Fall 2023 PIF Report
Updated 8:00 a.m. December 15, 2023
In early August 2023, the Office of the Provost solicited from faculty and staff proposals that were innovative, aspirational, and aligned with the University's strategic plan. With over $11.5 million requested and $1,347,000 available to award, these selected projects truly embody innovative and aspirational ideas that align with the University's strategic goals.
The funded projects focus on key institutional priorities such as:
• Increasing student 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, including undergraduate research opportunities.
• Enhancing research capacity.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion.
In total, eleven exceptional proposals are approved for two-year funding from the seventy-seven proposals submitted this cycle. The proposals were evaluated by peer review committees consisting of diverse members of the faculty, staff, and student.
| Proposal Title | Unit Name | Applicant/Team Leader/PI/Co-PI/Team Members |
| Building canopy walkways to provide students and researchers access to the hottest rainforest canopy on Earth at Biosphere 2 | W. A. Franke Honors College | Joost van Haren, John R Adams, Victoria Nicole Outfleet Nardinelli & Jason M De Leeuw |
| Consortium for Virtual Reality Technology & Teaching: Centralizing Resources to Support and Sustain Virtual Reality Pedagogy and Practice Across the Institution | Libraries, UCATT, & UA Online | Aviva Doery, Jennifer Nichols, Georgia Davis, Gretchen Gibbs & Mona Aki Nakamura |
| Disability & Design Initiatives | Disability Resource Center, Campus Life | Amanda Kraus, Dawn Hunziker & Brenda Hamilton |
| Enhancing Training Opportunities in Neuroimaging Research Methods | Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, College of Science | Aneta Kielar & Dianne Patterson |
| Expanding the M.Ed. in Educational Leadership: A Proposal to Develop a Distance Education Degree | Educational Policy Studies & Practice, College of Education | Melanie Bertrand & Hortensia Meg Cota |
| Leveraging 120 years of UA Excellence at Santa Rita Experimental Range to Strengthen Environmental Research and Experiential Learning | School of Natural Resources and the Environment, College of Agriculture, Life, & Environmental Sciences | Rachel Mitchell & Maddie Wallace |
| Reflecting Arizona: Aligning the Campus Tour Experience with Institutional Excellence | Admissions & New Student Enrollment, Enrollment Management | Emily Ross, Magan Alfred & Jessica Salata |
| Reinventing the Building Leaders and Creating Knowledge Living and Learning Community (B.L.A.C.K. LLC) | African American Student Affairs | Jamaica DelMar & Kadian Latoya Mcintosh |
| Spurring Success for Women in Medicine and Science (SSWIMS) | Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, College of Medicine, Tucson | Celia Valenzuela, Hina Arif Tiwari, Jose Munoz, Abigail Lee Morris Kelso & Auralia Walls |
| Transformation of Introductory Physics to a Studio Format | Department of Physics, College of Science | Charles Wolgemuth, Brian J LeRoy & John A Milsom |
| Veterinary Surgical Simulation Lab | University Animal Care, RII | Diego Celdran-Bonafonte & Fernando Amitrano |
Review Committee
We are profoundly grateful to the resolute review committee members below who volunteered their time and expertise to thoughtfully evaluate each proposal and provide applicants with constructive feedback. Their efforts were invaluable.
- Abu Reyan Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Practice, Computer Science
- Alexandra Liane Jaeger, Webmaster, Economic Business Research Center
- Amy J Glicken, Senior Project Director, Office of University Initiatives
- Aneta Kielar, Assistant Professor, Speech, Language and Hearing Science
- Bethina Krogsgaard, Manager, Finance and Administration, Sch of Natural Resources & Environment
- Carla M Navarro, Coordinator, Finance and Administration, Provost Business Office
- Christina Joyce Calden, Police Officer, University Police Department
- Claudia E Nelson, Director, Native Peoples Technical Assistance Office
- Dan Kellish, Director, Arizona Recruitment, Admissions & New Student Enrollment
- David Casey Negelspach, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Psychiatry
- Elizabeth Hanh Le, Research Technician, Immunobiology
- Francesca L. Nesfield, Coordinator, Supplemental Instruction Services, Think Tank
- Gawain Douglas, Director, Campus Communications and Publications, UAHS Communications
- Henry Werchan, Assistant Professor of Practice, College of Applied Science & Technology
- Johanne Jensen-Ives, Director of Development, College of Engineering
- Kendra Thompson-Dyck, Director, Student Success & Retention Innovation
- Kirk Dimond, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture, School of Landscape Architecture
- Lisa F Rezende, Associate Professor of Practice, Molecular and Cellular Biology
- Lazz Kinnamon, Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Studies, Humanities Administration
- Margarethe A Cooper, Associate Professor of Practice, Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
- Paula M Tonino, Scientist, RII Core Facilities
- Rachel Elizabeth Davis Small, Coordinator, Grants and Research, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
- Thomas Joseph Johnston, Clinical Placement Coordinator, College of Nursing
- Tiju Cherian John, Research Scientist, James C Wyant Coll Optical Sciences
- Trent D Williams, Associate Professor, School of Dance
- Vasudeva Kamath, Assistant Professor, COM Phoenix Basic Medical Sciences
- Victor Eduardo Sinohui, Administrative Support Assistant, Physiology
- William T Neumann, Professor of Practice, Management Information Systems
* Conflict of interest (COI) taken into consideration when selecting the review committees and conducting reviews.
Demographic Data of the Funded Applicants
Gender
IPEDS Ethnicity
