Faculty and Staff Grants from November 2019

Congratulations to the following faculty and staff members who received grants and awards in November 2019.

Elaine Belansky, research associate professor at the Morgridge College of Education and director of the Center for Rural School Health & Education

Benjamin Ingman, principal investigator and research assistant professor at the Center for Rural School Health & Education at the Morgridge College of Education

• Grant from the Colorado Health Foundation for "Make It Happen"
• Project abstract: The "Make It Happen" grant is intended to support 27 rural school districts located in the San Luis Valley and Southeastern Colorado in the implementation of aspects of their comprehensive health and wellness plans that pertain to physical activity, nutrition, health education and staff wellness. Specifically, this grant will provide monetary and professional development resources to support school districts in implementing best practices and collecting program evaluation data.

Daniel Brisson, professor at the Graduate School of Social Work and executive director of the Burnes Center on Poverty and Homelessness

• Grant from the City of Sheridan for "Tri-Cities Street Outreach Assessment"
• Project abstract: This grant will seek to understand the underlying causes of chronic homelessness in the Tri-Cities area, as well as contributing factors and barriers which prevent interviewed individuals from exiting homelessness. The investigator will interview persons experiencing chronic homelessness, compile and analyze the data and develop a final report to inform city officials and local stakeholders about the results.

Anne DePrince, chair of the Department of Psychology at the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

• Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, subaward from the Asian Pacific Development Center for "Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking"
• Project abstract: This project will consist of a new inter-agency collaboration involving government and non-government offices through a task force to address human trafficking in Denver.

• Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, subaward from the Denver District Attorney's Office for "Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking"
• Project abstract: An action research approach will be used to conduct an evaluation of a new inter-agency collaboration (involving government and non-government offices) through a task force to address human trafficking in Denver. Action research involves the use of data from practitioner-researcher collaborations in the ongoing development and evaluation of approaches to solving community problems.

Brette Garner, assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning Sciences at the Morgridge College of Education

• Grant from the Colorado Department of Education, subaward from Generation Schools Network Inc. for "Supporting Mathematics Teachers Through Online Learning Communities"
• Project abstract: In many urban and suburban schools, teachers' professional development (PD) is organized around professional learning communities, which are both common and effective for supporting instructional improvement. However, rural school teachers often have few — if any — content-area colleagues to collaborate with, as distance between schools in sparsely-populated areas makes it difficult for teachers to meet regularly. This study will seek to understand rural mathematics teachers' opportunities to learn through online and in-person PD in two regions of rural Colorado.

Brittany Kauffman, senior director at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System

• Grant for "Civil Justice Initiative — Post Judgment"

Nancy Lucero, research associate professor and senior research associate at the Butler Institute for Families at the Graduate School of Social Work

Robin Leake, research associate professor at the Butler Institute for Families at the Graduate School of Social Work

• Grant from the Administration for Children and Families for "National Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for Tribes"
• Project abstract: The Capacity Building Center for Tribes (CBCT) will be the principal Children's Bureau (CB)-supported technical assistance (TA) provider responsible for building the capacity of tribal child welfare systems. CBCT will assist tribes in improving their practice and programs by assessing the most pressing needs for improvement as the foundation for identifying TA priorities. CB believes that effective training, coaching, tools, tailored consultation and other support services can enhance the knowledge and skills of child welfare professionals and build organizational capacity to increase the likelihood that child welfare agencies can improve outcomes for children and families.

Julie Sarama, professor and Kennedy Endowed Chair in Innovative Learning Technologies at the Morgridge College of Education and co-executive director of the Marsico Institute of Early Learning and Literacy

Douglas Clements, professor and Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning at the Morgridge College of Education; and co-executive director of the Marsico Institute of Early Learning and Literacy

• Grant from mDRC — Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation for "Expanding Children's Early Learning Network (ExCEL)"
• Project abstract: ExCEL Quality is a large-scale, rigorous study with several important aims and implications for current early care and education (ECE) policy and practices. ExCEL Quality will test how different levels and features of classroom quality relate with children's developmental outcomes and will look at the relationship of initial classroom quality to changes in observed quality and children's outcomes through a rigorous experimental design. In sum, the ExCEL Quality project will be poised to provide new and rigorous evidence for the ECE field on both the determinants and the benefits of high-quality programming across various settings.

Mark Siemens, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

• Grant from the National Science Foundation, subaward from the University of Colorado Boulder for "Development of Fiber-coupled Stimulated Emission Depletion Microscopy (STED)"
• Project abstract: This proposal will experimentally measure both exciton and free carrier transport in perovskite thin-film solar cells in a tight feedback loop with synthesis so that new understanding of the microscopic carrier transport can enable new gains in device efficiency. This setup uniquely bridges the gap between spectroscopy measurements of carrier transport and device performance metrics, enabling exciting experimental studies of the role of the cation and defects in perovskite devices. The goal of this work is to provide new insight to the perovskite community on how subtle materials chemistry or device design changes can affect ultrafast carrier dynamics and ultimately improve device performance.

Shelly Smith-Acuña, dean of the Graduate School of Professional Psychology

• Grant from OptumCare for "OptumCare GSPP Project"
• Project abstract: GSPP faculty will organize and hold community meetings/town halls to help determine the health needs and concerns of Colorado communities. GSPP faculty will provide an evaluation service of the process and results.