Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
News from the Paul V. Hamilton School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Jessica Martell
Assistant Professor of English, Dr. Jessica Martell
recently co-authored an article for the Journal of
Modern Literature. The article is titled, “Of Great
Gabasidy': Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim and the Making
of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.” The
article explains the origins of Fitzgerald’s title and
the name of his protagonist Jay Gatsby. The piece
argues that “Gatsby” is actually a reference to
Conrad’s novel Lord Jim, and that Gatsby is in fact a
deliberate homage to Jim, updated to fit the Jazz
Age.
In November, Jessica also delivered a paper titled,
“Co-operative Food Politics and the Irish Literary Revival” at the Modernist
Studies Association annual conference in Boston, MA.
Brandon Lutterman
Assistant Professor of Visual
Art & Program Director,
Brandon Lutterman has been
selected as a finalist in the
2016 NICHE Awards for the
piece titled, All Eyes Are On
You in the Wood: Painted/
Colored category. Only 180 entries out of more than 1,600 submissions were
named as finalists in this year’s competition.
Now in its 27th year, the NICHE Awards program began in 1989 to recognize
the outstanding creative achievements of American craft artists who produce
work for craft galleries and retail stores.
Winners of the 2016 NICHE Awards will be announced at a ceremony on
Saturday, January 16, 2016 at the Washington Convention Center.
Lutterman’s art is also currently featured in an exhibition at the Knoxville
Airport along with 30 other artists in the East Tennessee region. “Arts in the
Airport” was developed to allow regional
artists to compete and display work in the
most visited site in the area. A gallery of the
images may be viewed at http://
knoxalliance.com/album/
airport_fall15.html. The exhibit runs
through March 9, 2016 and most works are
for sale and may be purchased through the
close of the exhibition.
Information provided by Jessica Martell and Brandon Lutterman
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
News from the Paul V. Hamilton School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Brandon Lutterman, Frank Woodward and Jacques Debrot
The Arts & Culture Alliance 2015 Members Show will
run December 4—January 29. This is the largest annual
exhibition of local artists in the Greater Knoxville area
and includes art from Assistant Professor of Visual Art &
Program Director, Brandon Lutterman.
The exhibition will be on display throughout the
Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown
Knoxville. The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and
supports a diverse community of artists, arts
organizations, and cultural institutions.
Assistant Vice President for University Advancement and Adjunct Instructor in
the Master of Public Administration program, Frank Woodward recently
presented a paper at the Southeastern Conference for Public Administration
(SECOPA). The paper was titled, “The Competency-Based Alternative: Evaluating Models of Competency-Based Education in Tennessee and Kentucky.” The
conference was held in Charleston, SC on October 3, 2015.
Associate Professor and Chair of English, Jacques
Debrot, PhD, had the story, “A Brief History of the
Minor Modernists” accepted by the literary journal decomP. Jacques also recently won the Thorn
Prize in Short fiction, awarded by novelist Tom
DeHaven.
Information provided by Lutterman, Woodward and Debrot
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
News from the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum
Michelle Ganz and Thomas Mackie
Lincoln Memorial University Archivist, Michelle Ganz, published a blog article
titled, “Mourning Lincoln Through Images” in the Ford’s Theater Blog. Ms. Ganz
featured several of the best images from the ALLM Collection about the Lincoln
Assassination and its later commemoration.
Director of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Thomas Mackie, attended the 20th Lincoln Forum on November 16 – 18, 2015 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As a member of the Forum’s Advisory Board, he represents Lincoln Memorial University and the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum to this growing
annual seminar on Lincoln and the Civil War. This year’s theme was titled “1865:
Triumph and Tragedy”.
