The Office of the Vice President for Research awarded funding to 12 interdisciplinary University of Iowa research teams to support the development of large, competitive grant proposals. The program begins this year and will run through 2029.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Office of the Vice President for Research
https://research.uiowa.edu/ovpr-awards-first-ever-large-grant-development-oppor…

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) faculty are part of seven of 12 interdisciplinary research teams selected by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) to develop large, competitive grant proposals. 

The projects span areas including cancer survivorship, brain stimulation, creativity, and advanced manufacturing, with faculty contributing expertise in fields from chemistry and physics to communication sciences and journalism.

Phase 1 projects with CLAS engagement

In the first phase, researchers will build interdisciplinary teams and identify pilot projects that could lead to future large grants.

Multi-level Approaches to Supporting Cancer Survivorship Care in Rural Populations

PI: Mary Charlton, College of Public Health

CLAS faculty:

  • Jessica Gorzelitz, Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology
  • Bingbing Zhang, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Closed-Loop Neuromodulation in Sensorimotor Aging (iSYNC)

PI: Inyong Choi, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

CLAS faculty:

  • Sara Hussain, Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology
  • Mili Kuruvilla-Dugdale, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
  • Jan Wessel, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Building the Framework for an Iowa Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Creativity

PI: Susan Shen, Carver College of Medicine

CLAS faculty:

  • Deirdre Egan, Department of Rhetoric
  • Jiefeng Jiang, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
  • Isaac Petersen, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
  • Daniel Tranel, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
  • Melissa Tully, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Phase 2 and 3 projects with CLAS engagement

There weren't any phase two grantees this year. In the third phase, the researchers receive financial support to develop and submit competitive large grants.

The Molecular and Functional Impact of Brain Stimulation: From Cells to Circuits

PI: Ted Abel, Carver College of Medicine

CLAS faculty:

  • Isabel Muzzio, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Optimizing Therapeutic Brain Stimulation for Neuroplasticity

PI: Aaron Boes, Carver College of Medicine

CLAS faculty:

  • Sara Hussain, Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology

Radiochemistry Discovery Platform: Translation of surrogate chemistry using artificial intelligence 

PI: Tori Forbes, Department of Chemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

CLAS faculty:

  • Pere Miró, Department of Chemistry
  • Bess Vlaisavljevich, Department of Chemistry
  • Weiran Wang, Department of Computer Science

Advanced Semiconductor Photonic Integration Research & Engineering (ASPIRE)

PI: Fatima Toor, College of Engineering

CLAS faculty:

  • Tori Forbes, Department of Chemistry
  • Ravi Uppu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • Tom Folland, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • John Prineas, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Want to learn more? See the full list of funded proposals on the Office for the Vice President of Research website.