PIONEERS RESEARCH I N N O VAT I O N ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, we are sobered by the first twenty years that started with a terrorist attack, a great recession at the halfway point, and ended with a pandemic in 2020 that has killed two million people globally, as of this writing. We have also been witness to persistent societal challenges - racial and economic inequality, continued poverty, food insecurity, poor health, social conflict, and political incivility.
IN OUR CORNER OF THE WORLD AT EKU, WE HAVE HAD AN EXTRAORDINARY YEAR FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION.
Dr. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals, notes the idea that collaboration is 1,000 years in the making, outlasting almost every other idea that human beings have ever considered. This report is filled with examples of faculty and students conducting important work that represents EKU’s goal to serve the commonwealth. From critical treatments for diseases, to better health outcomes in developing countries, to tomorrow’s sustainable technologies, we are engaged in interdisciplinary collaboration to solve complex problems.
We even lost Pluto as a planet….
This application of original knowledge is our public service and provides us with a way to engage the public in a discussion about academic achievement, beyond training for current market demands. And what will happen next that hasn’t been conceived –– just some scribbles on the back of a cocktail napkin today, that will create billions of dollars in GDP and millions of jobs tomorrow?
But we have also been witness to incredible innovation. Consider that in 2007 alone, we were introduced to the iPhone, Twitter, IBM’s Watson, and the Kindle. It also got much easier to collect every scrap of information that has ever been written down, easier to find a ride, to find a place to stay, and harder to get lost. As for the pandemic, a vaccine for Coronavirus Disease 2019 was created, developed, and distributed within one year. For comparison, it took four years to develop a vaccine for mumps, 25 years for chickenpox, and 43 years for Ebola.
While this report will highlight notable individual achievement, research and innovation is a team sport. I would like to thank the leadership of President David McFaddin, Provost Jerry Pogatshnik, the President’s Cabinet, our academic Deans, Chairs and departments, the Office of Sponsored Programs, and our Finance and Accounting partners that share in this vision.
And somewhere in the early DNA of each of those innovations, researchers at public and private institutions of higher education led the way.
Dr. Thomas M. Martin Associate Provost, Research & Economic Development
In our corner of the world at EKU, we have had an extraordinary year for research and innovation. Our faculty are entrepreneurs of ideas, providing the building blocks for the inventors of the future, helping to translate ideas into new discoveries, products, services, opportunity, employment, and societal achievement. In doing this, they bring young people into that environment and let them work side-by-side on that discovery.
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A Message from President McFaddin I often talk to students, parents, and leaders in our community about EKU being a School of Opportunity. As a member of the Class of 1999 and 2015, I had firsthand experience. The Opportunity to work alongside faculty and apply new knowledge was available to me each semester. Upon graduation, these habits of learning, attention, and expression prepared me to work, engage, and lead in the marketplace no matter the sector or situation.
on that modest investment include improvements in the quality of the regional workforce and public service; increased production, construction, and expenditures; new industries; and regional culture. The future success of the commonwealth lies in this Opportunity. We are not limited to training our citizens for jobs of today. We are an innovative university, producing economic, intellectual, and cultural vitality that benefits all Kentuckians, and lasts for generations.
