College awards increase for innovative research, research-based programs
Grants awarded to the College of Education and Human Ecology since the start of the fiscal year on July 1 have increased compared to receipts at the same time last year.
To date, faculty members have received approximately $17M for innovative research, scaling up of proven programs in community outreach to serve vulnerable populations and creating new interventions and testing them.
Here are five of the most recent awards:
Providing the language of translation to serve Ohio’s English learners, families, educators
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Award: $1.95M
The college’s Center on Education and Training for Employment is spearheading a new project led by Principal Investigator Melissa Ross, PsyD, director of Research Partnerships and Impacts. The two-year project takes a collaborative, community-based approach to strengthen local systems of supports.
Among the multiple project goals, Belinda Gimbert, associate professor of education administration, will lead a team in creating a road map for school and district personnel. The map will include modeling of examples of teacher behaviors that effectively address the social and academic needs of English learners.
Crane Center to scale up high-quality literacy program across Ohio
Sponsor: Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association
Award: $4.099M
The college’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy received a one-year grant to expand its flagship early literacy and language program, Read It Again!, to all early childhood providers in Ohio, in partnership with Ohio’s Department of Jobs and Family Services and the Ohio Department of Education.
Developed by Laura Justice, professor of educational psychology, in partnership with practitioners and administrators and extensively tested over the last decade, the curriculum promotes language and literacy foundations for children ages 0-5.
Sunny Munn, director of Evaluation and Innovation at the Crane Center, is principal investigator. Justice and Assistant Professor Kelly Purtell are co-PIs.
Understanding school professionals’ disciplinary decisions and Black children
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award: $1.4M
Scott Graves, associate professor of school psychology and principal investigator of this grant, will work with his team, including Eric Anderman, professor of educational psychology, along with school-based professionals to create an intervention that decreases preschool suspension frequency.
Children suspended from school are more likely to have low academic achievement and increased contact with the criminal justice system, and rates of suspension from preschools have increased dramatically.
Scientists need a better understanding of how perceptions of Black children and adult decision-making combine to impact the number of students subjected to these disciplinary practices.
Better Birth Outcomes and Experiences Through Technology, Education and Reporting (BETTER)
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Award: $2.2M
Kaprea Johnson, professor of educational studies with expertise in counselor education and special education, is co-principal investigator of this project with Principal Investigator Ann McAlearny, distinguished professor of family and community medicine, Ohio State College of Medicine. They will work with researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
As one of five projects funded by the American Heart Association, the Ohio State project will develop, implement and test an innovative way to improve the health of pregnant people and their babies by targeting social risk factors, such as not having a place to live or living with crime and violence.
Can beneficial ketone levels improve metabolic health in the military?
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Defense
Award: $10M
Jeff Volek, professor of kinesiology, leads this research that will explore whether the grind of active-duty military life and veterans’ disproportionately high incidence of chronic illness can be tamed by lifestyle interventions designed to achieve a metabolic state of nutritional ketosis.
The four-year grant will engage a multidisciplinary team from across Ohio State, as well as experts with two partner organizations, to undertake four studies. They will explore new approaches to curtailing complications attributed to poor metabolic health, which include disrupted sleep, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Results also will have implications for the general population.