Grant Awards
NSF Awards $1M To Stetson's Water Institute To Reduce Flooding
Stetson University’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience (IWER) has received a $1 million Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) award from the National Science Foundation to begin a research-based pilot project to reduce flooding and improve water quality in the City of Cape Canaveral.
Jason Evans, PhD, IWER’s executive director and associate professor of Environmental Science, is the principal investigator for the project. He is leading a large collaborative team that includes the City of Cape Canaveral, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Florida Sea Grant, and multiple other community partners.
National Science Foundation Awards $500K Grant To Stetson Biology Professor
Stetson University Assistant Biology Professor Jean Smith, PhD, has been awarded a $502,998 grant from the National Science Foundation. This is a new funding source for the NSF, and with only 62 grants awarded, Smith is the only grant recipient funded in the state of Florida.
Smith is a molecular biologist whose research focuses on the genetics and cell biology of fungal cell-cell fusion. A Florida native, she received her BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from The Johns Hopkins University and her PhD in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Stetson Joins In $25M Federal Grant For 'Lake To Lagoon' Conservation Program
Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT), in collaboration with Volusia County and Stetson University, has been awarded $25 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in support of the “Lake to Lagoon” conservation program in Volusia, Lake and Flagler counties.
The new award is part of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), and one of 81 funded projects totaling $1.1 billion nationwide. These USDA awards support the adoption of research-based land management practices and advance land protection to promote the coastal and inland resilience of East Central Florida.
Stetson Professor Receives $300K NSF Grant To Teach Gene Editing
Inside the Sage Hall Science Center, students soon will work in a lab with microscopes and needles to alter a strand of DNA in butterfly eggs.
The students will use CRISPR gene-editing technology this semester to change the color of butterfly wings from orange and brown scales to black scales — with one simple cut.
Stetson Assistant Biology Professor Lynn Kee, PhD, received a $299,996 grant from the National Science Foundation to teach students about this technique. Associate Philosophy Professor Melinda Hall, PhD, will teach them about the bioethics surrounding its use.
Hatter Food Pantry Receives $3K Grant to Help Students In Need
The Hatters Helping Hatters Food Pantry has received a $3,000 grant and soon will receive a donated, small refrigerator that will allow it to expand its food offerings to Stetson students in need.
The Hatter food pantry is located in Student Counseling Services and is open to Stetson students facing food insecurity. Students can visit the pantry confidentially and fill one bag per visit with canned goods, pasta, cereal, snacks and other food, as well as personal hygiene products.
The pantry recently received its first grant — $3,000 from Swipe Out Hunger, a national nonprofit devoted to ending hunger among college students. Stetson’s pantry was one of 30 pantries at colleges nationwide, including Florida State University, Rutgers and Northwestern, to receive a grant.
Stetson Receives $359,000 from Mellon Foundation for College-In-Prison Program
Stetson University's Community Education Project is the first recipient of a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at Stetson. Upon receiving $359,00 from the two-year grant, the Community Education Project will expand its humanities course offerings at the Tomoka Correctional Institute.
The Community Education Project has been providing incarcerated students with credit-bearing courses, along with additional learning, research and teaching opportunities, for the last three years. With the grant from the Mellon Foundation, those learning opportunities will be expanded to food studies and planting and harvesting produce in and out of the classroom. This comes in the form of five new courses: two food studies classes on sustainable food production that explore race, class and gender in the food system, two humanities courses that are aimed toward food studies, and a special topics class on race, food and nation in the Americas. For the Community Education Project, the grant will allow them to create the garden, an outdoor classroom, and employ a garden manager and postdoctoral fellow in the humanities.
The grant monies will also be used for a second edition of the Community Education Project's literary journal More Than Our Blues from a professor who taught two courses at the Tomoka Correctional Institute before Stetson's Community Education Project became accredited. The journal is supported by data analysis and assessment by another Stetson professor in political science.