Photograph of the battlefield of Gettysburg
The Lincoln Forum has grown a tradition
of providing both young and established
scholars with a venue to promote their
new research. The uniqueness of this
institution is that it welcomes a wide
range of academic scholars, students,
teachers and all those interested in Lincoln studies and the Civil War. This
year’s speakers included the following
scholars/authors: Richard Wightman Fox, William C. Davis, Elizabeth R. Varon,
Edna Greene Medford, Michael Vorenberg, Terry Alford, James B. Conway and
James L. Swanson. Well known Lincoln author, Harold Holzer and retired Rhode
Island Supreme Court Chief Justice, Frank J. Williams have managed the Lincoln
Forum for the past 20 years to become an institution where anyone interested
in Lincoln and the Civil War can interact with major scholars. http://
www.thelincolnforum.org/
Information provided by Thomas Mackie
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
News from the Caylor School of Nursing
Mary Anne Modrcin and Tammy Dean
Dean and Professor of the Caylor School of
Nursing and Assistant Provost, Dr. Mary Anne
Modrcin and Associate Professor of Nursing,
Dr. Tammy Dean, collaborated on an article
with Mr. Christopher Griffin and Dr. Jonathan
Cayce from DeRoyal Industries. The article
was titled, "Pressure Ulcer Prevention: Effectiveness of Heel Off-Loading Methodologies,"
and was published October 29, 2015, in Open
Journal of Nursing.
News from the School of Mathematics and Sciences
Joshua Boone
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Dr.
Joshua Boone was the invited speaker at
the IL-MO Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conference on November 7th,
2015. The conference is jointly supported
by Southern Illinois University Carbondale
and Southeastern Missouri
State. Boone’s talk was titled,
“The Projective
Order of a 2x2 Matrix.”
Information provided by Mary Anne Modrcin, and Joshua Boone
Winter 2015
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
News from the School of Mathematics and Sciences
Adam Rollins
The Costa Rican Connection
Associate Professor of Biology, Chair of the Department of Biology and Director of the Cumberland Mountain Research Center, Dr. Adam Rollins and Dr. Carlos Rojas from the University
of Costa Rica (UCR) have been developing research and academic collaborations involving
students and faculty from their respective institutions. As a result of this effort, Dr. Rojas has
visited the LMU campus twice in the past year. During his first visit, supported by the ORGSP,
Dr. Rojas presented a lecture entitled, “Biodiversity Management: Lessons from a Developing
Country”. He was accompanied by his mother on his second visit when he presented a talk
named, “Achievements and Setbacks of Scientific Communication”. Dr. Rojas and his mother
visited Dr. Ben-Salem’s Spanish class where the students practiced their conversational Spanish with their native speaking guests. The students as well as our Costa Rican visitors very
much enjoyed this experience. During both visits Dr. Rojas interacted with research students
and worked with Dr. Rollins on developing a joint course as well as a research program in
microbial ecology.
As a result of these efforts, Assistant Professor of Biology and Conservation Biology,
Dr. Catherine Benson, visited the University of Costa Rica in June where she presented a
lecture about the interface of conservation biology and engineering. One of the emphases of
her visit was to encourage female students at UCR that is possible to study and develop
careers in the sciences. During her trip, Dr. Benson was able to tour various tropical ecosystems and explore opportunities for future research directions in the country.
LMU Senior Biology major Maggie Troyer traveled to Costa Rica in August where she was
hosted by Dr. Rojas. Her trip was associated with the microbial ecology research program.
Maggie worked with scientists from Costa Rica and El Salvador to visit a series of sites along
the Guanacaste Mountain Range and the Tempisque River Watershed. Along the way she
saw various tropical landscapes, animals, and of course slime molds. Ultimately the group
collected over 700 samples for the isolation of myxomycetes. A subset of these samples form
the basis of Maggie’s Research Seminar project required for graduation.
The collaboration continues to grow and develop. Dr. Rojas and laboratory technician Pedro
Camacho (UCR’s Forest Resources Unit) will visit LMU in February 2016. During this stay the
group will visit study sites as well as meet with Director of the Center of Imaging and Analysis
and Professor of Physiology, Dr. Stan Kunigelis to utilize LMU’s Image and Analysis Center.
