Faculty Recipients
PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT GRANTS & FACULTY SUMMER RESEARCH AWARDS
Professional Enhancement Grants (PEGs) are awarded and administered through the Office of the Provost to encourage projects that show potential for significant research, scholarly, creative, or instructional contributions.
Faculty Summer Research Awards (FSRAs) provide $5,250 in summer salary for faculty members to pursue scholarly research or creative works in the summer. The award is intended as seed funding to support the collection of preliminary results or the development of project infrastructure that will aid in the pursuit of a planned external grant proposal in the coming year.
Learn more about PEG and FSRA Awards
2023-24 Awards
PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT GRANTS & FACULTY SUMMER RESEARCH GRANTS (combined)
Lori Fields, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Geography
A preliminary assessment of long-tailed macaque populations in Cebu, Philippines
Justin Guilkey, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology
Effect of electrical muscle stimulation, leg extension exercise and squat exercise on mitochondrial capacity in young adults
Sheena Kauppila, Assistant Professor of Education Sciences and Organizations
Understanding Perceptions of Postsecondary Education of Local SC Residents with Some College, but No Degree
Jakob Lauver, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology
A Comparison of Methods to Determine Intensity During Aerobic Exercise with Blood Flow Restriction
Matthew Murphy, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Coastal Comparative Cognition Laboratory
Ryan Rezek, Assistant Professor of Marine Science
Spatial variation in resource use and body condition of White shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus) across a salinity gradient in the Winyah Estuary, SC
Sara Rich, Assistant Professor of Honors
Fire, Wood, Water. The Lowcountry Dendrochronology Project
Ami Stearns, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Food writing and publishing behind bars: The voices of prison cookbook authors
Min Ye, Professor of Political Science
Contributing to Peace: States' Troop Contributions to UN Peacekeeping Operations in the post-Cold War World
PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT GRANTS
Edurne Beltran de Heredia Carmona, Assistant Professor of Spanish
A Critical Edition of Feminist Voices in Iberian Spanish Subculture: Women Voices in Fanzines
Suheir Daoud, Professor of Political Science
Reconciliation with Zionism: The Islamic Movement in Israel as Part of Far-Right Coalition
Carolyn Dillian, Professor/Associate Dean of Anthropology and Geography
Portable X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Iron Age Basalt Sculpture in Museum Collections
Russel Fielding, Assistant Professor of HTC Honors College
Cultural Diversity, Sustainability, and Coastal Resilience: The Case of Linked Agroforestry and Fisheries Cycles in Maupit, French Polynesia
Nicholas Harmon, Assistant Professor of Physics and Engineering Science
Modeling Magnetic Field Effects on Catalysis
David Johnson, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
Research Travel for Eager Terrain
Terry Pettijohn and Xiangxiong Kong, Assistant Professor of Physics and Engineering Science
Assessing VR-Enabled Structural Inspections Under Varying Environmental Conditions
Fang Ju Lin, Associate Professor of Biology
Dissecting functional role of lactate dehydrogenase in Drosophila Alzheimer's model
Scott Mann, Professor of Visual Arts
Collaborative Learning and Inclusive Typography
Jennifer Mokos and Jaime McCauley, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Flooded Afterlives: cultivating Just Resilience with Community-Science
Kate Faber Oestreich, Associate Professor of English
Walk, Travel, Imagine: Remediating Motion in the Bronte Sisters' Novels and Adaptations
Michelle Barthet and Scott Parker, Professor of Biology
Optimization of novel environmental DNA primers to detect the enigmatic Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) in Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve, South Carolina
Keaghan Turner and Sara Rich, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Honors
Honors Study Afield
Eugenia Hopper and Deborah Rooks-Ellis, Associate Professor of Teacher Education
(Re) Thinking Early Childhood Education: Program Shifts through a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy Lens
Sangeeta Saxena, Assistant Professor of Public Health
Assessing perceived cultural competency of health care providers for the provision of equitable services within the local health systems near Coastal Carolina University
Lauren Stefaniak, Assistant Professor of Marine Science
Joining Morphological and Molecular Taxonomy in Belizean Ascidians
Leslie Wallace, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Gender, Ethnicity, and Depictions of the Hunt on Kangxi Period (1661-1722) Porcelain
Michael Woodle, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Water Mark
FACULTY SUMMER RESEARCH GRANTS (2023)
Olivia Enders, Assistant Professor of Educational Sciences
Interrogating Teacher TikTok Exploring and Supporting Critical Media Literacy
Christopher Ferrero, Associate Professor of Intelligence and Security Studies
Orthodox Christianity and the Future of Nuclear Weapons
Christopher Hill, Professor of Biology
Squaring the life cycle: how movements between breeding sites affect the population biology of a declining bird species, the Loggerhead Shrike.
