Internal Funding Opportunities
The College provides funding for CLAS initiatives across UConn's five campuses. Funds support projects that align with goals in the CLAS Strategic Plan, including research, scholarship, teaching, diversity efforts, and outreach. Research funding aligns with the College’s six academic themes:
The Earth and Its Future
Sustainable Systems, Global Resources, and World Cultures
Big Data: Science, Policy, and Ethics
Inequalities, Social Justice, Truth, and Belief
Health, Disease, and Well-Being
Brain, Mind, Language, and Logic
Funding calls are typically sent using the CLAS faculty and staff listservs. Please contact clas@uconn.edu with questions about funding opportunities.
Funding Opportunities for Academic Year 2022-2023
Support for Individuals
| Opportunity | Who is it for? | Who may apply/nominate? | Anticipated Announcement Date | Anticipated Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research and Teaching Scholars | Recent Ph.D. recipients from outside UConn | Departments (Head) | 11/2/2022 | 1/18/2023 |
| Strategic Priority Graduate Assistantships | New graduate students from outside UConn | Departments (Head or Director of Graduate Studies) | 11/10/2022 | 1/24/2023 |
| Early Starts (summer before 1st semester) | Incoming Ph.D. students | Departments (Head or Director of Graduate Studies) | 11/10/2022 | 1/24/2023 |
| Spring Graduate Student Recruiting | Prospective student travel/events | No application necessary (resources provided proportional to number of Ph.D. students departments plan to admit) | 12/1/2022 | 5/12/2023 |
| Summer Fellowships for Existing Graduate Students | Current students in Ph.D. programs | No application necessary (resources provided proportional to number of Ph.D. students; departments allocate) | 2/1/2023 | 5/12/2023 |
Support for Research
| Opportunity | Who is it for? | Who may apply/nominate? | Anticipated Announcement Date | Anticipated Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed Funding: Six Academic Themes from Strategic Plan | Tenure system faculty | Tenure system faculty | 5/2/2022 | 10/3/2022 |
| Shared Equipment | Tenure system faculty | Tenure system faculty | 9/19/2022 | 10/21/2022 |
Professional Development and Climate
| Opportunity | Who is it for? | Who may apply/nominate? | Anticipated Announcement Date | Anticipated Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership Fellows (for spring semester, with possibillity of continuing in summer) | Tenure system, clinical, and in-residence faculty | Tenure system, clinical, and in-residence faculty | 8/25/2022 | 9/19/2022 |
| Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives | Full-time faculty and staff | Full-time faculty and staff | 9/7/2022 | 10/10/2022 |
Past Recipients
Academic Year 2021-2022
Research in Academic Themes
Total awarded: $539,083.66.
Jorge Aguero, Economics; Mikhael Shor, Economics
“Résumé Overload’ and Heuristic Racism”
Academic Theme: Brain, Mind, and Logic
Jacqueline Chen, Psychological Sciences; Fumiko Hoeft, Psychological Sciences and Brain Image Research Center; Caroline Greiner de Magalhaes, Psychological Sciences
“Social stigma impacts on mental health and academic outcomes in children and adolescents with specific learning disabilities”
Academic Theme: Brain, Mind, and Logic
Adrian Garcia-Sierra, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; Eduardo Urios-Aparisi, Literature, Cultures, and Languages
“My Spanish is rusty. Grammar processing in fluent bilinguals and biliterate bilinguals of Spanish and English”
Academic Theme: Brain, Mind, and Logic
Stefan Kaufmann, Linguistics; Mitchell Green, Philosophy
“Conditional Thought and Talk”
Academic Theme: Brain, Mind, and Logic
Jay Rueckl, Psychological Sciences; Rachel Theodore, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; Emily Myers, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
“A multi-level method for assessing individual differences in spoken language”
Academic Theme: Brain, Mind, and Logic
Dimitris Xygalatas, Anthropology
“Music as a tool of resilience”
Academic Theme: Brain, Mind, and Logic
Michele Baggio, Economics; Mark Urban, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
“On Infectious diseases and Climate Change: Evidence from the Lyme Disease”
Academic Theme: The Earth and Its Future
Prakash Kashwan, Political Science; Rang Feng, Geoscience; Charles Kaye-Essien, Public Policy
“Climate Change in Regions with High Vulnerability: An Examination of the National and Subnational Policy and Feedback Effects in Ghana and India”
Academic Theme: The Earth and Its Future
Jill Wegrzyn, Molecular and Cell Biology; Rachel O’Neill, Molecular and Cell Biology; Anne Bucklin, Marine Sciences
“Conservation and BioDiversity Genomics in a Changing Climate”
Academic Theme: The Earth and Its Future
Eleanor Shoreman-Ouimet, Anthropology; Christopher Burton, Geography; William Ouimet, Geoscience; Ken Lachlan, Communication
“DISASTER (Designing Interdisciplinary Science And Strategies To Enhance Resilience) Research at UConn”
