Fall 2021 PIF Report
Updated 12:45 p.m. December 9, 2021
On September 8th, 2021, the Office of the Provost solicited proposals for the Fall 2021 Provost's Investment Fund (PIF) competitive round that focus on:
- increasing students' success, including graduation and retention rates, especially for groups underrepresented within the relevant disciplines
- promoting growth and opportunities to generate new revenue for the institution
- expanding student experiential learning
- enhancing research capacity
- promoting diversity and inclusion.
We received 75 great proposals, for a total of approximately $10.7M in funds. The proposals were evaluated by five peer review committees consisting of diverse faculty and staff. The following proposals are approved for funding, based on the recommendations of the committees and alignment with our institutional strategic and funding priorities.
| proposal tile | unit name | applicant/pi/team leader | team member/co-pi | amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrative Hematology Oncology Training Program | Medicine, College of Medicine-Tucson | Krisstina Gowin | $156,000 | |
| Campus Living Lab: Designing, Building, and Monitoring Green Stormwater Infrastructure to Create a more Sustainable Campus and Inspire the Next Generation of Leaders | School of Natural Resources & Environment, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences | Laura Meredith | Vanessa Buzzard, Bo Yang, Grant Mccormick, Andrea Gerlak, Kirk Dimond & Thomas Meixner | $191,000 |
| Enriching Wildcat Second Language and Culture Experiential Learning | School of Middle Eastern & North African Studies, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences | Mahmoud Azaz | $70,000 | |
| Developing a Faculty Analytics Certificate for Course Equity and Student Success (Faculty ACCESS Fellows Program) | Student Success & Retention Innovation | Sarah Kyte | Lisa Elfring & Rebecca Perez | $62,000 |
| Indigenous Resilience Innovations Program: Addressing Pressing Environmental Challenges Facing Indigenous Communities | Environmental Science, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences | Karletta Chief | Kathy Jacobs | $200,000 |
| Extended Reality and Game Development Lab | School of Information, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences | Catherine Brooks | Win Burleson, Ren Bozgeyikli, Lila Bozgeyikli & Zachariah Lischer-Katz | $100,000 |
| From Natural Language Contracts to Smart Contracts | Computer Science, College of Science | Saumya Debray | Derek Bambauer, Clayton Morrison & Mihai Surdeanu | $55,000 |
| Quality Matters in Teacher Training: Designing Online Courses for Student Success | Office of Digital Learning | Nicole Schmidt | Janet Smith & Libby Merchant | $15,000 |
| Community Research Laboratory in the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum | Research, Innovation & Impact | Selena Valencia | Joaquin Ruiz, Eric Fritz & Susan Leib | $93,000 |
| Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP): A Scalable, Cost-Effective, Equitable Approach to Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry | Arizona Health Sciences | Kasi Kiehlbaugh | Win Burleson, Kevin Bonine & Matt Peters | $138,000 |
| Medical Device Training Program for Undergraduate and Graduate Education | Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering | Jeong-Yeol Yoon | Ali Bilgin, Nan-kuei Chen, Jared Churko, Philipp Gutruf, Minkyu Kim, Kaveh Laksari, Janet Roveda, Marvin Slepian, Judith Su, Urs Utzinger & Frederic Zenhausern | $176,000 |
| Phoenix Biomedical Campus-Non-Sterile and Sterile Compounding Instruction | College of Pharmacy | Nancy Alvarez | Rick Schnellmann | $200,000 |
| FLOURISH: Fostering Leadership for Online Undergraduate Recruitment and retention, Inclusivity, and Student Enrichment | Nutritional Sciences & Wellness, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences | Ashlee Linares-Gaffer | Sabrina Benedict-Monteverde | $56,000 |
| TOTAL | $1,512,000 |
Additional funding was provided from the Federal CARES Act allocation set aside for Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), for the proposals below:
| proposal title | unit name | applicant/pi/team leader | team member/co-pi | amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Portal for Prospective Transfer Students | Academic Administration | Kian Alavy | Greg Heileman & Shelley McGrath | $168,568 |
| Family Medicine CARES (Community Access, Referral, Education and Services) for Health Project | Family Community Medicine - College of Medicine - Tucson | Ronald Sorensen | Alicia Dinsmore & Viridiana Johnson | $181,749 |
| The Research Impact Project: Enhancing UArizona’s Capacity to Move Research into Action | Research, Innovation & Impact | Jennifer Fields | Alison M. Meadow, Janet Cooley, Emily Kotay & Michele Walsh | $189,950 |
| Streamlining Forms to Enhance Student Experience | Office of the Registrar | Alex Underwood | Cori Cashen, Kat Salthouse, Mark Felix & Chris Corral | $200,000 |
| Project Highly Qualified: Collaboration between Early Academic Outreach, Mathematics Teacher Preparation, and Local Tucson Area High Schools | Early Academic Outreach | Rudy McCormick | Cynthia Anhalt & Jennifer A. Wolfe | $80,000 |
| TOTAL | $820,267 |
Our sincere gratitude to Marla Franco, Assistant Vice Provost, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Initiatives, and to the committee members who reviewed the proposals, provided their expertise and insights into this important process and provided constructive feedback to the applicants.
Barbara Vandervelde, Manager, Faculty Support, College of Law
Borbala Gaspar, Lecturer, French and Italian, College of Humanities
Brian Erstad, Department Head, Pharmacy Practice-Science, College of Pharmacy
Christine Gronowski, Academic Advisor, College of Science
Christine Melton, Director, Human Services Privacy Program, RII
Courtney Olson, Manager, Process Improvement, Reliance, & Education, RII
Darcy Van Patten, Chief Technology Officer, UITS
Fiona Grugan, Advisor, International Students, Arizona Global
Gustavo De Oliveira Almeida, Laboratory Coordinator, UAHS Research
Hope Dang, Assistant Staff Scientist, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Jamie Boehmer, Executive Director, Biomedical Clinical Health Sciences Research & Business Development, RII
Jane Zavisca, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
Jill Hewins, Project Manager, Arizona Online
Joel McGuire, Communications Network Analyst, Principal, UITS
Manja Zec, Postdoctoral Research Associate, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Marla Franco, Assistant Vice Provost, Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives, HSI
Michelle Moraila, Accountant, University Animal Care, RII
Molly Stothert-Maurer, Arizona State Museum, RII
Rachel Beth Abraham, Project Manager, Data and Policy Compliance, Arizona Online
Roberto Guzman, Professor, Chemical & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
Shujuan Li, Associate In Extension, Public Health Integrated Pest Management, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Demographic data for the funded applicants
Nina Bates
Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives
ninaari@arizona.edu