The Provost, in coordination with the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement and the Deans, is offering Interdisciplinary Research Grants totaling up to $600,000 to support interdisciplinary activities at UMass Amherst. The goals of the Interdisciplinary Research Grants (IRG) are to empower creativity, strengthen the campus’ areas of excellence, promote equitable collaborations, and attract external funding and other forms of recognition across our colleges and schools.
Interdisciplinary Research Grants are offered to teams of faculty members and librarians from at least two different schools/colleges within the University. The projects proposed by each team are expected to represent a new direction or aspect of interdisciplinary collaboration, align with one of the themes of interdisciplinary excellence, and lead to significant and tangible outcomes that support continued momentum.
- Learn more: View detailed IRG eligibility and proposal guidelines
- Submit proposals through the IRG Proposal Form by Friday, April 21, 2023.
Please direct questions about this program to Tilman Wolf, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs: wolf@umass.edu
First established in spring 2020 as the Interdisciplinary Research Awards (IFRA), the program was paused due to impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic.
2020 Interdisciplinary Faculty Research Awardees:
- Cathal Kearney, Meghan Huber, and Ilia Karatsoreos: "A Stitch in Time: Synchronizing Wound Healing with our Body Clock"
- Carrie-Ellen Briere, David Sela, and Joseph Jerry: "Cellular Components of Human Milk: An Examination of their Role in Infant Health and Development"
- Torrey Trust, Allison Butler, and Robert Maloy: "Civics, Government, and Media Literacy Learning for Middle and High School Students and Teachers"
- Peng Bai, Markos Katsoulakis, and Sarah Perry: "Designing an AI framework for high-throughput materials development"
- Michael Zink, Senay Solak, and Daiheng Ni: "Dynamic route optimization for autonomous aerial vehicles in inclement weather with socio-economic cost considerations"
- Memnun Seven, Mark C. Pachucki, and Raeann LeBlanc: "Evaluation of family and community social network characteristics among high-risk family members to improve cancer-related health behaviors"
- Forrest J. Bowlick, Camille Barchers, and Rebecca Seifried: "Georectifying the MacConnell Air Photo Collection for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration"
- Yu Chen, Xian Du, and Zhichao Jiang: "Intelligent 3D Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) for Assessment of Transplant Organ Viability"
- Caitlyn Butler, Anne Gershenson, and Manasa Kandula: "Interdisciplinary Active Colloids in Biofilms"
- Noy Holland, Curt Griffin, and Rachel Green: "Love What Lives, Save What's Left"
- Michael Krezmien, Andrew Lan, and John Francisco: "Monitoring INdividual Differences in MAth Problem Solving (MIND-MAPS): Using Technology to Transform Math Learning for Incarcerated Learners"
- Elizabeth Harvey, Nilanjana Dasgupta, and Sarah Fefer: "Racial differences in parent-teacher perceptions of childhood ADHD symptoms: An examination of the role of stereotypes and prejudice"
- Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, Lynnette Leidy Sievert, and Tara Mandalaywala: "Social touch interventions to reduce stress, anxiety and depression in young adult women "
- Pari Riahi, Yahya Modarres-Sadeghi, and Ali Sarvghad: "Sustaining the Creative Arc: Implementing a Cross-Disciplinary Analysis and Problem-Solving Method for Design Thinking"
- Katherine Reeves, Guodong Zhang, and Zhenhua Liu: "Triclosan exposure and risk of colon disease in women"
- Brenda Philips, David Jensen, and Qian Yu: "Understanding and predicting human response to personalized severe weather warnings for urban flash floods"
