The Offices of the President, the Provost, and the Vice President for Research are pleased to announce the 16 recipients of the 2021 Faculty Opportunity Funds. The Faculty Opportunity Fund program was created in 2018 as a way to support Chapman University faculty in the development of new and innovative research, scholarship and creative activity. A total of $195,622 was awarded this year to eight (8) Colleges/Schools as part of 2021 Faculty Opportunity Funds.

Forty (40) proposals totaling $523,326 were submitted to this competitive awards program. They were reviewed by four disciplinary faculty review panels consisting of faculty from Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Attallah College of Education Studies; College of Performing Arts; School of Pharmacy; and Schmid College of Science and Technology. Panel recommendations were made to Thomas Piechota, Vice President for Research; Rennolds Ostrom, Faculty Fellow; and Warren de Bruyn (Faculty Development Committee Chair).

Congratulations to the following recipients:

The College Transition Experience and Sense of Belonging among Black First-Generation College Students ($10,900)
Quaylan Allen, Attallah College of Educational Studies

Afro-Amerasians: Blackness in the Philippine Imaginary ($12,500)
Angelica Allen, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Hypercomplex Neural Networks ($15,000)
Daniel Alpay, Schmid College of Science and Technology
Mihaela Vajiac, Schmid College of Science and Technology

Smart Homes for Smart Health: A Digital Coaching System for Reducing In-Home Secondhand Smoke ($14,984)
Vincent Berardi, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences

Role of Protein Phosphatase-2 A in Regulating Macrophage Activation in Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease ($15,000)
Khaled Elsaid, School of Pharmacy

The Dynamics of Mother-infant Interactions when Infants have Profound Hearing Loss ($15,000)
Mary Fagan, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences
Daniela Carvalho, UC San Diego, Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego

The Speed Limit of your Curiosity ($15,000)
Lia Halloran, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Kip Thorne, Founder of LIGO
Dan Lewis, Huntington Research Institute
Kit Whitten, Library of Carnegie Science
David Delgado, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Sasha Samochina, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Garret Hill, OCCC

Latinx Revolutionary Horizons: Form and Futurity in the Américas ($4,104)
Renee Hudson, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Childhood Adversity and Adult Inflammatory Burden: The Role of Neighborhoods ($3,424)
Ashley Kranjac, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Dinko Kranjac, University of La Verne

Post-colonial and Global Incarnations and Invocations of Mirabai ($6,000)
Nancy Martin, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Optical Nano-tweezers Based on Near-field Engineering with Metasurfaces ($14,544)
Nasim Mohammadi Estakhri, Fowler School of Engineering

Developing Models and Techniques for Investigating Reactivity at Metal-Sulfur Centers ($14,616)
O. Maduka Ogba, Schmid College of Science and Technology

Mama Has a Mustache: kids talk gender ($11,550)
Sally Rubin, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
CK Magliola, Advisor, Director of Women’s and Gender Studies Minor
Lauren Thomasen, Associate Producer
Julian Ross, Assistant Editor
Max Strebel, Animator
Stacy Goldate, Co-Producer/Editor

Irish Art-Song Cycle on Themes of Travel and Questing ($13,000)
Louise Thomas, College of Performing Arts
Gavan Ring, collaborator
Stephen McNeff, collaborator

Data-driven Prognostic Framework for Real-time System Maintenance Decision Making Support ($15,000)
Yuxin Wen, Fowler School of Engineering
Erik Linstead, Fowler School of Engineering

Clostridioides difficile Infection in Pediatric Oncology Patients: The Role of Iron and the Effects of Iron Chelators ($15,000)
Sun Yang, School of Pharmacy
Jason Yamaki, School of Pharmacy
Jasjit Singh, CHOC Children’s Hospital
Rishikesh Chavan, CHOC Children’s Hospital