Ultimately, Drs. Rollins and Rojas hope that these efforts facilitate interdisciplinary collaborative opportunities for faculty and students across both of their respective institutions.
1.Spanish class visit 2.Drs. Rojas and Rollins at CMRC 3. Dr. Rojas lecturing 4.Dr. Benson (left)
visiting a conservation area in Costa Rica 5.Maggie (center) at a tropical field site 6.a slime
mold commonly encountered in the tropics.
Information provided by Adam Rollins
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
News from the School of Mathematics and Sciences
Adam Rollins
Golding and Rollins Present at the Tennessee Academy of Science
Senior Wildlife and Fisheries Biology student,
Caitlin Golding presented
a poster entitled,
“Exposure to ammoniabased cleaner impacts
Dictyostelium discoideum
phototaxis and fruiting
body production” at the
125th Annual Meeting of
the Tennessee Academy
of Sciences. The meeting
was held on the campus
of Middle Tennessee State University on November 20th. Her work which
tested a methodological approach to assess the impacts of chemical pollutant
exposure on cellular slime molds was well received. Caitlin was awarded 2nd
place out of the 23 posters entered in the Ecology & Environmental Science
category.
Dr. Adam Rollins also gave an oral presentation entitled, “First report of
dictyostelid slime molds from aquatic habitats”. This presentation represented work done with LMU Biology Alumnus, Eathan Gentry and collaborator Dr.
John Landolt, from Shepherd University located in West Virginia. As the title
indicates, this presentation was the first report of this group of slime molds
from submerged aquatic habitats. A manuscript is under preparation and will
be submitted to the journal Mycosphere for publication.
Dr. Rollins recently had the article, “The Faces of
Fungi database: fungal names linked with morphology, phylogeny and human impacts” published in the Fungal Diversity journal. Dr. Rollins
collaborated with several other researchers on
this article.
Information provided by Adam Rollins
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
News from the School of Mathematics and Sciences
Adam Rollins
Dr. Rollins attended the NSF Day Workshop held on the campus of
Spellman College in Atlanta, Georgia in November. The workshop,
presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), provided a
“behind the scenes” look at NSF and sought to teach researchers
how to better compete for NSF funding. The day consisted of informational
lectures and interactive sessions led by current NSF Program Officers and
officials. Dr. Rollins spoke about his research goals with program officers and
took away some very valuable information with respect to
making his future proposals more competitive.
Rollins attended the annual meeting of the Southern Appalachian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit held at the Twin Creeks Science Center in
Gatlinburg, TN on December 2. The CESU works to provide research, technical
assistance, and education to federal land management, environmental, and
research agencies and their partners through access to University
researchers. The network utilizes a multi-disciplinary structure (biological,
physical, social, cultural, and engineering disciplines) to address natural and
cultural resource management issues at multiple scales and in an ecosystem
context. Dr. Rollins serves as the Technical Representative for LMU. If you are interested in receiving the
research and funding announcements (which are only
available to CESU affiliated institutions) simply contact
Dr. Rollins to be added to the mailing list.
The Department of Biology is happy to announce that
Fulbright Scholar Dr. Mourad Hassine Ben Ali, through the support of the
Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund, will visit the LMU campus during the week
of January 18th, 2016. Dr. Hassine is a post-doctoral researcher from Tunisia,
Africa who is currently studying ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with oaks in
the United States. During his visit he will present a lecture entitled,
“Macrofungi Diversity associated with cork oak forests of Northwestern
Tunisia” and interact with research students in the School of Math and
Science. Dr. Adam Rollins invited Mourad and worked with him in order to
obtain the funds for this visit. During the stay, the two of them will discuss
possible collaborative opportunities. A preliminary research effort between
Hassine and Rollins included Karl Atherton (LMU Biology Major) and Assistant
Professor of Biology, Dr. Steve Furches. The group obtained root tips from a
series of American Chestnut saplings and utilized molecular techniques to
identify the fungal associates. If you would like additional information about
Dr. Hassine’s visit please contact Dr. Rollins adam.rollins@lmunet.edu .
