The University of Texas at Arlington has galloped forward in its Strategic Plan 2020: “Bold Solutions | Global Impact” by awarding four 2016 interdisciplinary research program grants.
According to a UTA news release, the selected programs highlight the plan’s themes of health and the human condition, sustainable urban communities, global environmental impact, and data-driven discovery.
“UTA is building multidisciplinary expertise around these four themes as they cover most of the pressing needs of our society,” said Jon Weidanz, associate vice president for research and project manager. “Multidisciplinary research also has a higher impact and makes us more competitive for externally funded grant opportunities.”
The grant winners are:
- Shakespeare and Robots: Examining the impact of a theater intervention on psychological well-being in older adults, an examination of loneliness among the elderly through social robots and Shakespeare’s theater.
- Taking the heart out of heart failure: Are we targeting the wrong organ? The analysis of blood flow in the legs of patients with HFpEF heart failure.
- Collaboration between UTA and the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas to assess the needs of the American Indian population in North Texas, an assessment of the urban American Indian health care crisis.
- GREEN STEAM: Using principles of design to power the development of outdoor educational spaces, the provision of resources to teacher and schools to create green learning spaces such as “vegetable gardens, butterfly gardens, composting projects, tree planting, and other environmental-themed projects.”
“All these awards represent important research innovations and could create a real impact in society,” said Duane Dimos, UTA’s vice president for research. “By taking advantage of the multiple perspectives offered by interdisciplinary research, the winning teams have proposed new ways of attacking real world problems, demonstrating yet again the commitment of our faculty to the highest level of scholarship.”
The Interdisciplinary Research Awards provide $20,000 to develop the projects in order for the team to compete for externally funded grants from corporate and world agencies, according to the news release.
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