Stetson Receives $1M Award from NSF for STEM Advancement
In order to address the concerns among Stetson's administrators and faculty regarding racial disparities in STEM fields, the National Science Foundation awarded the University with $999,823 for a project to remedy those concerns. The funding will take place over the course of five years, starting on March 15, 2021 and ending on February 28, 2026.
The grant will promote STEM enrollment for underrepresented people in the following ways: by providing additional scholarship awards to low-income students with demonstrated academic promise in STEM, and engaging those students as a cohort within a novel STEM-enriched, interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes peer-interaction, project-based learning, community partnerships, numerical problem-solving skills, technological literacy, and professional writing and presentation skills.
Fairwinds Foundation awards $23,651 grant to Stetson University
The Fairwinds Foundation presented Stetson University with a $23,651 grant that will help provide 30 students with career training and mentoring in order to successfully secure an internship or job.
The grant matches a $23,651 grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund for Stetson's EDGE 2020 program, which "focuses on accelerating social capital and success for 30 students with limited incomes," said Tim Stiles, executive director of Career and Professional Development at Stetson.
The EDGE program is open to first-year students through seniors. It will begin May 6-8 with a three-day "Orlando Bound" excursion that will include meeting with various employers, attending networking events, and receiving online and in-person financial literacy training and development.
Stetson's Water Institute Receives $185,000 Florida Sea Grant
The Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience (IWER) at Stetson University will be making an environmental difference in Volusia County thanks to a $185,000, two-year Florida Sea Grant.
Florida Sea Grant is a university-based program that supports research, education and extension to conserve coastal resources and enhance economic opportunities for Floridians.
Grant funds will be used to employ a post-doctoral resilience modeling specialist who will implement geospatial modeling approaches for examining the landscape with mapping techniques through a partnership with Stetson University’s Brown Visiting Teacher-Scholar Fellows Program.
Stetson Receives $266,000 NSF Grant for New Microscope
Stetson University has received a $266,000 Major Resource Instrumentation Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to purchase an inverted fluorescent microscope system capable of imaging over a wide range of living biological samples from subcellular structures to small organisms.
The NSF, created by the United States Congress in 1950 to "promote the progress of science," among other initiatives, deemed the Stetson grant's intellectual merit and broader impacts a reflection of its statutory mission and worthy of funding. The Major Research Instrumentation Grant program accepted 805 funding proposals, requesting more than $557 million, and only 130 to 145 awards were given.
The microscope system will be used at Stetson to engage undergraduate students across biology, health sciences, and physics in superior training through faculty-mentored research projects, and promote the implementation of inquiry-based lab experiences for students in upper-level biology and physics courses.
Stetson Receives $210,000 Grant for Prison Education Project
The Stetson Community Education Project was awarded a $210,000 grant and will expand classes for incarcerated men in Tomoka Correctional Institution, as well as begin offering college credit for courses this fall.
The Laughing Gull Foundation approved a grant for $70,000 a year for three years for the Community Education Project (CEP), which has offered classes in the Daytona Beach prison since 2015, said Pamela Cappas-Toro, PhD, assistant professor of World Languages and Cultures (Spanish) at Stetson.
Beginning this fall, the project will offer one course each semester for non-degree-bearing college credit. Twenty students are expected to enroll this fall and that number will grow to 30 men next fall.
Stetson Receives $400,000 Volusia Country ECHO Grant to Aid in Construction of Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center
Stetson University has officially begun construction on the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center, named after the great-granddaughter of John B. Stetson, who awarded the university with a donation of $6 million to carry out the project. The Aquatic Center will be a home for Stetson's intercollegiate rowing teams, as well as a place for activities of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience to be held.
Volusia County made a grant of $400,000 to aid in the process of construction, as the initial phase is expected to cost approximately $6.2 million. The ECHO grant, for environmental, cultural, historical and outdoor recreation projects will help Stetson achieve a goal of completing the center in October of 2018.
