Faculty and Staff Grants From May 2023

Congratulations to the following faculty and staff members who received grants and awards in May 2023:

Charmaine Brittain, Brenda Lockwood and Shauna Rienks, staff and faculty at the Butler Institute for Families

• Grant from the Virginia Department of Social Services
• Abstract: The project will revisit and refresh the Virginia Department of Social Services training system assessment conducted in 2017. Project activities include evaluating the recommendations from the 2017 report, revisiting Virginia’s training system, conducting a national scan of best practices in child welfare training, engaging in 12 listening sessions throughout the state and with multiple staff levels, and offering a new set of recommendations based upon findings.

Mandi Schaeffer Fry, faculty at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

• Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Abstract: This project is designed to increase access to and bolster the intellectual merit of the conference titled “Group Theory and Number Theory: Interactions.” By supporting the travel of graduate students, junior researchers, and those from groups traditionally underrepresented in mathematics, as well as inviting participants of exceptional achievement to attend the conference, the University of Denver and NSF will be able to increase both the quality of information shared at the conference and access to the information, thereby meeting NSF and University goals regarding academic excellence and diversity and representation.

Robyn Thomas Pitts, faculty at Morgridge College of Education

• Grant from the Colorado Department of Education
• Abstract: The planned workforce inquiry will use survey and focus group data to explore and elaborate the needs of school-based mental health professionals and yield best-practices for provider recruitment and retention in school districts throughout Colorado.

Elysia Clemens and Courtney Everson, faculty at the Colorado Action and Evaluation Lab

• Grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• Abstract: The Social Health Information Exchange (S-HIE) System is recognized in Colorado as a prime opportunity to improve care coordination and reduce barriers that providers, individuals, community-based services, health care teams, funders and insurers experience in delivering high-quality care with effective resource use. CDPHE will partner with the Colorado Lab to use the Perinatal Substance Use Coordinated Care and Support pilot as an actionable use case for how S-HIE may promote maternal health innovation, with an initial focus on executing the feasibility study.

My Ngoc To, doctoral student at the Graduate School of Social Work

• Grant from the Mind and Life Institute
• Abstract: Despite its prevalence among Vietnamese Americans, no research has been done to explore interventions which could promote healing from intergenerational trauma and building resilience in this community. Ample evidence supports that intergenerational trauma is an embodied experience that could be healed through mindfulness practices focused on cultivating interoception. This project aims to support community-led development, implementation, and evaluation of a mindfulness-based intervention for healing intergenerational trauma among Vietnamese Americans.

Julia Roncoroni, faculty at the Morgridge College of Education

• Grant from the University of Houston (subaward National Institutes of Health)
• Abstract: Our goal is to determine the prevalence of obesity by actigraphy-measured and self-reported sleep quantity and quality among adult U.S. Mexican immigrant and Mexican American women.

Kevin Summers, faculty at the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

• Grant from the American Psychological Foundation
• Abstract: People living with visible physical disabilities (PLWPD) experience heightened rates of chronic physical and social pain. Proposed Study 1 documents PLWPD’s actual experiences of physical and social pain and investigates how past life-hardship experiences inform future pain sensitivity. Proposed Study 2 investigates public perception of PLWPD’s physical and social pain, and tests a novel intervention aimed at changing public misperceptions of PLWPD’s pain.

Jonathan Moyer, Barry Hughes, Taylor Hanna and Pam Hoberman, faculty and staff at the Pardee Center for International Futures

• Grant from the United Nations Development Programme
• Abstract: Restricted.

Jonathan Moyer and Pam Hoberman, faculty and staff at the Pardee Center for International Futures

• Grant from the Institute for Security Studies
• Abstract: Restricted.