Karen Sauls and Marc McAllister, Senior Lecturer and Assistant Professor of Marketing and Hospitality
Not Over My Backyard: The Constitutional Implications of Commercial Drone Delivery Services
Jason Ockert, Professor of English
Final edits to The Body Collector and the drafting of a new short story
Melissa Pavia-Salisbury, Assistant Professor of Psychology
ME FIRST: Module Development
Jesse L. Rouse, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Geography
Landscape Structure: Modeling space and place in the Japanese landscape experience
Eric Schultz, Assistant Professor of Music
Summer Study of Electronic Composition Using New Technology
Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor of Women’s, and Gender Studies
Women and Whaling in the Faroe Islands: An Oral History Project on the Impact of Gender on Whaling Practices
2022-23 Awards
Professional Enhancement Grants
Elizabeth Baltes, Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Inclusive Teaching in Art History: Gender & Sexuality in the Ancient World
Victoria DePalma, Assitant Professor of Sustainability & Coastal Resilience
Climate Change and Personal, Social, and Perceived Normas: a U.S. Survey
Robert Earnest, Professor of Theatre
The Theatre of Denmark and the Faroe Islands: The Relation of Theatre to Society in the Danish Territories
Kristen Fleckenstein, Assitant Professor of English
Processing differences in bilingual discourse markers between Spanish heritage speakers and late Spanish-English Bilinguals
Arianna Fognari, Assistant Professor of Languages & Intercultural Studies
Digital Humanities for the Italian Curriculum
Chiara Gamberi, Assistant Professor of Biology
Enhancing proposal writing and scholarship
Roi Gurka, Professor of Physics and Engineering Science & George Hitt, Associate Professor of Physics and Engineering Science
A saltation-radiation interaction and its role in Martian dust dynamics
Till Hanebuth, Associate Professor of Marine Science
Ultra-high resolution reconstruction of historic environmental and anthropogenic changes on the Southern Iberian Peninsula
Tiffany Hollis, Assistant Professor of Foundations, Curriculum and Instruction
Roots and Wings: Cultivating Resilience, Emotional Regulation, and Wellbeing among Preservice Educators and Teacher Candidates in Teacher Education Programs
Emma Howes, Associate Professor of English & Amanda Masterpaul, Lecturer of Women and Gender Studies
Intercultural Resilience: Storycircles as Critical Pedagogy
James Ndone, Assistant Professor of Communications, Media, & Culture
Cross-cultural research: A comparative study between Kenyan and American college students on mitigating emotional exhaustion during COVID-19 crisis: The role of crisis communication, advisor support, and coping
Brandon Palmer, Professor of History
General John R. Hodge and the American Military Occupation of Korea, 1945-1948
Feryal Qudourah, Assistant Professor of Music
Arabic Art Song: Feryal Qudourah, soprano
Timothy Rotarius, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology
The effects of high-intensity, intermittent exercise (HIIE) on the amplitude of the VO2 slow component and muscle excitation
Jennifer Schlosser, Assistant Professor of Sociology
The Incarcerated VOICE Initiative: Visualizing Opportunites in Correctional Education
Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies
Women and Whaling in the Faroe Islands: An Oral History Project on the Impact of Gender on Whaling Practices
Doug Van Hoewyk, Professor of Biology
Development of lectures and activities in Cell Biology (Biol340) intended to increase student learning and performance
Clayton Whitesides, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Geography
A quarter century of musk thistle (Carduus mutans) monitoring and control on the Wasatch Plateau of central Utah
Jesse Willis, Associate Professor of Music
Trinidad National Panaorama and The Steel Band Engine Room
Faculty Summer Research Awards (2022)
Michelle Barthet, Biology
Identification of a Group IIA Intron Splicing Complex in the Chloroplast of Rice
