The following are brief descriptions of the projects (taken directly from the original proposals) selected for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) & University of Minnesota (UMN) Research Partnership Phase I awards in 2024. These awards are designed to facilitate mutually beneficial research collaborations between UMN and NC A&T faculty and students. For Phase I, research teams could request up to $10,000 per project; nine projects were awarded for a total of $87,699.
Advancing Leadership and Participation of Underrepresented Adult Learners in STEM: A Collaborative Initiative between UMN and NCAT
Lead PI: Joshua Collins, Organizational Leadership Policy and Development (OLPD), UMN
Co-PIs: Stephanie Sisco, OLPD, UMN; Geleana Alston, Leadership Studies and Adult Education, NC A&T; Adam McLain, Leadership Studies and Adult Education, NC A&T
This proposal aims to establish a collaborative research initiative between the University of Minnesota (UMN) and North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT) to advance leadership development and increase the participation of underrepresented adult learners in STEM fields. The partnership will be led by Dr. Joshua Collins along with Dr. Stephanie Sisco representing UMN, in collaboration with Dr. Geleana Alston and Dr. Adam McLain, faculty members in Leadership Studies and Adult Education at NCAT. All four partners are tenured/tenure-track faculty. The project will focus on three key activities: facilitating cross-institutional visits for mutual learning and collaboration, co-designing and co-teaching a hybrid research course tailored to underrepresented adult learners, and organizing seminars and workshops to engage students and faculty in leadership development discussions. The impact of this initiative is to create more opportunities for minority adult learners in STEM, equipping them with leadership skills that will foster a more diverse and inclusive STEM workforce. Through this partnership, UMN and NCAT will build a foundation for long-term collaboration, promoting diversity and equity within STEM education.
Creating a Collaborative Neuroscience System (CNS) - Proposal Narrative
Lead PI: Angeline Dukes, Neuroscience, Medical School, UMN
Co-PIs: Ashley Sanderlin, Neuroscience, NC A&T; Jerome Moulden II, Neuroscience, NC A&T
The Collaborative Neuroscience System will build a strong connection of mutually beneficial growth between neuroscience faculty and students at UMN and NCAT. Within this partnership, two NCAT faculty, Drs. Ashley Sanderlin and Jerome Moulden, will visit the UMN campus to give seminars about their research, connect with potential collaborators, and tour relevant core facilities. Dr. Angeline Dukes from UMN will also visit the NCAT campus to inform students about UMN’s Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (LSSURP), Minnesota Inclusive Neuroscience Development Scholars (MINDS) post-baccalaureate research program, and the neuroscience graduate program. As a co-director of LSSURP and MINDS, Dr. Dukes aims to leverage these programs to establish a bidirectional exchange. Dr. Dukes will reserve two LSSURP spots and one MINDS spot for NCAT students to conduct research at UMN. MINDS has an established history of preparing historically marginalized students to become competitive graduate school applicants. Thus, we aim to conduct hybrid PhD preparation sessions for both UMN and NCAT students; thereby creating competitive applicants for each school’s respective graduate programs. Lastly, annually in June, MINDS hosts a research symposium in which Drs. Sanderlin and Moulden will bring NCAT students to present their research, tour UMN’s campus, and expand their networks.
Racial Disparities and Vascular Dysfunction in PTSD
Lead PI: Ida T. Fonkoue, Physical Therapy, Medical School, UMN
Co-PI: Marc Cook, Center for Excellence for Integrative Health Disparities and Equity Research (CIHDER), NC A&T
The objective of this project is to enable Dr. Ida T. Fonkoue to initiate a collaboration with Dr. Marc Cook at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T). Dr. Cook is an Associate Professor and Associate Director for NC A&T’s Center of Excellence for Integrative Health Disparities and Equity Research (CIHDER). This funding will allow Dr. Fonkoue to 1) Visit Dr. Cook at NC A&T, with her graduate student, to learn more about his research on racial disparities in cardiovascular health, as well as available infrastructure at NC A&T that could be leveraged to build a complementary research partnership and program; 2) Provide seminars to inform the NC A&T community about her ongoing research activities; 3) Meet NC A&T administrators and students to discuss research vision and broader collaboration opportunities with CIHDER; 4) Host Dr. Cook at UMN to give a university-wide seminar, interact with students and scholars, tour core facilities, and meet clinical and translational science institute leaders to discuss programs development. The long-term goal of this collaboration is to build an NIH-funded complementary research program in translational research in women’s health, to study racial disparities' contribution to exacerbated cardiovascular disease in women with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Do Small Niche Swine Farms Fit in the Future Swine Industry?
