New Grants or Gifts Relating to Women in Higher Education

Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.

The University of Alaska at Anchorage received a $493,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice for a program to conduct research on violence against women in tribal communities in Alaska. Under the program, a faculty member from the university’s Justice Center will spend time at the National Institute of Justice in Washington as a Visiting Executive Research Fellow.

Dr. Kernsmith

Dr. Smith-Darden

Wayne State University in Detroit received a three-year, $1,049,223 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for research on discouraging dating violence among youth in middle schools and high schools. Studies have shown that as many of 30 percent of female students at these schools are victims of intimate partner violence. The research will be under the direction of Poco Kernsmith, an associate professor of social work, and Joanne Smith-Darden, an assistant professor of social work at Wayne State University.

The University of Cincinnati received a five-year, $3,749,336 grant from the National Science Foundation for programs to increase the number of women in STEM fields. The Leadership, Empowerment, and Advancement of Women STEM Faculty (LEAF) program will seek to increase the number of women of color in these fields.

Duke University in partnership with the Human Development Research Foundation in Pakistan are participating in a two-year, $1.1 million grant program funded by Grand Challenges Canada. The research will examine whether a depression treatment program for new mothers can have a positive impact on children’s health many years later. The research is under the direction of Joanna Maselko, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Duke. Dr. Maselko, who has been at Duke since 2009, is a graduate of the University of Alaska at Anchorage. She hold a master’s degree and a doctorate in social epidemiology from Harvard University.

The University of Kansas and the University of New Mexico received a two-year, $370,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute for research on ovarian cancer. The researchers will be examining whether an already approved anti-inflammatory drug can be used to combat ovarian cancer.

The University of Connecticut School of Nursing received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration for its Partnerships to Advance Nursing Practice’s Mobile Simulation Laboratory. The mobile teaching facility will travel to correctional facilities throughout the state to train prison nurses.

UConn nursing students inside the mobile teaching facility.