Academic Theme: The Earth and Its Future
Penny Vlahos, Marine Sciences; César E. Abadía-Barrero, Anthropology
"Interactions between Human Health, Behavior, and the Environment: A Case Study on the Communities Surrounding the Magdalena and Caquetá Rivers in Colombia"
Academic Theme: The Earth and Its Future
Climate, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Total awarded: $85,453.00
Cara Battersby, Physics
“UConnSTARs (Science, Technology, and Astronomy Recruits)”
Xinnian Chen, Physiology and Neurobiology; Geoffrey Tanner, Physiology and Neurobiology; Alexander Jackson, Physiology and Neurobiology; Daniel Mulkey, Physiology and Neurobiology; Anastasios Tzingounis, Physiology and Neurobiology
“PNB Undergraduate Intersectional Peer Mentoring Program (PUMP)”
Martha Cutter, English and Africana Studies
“When Black Lives Really Do Matter: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Race, Gender, and Health Disparities”
Tracy Frank, Geosciences; Ran Feng, Geosciences; Will Ouimet, Geosciences; Lisa Park Boush, Geosciences
“Developing anti-racist policies and strategies to support accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Geosciences"
Menka Jain, Physics; Belter Ordaz Mendoza, Physics
“Supporting Minorities in Physics Through Seminars, Peer Groups, and Outreach”
Kyungseon Joo, Physics; Phillip Cole, Physics
“Broadening the Participation of Underrepresented Minorities in Physics”
David Lund, Marine Sciences; Evan Ward, Marine Sciences; Samantha Siedlecki, Marine Sciences; Penny Vlahos, Marine Sciences; Hans Dam, Marine Sciences; James O’Donnell, Marine Sciences
“Addressing the degree gap for Under-Represented Minorities in Connecticut: A proposal to partner with the AGU Bridge Program”
Sam Martinez, Anthropology and El Instituto
“Building a CLAS BIPoC Graduate Recruitment/Retention Knowledge Base”
Linda Pelletier, Linguistics
“Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Education and Research at UConn”
Erin Scanlon, Physics; Jamie Kleinmann, Physics; Michael Finiguerra, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
“Avery Point STEM Faculty Learning Community about Disability”
Nancy Naples, Sociology; David Embrick, Sociology
“Anti-racism Committee”
Jason Courtmanche, English; Kiedra Taylor; English
“Equity and Social Justice in Secondary English Education Reading Group: Connecticut Writing Project Grant Proposal”
Peter Schweitzer, Physics; Diego Valente, Physics; Aditi Mahabir, Physics
“Training of Physics Undergraduate Students from Underrepresented Minority Groups”
Academic Year 2020-2021
Research in Academic Themes
Total awarded: $216,403.56
James Rusling, Chemistry; Dharamainder Choudhary, Department of Surgery, UConn Health
“Blood Biopsy Diagnostic for Aggressive Cancers”
Academic Theme: Health, Disease, and Well-Being
Fumiko Hoeft, Psychological Sciences and Brain Image Research Center; Fabiana Cardetti, Mathematics
“The Influence of mental health and socio-economic disparities on children with learning disabilities - a math intervention study”
Academic Theme: Inequalities, Social Justice, Truth; Belief and Health, Disease, and Well-Being
Eva Lefkowitz, Human Development and Family Sciences; Amanda Denes, Communication; Lisa Eaton, Human Development and Family Sciences
“Risk and protective factors for LGTQ+ college students’ health and well-being during semesters and academic break”
Academic Theme: Inequalities, Social Justice, Truth; Belief and Health, Disease, and Well-Being
Anna Duane, English
“Analogies of Slavery, Definitions of Freedom and Narratives of Public Health”
Academic Theme: Inequalities, Social Justice: Truth
Melanie Newport, History
“Disaster and the Carceral Landscape: A History of Incarceration on a Dying Planet”
Academic Theme: Inequalities, Social Justice, Truth
Ryan Talbert, Sociology; Jolaade Kalinowski, Human Development and Family Sciences
“Fatal Police Encounters and Race-Gender Variation in Health across Time”
Academic Theme: Inequalities, Social Justice, Truth; Belief, and Health, Disease, and Well-Being
Lyle Scruggs, Political Science; Mary Fischer, Sociology; Swapna Gokhale, Computer Sciences and Engineering; Debs Ghosh, Geography
“Misinformation Clusters and COVID Outbreaks”
Academic Theme: Big Data - Science, Policy, and Ethics
Anti-Racist Scholarship, Pedagogy, and Workplace Climate
Total awarded: $34,100.00
Kathleen Tonry, English; Gariel Morrison, English
“Racism in the Margins”
Letitia Naigles, Psychological Sciences; Bede Agocha, Africana Studies
“Language and Racism, A collaboration between the Africana Studies and the Cognitive Sciences Program”
Anke Finger, Literature, Cultures, and Languages; Manuela Wager, Literature, Cultures, and Languages; Isabell Sluka, Literature, Cultures, and Languages
“Decolonizing Area Studies: Towards Intercultural Citizenship and Social Justice”
Jason Chang, History and Asian and Asian American Studies; Chris Vials, English and American Studies; Sam Martinez, Anthropology and El Instituto; Avi Patt, Literature, Cultures, and Languages; Sherry Zane, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies; Melina Pappademos, History and Africana Studies