Information provided by Adam Rollins
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
Grant Collaboration
The Boys and Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley and LMU
The Boys and Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley was awarded the Stem Pipeline Grant by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health. LMU has partnered with the Club to engage children in a five-day
summer camp on the LMU campus. Dr. Polly Johnson will be the Boys and
Girls Club lead coordinator for this project. This opportunity is being provided
to LMU with funding for faculty, supplies, housing and meals to have students
brought to our campus to engage in a transformative experience in hands-on
activities related to health. This program is a pipeline for students to consider
LMU academic programs for their future education. The camp will expose
students to the campus, social life and academic experiences as well as provide them with role models in their lives, which they may not have otherwise.
We are asking for volunteers to establish a coordination committee for this
pipeline. The summer program will be a five-day camp, hosting the students
and their supervising staff from Boys and Girls Club and respective school systems. We have many careers choices we can expose the participants to. The
obvious careers are nursing, medical technology, medicine, etc., but other
careers such as science writers, music and art therapy, business health
administration management, medical law, and clinical medical social work are
other options. Please contact Martha Scheidler or Marca Cenatiempo if you
would like to engage in this program.
Information provided by Marca Cenatiempo and Martha Scheidler
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
School of Allied Health Sciences and DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine
Weyant, Petersen, Stubenberg and Teitelbaum
Medical Librarian, Emily Weyant recently presented a poster titled,
“Outreach to Rural Adjunct Clinicians through Library and Continuing Medical Education (CME) Department Collaboration” at the Southern Chapter of
the Medical Library Association Conference. “This project examines collaboration between an academic health sciences library and an institutionally
related office of continuing medical education, with the goal of promoting
library resources to and increasing evidence based decisions by rural adjunct clinicians through the medium of a free internet-based CME course.”
Team members on the project included Health Services Librarian, David Petersen, Director of Continuing Medical Education/Preceptor Development,
Dr. Patricia Anne Stubenberg, and Professor of Preventative Medicine/Chair
of Preventative and Community Medicine, DeBusk College of Osteopathic
Medicine, Dr. Howard Teitelbaum.
Emily Weyant
Carter and Moyers School of Education
Michael and Lynn Burger, Peter Silberman and Benjamin Brown
Assistant Professor of Graduate Education, Dr. Michael Burger and Director
of the Ed D Program/Assistant Professor of Graduate Education, Dr. Lynn
Burger delivered a presentation at the fall ACA Summit held in Kingsport,
TN. The session was part of the "Communities of Practice" strand and was a
collaborative venture between LMU and several other ACA institutional
members. The session was offered on Friday and Saturday as part of the
Summit's overall program.
A Research Seminar was held at the LMU Cedar Bluff campus on Saturday,
December 5th. The seminar started at 11:00 with introductions from Assistant Professor of Education, Dr. Peter Silberman, followed by a presentation
and discussion by recent graduate of the LMU doctoral program, Dr. Steven
Wang and Professor of Graduate Education, Dr. Benjamin Brown. Lunch
was provided. For more information about the seminar including speakers
and topics, please contact L. Stevenson-Burger at lynn.burger@lmunet.edu.
Information provided by Emily Weyant and Lynn Burger
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
Foundation Corner by Martha Scheidler
Words, Words, Words
Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away… No, wait, that’s another story.
Nevertheless, once upon a time, my youngest daughter and I were in the car
together. We were listening to the radio, and she, being an impatient teenager, was punching the seek button in search of a song, any song, as long as it
was a song. (This may seem like a fairy tale since the car in this story only had
a radio, but it’s actually true.) The entire car ride went like this: song ended,
daughter yelled “WORDS!” and punched buttons. WORDS. Punch. WORDS.
Punch. Repeat.