Lead PI: Lee Johnston, Swine Nutrition and Management, Dept. of Animal Science, West Central Research and Outreach Center, College of Food Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, UMN
Co-PI: Derick Coble, Swine Specialist, Dept. of Animal Sciences, NC A&T
Future sustainability of pig and pork production is being questioned, discussed, and evaluated by consumers, retailers, industry leaders, and academics. Many people ask if there is a place for small, niche, alternative pig farms in the swine industry of the future. The University of Minnesota and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University are uniquely positioned to address these questions. The University of Minnesota operates the only certified organic pig production research facility in the U.S. North Carolina A&T has a 100-acre outdoor swine unit and offers a Cooperative Extension program designed to aid in the transition from tobacco to niche-pork production. An important question is how do these small, niche farms throughout the Upper Midwest and Southeast fit into the landscape of the future swine industry? This project will establish a collaboration between the swine programs of the two universities with the goal of developing a large, multi-institutional grant proposal for submission to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Sustainable Agricultural Systems program. Phase I of this project will provide funds for U of M and NC A&T faculty to visit each other’s institutions and interact with faculty and students in the development of a more comprehensive project.
Improving Transportation Equity through Collaborative Development of Transportation Methodologies
Lead PI: Michael Levin, Center for Transportation Studies, Civil, Environmental, and Geo Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, UMN
Co-PIs: Alireza Khani, Center for Transportation Studies, Civil, Environmental, and Geo Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, UMN; Venktesh Pandey, Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, NC A&T
Dr. Venktesh Pandey of NC A&T and Drs. Michael Levin and Alireza Khani of UMN share a special connection: they all studied together under Steve Boyles at The University of Texas at Austin. Together with other transportation faculty who work with Dr. Pandey at NC A&T and Dr. Levin at UMN, we have organized a group of faculty with similar research topics and complementary skills. Preliminary meetings led to identifying several specific research problems around rural shared mobility and equitable use of high-occupancy/toll lanes to increase transportation accessibility and convenience for historically disadvantaged groups. The transportation faculty have various research projects around that core idea of improving equity in mobility and accessibility, and we believe that further opportunities to explore research projects with each other and our graduate students will lead to collaborations on journal papers and funding proposals. Furthermore, shared research expertise necessitates that new graduate students need to learn similar skills, and this group of faculty are interested in developing mutual tutorials and exercises to support them. These plans will be facilitated by UMN faculty visiting NC A&T, and NC A&T faculty visiting UMN, to explore research facilities, present technical work, and meet individually with faculty and students.
UMN - NC A&T University Agricultural Research Partnership
Lead PI: Hinh Ly, Graduate Studies in Comparative & Molecular Biosciences, Dept. of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, UMN
Co-PI: Yewande Fasina, Animal Sciences, College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences, NC A&T
My laboratory at UMN has developed and patented a new viral vector/system (https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170292119A1/en) for vaccine development that has been licensed for vaccine development. I intend to initiate a new collaboration with Dr. Yewande Fasina at NC A&T university, who has considerable expertise in studying necrotic enteritis disease in broiler chickens to develop and test a new candidate vaccine that is based on this patented technology against necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens, a gram-positive bacterium that can cause high mortality rates in poultry. The combined expertise between the participating laboratories in vaccine development and necrotic enteritis can be leveraged into a productive long-term working relationship. The goal of this Phase I is to build relationships and shared decision-making processes between the collaborating PIs and laboratories through trainee’s exchange and mentorship, reciprocal seminar invitations and lab/core facility visits, organization of hybrid workshops and teaching and leadership meeting opportunities, and/or other relevant activities. This project has a high potential to translate into a more ambitious proposal to seek additional funding support from Phase II of this new initiative to formulate fundable applications for submission to the USDA-NIFAAFRI, NSF, HBCU-UP Excellence in Research Program, US-Poultry and Egg Industry, and/or related agricultural funding agencies.
