Faculty Research Support Funds
Tenure-track University of Houston-Clear Lake faculty members are invited to submit research proposals for the Faculty Research Support Funds (FRSF) spring and fall competitions.
Upcoming Submission Deadlines:
- Spring 2025 - (Tentative) March 15, 2025
Check our Events page for the next FRSF Info session, download the PowerPoint, or watch the recording.
Application Process
FRSF Application Process
Important Notes
- Refer to the FRSF Policy (PDF) for FRSF funding information. The maximum award is $6,000.
- Faculty salaries are not allowable expenses.
- Research travel budgets must reflect the State of Texas or U.S. General Services Administration approved rates for meal/lodging per diem.
- Proposals including funding for student research assistant(s) must be consistent with Human Resources guidelines for compensation of students found at Student Worker/Researcher HR Salary Guidelines.
1. Prepare your Proposal Submission Packet
Complete and submit a Conflict of Interest for Investigators form (separate from the application).
Create one PDF with all required documents placed in the following order (refer to FRSF Policy (PDF), section 4):
Included in 10-page limit:
- FRSF Cover Page (DOCX, updated July 2023)
- Purpose and Objectives of Proposed Request
- Background and Hypothesis
- Significance of the Request
- Procedures/General Work Plan/Methodology
- Duration of Request/Time Frame
- Equipment/Facilities
- Dissemination/Use of Results and Project Sustainability
- Budget Summary (See template, XLSX/Excel)
- Budget Justification
- Cost Share Support from Program/College
Excluded from 10-page limit:
- Appended Materials
- Additional Budget Documentation (DOCX)
- Curriculum Vitae/Biosketch
2. Request Dean's Support
First, verify whether the dean of your college has an earlier deadline to review FRSF proposals. If not, allow at least five (5) business days for the dean to review your proposal submission packet.
- Send one email requesting the dean of your college to support the project.
- Attach the entire proposal submission packet to the email.
- Copy ORSP at sponsoredprograms@uhcl.edu and the dean's administrative assistant on the email.
3. Completed Submission
- The dean's support email should be sent to ORSP, sponsoredprograms@uhcl.edu, by 5 p.m. on the due date.
- The submission process will be complete once ORSP electronically acknowledges the dean's support email.
4. Proposal Review
- ORSP will send the proposal submission packet and dean's support email to the FRSF committee member for review and consideration.
- FRSF committee members will review and rate the proposal. Click here to see a sample review form (DOCX).
- The committee will discuss the proposals and submit their funding recommendations to the provost.
- Faculty will be emailed about their proposal's status after the committee meeting and will receive copies of the reviewer ratings/comment forms.
Final Reports
Final Reports
Recipients of Faculty Research and Support Funds must submit a final report in electronic form to the Executive Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs 90 days after the project is completed or one year after the project is funded, whichever is sooner.
The report should acknowledge that the project was funded by the Faculty Research and Support Funds. The report may be brief, should summarize accomplishments of the project and may optionally take the form of a scholarly article, scholarly conference paper, or grant proposal connected with the FRSF project.
The final report must be submitted before further FRSF funding will be considered.
Review Committee
Review Committee
| College | Term Ending 8/31/26 | Term Ending 8/31/28 | Alternate to 8/31/26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| College of Business |
Barry Marks, Ph.D. |
Timothy Michael, Ph.D. |
Clifton Mayfield, Ph.D. |
| College of Education |
Jane Cooper, Ed.D. |
Felix Simieou, Ed. D. |
Sheila Baker, Ph.D.
Professor of Curriculum and Instruction |
| College of Science & Engineering |
Kazi Md Masum Billah, Ph.D.
|
Balzur Rashid, Ph.D. |
Yi Su, Ph.D. |
| College of Human Sciences & Humanities |
Christine Kovic, Ph.D. |
Amanda Johnston, Ph.D. |
Anne Marcoline, Ph.D. |
If you are interested in serving on the FRSF Committee, contact your dean.
Past Winners
Thank you to all who participated in the competition and congratulations to those whose projects received funding.
