will be assigned to offer either the new or traditional curriculum to collect data as a basis for further refinement. Students will also be completing a measure of character, the VIA Inventory of Strengths-Positive, at the beginning and end of the semester to evaluate direct impact on character strengths. This instrument was developed here at Fairleigh Dickinson, and has been completed more than 5 million times by people from around the world.
U.S. Department of Education
Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Demonstration Grant Program
FDU has been awarded a new U.S. Department of Education grant of $3,642,107 for the next five years beginning on January 1, 2025, for Project THRIVE (Training to Honor Diversity, Reduce Inequity, Validate and Empower).
Project THRIVE is a collaboration between FDU’s school psychology program and three local high-needs districts in northern New Jersey: Bogota School District, Teaneck Public Schools and Paterson Public Schools. According to Linda Raffaele Mendez, psychology (Metro), who serves as its principal investigator, “We will recruit 24 students from diverse groups to our program over the grant’s duration, paying their tuition, fees and a small stipend.”
Through this project, FDU and its partner local education agencies (LEAs) aim to create a sustainable pipeline of mental health services providers who understand the lived experiences of the communities they serve and shift the service delivery model in these LEAs through the provision of proactive and preventive mental health supports that help students fully engage in learning.
Supporting Raffaele Mendez are Narmene Hamsho, psychology, and Jamie Zibulsky, psychology and director, school psychology programs (both Metro).
Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE)
Hunger-Free Campus Act
The University will receive $37,500 for the 2025 fiscal year that will help enhance community engagement and outreach, develop and implement food-security education and sustain and expand the pantry resources on both the Metropolitan and Florham campuses. Key components that have been identified to help FDU address food insecurity among its students include SNAP assistance, campus food pantries (the Knights’ Market at the Metropolitan Campus and the Devils Care Food Pantry at the Florham Campus) and the Swipe Out Hunger Or Meal Donation Program.
The FDU Food Pantry Campus Hunger Task Force is integral to this project. Its members include Rashard Mills, director of student union/campus engagement and chief student experience officer (Metro); Traci Banks, associate vice president for strategic initiatives and chief student experience officer (Flor); Tiffany Walker, University director, Student Wellness Services; Ceciley Smith-Cruz, wellness coordinator, Student Wellness Services (Flor); and Nicole Davis, executive director, Center for Food Action (Passaic/Bergen County).
In addition, FDU has received continued funding for faculty and administrators involved in interdisciplinary education and institutional research.
Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program
The Fairleigh Dickinson University Educating the Next Generation to Advance Growth through Empowerment and Diversity (FDU ENGAGED) program was awarded a grant of $1,060,000 (over a two-year period) by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It involves a three-school collaboration (School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Henry P. Becton School of Nursing and Allied Health and the School of Psychology and Counseling) that “will increase the pipeline of behavioral health workers serving children, adolescents and youth in underserved communities.”
The schools, along with the Master of Social Work (MSW) program and the psychiatric mental health nursing practitioner track, will work in concert to implement interdisciplinary education and development along with support to graduate students and professionals providing behavioral health services.
Zakia Clay, social work, and director, MSW program (Flor), is leading the team. Other FDU ENGAGED project team members include Andrea Cole, social work (Flor); Rachel Petts Santer, clinical psychology (Metro); Linda Raffaele Mendez, psychology (Metro); Annie Rohan, nursing, and dean, nursing/allied health; and FDU doctoral student in higher education Kristie O’Neill, project coordinator.
According to Clay, thus far 17 FDU ENGAGED scholars/students and nine clinical supervisors have benefitted from the grant. FDU ENGAGED students and clinical supervisors receive enhanced trainings on topics related to children, adolescents and young adults as well as a stipend and support.