The Office of the Vice President for Research at CSU recognized emerging and established interdisciplinary research with a new award during the Celebrate! Colorado State event on April 16.
The OVPR honored two teams and two individuals with Interdisciplinary Scholarship Awards. The two teams received $7,500 and the researchers received $5,000.
The awards were created to encourage interdisciplinary research and creative artistry, which is defined by the OVPR as teams or individuals that integrate information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understandings or to solve problems.
“Rewarding interdisciplinary efforts is one way that CSU acknowledges and invests in a future where scholars regularly unite their respective expertise to address global challenges,” said Alan Rudolph, vice president for research at CSU.
“These well-established and newly-emerging researchers, whose work is worthy of this recognition and investment, are those who are facing these challenges with great innovation and collaborative vigor.”
The winners are:
- The Established Team Interdisciplinary Scholarship Award went to Sue VandeWoude, associate research dean in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Kevin Crooks, a professor in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. VandeWoude and Crooks research how landscape structure influences disease spread.
- The Emerging Team Interdisciplinary Scholarship Award went to Katharine Leigh and Laura Malinin, both professors in the Department of Design and Merchandising. Leigh and Dr. Malinin research the role of the physical environment to creativity.
- The Emerging Individual Interdisciplinary Scholarship Award went to Elizabeth Ryan, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences. Ryan studies food and health projects that have ongoing and global impacts.
- The Established Individual Interdisciplinary Scholarship Award went to James Bamburg, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences. His work has led to findings that have important implications for understanding the mechanisms of synastic loss in neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer’s.
