CSID-funded projects
Interdisciplinary Initiatives Fund Awards
In 2009 CSID issued a request for grant proposals to support education and/or research aimed at integrating the non-academic community with the University of North Texas. Successful award winners were required to both integrate two or more disciplines, and involve participants from outside the academy. Proposals were judged on the degree of integration of the academic and the non-academic aspects of the proposal, potential societal impact, and on the feasibility of the proposed activities. Below are the 2009 award winners.
Cryptosporidiosis Outbreak Response & Evaluation:
Needs Assessment and Feasibility in Denton County
Research Partners:
- Dr. Lisa Henry (Principal Investigator)
Associate Professor
(lisa.henry@unt.edu) - Dr. Sue Lurie
Assistant Professor
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, UNTHSC-Ft. Worth
(slurie@hsc.unt.edu) - Dr. Jessica Gullion
County Epidemiologist
Denton County Health Department
(Jessica.Gullion@dentoncounty.com)
This proposed study involves collaboration among the Department of Anthropology at UNT-Denton, the School of Public Health (SPH) at UNTHSC-Ft. Worth, and the Denton County Health Department. The goal of the proposed project is to conduct a needs assessment and feasibility study (vis-a-vis Denton County) regarding the CDC's Cryptosporidiosis Outbreak Response & Evaluation Guidelines, which suggest that expansion of Cryptosporidium transmission may be controlled by environmental (hyperchlorination) and behavioral interventions (community-wide awareness raising programs).
Award: $4,500
CSI Family Day with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Research Partners:
- Teresa D. Golden (Principal Investigator)
Director, UNT Forensic Science Program, Faculty, Chemistry
(tgolden@unt.edu) - Edward Hueske
Criminalistics Coordinator, Faculty, Criminal Justice Department
(Edward.Hueske@unt.edu) - Peggy Tobolowsky
Chair, Faculty, Criminal Justice Department
(Peggy.Tobolowsky@unt.edu) - Sharron Wilkins Conrad
Curator of Education, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, 411 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75202
(sharronc@jfk.org)
In 2005 UNT established an undergraduate Forensic Science Program directed by Teresa Golden across the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, and Criminal Justice in 2005, bringing together faculty across various departments and colleges on campus. The program is the only nationally accredited undergraduate program in Texas and continues to grow every year. We propose an interdisplinary initiative involving the UNT Forensic Science Program and the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas Texas to create a CSI Family Day interactive exhibit at the museum and corresponding educational materials for high school and middle school science teachers to promote this event. The CSI Family Day event would have the following interactive stations set up at the museum: A Mock Crime Scene, Fingerprint Analysis, Blood, Hair and Fiber Analysis, Questioned Documents, Footwear and Tire Impressions, Trajectory Analysis, Eyewitness Accounts, DNA Evidence, Ask the Expert (this would be a booth set up by Ed Hueske to illustrate trajectory analyses in general and in the JFK case in particular).
Award: $2,736.95
UNT Environmental Arts Group On-and-Off-Campus Events
Research Partners:
- David Taylor (Principal Investigator)
English Department - Lari Gibbons
Associate Professor, Art - Jim Kennedy
Associate Professor, Biology - Melinda Levin
Chair, RTVF/Film - Ann McCutchan
Assistant Professor, English - Elizabeth McNutt
Lecturer, Music - Brian Wheeler
Assistant Director, Elm Fork Education Center
The 2010 on-campus event will be similar to this year’s Earth Day event. We will solicit, organize, and execute an environmental arts evening of student performances in response to the book Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future and will cover issues of the coal industry, environmental justice, energy use and over-consumption, developing nations, and air pollution.
The 2010 off-campus event will be similar, except that it will include non-UNT community members, in addition to select student performances. The event will be held in a Denton public venue and will be open to all.
Award: $2,000
Student Awards:
Jonathan Parker is doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. He is also a graduate research assistant with CSID. He received a $2,000 research grant to participate in the 2008-2009 interdisciplinary course Tracing Darwin's Path: "Field Course in Sub-Antarctic Conservation: Terrestrial and Marine Biocultural Ecosystems" As a graduate student course participant, Parker reflected on how the disciplines of ecology and philosophy integrated in this partiuclar course, as well as on how successful this course was as an exercise in interdisciplinarity and what lessons could be learned from the perspective of a student participant.
J. Fredrick "Fritz" Dent, an anthropologist and MFA student in Documentary Film Production, received a $2,800 fellowship from CSID to participate in the recent UNT field course, Tracing Darwin's Path: Sub-Antarctic Bio-cultural Conservation, as both student and filmmaker. Dent comments: "The trip was a great opportunity to collaborate with other scholars and have an adventure in Cape Horn. The combination of social sciences and media production with interdisciplinary research in biology and philosophy is exciting and expands the audience for new knowledge." A short film, Convivencia, about his experience in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve is in post-production. Fredrick Dent was recently awarded a $2,000 grant from the UNT Center for Spanish Language Media to continue his work in Chile.