Stetson economics professor awarded virtual reality grant
Alan Green, PhD, assistant professor and chair of Stetson's Economics Department, is one of just 50 instructors at elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools around the world to be awarded as part of the inaugural Virtual Reality Grant Program founded by Nearpod. The education technology company develops digital learning tools, virtual reality and interactive content for use in classrooms.
Green, who also is director of Africana Studies at Stetson, will have access to Nearpod VR headsets and more than 25 VR-based lesson plans. The grant also includes professional development, one-on-one support services and a Nearpod license for the university.
Kudos to Stetson faculty and staff members for successful grant awards!
Provost Beth Paul is pleased to congratulate the many faculty and staff members who have worked with the Office of Grants, Sponsored Research and Strategic Initiatives during the past year. There has been positive growth in research activity on campus as the university works to support teacher-scholar excellence.
For FY15 to date, the Grants Office has submitted 32 grants proposals and contracts totaling $2,565,997. Sixteen have been awarded totaling $1,408,840, five were declined and 11 are still pending, totaling $1,052,550. The Grants Office assisted more than 22 faculty and staff members in submitting grant proposals.
Volusia Center for Excellence in Education
Stetson's Department of Education partnered with the Volusia County Schools, Bethune-Cookman University and the New Teacher Center (a national non-profit) to submit a winning $1.1 million proposal to create and launch the Volusia Center for Excellence in Education (VCEE). We are honored that our proposal was one of only four that were funded by the Florida Department of Education for this highly-competitive opportunity. Stetson is the lead institution and fiscal agent for the grant.
The VCEE will strengthen and enhance the skills of teachers, as well as their knowledge of core subject matter. In-depth coursework, labs, field experiences, and clinical education training will be required for all teacher candidates participating in this program.
Faculty and staff members who contributed to this project include:
- Dr. Chris Colwell, Principal Investigator (PI)
- Dr. Rajni Shankar-Brown, Co-Principal Investigator
- Dr. Bette Heins
- Dr. Doug MacIsaac
- Dr. Kathy Piechura-Couture
- Dr. Carine Strebel
- Dr. Mercedes Tichenor
- Shelley Gross-Gray
Historic Preservation
The Grants Office worked with the Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Al Allen to submit a historic preservation proposal to the Florida Department of State to reroof three Stetson buildings: Conrad, Flagler and Sampson Halls. The Roof Replacement proposal ranked in the top 10 out of 66 proposals. The Florida Secretary of State will forward the top-ranked proposals to the Florida legislature for funding. Stetson will receive $275,000 after the Governor approves the legislation.
The Coleman Foundation
The Coleman Foundation awarded Stetson's Prince Entrepreneurship Program in the School of Business Administration a $20,000 grant to create a Coleman Foundation Fellows Network in partnership with the university, which has provided matching funds of $6,500. The Network is a community of cross-campus champions of entrepreneurial education. The Foundation is funding three faculty members from disciplines outside of the Price Entrepreneurship Program and the School of Business Administration, with Stetson funding a fourth fellow. The faculty Fellows are:
- Dr. Eric Kurlander, History
- Dr. Dan Plante, Math & Computer Science
- Patrece Robinson, Music
- Dr. Nathan Wolek, Digital Arts
The goal of the Coleman Fellows is to advance entrepreneurship and self-employment education and grow entrepreneurship education across campus. Working in close collaboration with Dr. Gary Oliphant, Associate Professor of Management, coordinator of the Prince Entrepreneurship Program and Stetson Coleman Fellows Project Director, the four Coleman Fellows are developing a new entrepreneurship course within their discipline or are modifying an existing course to add entrepreneurial components - both leading to permanent courses/course changes.
Fellows will maintain an ongoing connection to the Prince Entrepreneurship Program and continue as part of the Coleman Foundation Entrepreneurship Community of Practice. Stetson must commit to funding additional Fellows to be competitive.
