Nine University of Texas Austin faculty members representing a variety of disciplines, colleges and schools have been selected as recipients of the 2024-2025 Research & Creative Grants.
The grants program, which is administered by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors, supports projects of individual tenured and tenure-track faculty members.
The program supports research, outreach and creative activities in all disciplines to foster publications, patents, recognition, awards or exhibitions/performances and/or improved competitiveness for external funding.
This year’s awardees, who will each receive up to $10,000 in support, are:
Minou Arjomand, Associate Professor, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts
Motherhood on the Political Stage
This monograph and short documentary play focus on cultural representations of motherhood on stage and screen, in poems, novels and magazines.
Daniel Breecker, Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
The Effect of Roots on the Stability of Carbon in Soils
This research investigates the priming effect on soil microbes to better understand the controls of this phenomenon in natural soils over timescales relevant to our future.
Zachary Elkins, Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts
Nationality Laws and Migrant Integration: Proposal for a Survey of Venezuelan Migrants in Three Settings
A survey of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, Brazil, and the United States that will examine whether generous nationality laws serve to build attachment to the host country among immigrant groups.
Wendy Hunter, Professor, Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts
Twin Transformations: The Expansion of the Welfare State and Religiosity in Contemporary Brazil
This research explores how the supply of state social services has contributed to the expansion and sustenance of evangelical churches in Brazil.
Jiabao Li, Assistant Professor, School of Design and Creative Technologies, College of Fine Arts
CryoScapes
A series of interdisciplinary projects inspired by the Arctic that explore the intersection of art, technology, and climate change.
Gesel Mason, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Fine Arts
"Yes, And" at Bates Dance Festival
"Yes, And" is a series of performance experiments that ask, "Who could you be, and what would you create, if, as a Black woman, you had nothing to worry about?"
Esther Melamed, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Dell Medical School
Unraveling the Mechanisms of Neuropathy in Long COVID
This research aims to identify biological markers that could lead to the better diagnosis and treatment of Long COVID neuropathy.
Steven Phelps, Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
Neurobiology of Climate Change
This project will develop the singing mouse as a model for understanding how global warming may influence the courtship and mating behavior of animals through the brain mechanisms that translate heat stress into changes in behavioral motivation.
PJ Raval, Associate Professor, Department of Radio-Television-Film, Moody College of Communication
Untitled Philippines Project
This project will develop a new feature length documentary.