The chloroplast of plant cells is the result of endosymbiosis between a free-living bacteria and an ancestral eukaryote. Through this endosymbiosis, the once free-living bacteria gained protection while the plant gained the ability to convert light into chemical energy, a process known as photosynthesis. Due to this evolutionary history, the chloroplast contains its own DNA and gene expression machinery. The process of removing introns, extra nucleotide sequences not needed to make functional RNA or protein products, from premature RNA molecules is a crucial step of gene expression. Without proper intron removal, an incorrect mature RNA template is formed and incorrect non-functional protein is made. Such lack of intron excision can have devasting consequences on the plant cell impacting plant growth, reproduction, and plant viability. In the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, introns are removed by the spliceosome, a large protein, and RNA complex. Intron removal in the chloroplast is less well understood. For the past several years, my research team has studied a potential splicing complex centered on the protein Maturase K (MatK) in the chloroplast of land plants. Premature chloroplast RNAs proposed to require MatK for intron removal includes RNAs that are essential to all chloroplast function. Therefore, this research is of great importance for understanding chloroplast gene expression and green plant viability and directly impacts the understanding of plant biology, molecular evolution, and agriculture.
Victoria DePalma, HTC Honors College
The Human-Environment Interface: Building up a Sustainable Research Agenda with Undergraduate Research Opportunities
The bulk of this research focuses on how humans relate to the environment (socially, personally, relationally, scientifically, religiously) and how to better communicate environmental ideas. The summer plans are as follows:
1. Analyzing two major surveys previously administered nationwide. One seeks to better understand how climate change beliefs impact interpersonal relationships with friends and romantic partners, and the other determines whether utilizing message frames of climate change can unify climate change opinions across traditional political party lines. Survey data will be cleaned, analyzed, interpreted, and written up with undergraduate student researchers under mentorship. Both projects will result in at least one peer-reviewed manuscript each, with students as co-authors.
2. A project will be started in which a national survey will be conducted on climate norms and perceptions. A survey will be administered and analyzed for peer review.
3. Preliminary research will begin for a chapter to be written for the Handbook in Human Ecology, a Springer Journal on religiosity's effect on ethical understandings of environmental issues and topics.
These opportunities will support continuing rigorous research experience for student researchers, and will provide a foundation for an external grant to be submitted next year.
Nicholas Harmon, Physics and Engineering
A Quantum Approach to Magnetic Field Sensing
Sensing magnetic fields is ubiquitous in science, engineering, and medicine. Examples of applications where magnetic sensing is used include the measurement of geomagnetic fields, reading of data that is stored in magnets, identifying magnetic patterns on credit cards, navigation, magneto-cardiography, and the detection of magnetic nanoparticles in medical diagnostics. Several different sensing technologies exist; some are expensive (~1M for magneto-cardiography) while others may be cheap but may suffer from other disadvantages like low sensitivity, narrow field range of applicability, or high weight (undesirable for space missions). There is a proposal to investigate a new class of field sensors (called “quantum”) that are small, light-weight, inexpensive, relatively simple, and sensitive. The underlying principle behind the sensor comes from a property of electrons known as "spin" in which electrons act like mini magnets (not too unlike the ones on a fridge). Like any magnet, the electron spin responds to a magnetic field and it is this response that allows for the sensing of magnetic fields. The proposed activity is to calculate electron flow (current) responses to magnetic fields. By considering the changes in current when a magnetic field is present, one determines the presence and size of the magnetic field. The theoretical and computational work will be performed at Coastal Carolina University. Results will be shared with scientists at Pennsylvania State University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who perform experiments on these types of sensors. The results will suggest which types of experiments may produce the highest sensitivity for the sensor to operate.