“Activist in Residence”
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Total awarded: $21,430.00
Michael Finiguerra, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; John Redden, Physiology and Neurobiology; Dylan Audette, Molecular and Cell Biology; John Cooley, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Jeffrey Divino, Physiology and Neurobiology; Susan Herrick, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Elizabeth Kline, Molecular and Cell Biology; Claudia Kraemer, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Luciana Santoferrara, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Colleen Spurling, Molecular and Cell Biology; Stephen Trumbo, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
“UConn FIRST in Biology: Fostering Ideal Regional Student Transitions in Biology”
Mark Peczuh, Chemistry; Nicholas Leadbeater, Chemistry
“Organic Chemistry Boot Camp: Foundational Concepts and Strategies for Student Success”
Xian Wu, Physics; Erin Scanlon, Physics; Matt Guthrie, Physics
“Supporting Inclusive Group Work in Studio-Style Physics Courses”
Lisa Blansett, English
“New Approaches to Metacognition through Defamiliarizing Processes”
Summer Research Support
Total awarded: $216,445.00
Alexia Smith, Anthropology
“Cultivating the Field of Archaeobotany: Integrating Art and Archaeology to explore Akkadian and Post-Akkadian Food, Fuel, Farming, and Adaptation to Climate Change at Tell Leilan, Syria”
Maria LaRusso, Human Development and Family Sciences
“Well-being and Consciousness For Teens (We-Act): A Pilot Study of a Multimodal Intervention to Prevent Anxiety in BIPOC Youth”
Ruth Braunstein, Sociology
“The Moral Meanings of Taxpaying”
Jorge Aguero, Economics
“Motivating Disadvantaged Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Role of Information, Aspirations, and Perceptions
Kai (Jackie) Zhao, Economics
“Health Inequality over the Life Cycle and Its Implications for Economic Well-Being”
Amanda Denes, Communication; Keith Bellizzi, Human Development and Family Sciences
“Exploring Communication About Cancer in LGBTIQ+ and Heterosexual Relationships”
Kimberly Chaney, Psychological Sciences; Nisith Prakash, Economics
“Can “Guilt” Change Police Attitude towards Gender-Based Violence?”
Cesar Abadia, Anthropology
“Integrative Approach to Address Increases in Children’s Chronic Conditions and Mental Health Problems: The Case of Anxiety”
Xiaodong Yan, Mathematics
“New development on PDE models for materials science”
Juliet Lee, Molecular and Cell Biology
“The use of Zebrafish transgenics to study the role of mechanosensing in the regulation cell movement”
Chunsheng Yang, Literature, Cultures, and Languages
“Chinese Language curriculum redesigning to meet demands of Gen-Z learner”
Research Equipment
Total awarded: $1,228,210.00
Gael Ung, Chemistry
“Near-infrared circulatory polarized luminescence spectrometer”
Linnaea Ostroff, Physiology and Neurobiology
“CCU-010 HV (high vacuum) coating unit that prepares samples for imaging in the scanning electron microscope”
Kim Gans, Human Development and Family Sciences
“Veggie Meter, a device that uses reflection spectroscopy to objectively measure skin carotenoid levels in a non-invasive, rapid fashion as a biomarker for fruit and vegetable intake.”
Fumiko Hoeft, Psychological Sciences and Brain Image Research Center
“EEg Bundle; includes a combination of critical new equipment (Cedrus Stim Tracker), and replacement of peripherals (EEG caps to position the 256 channels accurately in time-effective manner)”
Menka Jain, Physics
“Servicing Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS), liquid helium, Large bor VSM kit and pressure-dependent cell, and a heat capacity probe”
Senjie Lin, Marine Sciences
“Gel imaging system: The system allows researchers using molecular techniques to take, store, and analyze images of electrophoretic gels of DNA, RNA, and proteins (including western blot), the basic molecular biology works”
Julie Granger, Marine Sciences
“High-resolution cell sorting flow cytometer: used routinely in diagnostic medical sciences. It has also been used by oceanographers to survey the vast diversity of phytoplankton, protists, and bacteria in different realms of the ocean”
Jiajun Sun, Physiology and Neurobiology
“Light sheet microscope: creates a thin plane of illumination from two lenses in an orientation perpendicular to the plane of the imaging lens. This is a recent innovation in which rapid scanning of the sample through a thin sheet of light reduces phototoxicity and allows ultrafast acquisition of fluorescence signals over large volumes, up to 2 cm, using high speed cameras”
Carlos Trallero, Physics
“Novel class light source: This laser will provide both high peak intensity and high repetition rates, delivering almost a single cycle of the electric field”
Boris Sinkovic, Physics
“The development of a time-resolved photoelectron spectrometer. Funds purchased a XUV System and timePIX camera v3”