2023-2024
Fall 2023
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Jennifer Grace, Ph.D. | Education | Community Perspectives on the State Takeover of HISD |
| Thais R. S. de Sant' Ana, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Imagining the United States' Presence in Urban Amazonia |
| Pearl J. Young, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Defying the Status Quo: Southern White Women, Faith, Patriarchy, & the Clamor for Secession |
| Clay Leonard, M.F.A. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Investigating the Mold-made Terra Cotta figurines of Old Babylonia - Collaboration with Dr. Stephanie Langin-Hooper, Associate Professor Southern Methodist University, and Dr. Sarah Graff, Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Scott Buckel, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Characterization of Extracellular Matrix |
| Jugal Saharia, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Development of a Low-Cost, Miniaturized Nanopore Fabrication Device for Single Molecule Biosensing |
Spring 2024
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sofia Georgiadou, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Advancing Marriage and Family Therapy Education: A Learner-centric Survey on Students' Perceived Connections between Learning Gaps and Teaching Methods |
| Charuska Walgama, Ph.D. and Jack Lu, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Detection of Heavy Metal using Metal-Organic Frameworks/Carbon Nanotube Composite Electrodes |
| Nisha Mathews, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | A Mixed Methods Approach to Cultural Competence, Health Disparity Knowledge, and South Asian Culture Knowledge among Nursing Professionals |
| Ruaa Al Mezrakchi, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Additive Manufacturing of Composites and Advanced Materials Towards Sustainable Engineering Applications |
| Tej Limbu, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Fabrication of Ti3C2TX MXene/Bi2O2S Quantum Dot Hybrid Material for Photodetection Applications |
| Samina Masood, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Plate-reader Purchase for Students to Study the Weak Magnetic Fields on Bacterial Growth |
| Soma Datta, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | A Framework to Develop a Virtual Reality Lab for Microbiology Students |
| Michael Van Wie, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Bidirectional Effects of Adolescent Digital Media Use and Mental Health |
2022-2023
Fall 2022
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Barbara Hales, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | "Life Undeserving of Life": Eugenics Cinema in Weimar and Nazi Germany |
| Sarah Griffin, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Capturing the Interplay of Impulsivity and Alcohol Use in Daily Life |
| Jane McIntosh Cooper, Ph.D. | Education | Impacts of Peer-driven Professional Learnign Communities on Novice Teacher Practices |
| Michael Brims, M.F.A. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Graduate Student Worker Hours to facilitate relations with local High Schools & Community Colleges to create sustainability-related content to be screened in the 2023 edition of the Sustainable Stories Film Fest |
| Mohsen Daghooghi, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Analytical Solution for Two-Dimensional Composite Fins with Locally-Variable Heat Transfer Coefficient |
Spring 2023
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sofia Georgiadou, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Students as Educational Partners: Exploring Consumers' Perception of Competency and Skill Development to Improve Marriage and Family Therapy Master's Education |
| Michael McMullen, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Persian-American Baha'i Oral History Project |
| Roberta Raymond, Ed.D. | Education | Writing toolkits: Building writing self-efficacy with preservice teachers |
| Charitha Hettiarachchi, Ph.D. and Naveed Saleem, Ph.D. | Business | Efficient Water Management System for Small-Midsize Farming: A Fuzzy Inference Based Approach |
| Steven Sutherland, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Creating Firebots Virtual Environment for Studying Human-Automaton Interaction |
| Neal Dugre, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Confederation and Commonwealth in an English Atlantic Region |
| Roberta Leal, Ph.D. and Maria Wilson, Ed.D., LMSW, LVN | Human Sciences and Humanities | Not Enough Funding for Us: Latinx-Serving Organizations Perceived Facilitators and Barriers in the Greater Houston-Galveston Area |
2021-2022
Fall 2021
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Xiaokun Yang, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | FPGA Design and Verification on Neural Networks |
| Clay Leonard, M.F.A. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Research and Creation of a New Body of Artwork for National Exhibition, "Bare Essentials" at prestigious Lodge Clay Center Gallery, May 6-8, 2022 |