College of Law
In December 2014, the Grants Office gave a presentation about grants and sponsored research to Dean Pietruszkiewicz and faculty members at the College of Law to encourage collaboration on existing and new grant applications. As a result of this outreach, we are now actively pursuing two grants to benefit the College of Law and are researching funding on behalf of College of Law faculty members. One of the grant proposals is a historic preservation grant to stabilize, conserve and restore four Spanish Colonial Revival architectural water fountains - part of the original architecture of the 1926 Rolyat Hotel, now the Gulfport home of the College of Law. For more about the Gulfport campus, see the online tour.
Stetson receives grant from Stockman Family Foundation
Stetson University is the recipient of a $5,350 grant from the Stockman Family Foundation for the professional digital photography of works of art from the Oscar Vera Bluemner Collection. Approximately 10 percent of the collection has already been photographed, and the grant will add 100 more high-resolution digital photographs of Bluemner's most important works. The digital images will help make the collection more available to the general public and to scholars studying the artist's work. Bequeathed to the university by Vera Bluemner Kouba in 1997, the collection has been housed in the Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center since 2009, and contains more than 1,000 of Bluemner's works.
Hoover presents at Stetson Showcase
The Grants Office's student assistant, Daniel Hoover, participated in Stetson Showcase on April 16, 2013, speaking on the Social Stigma and Knowledge of Epilepsy in Undergraduate Students. Supported by facts and statistics, he pointed out that research shows students and the general population are under-and-ill-informed on the disease - some countries believing it can be "caught" from the affected person, and many people don't know what to do if they witness a person having an epileptic seizure. Daniel won the Maris Prize for excellence for his research.
Smith visits Stetson Campus
Elizabeth A. "Lizzy" Smith, Grants Program Director for the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, visited Stetson University's DeLand campus on February 11, 2013. She engaged with foundation student scholarship recipients Kimberly Charles (business administration), Lauren Tarulli (integrative health science) and Michelle Vergara (behavioral economics). Each discussed their educational background and reasons they selected Stetson University, explaining that one-on-one mentoring by faculty was an important factor. During a campus tour, Charles pointed out her classrooms and the Roland George Investments Program trading room in the Lynn Business Center, and Tarulli discussed her research projects in Sage Science Center. Smith expressed appreciation for the opportunity to meet with the students and repeatedly commented on the beautiful campus.
Batchelor visits Stetson Campus
In November 2012, Dick Batchelor, Principal of the Dick Batchelor Management Group and a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, visited Stetson University with Clay Worden, Scott Wilson and Stetson University alumna Kerry Hannaford of McGladrey, LLP in Orlando, Florida. The visit included tours with K.C. Ma, PhD, and finance students of the Roland George Investments Program trading room in the Lynn Business Center, with Stetson University Trustee Betty Johnson and duPont-Ball Library Dean Susan Ryan inside the Politicos Room of the duPont-Ball Library. During a luncheon, faculty from the Department of Political Science, Stetson University C.F.O. F. Robert Huth and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Business Administration discussed a range of issues with the visitors.
Bank of America Charitable Foundation awards Stetson $7,500 grant
Bank of America Charitable Foundation is a long-time supporter of Stetson University. In November 2012, the Foundation awarded the university a grant of $7,500 to support internships for first-generation college students. To celebrate the award, Bank of America Vice Presidents Sheila Torres and Gail Kurth met with and delivered the check to Stetson University President Wendy B. Libby. The Office of Grants, Sponsored Research and Strategic Initiatives collaborated with Bank of America's Senior Vice President Christine Ruiz in Tampa and President Samuel A. Willett in Daytona Beach, as well as with Stetson University's Office of Career and Professional Development, to prepare the successful grant.
Eggeman shares experience and tips with Stetson community
Our guest, Gail Eggeman '73, who runs the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market, and has also been a director of the Florida Association of Community Farmers' Markets, shared her experiences and tips with Stetson University students, faculty and staff on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Eggeman started a Slow Food chapter in St. Petersburg and has been to the international event (Terra Madre) led by the Slow Food founder, Carlos Petrini. She is also a former municipal CPA and grant-writer, and understands the financing of small charitable groups.