Fang-ju Lin, Biology
Molecular Characterization of Genes Involved in Alzheimer's Disease- a Fruit Fly Drosophila Model
Human Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent and lethal neurodegenerative disease. Memory loss and motor dysfunction are accompanied by pathological hallmarks like neurofibrillary tangles or amyloid plaques. Although ten percent of Americans age 65 or older suffer from this disease, there is no cure, and the triggers of disease onset are mostly unknown. Thus, the fruit fly Drosophila has emerged as one of the ideal disease models, for it shares similarities to humans in their genetic makeup. By transferring genes that are known to cause human Alzheimer's disease to fruit flies, scientists are able to link the function of genes and behaviors. These transgenic fruit flies displayed a shorter lifespan and weaken locomotor function, comparable to the clinical manifestation seen in humans. The lab has recently identified four candidate genes that rescued disease phenotype in AD flies, i.e. longer lifespan and improved strength in movement. The proposed summer research activity will further explore the function of candidate genes in Alzheimer’s pathogenesis. In humans, protein aggregates such as neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques are used as markers for postmortem diagnosis, and the number of protein aggregates positively correlates to the severity of the disease, as they eventually induce neuronal death. The plan is to characterize the amyloid-beta aggregates in the brains of transgenic flies, using techniques like immunohistochemistry and molecular tools. The investigation will establish the connection between gene expression and survival. Since fruit flies and humans share 60% similarity in their genomes, and our candidate genes are also highly homologous to the ones in humans, we hope our results shed light on the disease mechanism and provide the groundwork for pharmaceutical intervention for the disease.
Scott Parker, Biology, and Ryan Yoder, Psychology
Consequences of Hypoxia during Embryonic Development on Exploratory Behavior of Adult Leopard Geckos: Behavioral Alteration and Associated Anatomical Changes to the Brain
Exploration is a fundamental process that enables learning about resources available within the local environment and is a ubiquitous behavioral trait among all vertebrates. Surprisingly, however, no previous studies have examined exploratory behavior in reptiles which diverged from a common ancestor with mammals about 250 mya. As part of a study initiated in 2019 on consequences of hypoxia during embryonic development on behavior patterns in adult Leopard Geckos, there was a discovery that geckos from eggs incubated under hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions exhibit altered exploratory behavior compared to geckos from control eggs incubated under normal atmospheric oxygen conditions. Results of these preliminary behavioral studies prompted us to initiate a broader research program to investigate how embryonic hypoxia affects neural development in the brain and how these defects influence the organization of exploratory behavior in Leopard Geckos. The purpose of this study is to quantify the effects of hypoxia in ovo on the exploratory behavior of juvenile Leopard Geckos in an open field environment under both light and dark conditions. The objective this summer is to collect behavioral and anatomical data to update and submit an NSF grant proposal early in 2023. Specifically, preliminary data will be collected from studies to: (1) measure exploration behavior in hypoxia-treated and control individuals to identify specific behavioral variables affected by hypoxia, and (2) analyze brain anatomy and specific brain regions damaged by hypoxia using tissue processing/histology, microscopy, optical density analysis, and stereology (cell counts).
Amelia Rollings Bigler, Music
Small and Large Group Class Voice Methodologies in Applied Voice Curricula: A Collection of Studies
University music and theatre programs primarily utilize one-to-one applied voice lessons to train pre-professional students in voice technique, style, musicality, and repertoire. Additionally, applied voice curricula often involve a weekly studio class; however, most of these classes primarily use a master class format (one student singing and the other students observing). While some programs offer group voice classes with 10-15 students of various majors, it appears that most of these classes include (a) beginning level students or freshman voice majors before they move on to one-to-one voice lessons, or (b) students not majoring in voice (e.g., voice class for instrumentals, avocational singers). Again, most of these classes appear to primarily use the master class format in addition to the group singing technical voice exercises. Furthermore, small group classes (3-4 students) almost never appear in voice programs. The summer research activity includes: (a) updating and completing a group voice teaching review of literature and textbook content analysis; (b) analysis of data and completion of manuscripts from a qualitative study on small and large group voice teaching and a quantitative study on postural and acoustical measures of musical theatre singers; (c) designing three subsequent studies in class voice including a longitudinal mixed methods study on the implementation of small and large group voice classes into my applied voice lessons curriculum here at CCU for a semester; and (d) if time, beginning work on designing a textbook proposal for musical theatre and contemporary commercial music group voice classes to submit to several interested publishers. The results of this work in group voice teaching have already been quite groundbreaking in our profession. Not only do these studies help support greater teaching efficacy, but they also streamline faculty teaching load and allow for increased student contact hours.