| Barbara Hales, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Women and "Euthanasia" in the Third Reich: The Eglfing-Haar Asylum and Ich klag an (1947) |
| Dervis Demirocak, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | The Effect of Thermal Performance Degradation of Windows on Building Energy Use |
| Ariful Bhuiyan, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | The Whole Body Vibration Effect of 3D Printed Bio-medical Devices in Lumber Interbody Fusion Application |
| Michael LaMontagne, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Tracking the Source of Microbial Contamination of Western Galveston Bay |
| Xiaojun "Gene" Shan, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Identification and Prioritization of Factors Associated with Health Workforce Resilience with Analytic Hierarchy Process |
Spring 2022
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremy Piercy, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Social Networks in Early English Charters |
| Kewei Sha, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | An Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence Supported Training System for Autism Kids |
| Charuska Walgama, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Optimization of an Electrochemical Detection Strategy for Novel Point-of-care Biosensor Platforms |
| Dongmin Sun, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Impact of Climate and Human Activity on the Long-Term Streamflow Evolution in Brazos River |
| Kazi Md Masum Billah, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | 3D printed molds for fiber-reinforced composite manufacturing |
| Serkan Caliskan, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Tailoring the Band Gap and Spin Polarized Transport Through Graphene-Like Materials |
| Tessa Kritikos, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Development of the MAGICC Support Group for Youth with Spina Bifida |
| Erik Reinbergs, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Developing a measure of perceived suicide stigma: A modern psychometric approach augmented by lived experience insights. |
| Tej Limbu, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Surface-Engineered MXenes for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection of Molecules |
| Cengiz Sisman, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Early American and the Middle Eastern Encounters: Protestant Missionaries among the Ottoman Religious Minorities in the Nineteenth Century |
2020-2021
Fall 2020
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Ariful Bhuiyan, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Designing and Testing 3D Printed Scaffolds for Bio-medical Applications |
| Dongmin Sun, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | The impact of Land Use and Urbanization on Water Quality and Flooding Risk in Houston Area |
| Van E. Mayes, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Models of Neutrino Masses and Mixing Angles |
| Isabelle S. Kusters, Ph.D., M.P.H. | Human Sciences and Humanities | The state of COVID-19 communication in languages other than English by local health departments |
| Khondker S. Hasan, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Digital Image Steganography Techniques for concealing secret data in 2D and 3D Images |
Spring 2020
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Cherry, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Importing Care, Faithful Service |
| Jennifer Grace, Ph.D. | Education | School Leader Perceptions of Anti-Racism and its Role in Educational Leadership |
| Brian Wasko, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Interplay Between Cellular Proton Pumps |
| Xinying Liu, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Cultural Effects and the Interplay between Extrinsic Motivation and Intrinsic Motivation |
| Soma Datta, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | A Framework to develop Virtual Laboratory for Microbiology |
| Michael Brims, M.F.A. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Student Worker for Sustainable-Stories Film Fest |
| Julianna Dean, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Understanding Research Faculty’s and Students’ Attitudes and Barriers Towards Learning
R, a Programming Language and Environment |
| Jana Willis, Ph.D. and Michelle Giles, Ph.D. | Education | Game On: Interactive Syllabus Development |
| Georgina Moreno, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Investigating psychomotor and cognitive equivalency in virtual environments during
sleep deprivation |
2019-2020
Fall 2019
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Xiaojun "Gene" Shan, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | A Three-Player Game Theoretic Model of North Korea Denuclearization |
| Kewei Sha, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | An Efficient Framework for Biometrics‐Based User Identification and Authentication |
| Jiang Lu, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | An Intelligent Monitoring System for In-vehicle Safety and Security |