Understanding Associations between Body Image, Dress & Appearance, Gender Roles and Media Use among LGBTQ+ Black Youth
Lead PI: Jenifer McGuire, Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, UMN
Co-PI: Devona L. Dixon, Family and Consumer Sciences, NC A&T
Collaborators: Xiaoran Sun, Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, UMN; Jennifer George, Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, UMN; Chalandra Bryant, Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, UMN
This project will focus on understanding associations between body image, gender roles, and media use among LGBTQ+ college students of color in Minnesota and North Carolina. This will be a collaborative effort between the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota and the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of North Carolina A&T. We have met with Dr. Devona L. Dixon, at NC A&T given her expertise in body image and her scholarship of teaching. There is an LGBTQ Center on the NC A&T campus. Both research and teaching are integral components of the project in light of our focus on students. Seminars co-attended by faculty at both institutions will address the context of social media, how the topic of social media is addressed in classrooms and its impact on body image and gender roles among college students of color, with a specific focus on LGBTQ students.
Building Cross-Institutional Black STEM Educational Research and Praxis Solidarities through Mentorship
Lead PI: Darius Stanley, Educational Policy and Leadership, Dept of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development, College of Education and Human Development, UMN
Co-PI: Stephen Hancock, Director of the Center of Excellence for Educational Equity Research (CEEER), College of Education, NC A&T
The overarching aim of this research-practice partnership is to understand, co-imagine and build collaborative, cross institutional relationships among Black student researchers, and Black faculty working in colleges of education. Given the continued underrepresentation and exclusion of Black students in STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate level, the professoriate, and K-12 teaching and leadership positions, this project centers Black relational mentorship as a mechanism in increasing our collective presence and influence in the STEM education. Drs. Stephen Hancock, Darrius Stanley and student researchers will co-design a joint research-practice relationship building colloquium to understand the dynamics of STEM education at an HBCU and PWI. The collaboration will also focus on co-imagining how Black relational mentorship approaches across students and faculty can support both STEM identities and access. Further, the project will provide a better understanding of how to build cross-institutional, non-extractive solidarities with Black students and faculty members with the hopes of informing pathways to STEM success. Our collective research aims are to: Understand cross-institutional, Black relational mentorship focused on STEM education research and practice. Co-imagine a framework for cross-institutional, Black relational solidarities among Black faculty and students. Build cross-institutional, non-extractive relationships between Black faculty and students at a PWI and HBCU.
Scaling Social Determinants of Health from Neighborhoods to the Nation
Lead PI: David Van Riper, Director of Spatial Analysis, Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation, Research & Innovation Office, UMN
Co-PIs: Celeste Butts-Jackson, Dept. of Health Management & Policy, NC A&T; Jason Mose, Dept. of Health Management & Policy, NC A&T
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are the non-clinical contexts and conditions in which people are embedded that affect their health and well-being throughout their lifetimes. They hold powerful potential for unpacking health disparities from neighborhood to national contexts but can be difficult to measure. The population health research partnership proposed below will examine SDOH in local and national contexts. This project brings together David Van Riper (UMN, Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation) and Drs. Celeste Butts-Jackson and Jason Mose (NC A&T, Department of Population Health Management & Policy). Van Riper has expertise in operationalizing SDOH using small-area census data and connections to UMN scientists studying SDOH. Butts-Jackson and Mose bring topical expertise and research agendas that demand robust SDOH measurement strategies. In Phase 1, we will build the partnership through in-person visits for intensive team meetings to pilot data measures for two SDOH-related research projects: (1) an in-depth exploration of the relationship between the built environment and multiple health outcomes in East Greensboro; (2) a nationwide study examining relationships between health outcomes and hospital service-area SDOH factors. During these visits, team members will also present seminars to initiate connections with the broader research communities at each institution.