Fall 2024 PIF Report
Updated 8:00 a.m. December 18, 2024
The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce its PIF Fall 2024 awardees after a competitive proposal process that began in early September 2024. Demonstrating the university's commitment to innovation and its land grant mission, the Office of the Provost received an impressive 87 proposals totaling $13.55 million in funding requests. Following a rigorous evaluation by peer review committees comprised of diverse faculty and staff members, eleven exceptional proposals have been selected for two-year funding for a total of 1,355,600.
The funded projects focus on key institutional priorities such as:
- Enhancing student sense of belonging and improving success, graduation, and retention, with emphasis on underrepresented groups
- Expanding student experiential learning, including undergraduate research opportunities
- Fostering growth and opportunities to generate new net revenue for the institution
- Developing innovative instructional approaches and strategies, particularly for core and required courses
| Proposal Title | Unit Name | Applicant/Team Leader/PI/Co-PI/Team Members |
| AI Hardware Design League (AI-HDL) | Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering | Soheil Salehi Mobarakeh, Pratik Chittaranjan Satam, Banafsheh Saber Latibari, Janet Roveda, Liesl Folks & Angela Cruze |
| Cultivating Native Teacher Capacity: Pathways to Indigenous Teacher Education through the Distance Program | Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies, College of Education | Jeremy Garcia & Valerie Shirley |
| Enhancing Student Experiences in STEM and Veterinary Science with Horses | Department of Mathematics, College of Science | Laura Miller, Kevin Lin, Haley Claire Collins, Netzin Steklis, Bernadette Genua, Elaine Norton & Lara Shreve |
| Expanding Opportunities for Undergraduate Research | Department of Neuroscience, College of Science | Charles Higgins, Melville Joseph Wohlgemuth & Martha Bhattacharya |
| Leveraging Our Assets and Competitive Advantage: A Distance MA Degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs in Minority Serving Institutions | Center for the Study of Higher Education, Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice, College of Education | Gary Rhoades, Whitney Mohr & Leslie Gonzales |
| Maintain Our Status as an All-Steinway School and Provide Access to High-Quality Practice Pianos for All Students | School of Music, College of Fine Arts | Daniel Linder, Richard Woodruf & Lori Wiest |
| Serving the Needs of the Community Through the Creation of a Speech Language Pathology Assistant Program with Expertise in Translation/Interpretation | Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, College of Science | Mary Alt, Robin A Samlan, Genesis Arizmendi, Kate Bunton, Sonia Colina, Holly Ann Silvestri, Paul Gatto & Melissa Yvette Delgado |
| StatQuest: A Digital Game-Based Learning Experience for Research-Curious Undergraduate Students | Educational Psychology, College of Education | Katherine Cheng & Megan Hokama |
| STEM Bridge: Sustaining Success for Pima Community College Students Transferring into UA STEM Majors | Educational Policy Studies & Practice, College of Education | Regina Deil-Amen, Kimberly Sierra, Jennifer Batchelder, Shakuntala Gopal & Roshan Price |
| Toward Developing Generative AI for Student Advising | Management Information Systems, Eller College of Management | Yong Ge & Zhaoqi Yang |
| Traveling Dance Ensemble | School of Dance, College of Fine Arts | Duane Cyrus & Tamara Dyke-Compton |
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.
- Anne S Kurtin, Senior Associate Director, Integrated Learning Partnerships, Student Engagement & Career Development
- Carla M Navarro Coordinator, Finance and Administration, Provost Business Office
- Chad Herzog, Associate Vice President, External Relations and Engagement, Arizona Arts Live
- Elizabeth Hanh Le, Research Technician, Immunobiology
- Emily Jo Schwaller, Assistant Professor of Practice, UCATT
- Francesca L. Nesfield, Coordinator, Supplemental Instruction Services, Think Tank
- Iliana Reyes, Associate Dean Education, College of Education
- Jennifer Ludwig Director, Strategic Interventions and Data Management, Student Success & Retention Innovation
- Jessica J Jones Specialist, EDGE Learning Professional Development, Human Resources
- Karna L Walter, Assistant Dean, Student Engagement, The Honors College
- Kathryn McElveen Orzech, VIP Program Coordinator, Office of Undergraduate Education
- Kendra Thompson-Dyck, Director, Student Success & Retention Innovation
- Kenneth S McAllister, Associate Dean, Research / Program Innovation, College of Humanities
- Lindsay Wagner, Operations Manager, Center for Philosophy of Freedom
- Mayra G Vargas, Coordinator, Coordinator, Undergraduate Education Initiatives, Office of Undergraduate Education
- Melody J Buckner, Associate Vice Provost, Digital Learning and Online Initiatives, UCATT
- Paul Joseph Schuler, Associate Professor, School of Government and Public Policy
- Sarah Kyte, Senior Research Scientist, Student Success & Retention Innovation
- Sean P Fleming, Professor, Physics
- Shanna McClelland, Director, Research Integrity & Training, Research Innovation & Impact
- Sonia Colina, Professor, Spanish and Portuguese, Spanish and Portuguese
- Steve Machtley, Assistant Dean, Information Technology Services, Campus IT Services
- William T Neumann, Professor of Practice, Management Information Systems
* Conflict of interest (COI) taken into consideration when selecting the review committees and conducting reviews.