Christina Selby, Communication, Media, and Culture
Eat Better to Live Better: A Community Health Needs Assessment Project
According to the SC Department of Health and Environmental CONTROL (SCDHEC), two in three SC adults are obese and one in three SC children are obese (2019). The main contributors to obesity are poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. Policy changes, environmental changes, and direct educational programs are necessary to address nutrition, physical activity, and obesity in our state and even locally. Research will include conducting a community health needs assessment of at-risk Conway residents during summer 2022. Qualitative methodologies will be employed to gather data about the nutritional health of the study participants and their family members, and established contacts within the community will assist with participant recruitment. This research will inform the creation of nutrition education sessions to be offered for local children and parents who attend events sponsored by Palmetto Works. This formative research will guide the development of nutrition education seminars, which will be created by students in upper-level health communication courses and graduate-level communication courses. This research will also inform the creation of a survey assessing the effectiveness of the nutrition educational sessions during AY 2022-2023.
Zhixiong Shen, Marine Science
Response of Coastal Marsh and Barrier Islands to Enhanced Tropical Cyclone Activity
The coastal landscape is strongly controlled by wave action and significant efforts have been done to investigate coastal changes to wave-climate variability at the event scale. Tropical cyclones (TC) produce extreme wave conditions and can reshape coasts catastrophically. Global warming is expected to enhance TC activity, but the impact of such changes on the coastal landscape is unclear. Paleotempestite studies (sedimentary records of past TC events) have demonstrated centennial TC variability, but the connection between the long-term TC variability and coastal changes is not well understood. Barrier islands and coastal marshes are the most common morphologic components along the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Here the support will be used to collect data from St Vincent Island (SVI), Florida to develop an NSF proposal to investigate: (1) the late Holocene evolution of the barrier island and its back-barrier marsh system; (2) the washover deposits, paleotempestites, in the back-barrier region; (3) the corresponding sea-level change as recorded by the Holocene marsh sediments with the state-of-the-art stratigraphic and sediment dating methods. The aim of the investigation is to establish correlations between the development of the barrier island/marsh system to sea-level change and TC activity at a centennial timescale. A set of samples was collected in SVI in March 2022, with a plan to return in summer 2022 to survey washover deposits. In addition, preliminary sample and data analysis will be done to develop the NSF proposal to be submitted by the end of the summer. Barrier islands and coastal marshes provide pivotal ecological and economic services but are facing increasingly heavy anthropogenic and climatic pressure. This research is expected to provide knowledge about the response of these coastal systems to TC variability at a centennial timescale for developing a long-term management strategy.
Kaitlin Sidorsky, Political Science
Judging Victims: Federalism and Judicial Decision Makimg in Domestic Violence Cases
What is the role of judicial actors in protecting women who are victims of domestic violence? How are judges implementing the domestic violence laws passed by the legislature of their state as well as federal law? And what are judges doing when there is no law in the state that allows for the removal of firearms from DV offenders? This research will investigate these questions and will include the judicial decision-making process when setting conditions for bail, as well as issuing orders of protection. Where possible, the research may also extend to understanding sentencing decisions. Surveys and interviews of state-level judges who handle domestic violence cases will be conducted to understand the gaps between the intent of the laws passed in legislative chambers and the decisions of the judges implementing these laws in the courtroom. This research will also help scholars understand state judges’ knowledge of federal firearm laws and their willingness to follow them. The database will include judges from every state as well as their demographic information where possible. The summer will be used to complete the data collection of the judge's contact information and test the pilot of the survey.
