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Office of Academic Research Awards New Faculty Research Fellowships

Faculty Research FellowshipsFour Ferris State University professors have been awarded Faculty Research Fellowships, a new program developed through the Office of Academic Research.

The faculty fellowship program was designed to provide faculty members with an active interest in conducting research the time to do it.

“The breadth of programs available at Ferris has brought faculty here from a wide range of disciplines and research areas,” said Karen Strasser, director of Academic Research and Grants. “Although we have a number of internal research grants to help buy materials and equipment, some faculty just need a little time to devote to their work.”

Unlike a sabbatical, a Faculty Research Fellowship allows faculty members to make progress on their research, yet remain available to students in their classes and programs, Strasser said.

“We can often see the immediate benefits to Ferris through the student projects that stem from faculty research, but the long-term value is how faculty research affects the student experience in the classroom,” she said. “Faculty members use what they learn to strengthen their courses and help keep our programs relevant and on target with what is happening in today’s competitive environment.”

The fellowship program, which allocates 25 percent of the spring and fall semester loads to research activity and is funded jointly by Academic Affairs and the faculty member’s college, was developed by the Research Advisory Committee. The fellowships, which do not include additional funds for project expenses, are awarded to full-time tenure-track faculty.


The 2013 recipients are:

Dan Adsmond
Professor of Chemistry
Project: Determination and analysis of crystal packing in cocrystals incorporating the antibacterial drug, sulfamethazine and a carboxylic acid


Rachel Foulk
Assistant Professor of Art History
Project: A Walk Through the Seasons: The Esquiline Landscape Calendar and the Representation of Time in Imperial Rome


Randy Groves
Professor of Philosphy
Project: Comparative Civilization and World History: A Theory of Cultural Change


Bakhodirzhon Siddikov
Professor of Mathematics
Project: Magnetic Refrigeration: Improved Approximation Function for the Heat Capacity of Gadolinium


Fellows are expected to meet project goals and objectives, present mid-cycle and final reports, and present their findings to the university community.

The application for 2014 Fellows is being developed and will be available here.

The program is one of several internal grant opportunities offered by the university. The Student Research Fellowship program, which supports collaborative research projects between faculty and students, grew from five students in 2011 to 11 in 2012. The pilot program included students from natural resources, but additional funding allowed the program to expand to include several research projects from a variety of disciplines offered at Ferris.

Applications for that program’s Summer 2013 fellowships are available now. Visit here for more information.

The Office of Academic Research also offers a Student Research Assistant program intended to support collaborative research projects between faculty and students.

For more information on the Office of Academic Research, including internal grant opportunities and external funding opportunities, go here for more information.