05/07/08 Contact: Kimberly King-Jupiter 334-844-5700 (kingki1@auburn.edu)
AUBURN - The Office of the Vice President for University Outreach has awarded more than $90,000 in competitive Outreach Scholarship Grants to fund seven faculty initiatives for 2008-09.
"The primary goal of the program is to provide AU faculty members with resources to connect their research with pressing needs of the state", said Assistant Vice President for University Outreach, Royrickers Cook.
Seven projects were funded out of 18 proposals submitted for the competitive grant program.
“The Outreach Scholarship Grants Review Committee felt these proposals show enormous potential for connecting research to the direct benefit of external audiences,” said Cook.
“These projects will contribute greatly to Auburn University’s efforts toward improving the quality of life for individuals, organizations, counties and towns throughout the state of Alabama.”
The seven projects selected for funding, the award, principal investigators and description are:
Alabama Partnership for Research and Training on Positive Academic and Behavior Supports -- $15,000.00
Investigator: Gregory Ern, Assistant Professor, Department of Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology, and School Psychology, College of Education
The project will involve the start up stages of a collaborative partnership involving research, training, and technical assistance on School-wide Positive Academic and Behavior Support (SW-PABS) to serve K-12 public schools in east central Alabama.
Auburn All STARS (STudent Athletes Reading with Students): You Read to Me, I Read to You -- $10,000.00
Investigators: Nancy Barry, Professor and Chair; Edna Brabham, Associate Professor; and Bruce Murray, Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, College of Education
The purpose of the program is to train university student athletes to serve as mentors for at-risk children; the student athletes will participate in responsive reading training and then serve as a “reading buddies” with children at Auburn Day Care for read-aloud sessions.
Bridging the Digital Divide to Enhance Internet Technology Among the Elderly -- $10,000.00
Investigators: Veena Chattaraman, Assistant Professor, Department of Consumer Affairs, College of Human Sciences; Juan Gilbert, TSYS Distinguished Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering; and Wi-Suk Kwon, Assistant Professor, Department of Consumer Affairs, College of Human Sciences
The project will implement a multidisciplinary approach integrating computer and social sciences to develop a multimodal, social interface for Internet applications that has the potential to enhance the use of the Internet by the elderly, thus improving their quality of life through increased independence.
Communication Infrastructure Pilot Project Proposal for Alabama's Black Belt -- $20,000.00
Investigator: Prathima Agrawal, Director, Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center, and Samuel Gill Distinguished Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
Economic development in rural areas is highly dependent on infrastructure investment and communications. The project will deploy state-of-the-art data communication networking capability to select public sites (school, library, municipal building) in Perry County within the economically distressed Black Belt region of Alabama, which currently lacks such infrastructure.
Enhancing the Educational Skills of Alabama's Prison Population -- $15,000.00
Investigators: Margaret Shippen, Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation and Special Education, College of Education; and Kyes Stevens, Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project Director, Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
The project will expand basic literacy tutoring programs to other prison facilities, partner with the Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project to enhance Auburn’s prison-based education efforts, and to conduct a “Prison Education Summit” with prisoner education stakeholders in the state with the overall objective of improving the educational skills of Alabama’s prison population.
Making A Rural Health Promotion Connection: Caring for Alabama's Volunteer Citizen Servants -- $15,000.00
Investigators: Constance Smith Hendricks, Professor and Libba Reed McMillan, Associate Professor, School of Nursing
The objective of the project is to improve the health status of community volunteers with the premise that continued good health will allow them to extend or expand their service to the community. The project will partner with community service organizations to provide culturally relevant health information to subjects with organizational activities to monitor and enhance participation.
Water Education for Alabama: WET -- $6,380.00
Investigators: Lorraine Wolf, Professor, and Ming-Kuo Lee, Professor, Department of Geology and Geography, College of Sciences and Mathematics
The project will deliver water resources education to schools serving primarily African-American students in Alabama’s poorest counties where water quality and aquifer exploitation problems are critical; the goal is to increase knowledge and stimulate interest and concern among teachers and students regarding water resource issues.
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