The Opportunity to advance original discovery at public universities, coordinated with their undergraduate and graduate programs, has immeasurably enhanced our standard of living and social advancement. Despite the modest budgets compared to industry, sixty percent of all basic research in the United States is conducted by the academy. The economic interdependent returns
Dr. David T. McFaddin President, Eastern Kentucky University
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Contents Duo Blazes Trail in Cancer Research
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Bat Studies Focus of Dodd’s Research
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From Water Testing to E-cigarette Usage, Professor’s Research Covers a Variety of Public Health Issues
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Chemistry Professor Contributes to Statewide Manufacturing Research
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Richter Lab Promotes Research and Resource Management
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Wygant Takes Research Inside the Mind
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Professor’s Research ‘Challenges Conventional Wisdom’
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Management Professor Seeks Answers to Benefit Both the Workplace and Classroom
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Research Enhancement Grant Program Report
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Partnerships
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Sponsored Programs by the Numbers
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Sponsored Programs by the Numbers Sponsored Programs provides technical and compliance support for faculty and staff in the pursuit of external funding. This past year, the university received 91 awards, totaling $52 million dollars. Please enjoy some of our other accomplishments as you continue reading. For more information, visit sponsoredprograms.eku.edu
$52 MILLION Funding on New Awards
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New Awards
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Proposal Submissions
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Duo Blazes Trail in Cancer Research Shortly after joining Eastern Kentucky University, Dr. Lindsay Calderon, associate professor of biological sciences, and Dr. Margaret Ndinguri, associate professor of chemistry, met at a grant writing workshop. “From there, we started working together, and it has been a blessing,” Ndinguri said. “A good partner to work with really helps a lot.” “It’s been fun actually,” Calderon said about her research partnership with Ndinguri. “We’ve had a good time.” With a united goal of advancing the healthcare provided to patients afflicted with cancer, the pair set out on what has become a life-altering journey. “Our short term plan is to mold the system through our research endeavors and our long term plan is through our students who will become our future physicians,” Ndinguri said. They are reaching their career milestones through a unique interdepartmental collaboration that spans gender, race, and background. They said they hope their collaboration is the embodiment of EKU and a model that should be strived for at all universities across the nation. That first meeting sparked both a personal and professional relationship that, with some luck and CALDERON continued research, could someday save the lives AND NDINGURI of men and women with the most difficult-toDISCOVERED A CHEMICAL treat cancers. The pair is on the cusp of creating a drug that would be considered revolutionary in COMPOUND TARGETING reproductive cancer diagnostics and treatments. SPECIFIC TYPES OF
CANCERS.
Calderon and Ndinguri discovered a chemical compound targeting specific types of cancers. Typical cancer scans target major receptors on the cell surface when diagnosing or treating cancer. But some less common forms of reproductive cancers, including triple negative breast cancer and metastatic ovarian cancer, along with a few other non-reproductive cancers, lack those major receptors. Triple negative breast cancer is one of the most prevalent forms of breast cancer in young women aged 2034, contributing to 56 percent of African American and 42 percent of white women breast cancer cases.
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“So, it is a disease that afflicts women in the prime of their lives, and the younger you are diagnosed with it the more likely you are to succumb to the disease,” the duo said.
the cancer earlier and then provide a targeted treatment we have then really moved the healthcare pendulum,” Calderon said. “It’s painful to see people who have gone through it, and we just want to help,” Ndinguri said.
“It’s the most aggressive and invasive, meaning it has the ability to spread beyond the primary tumor site. It’s called triple negative because it doesn’t have the three major receptors on the cell surface,” Calderon said. “And those receptors are the ones that chemotherapy will target. So that’s why they’re hard to treat, and on top of that, they’re just really aggressive.”
Years ago, Calderon and Ndinguri filed a patent for their targeted chemotherapy drug. More recently, they’ve filed another patent for their diagnostic compound as a diagnostic tool, to better detect certain types of cancers. Imaging compounds currently used in medicine aren’t target specific – meaning some cancers could go unnoticed. Just like the therapeutic drug Calderon and Ndinguri developed, the imaging compound goes directly to the cancer cells, allowing doctors the ability to more clearly find and diagnose the cancer.
The question became, how do you treat cancers without the typical receptors? The answer was a hormone. The researchers found these cancers tend to overexpress a certain type of hormone receptor, LHRH.
“Now we can image the tumors hopefully earlier, and more precisely detect the location better,” Calderon said. “So we’re making an individualized patient regime where we can diagnose it earlier, then give it a personalized treatment.”
“We have taken something that is overexpressing, meaning it is mainly found in that tumor,” Ndinguri said. “You will not find that sequence, something like a peptide or protein, prevalent in other normal cells; you will only find that protein in the tumor. If you take a drug and attach it to this protein, then like will go to like.”
Their research focuses on aggressive and invasive forms of cancer –– some discriminately affecting young females, ages 20 to 39, and often from ethnic groups. Calderon explained the pharmaceutical industry is less likely to produce or design compounds for a small subset of people. But Calderon and Ndinguri continue to push their discoveries forward. They’re working to complete the many steps and required preclinical trials before their compounds could be used in medicine.
Ndinguri’s “like attracts like” explanation serves as the basis behind their diagnostic and therapeutic treatment. Calderon and Ndinguri incorporated LHRH into a diagnostic imaging agent and a chemotherapy drug. With their chemical compound, the hope is these aggressive cancers may be more easily detected and better treated in the future, resulting in higher survival rates.
