Seed Grant Awards Description
Arts and Humanities Seed Grant (Spring 2024)
For over a century, the American Academy in Rome has awarded the Rome Prize to support innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities. Each year, the Rome Prize is awarded to about thirty artists and scholars who represent the highest standard of excellence. The Rome Prize states that, “The jurors’ primary criterion is excellence. They will … select candidates who are not only outstanding in their respective fields, but also at a point in their careers where the Rome Prize is likely to be crucial to their future growth and development.” One can submit an application to the Rome Prize Fellowship online. There is a fee to submit the application and excellence must be demonstrated. Similarly, artists can apply to the Pollock-Krasner Foundation by submitting an online application. The foundation states that, “Professional exhibition history will be taken into consideration. Artists must be actively exhibiting their current work in professional artistic venues, such as gallery and museum spaces.” It is my intent to utilize these funds to produce new work as well as to put up exhibitions at multiple international and national exhibition spaces and disseminate these creative ideas through publication, talks, workshops and other opportunities.
Table Manners is a research project that uses architectural design and curatorial practices to iterate on modes of social interaction and relations, reflecting on the climate crisis and architecture’s agency to shape culture and society. The project challenges normative academic structures and prioritizes bringing people together in unexpected ways that foster connection, interaction, and knowledge-building through playful means. The main purpose of this work is to create coalitions of climate activists who can overcome today’s crisis of imagination .
Open/All Discipline Seed Grant (Spring 2024)
Understanding and enhancing human creativity holds great potential, but the neurological basis of
this complex cognitive function remains mysterious despite extensive research. Prior attempts to study
creativity using lucid dreaming have achieved fascinating results but lack adequate sensing modalities and
quantification. The precise cognitive mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still unclear. Emerging
evidence links creativity to dynamic Brain Regional Networking (BRN) via hemodynamic imagining, such
as via Blood Oxygen Level- Dependent (BOLD) signals. Several efforts have utilized functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to capture BOLD data. However, inherent constraints on study duration and
environment variability with this modality preclude the continuous assessments requisite to capture unpredictable creative moments. Alternative hemodynamic imaging techniques allowing unobtrusive, prolonged
data collection in naturalistic contexts are necessary to advance mechanistic characterizations of creative
cognition and its neural correlates. Among those, emerging photoacoustic imaging achieves noninvasive
hemoglobin oximetry sensing in compact, lightweight systems and shows promise for quality BOLD signal
detection in early studies. On the other hand, other conventional wisdom targets electrophysiological signals,
including electroencephalography (EEG), for enabling portable and seamless measurement of neural activity.
However, this sensing modality is limited in localizing regional brain activation. Furthermore, a substantial
mismatch between EEG and hemodynamic imaging like BOLD data limits the opportunities to characterize
essential dynamic regional brain network activities regarding creative cognition. Accordingly, developing an
integrated spatiotemporal neural imaging approach, which leverages the strengths of both EEG and BOLD
signals, will advance the complementary information from the two domains. The outcome of this pioneering
joint model promises significant advances in understanding, characterizing, and decoding dynamic human
brain function in creative cognition. The proposed research will provide critical access to brain states linked
with enhanced creativity in a seamless setting. By enabling the continuous tracking of BRN activations and
the corresponding biomarkers, findings in this domain may unlock vital new insights for deciphering the
creative thought process. Knowledge gained stands to contribute to the future development of creativityenhancing technologies. Ultimately, this contribution promises broader scientific impacts by accelerating
advancements in exploring a longstanding scientific challenge regarding human cognitive functions.
To address the challenges and realize the vision, the PIs propose to address the challenges of effectively
capturing BOLD signals indicative of creative thinking by exploring (1) A novel wearable photoacoustic
sensing device optimized to detect BOLD signals; (2) Advanced modeling techniques and analytical approaches to achieve a high-resolution understanding of the coordination between BOLD activation patterns
and EEG dynamics during creative thought; (3) Innovative algorithms capable of deducing brain creativity
functions and states from joint models of BOLD and EEG signals.
