Eighteen grant awards received by faculty and staff

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs received the following grants since June 1.

Yi Lu Murphey, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Chris Mi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, received $399,860 from the US Army/TACOM to develop advanced hybrid electric power management technologies for military vehicles.

Robert Behrens, vice chancellor of business affairs, received a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to improve the Henry Ford Estate Power House by replacing the current steam heating system and equipping many large windows with UV filters.

Oleg Zikanov, associate professor of mechanical engineering, received $276,844 from the National Science Foundation to study the effect of steady magnetic fields on turbulence, transition and transport in flows of electrically conducting fluids, such as liquid metals.

Martha Adler, associate professor in the School of Education, received $232,060 from the U.S. Department of Education to fund year four of her project to improve the classroom experience for students who speak English as a second language.

Paul Richardson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Weidong Xiang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received $158,529 from the National Science Foundation to work with researchers from the University of Northern Iowa to develop intra-vehicle wireless control and communication applications.

Juliette Roddy, assistant professor of public policy, and Paul Draus, assistant professor of sociology, director of public administration and director of public policy, received $154,500 in continuation funding from the National Institutes of Health to fund year two of their project to evaluate the effectiveness of Detroit's Fresh Start Prostitution Reform Project.

John Cristiano, director of the Henry W. Patton Center for Engineering Education and Practice, received $49,896 from the National Science Foundation to fund the organization and travel of female faculty members from the U.S. to participate in a workshop on “Building Science and Engineering Associations for Women in Middle Eastern and North African Countries.”

Weidong Xiang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received $46,938 from the Argonne National Labs to develop and implement a real-time field programmable gate array-based software defined radio prototype for smart grid using VHDL programming language.

Cheol Lee, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, received $33,360 from Detroit Diesel to work on optimizing their part production process in order to improve efficiency and reduce production costs.

William Grosky, professor and chair of the Department of Computer and Information Science, received $31,000 in additional funding from Ford Motor Company to continue to refine his software package that will improve workflow and decision-making capabilities of credit analysts.

Pravansu Mohanty, professor of mechanical engineering, received $30,000 from Solarflex, Inc. to work on developing new technologies for third generation solar cells.

Kent Murray, professor of geology and environmental science collaborated with Jacob Napieralski, assistant professor of geology, and Anne Danielson-Francois, assistant professor of biology, on a $25,000 award from AT&T to supplement Murray's Delray Initiative project and involve Detroit Public School students who will collect and analyze soil and spider web samples for the presence of heavy metals.

Paul Richardson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, received $25,000 from the U.S. Army/TACOM to study the interaction of composite materials and their effect on various antennae radiation patterns.

Jacqueline Vansant, professor of German, received $25,000 from the Dietrich W. Botstiber Foundation to work on a book titled “Austria: Made in Hollywood” that will examine how Austria is depicted in Hollywood films from 1919 to the present.

Steve Underwood, director of research in the Connected Vehicle Proving Center in the CECS, received $11,649 in additional funding from the Institute for Information Industry - Telematics Promotion Office to continue to assist Taiwan’s Department of Information Technology with improving its share of the Telematics and Connected Vehicle markets here in the U.S. as well as globally.

Gary Rodgers, general manager of the Henry Ford Estate, received $6,827 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund the Cultural Landscape Symposium 2010: Prairie Style Design Legacy in Southeast Michigan and Relevance Today.

Alan Argento, professor of mechanical engineering, received a $6,000 Research Experience for Undergraduates Supplement to his National Science Foundation GOALI: Dynamic Response of Rigid, Foamed Biocomposites project he is working on with engineers from Ford Motor Company. This supplement will enable an undergraduate student to study with researchers at UM-Dearborn and at the Ford Research and Innovation Center.

Andrea Olive, assistant professor of political science, received $3,760 from the Canadian Embassy to use the Lake Erie Water Snake, which is federally listed as a threatened species, while studying the complex relationships between landowners, conservation beliefs and government policy.