Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Proposal Information Workshop presented by Kara Luckey (August 2023)

The Royalty Research Fund (RRF) is an excellent opportunity open to faculty across the UW system that provides one-year awards of up to $40,000 to:

‒ Support new scholarly directions and creative activities,

‒ Generate preliminary findings, and

‒ Increase competitiveness for external funding.

Kara's presentation gives helpful insight into how the RRF can support your work, the components of a RRF proposal, and the submission process. Kara also offers tips for maximizing competitiveness based on advice shared by the RRF Committee Chair, Committee Members and Program Administrator, as well as on Kara’s experiences supporting UWT faculty in preparing successful RRF proposals.  

This recording offers updated information for the September 2023 applications. View the video here.

Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program (for faculty) by Cindy Schaarschmidt (May 2023)

Applications for the 2024-25 Fulbright Scholar Program are now open, offering over 400 awards in more than 135 countries. Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards allow academics, professionals and artists who are U.S. citizens to teach, research, and carry out professional projects abroad. Applications are due September 15! You can learn more about the Fulbright Program and hear from colleagues who have been Fulbright Scholars by watching the following info session.  A recording of the session is here.

Essentials of Proposal Development presented by Kara Luckey (April 2023)

This workshop discussed the fundamentals of effective grant development and writing with a particular focus on proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF). Topics included:

  • Critically reviewing funding announcements;
  • Strategically conceptualizing project aims to achieve sponsor objectives;
  • Crafting compelling proposal narratives; and
  • Brief overview of pursuing funding from the NSF.

Kara, a proposal development consultant, is also available to support faculty in pursuing internal and external funding opportunities through proposal development and editing assistance. Please contact Lisa Isozaki at lisozaki@uw.edu to discuss the specific funding opportunity and your need for support.

View a recording of the workshop here.

Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Proposal Information Workshop presented by Kara Luckey (February 2023)

The Royalty Research Fund (RRF) is an excellent opportunity open to faculty across the UW system that provides one-year awards of up to $40,000 to:

‒ Support new scholarly directions and creative activities,

‒ Generate preliminary findings, and

‒ Increase competitiveness for external funding.

Kara's presentation gives helpful insight into how the RRF can support your work, the components of a RRF proposal, and the submission process. Kara also offers tips for maximizing competitiveness based on advice shared by the RRF Committee Chair, Committee Members and Program Administrator, as well as on Kara’s experiences supporting UWT faculty in preparing successful RRF proposals.  View the presentation here.

How to Get Your Book Published: A Workshop for Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty presented by Nicole Mitchell (Director) & Larin McLaughlin (Editorial Director) University of Washington Press, with UWT UW Press author Lisa Hoffman (Urban Studies) (January 2023) 

This presentation helped demystify the publishing process in the humanities and social sciences and guided faculty through the multiple steps involved, from developing a book proposal, selecting a publisher, and approaching an editor to navigating the peer review process and submitting a final manuscript.  Nicole Mitchell and Larin McLaughlin addressed both the specific processes at UW press and general procedures common to most academic publishers.  Watch the recording here.

UWT Internally Funded Research Presentations (November 2022)

Short Talks from four faculty members who received internal UWT funding for research last year:

Barb Toews, Associate Professor (School of Social Work and Criminal Justice):

Understanding correctional staff perceptions of the work environment: A case study at a correctional center for women

Men and women who work in correctional facilities face dangers inherent to the work, resulting in high levels of stress, trauma symptomology, and other mental health concerns. Coupled with organizational and operational stressors, staff can experience corrections fatigue, contributing to low job commitment and reduce positive work behaviors. These outcomes may be further influenced by the facility’s physical and natural environment because environmental design can positively and negatively influence health. This study explored staffs’ perceptions about the landscaped area of the prison’s campus, and whether their perceptions significantly and statistically correlated with their affective organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors, correctional fatigue, and perceptions of workplace adversity with respect to finding respite on the job.



Maureen Kennedy, Associate Professor (Division of Science and Mathematics, SIAS):

Understanding how spatial patterns of fuels affect wildfire regimes 

Wildfire spread and behavior are broadly driven by three main variables: fire weather, topography, and fuels. Of those, we are able to most directly modify the amount and arrangement of fuels in our natural areas. As wildfires are becoming more extreme and harmful due to climate change and management history, it is imperative to understand how fuel loading and the spatial configuration of fuels modify fire behavior. We used artificial simulated landscapes to explore how spatial variability, spatial clustering, and fuel loading affect simulated wildfire area burned under moderate and drought fire weather scenarios. We found that predicted area burned increased as landscape-scale fuel loading became more homogenous (less variable), and that area burned increased with increasing clustering of fuels. Landscape configurations that resulted in less predicted area burned can be used to guide landscape-scale fuel reduction projects.



David Reyes, Associate Professor (School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership):

Exploring COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence & Acceptance among BIPOC Community

This mixed methods pilot study used a community-based participatory research approach to examine attitudes, norms and conditions associated with being vaccinated against COIVD-19. Preliminary survey data results related to perceived self-efficacy, social pressures or influences, and behaviors will be discussed including implications for further research.



Zhiquan (Andy) Shu, Assistant Professor (SET):

Development of an Organ Perfusion System and the Optimal Protocols for Cryoprotectant Addition/Removal: The First Step towards Long-term Organ Cryopreservation

Organ transplantation can save millions of lives of patients with organ failure every year. Unfortunately, the waiting list for organ transplants keeps elongating due to organ shortage, while a large fraction of donor organs end up unused because of the lack of longtime organ preservation technology. The current hypothermic storage can only maintain organ viability for hours. The solution to organ shortage crisis is to extend the organ’s shelf life at low temperatures (e.g., below -150°C) by vitrification, in which vitrification solution with high concentration should be perfused into organs before cooling and later removed after rewarming. The PIs’ research has been focusing on the development of novel technologies for organ cryopreservation by vitrification and electromagnetic rewarming. An efficient and safe perfusion system is an essential device in a few critical steps in organ vitrification, including the pre-preservation perfusion, addition and removal of vitrification solution, and perfusion for the in vitro organ evaluations. 

Video of these presentations can be found here.

Making the Most of NSF Broader Impacts:  Five Things You Can Do to Build Effective Partnerships and Make an Impact Workshop presented by Dr. Janice McDonnell from Rutgers University (November 2022)

Every proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) is evaluated based on the Intellectual Merit (IM) and Broader Impacts (BI) of a proposed project. IM refers to the potential for the work to advance understanding in the discipline, while BI refers to the societal benefits of the proposed work. Societal benefits usually involve engaging interested groups beyond academia, in research efforts and outcomes. In addition, developing and implementing successful broader impacts activities is often dependent on identifying the right partner(s) and establishing a productive collaboration. In this talk, Janice provided five suggestions for effective ways to build BI partnerships and evaluate their impacts. Participants had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss how to engage in BI effectively.  Watch the recording here.