2021-22 PEG Awards
Daniel Abel, Professor of Marine Science
Heart Function in Great White and Other Sharks
Michelle Barthet, Assitant Professor of Biology See Final Summary
Identification of a novel intron splicing complex in the chlorplast of rice
Andrew Busch, Assitant Professor of Honors and Interdisciplinary Studies See Final Summary
High Tech Texas, Public Institutions, Regional Economic Development, and the Myth of the Free Market.
Charles Clary, Associate Professor of Visual Arts See Final Summary
Memento Morididdle: A Contemporary Take on the Art of Memento Mori
Derek Crane, Assistant Professor of Biology
Use of Oxyteracyline in Fisheries Science: We are still learning after nearly 60 years
Russell Fielding, Assistant Professor of Honors and Interdisciplinary Studies See Final Summary
Breadfruit Culitvation in Hawaii
Timothy Fischer, Assistant Professor of Music See Final Summary
Recording Full Length Album "The Low Country Sessions"
Justin Guilkey, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology See Final Summary
Hemodynamic Responses during Aerobic Blood Flow Restriction Exercise at Different Percentages of Limb Occlusion Pressure
Christopher Gunn, Associate Professor of History See Final Summary
The War Within: Violence & Military Rule in Argentina and Turkey. 1971-1983
Julianna Harding, Associate Professor of Marine Science See Final Summary
Fish Growth Rates as a Tool to Evaluate Warming Water Effects in Southeastern Estuaries
Hsing-Wen Hu, Professor of Graduate & Speciality Studies See Final Summary
Using High-Quality Supportive Workshops to Help Newly Graduated Teacher Candidate Integrate TPACK into Mathematics Classrooms
Richard Kilroy, Associate Professor of Politics See Final Summary
Forging New Security Institutions in Mexico
Catharina Middleton, Assistant Professor of Foundations, Curriculum and Instruction & Heather Hagan, Associate Professor of Foundations, Curriculum and Instruction See Final Summary
Learning to Teach Indigenous South Carolina History Through Inquiry and Primary Sources
Rhonda Miller, Assistant Professor of Foundations, Curriculum and Instruction See Final Summary
Content Acquisition Podcast Library
Meghan O'Connor, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
Casting Fingers, Casting Blame?
Shari Orisich, Associate Professor of History
Daughters of the Revolution Speak: Girls and Girlhood in Cuba, 1952-1970
Tripthi Pillai, Associate Professor of English & Becky Child, Professor of English
Storytelling and Critical Applied Narrative (SCAN) Certificate Development Project
Michael Promisel, Assistant Professor of Politics See Final Summary
From Dissertation to Book Proposal: Prudence and Political Leadership
Sara Rich, Assitant Professor of Honors and Interdisciplinary Studies See Final Summary
SciArt Field School
Jessica Lee Richardson, Assistant Professor of English See Final Summary
Seeding Climate Narratives: Novel Research and Beyond
Paul Richardson, Professor of Chemistry See Final Summary
Perceived Stress Levels and its Impact on Bacteriophage Presence in the Human Population at Coastal Carolina University
Eric Daniel Schultz, Assistant Professor of Music See Final Summary
Debut Album Recording and Release: Eric Shultz, Clarinet
Catherine Scott, Associate Professor of Foundations, Curriculum and Instruction
Beyond the Montessori Classroom: Examining How Teachers Use Online Instruction in Montessori Mathematics
Brianna Thomas, Assistant Professor of Physics & Engineering Science
The effects of color on students' interpretation and retention of multiple representations in introductory mechanics (pilot study)
Nicole Uphold, Associate Professor of Foundations, Curriculum and Instruction See Final Summary
Special Education Teachers' Views of Community-Based Instruction
Misti Williams, Lecturer of Communication, Media, & Culture See Final Summary
Public Relations Society of America Membership and Certificate in Digital Communication