| Xiaokun Yang, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | OpenIC: A Real-Time Automatic Music Transcription (AMT) System with Zync FPGA |
| Lorie Jacobs, Ph.D., M.A.T.E | Human Sciences and Humanities | Employer Expectations of Written Communication Abilities in UHCL’s Top Major-Professions, Part Two |
| Sheila Baker, Ph.D. and Denise McDonald, Ed.D. | Education | Examination of the Metis Classification System in an Elementary School Library: Teacher, Student, and Librarian Perspectives and Implications on Access, Circulation, and Use |
| Thomas Cothern, Ed.D., John Decman, Ed.D., Renee Lastrapes, Ph.D., and Felix Simieou III, Ph.D. | Education | Perceptions of the Implementation and Sustainability of Professional Learning Communities on School Campuses among District and School Administrators |
| Shreerekha Subramanian, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Reflections on Time: Humanities Within Bars |
Spring 2020
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Ivelina Pavlova-Stout, Ph.D. | Business | Performance Dispersion among Target Date Funds |
| Kirk English, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Evaluation of Exogenous Ketone Supplementation on Substrate Utilization During Prolonged Cycling and Subsequent Time Trial Performance |
| Stephen Cotten, Ph.D. | Business | Group Identity and Social Preferences |
| Dina Abdelzaher, Ph.D. | Business | Expansion in Conflict Zones and the Ethical profile of those corporations who do that. |
Summer 2020
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Angela Kelling, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Developing and Testing Stimuli for Learning Lab Software |
| Barbara Hales, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Black Magic Woman: Gender and the Occult in Weimar Germany, book |
| Haeyoung Shin, Ph.D. | Business | Financial statements analysis using non-financial disclosure information – an examination of oil & gas and pharmaceutical industry using DEA analysis |
| Kevin R. McNamara, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | The City in American Literature and Culture (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming) |
| Christal Seahorn, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Words of War: 16th C Military Manuals TypeWright Transcription Project |
2018-2019
Fall 2018
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Abukmail, Ph.D., Michelle Peters, Ed.D., and Jana Willis, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering, Education | Investigating Familial Factors in Women’s Decision to Pursue Computing and other STEM-Related Careers |
| Kirk English, Ph.D., William Amonette, Ph.D., and Nicholas Kelling, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Development and Validation of a Rowing Ergometry Virtual Reality Software Interface to Improve Exercise Performance and Enjoyment |
| Leslie Gauna, Ed.D. and Judith Marquez, Ph.D. | Education | Bilingual Education Candidates Failing the Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test: Examining Reasons Beyond Language Proficiency Requirements |
| Emre Kirac, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | The Dynamic Team Orienteering Problem |
| Elizabeth Klett, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Research Support for Choreographing Shakespeare |
| Anna Klyueva, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | Trolls, Bots and Whatnots: A Network Analysis of Deceptive Online Content |
| Arcadus Krivoshein, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Antiepileptic Drugs: Bridging the Gap Between Solution Chemistry and Solid-State Chemistry |
| Sandy Watson, Ed.D. | Education | Evaluation of Primary School Level Science Trade Books |
Spring 2019
| Faculty Investigator(s) | College | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Michelle Giles, Ph.D. | Education | Environmental Education Curriculum as a Model for Increasing the Mastery and Self-Efficacy of Teacher Candidate’s in Technology Integration Strategies and Development of Integrated Lessons/Activities |
| Brian Wasko, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Investigating Age-Associated Defects Related to Cellular pH |
| Unal Sakoglu, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Finding an Optimal Ordering of 3D Brain Imaging Data to 1D for Better Participant Classification |
| Maria Curtis, Ph.D. | Human Sciences and Humanities | The Skaff Family Arab American Archive: Communities, Traditions, and Institutions on the Gulf Coast and in Houston |
| Anton Dubrovskiy, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Synthesis of Nitrogen-Containing Heterocycles Mediated by PIDA |
| Youssef Hamidi, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Can Silk be the Next Reinforcing Material in Advanced Composites? |
| Michael LaMontagne, Ph.D. | Science and Engineering | Identifying Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry |
| Clay Leonard, M.F.A. | Human Sciences and Humanities | International 1-month Ceramics Residency, Research, Networking, and Solo Exhibition in Rome, Italy |