Tufts Springboard: Spring 2024 Recipients

We are delighted to announce award decisions for Tufts Springboard Research and Scholarship (Office of the Vice Provost for Research) and Tufts Springboard Education and Curriculum (Office of the Vice Provost for Education).

Each of these high-quality, high-impact research, scholarship, and educational initiatives contributes to vibrant research at Tufts by having an explicit plan leading to extramural funding or other outcomes that further influence research, scholarship, and/or policy.

These grants represent a significant investment in the future vitality of Tufts as a thriving R1, very-high research activity university. In keeping with this cycle’s emphasis on supporting Tufts’ efforts to be an anti-racist institution, many of the projects focused on highlighting racial inequities and promoting racial justice.

The next cycle of Research and Scholarship applications will be due on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. Learn more about the application and review process.

Please join us in congratulating the following individuals/teams who were selected for awards.

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Investigating a Community-of-Practice Approach to Support Faculty in Integrating Sociotechnical Activities in Engineering Courses
Team Lead: Chelsea Andrews (SOE)
Team Members: Kaylla Cantilina (Engineering Education) and Mafalda Gueta (Center for Stem Diversity)

Advancing Novel Small-molecule, Non-hallucinogenic, Psychedelic-like Neuroplastogens for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder 

Team Lead: Elizabeth Byrnes (Cummings)
Team Member: Peter DiStefano (PJG Pharma LLC)

Cumulative Impacts Assessment of Reggie Wong Park in Chinatown, MA
Team Leads: MyDzung Chu (Tufts Medicine) and John Durant (SOE)

Workforce Development of Electrochemical Engineers Phase I: Virtual Laboratory Development and Implementation
Team Leads: Milo David Koretsky (SOE) and Graham Leverick (SOE)
Team Members: Tom Ekstedt (SOE) and Samuel Gavitte (SOE)

The Future of Radiographic Interpretation Training: AI-Driven Personalized Learning
Team Leads: Karen Panetta (SOE) and Aruna Ramesh (TUSDM)
Team Members: Shishir Paramathma Rao (SOE) and Srijith Rajeev (SOE)

Harnessing Indigenous Knowledge for Food Transformations: A Case Study of Adivasi food systems in Jharkhand, India
Team Lead: Udita Sanga (Friedman)
Team Members: Ellen Messer (Friedman) and Sarah Pinto (A&S)

Affording Misoprostol on Minimum Wage: An International and Local Comparison of Pharmaceutical Abortion
Team Lead: Liana Woskie (A&S)

Team Member(s): Erika Werner (TUSM), Danielle Roncari (TUSM), Irene Papanicolas (Brown Center for Health System Sustainability), MaryRose Mazolla (Planned Parenthood League of MA), and Mindy Roseman (Yale School of Law)

A Pilot Study to Understand Feeding Dysregulation in Opioid-exposed Infants: Does Microbiome Matter? 
Team Lead: Elizabeth Yen (Tufts Medicine)
Team Members: Mario Cordova (Lowell General Hospital), Ronnelle King (Melrose-Wakefield Hospital), and Albert Tai (Tufts Genomics Core)

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Cross Cultural Assessment of Caregiver Attitudes on Pediatric Dental Anxiety Aids
Team Lead: Jayapriyaa Shanmugham (TUSDM)
Team Members: Anna Lubitz (TUSDM), Adam Lowenstein (TUSDM), Meletia Laskou (TUSDM), Cheen Loo (TUSDM), Liya Xu (TUSM), and Sarah Pagni (TUSDM)