Jun. 13, 2023

The 2023 Faculty Opportunity Awards Program (FOA) is intended to help identify core interdisciplinary research teams at UNLV and increase innovative, multiple investigator research and scholarly/creative projects that are funded by extramural agencies, private foundations, or industry.

This seed funding is designed to bolster the development of strong extramural proposals.  The five FOA awards selected out of 23 submitted proposals are collaborative and interdisciplinary among UNLV faculty members. The awards start on July 1, 2023 and will be in place for a two-year performance period.

For the third year in a row, UNLV Foundation and the UNLV Research Foundation generously funded these awards. We thank them for their continued support. The total awarded for this cycle of FOAs is: $168,998

2023 Faculty Opportunity Awards – Interdisciplinary Teams

  • Shaikh Arifuzzaman (Computer Science) and Brian Labus (Epidemiology and Biostatistics)
    $35,000
    "Unraveling Epidemic Dynamics in Urban Settings: A Data-Driven Social-Network Approach to Identify Key Hubs and Guide Mitigation Effort"
  • Mehmet Erdem (Resort, Gaming & Golf Management), Shashi Nambisan (Civil & Environmental Engineering & Construction), and Billy Bai (Hospitality Management)
    $34,998
    "An Examination of Transportation for Service Employees from Socio-economically Disadvantaged Populations in Las Vegas"
  • Rochelle Hines (Psychology) and Jun Yong Kang (Chemistry & Biochemistry)
    $35,000
    "Novel conjugates for the study of serotonin 5HT2A receptors in disorders of mental health"
  • Grant Mosey (Architecture), Xiwei Shen (Landscape Architecture) and Beiyu Lin (Computer Science)
    $34,000
    "Harnessing Big Data to Optimize Green Infrastructure Resource Allocation for Improving Health Outcomes"
  • Mo Weng (Life Sciences) and Seungman Park (Mechanical Engineering)
    $30,000
    "Molecular Mechanism of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity"

There were many strong applications and we encourage teams to begin thinking about submissions for the round of FOAs expected next spring. In the fall of 2023 an informational webinar will be provided to help teams develop competitive proposals for the 2024 FOA round.