Composite materials are widely used in industries including aerospace, automotive, and wind energy, due
to their excellent mechanical performance. Continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CCFRP)
composites, known for their exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, stiffness, and durability, have been widely
used in lightweight aircraft and automobiles. Recently, there has been considerable interest surrounding the
3D printing of composite materials, as 3D printing provides a high level of flexibility in design and an
efficient use of materials for creating the next generation of aircraft and automobiles. For context, the global
3D printed composites market size was valued at $170.25 million in 2022 and is expected to hit around
$4.3 billion by 2032. However, 3D printing of CCFRP composites is currently at an early stage,
encountering manufacturing quality issues such as low dimensional accuracy (how closely the printed part
matches the original design), low fiber content (too few fibers make a printed part weak), and internal voids
and gaps (air pockets also make a printed part weak). These deficiencies can significantly reduce the
mechanical performance of CCFRP composites and impede their applications in an industrial setting.
Lanthanides and Actinides make up the bottom two rows of the periodic table, and due to their
complex arrangement of electrons, exhibit some unusual chemical properties. They have many and
varied applications, from novel power sources to optical devices, but could be underutilized due
to how dicult they are to study. Most Actinides do not occur naturally, and both species are
dicult for theorists to model due to their heavy nucleus and large number of electrons. One
computational method which shows promise in tackling this problem is the Dirac B-Spline R-Matrix
suite of codes, a world-leading method in determining the atomic structure of complex atoms, and
modelling electron collisions with them. Motivated by the desire to produce more atomic data related
to Lanthanides and Actinides, the purpose of this Seed Grant proposal is to obtain funding for CU
Denver undergraduate students to generate atomic data for Lanthanum and Actinium, which can be
used in future grant proposals. Target funding agencies include the National Science Foundation and
United States Department of Energy, who will have interest in this data from either a fundamental
physics (NSF) or applications (DOE) perspective.
For over a million individuals in the United States, the manual wheelchair (MW) serves as a major cornerstone in their everyday mobility, participation, and quality of life. Current clinical practice takes a protracted trial-and-error approach to MW prescription and training, often putting manual wheelchair users (MWUs) at higher risk of developing upper-extremity injury and limiting their capacity for mobility. This proposed project builds off of prior funded work, with the long-term goal of optimizing MW selection, configuration, and training via data-driven methods to rapidly provide better patient outcomes for MWUs. Prior work involved implementing a robotic testbed that compared, across distinct straight and turning maneuvers, the energetic cost of propelling MWs with different components and/or configurations. Study findings indicated there is no perfect, universal set of MW components. Instead, MW selection and configuration needs to be personalized based on each MWU’s unique, everyday mobility patterns
Insulin is a central hormone of mammalian metabolism, normally secreted by the β-cells of the pancreas
in response to increased blood glucose (e.g., after a meal). If insulin secretion fails, then diabetes ensues.
Type 1 diabetes results from immune-mediated destruction of β-cells, and type 2 diabetes results from
insufficient insulin secretion from β-cells coupled with a decreased responsiveness to insulin in the rest of
the body. Clearly, the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of insulin secretion are important to
understand, both for developing future diabetes treatments and for understanding the fundamental
physiology of β-cells. Yet, our collective understanding of how β-cells work is incomplete in key areas.
For example, it was only discovered in 2020 that β-cells contain two populations of secretory vesicles
with different proteins in their membranes, most notably distinguished by different versions of a calcium
sensor protein called synaptotagmin (Syt, pronounced “sit”). One population of secretory vesicles
contains Syt-7, a protein that the Knight lab has studied for years; we are still discovering interesting
features about this high-sensitivity calcium sensor. The other population contains Syt-9, a protein whose
calcium-sensing properties are still not well described. The Knight lab plans to continue our long-time
collaboration with Prof. Arun Anantharam (U. Toledo, USA) by applying for a collaborative grant to NSF
to study the functions of Syt-9 and Syt-7 as calcium sensors, both in vitro (Knight) and in mouse β-cells
(Anantharam). This seed grant will provide funding to support Knight lab students collecting preliminary
data as well as a short trip in Summer 2024 dedicated to collaborative proposal writing. Current Knight
lab student Vrishank Bikkumalla, who is graduating this semester, will conduct experiments and train a
new student, who will continue through the summer. The experiments will use steady-state and kinetic
versions of a fluorescence-based membrane binding assay with synthetic lipid vesicles and purified
protein domains; this is a method that the Knight lab has used and developed extensively in our prior
publications. At the completion of this project, we expect to have submitted a competitive, fundable
proposal (3y, ~$350,000) to the NSF or another funding agency with Knight as PI.
