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 Center for Research on Women With Disabilities at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston is participating in a $550,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to develop a virtual reality weight management intervention for women with mobility impairments. The program will focus mainly on diet and nutrition and will address barriers that women with mobility impairments face when preparing foods. Other universities participating in the research are the University of Houston, the University of Montana, and Case Western Reserve University.

The University of California at Los Angeles received a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to conduct a research study to develop a risk profile for breast cancer survivors likely to develop depression. Researchers believe that treatments for breast cancer cause inflammation that can lead to sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation often can be a contributing factor to depression. The study will examine participants’ DNA to see if they can identify genetic biomarkers that increase a breast cancer survivor’s risk of suffering from depression.

The Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology at Saint Louis University in Missouri received a two-year $127,192 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support fellowships for two women graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in engineering.