The Office of the Vice President for Research is committed to supporting the University of South Carolina’s researchers at every level through a slate of internal funding programs targeting students and faculty. This year, the ASPIRE program was restructured with the goal of funding promising early-career faculty who intend to pursue subsequent extramural funding. As always, the ASPIRE program seeks to strengthen the university’s competitiveness for external grants and bolster scholarship throughout the USC system.
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 ASPIRE awards. USC Vice President for Research Julius Fridriksson commented, “With an increased focus on early-career faculty for ASPIRE this year, we are investing in the next generation of groundbreaking research and scholarship from our talented faculty. The recipients of this year’s grant, including early-career and senior faculty from a variety of disciplines across campus, will no doubt continue their success in garnering external funding. I am proud to congratulate the new class of ASPIRE recipients on their achievements.”
2023 ASPIRE Recipients
| Principal Investigator | Title | Department | College |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agostinelli, Forest | How Does this Puzzle Work? Towards Foundation Models for Pathfinding Problems | Computer Science & Engineering | College of Engineering & Comp. |
| Armstrong, Bridget | Measuring children’s heart rate variability, respiration and sleep using a novel photoplethysmography PATCH device | Exercise Science | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Deboom, Meredith | The Geopolitics of Global Development: Investigating China’s Influence as a Development Model in Africa | Geography | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Ellermann, Melissa | Investigating the effects of the lipid sensing transcription factor FadR on Escherichia coli population dynamics and proinflammatory potential in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease | Biological Sciences | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Enos, Reilly | Examining the Tissue-Specific Action of the Androgen Receptor in PCOS-Induced Metabolic Impairments | Path, Microbio. & Immunology | School of Medicine |
| Fillo, Jennifer | Mixed-methods examination of intersecting risk factors for alcohol misuse among student service members and veterans | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Ghosal, Rahul | Flexible Statistical Methods for Distributional Data and Survival Outcomes | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Grgic, Mak | 'Travelogue' by Mak Grgic, School of Music Advanced Support Program for Innovative Research Excellence | Music | School of Music |
| Ha, Byeongwon | Virtual Reality in the Expanded Field as an Expansion Pack for Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy | Art | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Hirsch, Katie R | Feasibility of different methods for identification of menstrual phases: A pilot and feasibility trial | Exercise Science | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Jenerette, Coretta Melissa | Piloting Health Equity Lives in Palliative Care for Sickle Cell Disease (HELP-4-SCD) | Nursing | College of Nursing |
| Kim, Minji | Validating efficient and effective anti-smoking message evaluation measurement using volumetric choice experiment (VCE) | Health Prom., Educ. & Behavior | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Li, Jie | Combining Genome Mining and Bioengineering for Discovery of Lanthipeptide Antibiotics | Chemistry & Biochemistry | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Lima de Vasconcelos, Lucas | REC-STEMEd: Robotics in Early Childhood STEM Education | Educational Studies | College of Education |
| LoPresti, Eric | Turning USC’s historic moth collection into impactful 21st century science | Biological Sciences | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Matchin, William | Functional neuroimaging of syntax using a novel training protocol | Communication Sci & Disorders | Arnold School of Public Health |
| McCarthy, Cameron | Autophagy-dependent Lipids in Vascular Physiology | Basic Science Research | School of Medicine |
| Messick, Kyle | The use of Artificial Intelligence Across Three Domains | BFT Social Sciences | BFT |
| Metcalfe, Christi S | Behavioral economics in plea decision-making: An experimental analysis | Criminology & Criminal Justice | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Mills, Mary K. | miRNA expression dynamics throughout egg development in the understudied vector, Culicoides sonorensis | AK Biology & Geology | University of SC Aiken |
| Mu, Sai | Leveraging spin-phonon interaction in disordered quantum materials: an ab-initio based data-driven approach | Physics & Astronomy | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Pellegrini, Christine | Energize! Internet-Delivered Physical Activity Program for Adults with Knee Replacement | Exercise Science | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Pershyn, Yuriy | Low-Temperature Properties of ReRAM Cells for Quantum Computing Applications | Physics & Astronomy | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Quinn, Joseph Michael | Manipulating Mechanisms of Homophily and Measuring Changes in the Emergence of Segregation: A Computational Experiment | Sociology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Richardson, Nicole | On the Difficulty of Changing One’s Nature: Lamarckism vs Mendelism in the Chinese Eugenics Movement | UPS History, Polital Sci., Phil. | University of SC Upstate |
| Ritchie, Kimberly | Novel Antibiotics from Elasmobranch-Associated Bacteria | BFT Natural Sciences | University of SC Beaufort |
| Tran, Henry | Development of The Rural School Leadership Development Institute (RSLDI): An Evidence-Based Program for Supporting Teacher and Principal Retention | Educ. Leadership & Policies | College of Education |
| Wang, Yang | Investigating Bilingual Students' Reading Strategies in STEM Areas | Instruction & Teacher Educ. | College of Education |
| Wang, Zhu | Structure-Preserving Model Reduction of Tethered Unmanned Air-Surface Vehicle Control | Mathematics | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Wei, Jingkai | Does hearing aid use reduce the risk of incident dementia? Applications of causal inference methods to emulate target trials using observational data | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Arnold School of Public Health |
| White, Ralph Edward | Development of a Structural Batteries Demonstrator for Electrochemical- Mechanical Testing |
Chemical Engineering | College of Engineering & Comp. |
| Wippold, Guillermo Manuel | Premortem of a community-informed, peer-to-peer, barbershop-based intervention to promote health-related quality of life among Black men | Psychology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Wright, Pamela J. | Resistance Exercise with Peer Support for Women with PCOS using a Smart Home Video Device: Feasibility Study Guided by Self-Determination Theory | Nursing | College of Nursing |
| Yang, Chih-Hsiang (Jason) | Daily Movement Activity Patterns and Cognitive Function in Older African Americans: A Proof-of-Concept Study | Exercise Science | Arnold School of Public Health |