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.
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.
Nearly 17 million people worldwide have a first stroke each year (Feigin et al. 2014). Up to 80% of stroke survivors experience upper extremity impairments such as spasticity, weakness, abnormal muscle activity patterns, and limited tactile perception and range of motion (Dobkin & Dorsch 2011). Impairment of the upper extremity is often chronic and a cause of long-term disability (Ward 2017). Stroke survivors view the recovery of their upper extremity as a priority to improve their quality of life (Au-Yeung & Hui-Chan 2009). We propose to develop a noninvasive vibrotactile stimulation therapy with wearable technology for upper extremity stroke rehabilitation. Vibrotactile stimulation is a mechanical vibratory input produced with small motors on the skin that create a sensation similar to a phone gently vibrating. We have designed a shirt that has 14 vibrating motors incorporated on the sleeve (on the side of the impacted limb) and a glove that has 5 vibrating motors on the fingertips. We will conduct a randomized control trial to compare the efficacy of the therapy (vibrotactile stimulation in addition to conventional therapy) and a control group (conventional therapy only). We will have 24 patients recruited within 1-week post-stroke be randomized 1:1 to each group. In the therapy group, patients will receive 3 hours of stimulation with the shirt and 2 hours of stimulation with the glove per day (7 days per week) during their stay in the inpatient rehabilitation unit (on average, between 2-3 weeks). The primary outcome measure is the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment conducted at baseline and at discharge from the inpatient rehabilitation unit. Our secondary outcome measures include the Modified Ashworth Scale and measurements of upper extremity kinematics. We hypothesize that the therapy group will have greater improvements in upper extremity kinematics, spasticity, tactile perception and range of motion compared to the control group at discharge from the rehabilitation unit. Given the evidence that repeated upper extremity muscle vibration can significantly improve motor function and spasticity in stroke patients in laboratory and clinical settings (Annino et al. 2019, Calabro et al. 2017, Marconi et al. 2011, Noma et al. 2009), a wearable device has the potential to increase the duration and length of the therapy, which seems critical to improve recovery (Hayward et al. 2021). This will be the first study to investigate the effects of vibrotactile stimulation in the upper extremity with a wearable device. Furthermore, given that post-stroke spasticity is common on the muscles of the upper and lower arm (Thibaut et al. 2013), our device has the potential to yield further improvements than a stimulation limited on the knuckles (Seim et al. 2021). The cost of the wearable device (approximately $80) could allow the widespread adoption of the therapy.
This proposal seeks support for development of an interactive website, E.A.R.T.H. Lit (Eco-literacies for Accountability and Responsibility Together with Heart; www.earthlit.org), with a dual focus on advancing environmental justice literacy learning in elementary education and serving as a dynamic data collection platform. Working with my Co-PI (non-UC Denver faculty), we aim to empower educators to teach and advocate for environmental justice.
The purpose of this application is to request funding for the first phase of The Racial and Ethnic Socialization Lab. The first phase includes collecting data to obtain insight into the intergenerational processes of racial/ethnic socialization (RES) messages that monoracial/monoethnic Black/African Americans, Hispanic, and/or Latine/x parents (henceforth referred to as participants) receive from their families of origin and provide to their children. Racial/ethnic socialization can be operationalized as bidirectional communication between parents of color and their children that prepares children for the bias they will encounter and instills cultural pride (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019; Hughes et al., 2006). Such communication can act as a buffer for negative outcomes related to race-based traumatic stress (e.g., higher rates of depression, anxiety; Bannon et al., 2009; Davis & Stevenson, 2006). Current sociopolitical events (e.g., “stop woke” policies, attacks on DEI initiatives, removal of affirmative action protections) may be creating unique circumstances whereby subsequent generations must navigate racial/ethnic discrimination with fewer safety nets than their predecessors, thus potentially leading parents to adjust RES messages. To the best of our knowledge, no study has examined how and if RES messages change across time and generations. This existing gap in the literature along with recent historical events, represents a unique data collection time point.
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