Words, as my daughter rightfully explained, are boring, especially if the
words are just words. Meaningless, monotonous, repetitive, obligatory. Lest
grant narratives become meaningless drivel, there must be a way to explain
the program, the budget, the history of the organization, and the program
director, without sending the reader into a stupor. These narrative sections
may be necessary and required, but they do not have to be boring. Depending on the foundation and the application process, the narrative may be
allowed only a certain amount of words and/or characters in which to
adequately answer the questions. It is that very character limit that requires
creativity. It is unusual to have the luxury of 3,000 characters in which to
explain the meaning of the universe, much less how a program is going to
impact life as we know it. More often than not, a grant form will allow 500 to
1,500 characters. This calls for extensive editing and recrafting of a narrative.
Enthusiasm, determination, and resolve can be conveyed succinctly if given
enough thought. Each sentence needs to convincingly tell the story of the
program, the ability of the University and its staff, and the impact on the
community. Only then does the narrative explain how all those wonderful
things align with the foundation’s priorities and guidelines.
The difference between a boring narrative (words, words, words) and prose
of conviction and passion is rewriting and editing. Of course this does not
happen overnight, like the proverbial Rumpelstiltskin, spinning straw into
gold (or words into funded programs). It’s wise to allow time to rewrite and
edit a narrative. Write it, put it away, revisit and revise. Get creative with
action words that convey the worthiness of the program.
Marca, Carolyn, and I are here to help! Give us a call.
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
Recent Submissions and Awards
Submissions:
Aggy Vanderpool submitted a grant proposal to the Norfolk Southern Foundation in support of the Why Rivers Matter program, a STEM summer program for high school students.
Carol Campbell submitted a grant proposal to the National quilting Association in support of sewing machines for the Arts in the Gap Quilters.
Larry Carter submitted a grant proposal to the Bluegrass Foundation in support of sound equipment for the Cumberland Mountain Music Show.
Dr. Hess and Dr. Dawson submitted a grant proposal to Phi Kappa Phi in
recognition of University Excellence in Innovation.
Darnell Arnoult submitted a grant proposal to the Wynn Bynner Foundation
and The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation in support of the Appalachian
Young Writers’ Workshop.
Dr. Mary Anne Modrcin submitted a grant proposal to Health Resources and
Services Administration for the Nurse Anesthesia Traineeship program.
Dr. Ashutosh Verma submitted a proposal to the American Quarter Horse
Foundation.
Dr. Paul Wood submitted a preliminary proposal to the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration Human Research Program.
Awards:
Sherry McCreary has been awarded a Walmart Community Grant-Tazewell
for TheCORE, a week-long summer residency program for at-risk high school
women.
Joann Russell has been awarded a grant from the United States-Japan Foundation in support of the LMU-Kanto program.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs Newsletter
Winter 2015
Contact Information for Research, Grants and Foundations
Marca Cenatiempo
Director, Health Sciences Research and Grants
marca.cenatiempo@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-6838
Teresa Creech
Research Committees Coordinator
teresa.creech@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-6749
Carolyn Gulley
Executive Director, Office of Research, Grants and Sponsored Programs
carolyn.gulley@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-6291
Kimberly Kertis
Research Specialist, Health Sciences
Kimberly.kertis@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-6441
Dennis Kiick
Vice President for Research
dennis.kiick@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-7086
Melissa Miracle
Post Award Grants Manager
melissa.miracle02@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-6834
Martha Scheidler
Director of Foundations
martha.scheidler@lmunet.edu
(423) 869-6398
Reminder from the LMU Institutional Review Board
Please remember that all research proposals and projects involving
human subjects, must have IRB approval prior to the presentation of any
information gathered during the course of the research.
Under federal policy, the IRB cannot grant retroactive IRB approval.
If your grant award, application, presentation, or publication has not been
mentioned in this edition, please forward your information to us using
the contact information listed.
The ORGSP is located in Duke Hall, Suite 304
As a reminder, all applications for external funding
must first begin by contacting the ORGSP.