In 2004, dozens of countries ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first treaty focused on a public health issue. As of March
2024, Malawi and 179 other countries have ratified the FCTC. The US is a non-party to the
FCTC. FCTC Article 17 pertains to the conditions of tobacco farmers and farm workers as well
as the need to identify alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers and farm workers. My research
examines the transition from tobacco farming to legal medicinal cannabis farming in Malawi and
workforce development issues associated with the search for alternative livelihoods for tobacco
farmers and farm workers in the country. Malawi is the world’s most tobacco reliant country with
over 60 percent of its foreign earnings deriving from the cultivation of tobacco leaves. My
research question is: What are the sustainable development opportunities and limitations
associated with the transition from tobacco farming to legal medicinal cannabis farming in
Malawi pertaining to the promotion of alternative livelihoods for local tobacco farmers. Using
qualitative research strategies and policy anthropology approaches, I plan in 2024 to conduct
interviews in Malawi with 20 key stakeholders engaged in the search for economically
sustainable alternatives for tobacco growing, including representatives in the government body
Cannabis Regulatory Authority. Interviews topics include the reasons a farmer exits tobacco and
switches to medicinal cannabis and other crops, licensing systems for non-tobacco crops, and
potential for decent work and economic growth associated with medicinal cannabis as a crop to
replace tobacco. In 2020, Malawi legalized medicinal (non-psychoactive) cannabis and several
tobacco farmers switched to medicinal cannabis. One of my goals is to reduce the tension
between the global policy priority to reduce tobacco farming and health policymakers’ reluctance
to support legal cannabis due to its traditional drug status as a viable alternative to tobacco.
Interview data will be integrated into a peer-reviewed manuscript, a scholarly documentary film
(up to 30 minutes) and a future funding proposal. This research and creative work will contribute
new text and visual-based knowledge about alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers and farm
workers and offer a set of policy suggestions on economically sustainable alternatives for
tobacco growing
Older Black and Latino vs. White adults have faster rates of cognitive decline and dementia prevalence. But, older adults who manage mild cognitive impairment (MCI) through meaningful social activities, bringing purpose to their lives, may improve their quality of life. Employment promotes purpose in life, physical activity, and social support, while reducing cognitive declines and dementia risk. However, we do not know if employment can slow cognitive declines for older adults with MCI and dementia and reduce racial/ethnic disparities. My aim for this research stage is to explore mental distress associated with employment and/or job cessation perceptions and experiences of older adults aged 55+ with MCI or early-stage dementia, if they vary by race/ethnicity, and how these issues impact their cognitive functioning over time. The research questions include:
1) Do participants experience mental distress in their jobs, possibly impacting their desire to work? If so, how?
2) Are they more likely to quit their jobs after their diagnosis? If so, what are their reasons for job cessation?
3) Do they believe their employment experiences and perceptions help maintain cognitive functioning or prevent further cognitive declines over time? If so, how?
4) Do the prior experiences vary by race/ethnicity for Black and Hispanic vs. White older adult workers?
Lanthanides and Actinides make up the bottom two rows of the periodic table, and due to their complex arrangement of electrons, exhibit some unusual chemical properties. They have many and varied applications, from novel power sources to optical devices, but could be underutilized due to how dicult they are to study. Most Actinides do not occur naturally, and both species are dicult for theorists to model due to their heavy nucleus and large number of electrons. One computational method which shows promise in tackling this problem is the Dirac B-Spline R-Matrix suite of codes, a world-leading method in determining the atomic structure of complex atoms, and modelling electron collisions with them. Motivated by the desire to produce more atomic data related to Lanthanides and Actinides, the purpose of this Seed Grant proposal is to obtain funding for CU Denver undergraduate students to generate atomic data for Lanthanum and Actinium, which can be used in future grant proposals. Target funding agencies include the National Science Foundation and United States Department of Energy, who will have interest in this data from either a fundamental physics (NSF) or applications (DOE) perspective.
Several areas of basic science are in desparate need of a high-efficiency neutron detection system sensitive to 0-1 MeV neutrons. The best current neutron detection system has the
ability to measure neutron energies with efficiencies of 0.17%. My research group has designed a
novel prototype that will have an efficiency of 15%–about 100 times better than the best current
available systems. The goal of the project is to develop this prototype and publish the results
to support an external Department of Energy (DOE) grant for the development of a more advanced design. This new neutron particle detector can also be implemented in industry or by the
government for nuclear safeguards applications.
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