Cal State Fullerton faculty and staff were awarded nearly $28.4 million in grants during the 2020-21 fiscal year, marking the second highest level of annual grant funding in the university’s history.
The following are the $5.6 million in grants awarded in the fourth quarter of the past fiscal year. Supported projects ranged from monitoring living shorelines and exploring disengagement among Latinx adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic to developing therapeutic strategies for the treatment of acute and chronic pain.
Michael Daniel, director of the Small Business Development Center: $2,631,339 from the U.S. Small Business Administration for the “Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center 2021” project
Sam Behseta, professor of mathematics: $583,900 from the U.S. Army for the project titled “A Next Generation High-Performance Computing Cluster for Research and Teaching at a Primarily Undergraduate Hispanic-Serving Institution”
Related: $600,000 Grant for Supercomputer to Boost Research, Teaching
Mark Ellis, professor of secondary education: $580,456 from the National Science Foundation for the project titled “Advancing Teachers of Mathematics to Advance Learning for All”
Archana McEligot, professor of public health: $374,647 from the National Institutes of Health for the project titled “Neurocognitive Aging and Analytics Research Education”
Amybeth Cohen, professor of biological science: $229,904 from the National Institutes of Health for the project titled “Cal State Fullerton Maximizing Access to Research Careers – Undergraduate Student Training for Academic Research”
Related: MARC Program Graduates Prepared for Ph.D. Studies in Biomedical Science
Danielle Zacherl, professor of biological science: $197,868 in total funding
- $177,868 from the University Corporation at Monterey Bay for the project titled “Development of Cost-Effective Metrics for Monitoring Living Shorelines”
- $20,000 from the Merkel & Associates Inc. for the project titled “San Diego Bay Native Oyster Monitoring Project”
Stevan Pecic, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry: $142,000 from the National Institutes of Health for the project titled “Development of Dual Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase/Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase Inhibitors as a Promising Therapeutic Strategy for the Treatment of Acute and Chronic Pain”
Related: Biochemist Seeks New Drug Treatment for COVID-19 Patients
Laura Gil-Trejo, director of the Social Science Research Center: $131,298 in total funding
- $70,000 from the city of Stanton for the project titled “Evaluation Services to Support Assembly Bill No. 97 Activities”
- $60,798 from the county of Orange for the project titled “Tobacco Use Prevention Program Telephone Survey”
- $500 from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties for the project titled “Post Release Survey I and II”
Niroshika Keppetipola, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry: $106,500 from the National Institutes of Health for the project titled “Role of Phosphorylation in RNA Binding Protein Function”
Joshua Yang, professor of public health: $99,988 from The Regents of the University of California Office of the President for the “A Digital Mixed Methods Evaluation of University Tobacco-Free Policies” project
Yinfei Kong, associate professor of information systems and decision sciences: $90,264 in continuing funding from National Institutes of Health via the University of Chicago for the “Gender Disparities in Access and Engagement in Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder” project
Related: Titan Data Scientist to Study Gender Differences in Opioid Treatment
Adriana Badillo, director of the Center for Research on Educational Access and Leadership: $76,621 from the city of Anaheim for the “Anaheim Public Utilities — College Internship Program” project
Brady Heiner, executive director of the California State University Project Rebound Consortium: $30,000 from the CSU Project Rebound Connection for the “Food Justice Initiative” project
Joyce Gomez-Najarro, assistant professor of literacy and reading education: $59,956 from the Spencer Foundation for the project titled “Preparing Teacher Candidates to Foster Deeper Learning Through Inclusive Practices; A Case Study of One Exemplary Dual Licensure”
Guadalupe Espinoza, associate professor of child and adolescent studies: $35,000 from the Society for Research on Adolescence for the project titled “School (Dis)Engagement Among Latino Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Study”
Dawn Person, director of the Center for Research on Educational Access and Leadership: $30,000 from the Coast Community College District for the “Coast Community College District Climate Study” project
Phillip Gedalanga, assistant professor of public health: $29,998 from the South Orange County Wastewater Authority for the project titled “Application and Validation of Microbial Source Tracking Biomarkers to Differentiate Viable and Nonviable Targets of Human Fecal Pollution in Natural and Engineered Environments Throughout South Orange County”
Marcelo Tolmasky, professor of biological science: $25,877 from the National Institutes of Health for the “Los Angeles Basin-California State University Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Training Program” project
Related: Students Study HIV, Novel Cancer Treatments at Foreign Universities
Alfonso Agnew, chair and professor of mathematics: $25,319 from the Trustees of the California State University for the project titled “Early Start STEM Early ‘Einstein’ Program”
Valerie Poynor, assistant professor of mathematics: $21,775 from the U.S. Department of Education via Los Angeles City College for the “STEM Pathways Program” project
Daniel Cavagnaro, director of the Decision Research Center and lecturer in information systems and decision sciences: $17,795 from the National Science Foundation via the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois for the “Advances in Behavioral Decision Analytics: Theory Applications and Training” project
Juye Ji, associate professor of social work: $17,137 from the National Institutes of Health via the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute for the project titled “Linking DNA Methylation with Child Maltreatment and Mental Health Across Adolescence”
Natalie Fousekis, director of the The Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History and professor of history: $12,834 from the California Secretary of State for the project titled “The California State Library Archives Oral History Project”
David Gerkens, professor of psychology: $1,500 from the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology for the project titled “How User Comments Affect People’s Agreement with Posts About Global Warming: A Replication and Expansion of Lewandowsky”