Serving disadvantaged populations represents a common theme with Calderon and Ndinguri. It’s not only reflected in their research topic, but in their partnership itself as women in science, each from either a minority or underrepresented group, and in their service at EKU. Being from the
“Having an ideal diagnostic and treatment in a clinical setting are the two pillars for improving patient lives. So, if we can detect
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Appalachian region, Calderon said it’s important for her to build the science infrastructure and outreach to the Appalachia community and to those students who are underrepresented. Undergraduate students help in the lab with Calderon and Ndinguri’s research, giving them valuable experiences in science, but also opening up opportunities for medical school or Ph.D. programs.
While the duo has made significant progress toward their goals, they are still years away from their discoveries being used in medicine. The hardest part, Calderon mentioned, is hearing from people who need help, and not yet being able to help them. “It’s difficult,” Calderon said. “I’ve been emailed by numerous people that have cancer telling me their stories and asking whether I can help them, and that’s just heartwrenching to me.”
“It’s not just about the compound,” Calderon said. “It’s about getting students to be able to learn it and move forward. As they’re the next innovators of medicine.” For Ndinguri, she’s able to combine her love for teaching and interacting with students with a desire to help people with cancer. “I think the best thing that can ever happen is to just have a cure,” she said. “That’s the ultimate goal –– reduce the pain, get a cure.”
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Project Directors on New Awards
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Bat Studies Focus of Dodd’s Research Eastern Kentucky University professor Luke Dodd has shown a strong interest in the study of bats throughout his educational and professional career. Dodd has been a professor at EKU since the Fall 2014, mainly instructing Labs within EKU’s beautiful New Science Building. In his time at EKU he has made a point to mentor undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Biological Sciences while also educating students on unique creatures such as bats.
Dodd has instructed many labs at EKU that explore ethological studies and research projects that revolve around bats and other mammals. Four of his students have even completed M.S. theses on Bat Ecology at EKU.
“EKU is a school with a Dodd completed long history of conducting EKU IS A his undergraduate ecological and conservationSCHOOL WITH A LONG studies at HISTORY OF CONDUCTING minded research. Simply put, Arkansas Tech our school has always placed a ECOLOGICAL AND University, premium on field research, and we CONSERVATION-MINDED give majoring in Fish our students valuable opportunities RESEARCH. and Wildlife Biology. His interest in to conduct projects important to bats was born when he was assigned conservation, not just across Appalachia a literature review on the reproductive but all across the continent,” said Dodd. ecology of bats. He knew immediately that these animals were not to be overlooked. Currently, Dodd is conducting projects that revolve around Eastern Spotted Skunks and Indiana Bats “I was blown away by the sheer diversity of this with his students. The skunk project is funded and group of mammals!” he said. being conducted in collaboration with the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves. The Indiana bat project During his undergraduate studies, Dodd worked for is funded through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the US Forest Service as a technician. Here he was under their White-nose Research Grants program. able to explore and expand his knowledge of these strange creatures. “As Kentuckians, and as Colonels, we need to be effective stewards of natural areas and “I worked on a project where we radio-tracked conservationists for all types of biodiversity. I see my bats to their roost trees. From there I knew I was lab’s activities as serving this need. We’re studying interested in studying these animals in grad school. critters that need our attention, and we’re providing I did both my M.S. and Ph.D. on the foraging scientifically-grounded evidence that can guide ecology of bats, and I’ve continued to work with conservation efforts… And we get to have fun bats throughout my career since then,” said Dodd. working out in the woods while we do it!” he said.
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From Water Testing to E-cigarette Usage, Professor’s Research Covers a Variety of Public Health Issues When it comes to research, Dr. Jason Marion, associate professor of environmental health science, considers himself an opportunist. Like many EKU faculty researchers, a combination of student interests, current issues and available resources determine the direction of his research topics. This approach has led to him leading a multitude of research projects based around his area of expertise in environmental epidemiology. Focusing primarily on water-related diseases and prevention, his student-centered research has taken him across the globe to Kenya and to low-resource communities in the United States gathering data on the safety of drinking water. In Kenya, he also conducted studies on antibiotic resistance stemming from the antibiotics in milk; and in South Central Kentucky, he’s looked at the prevalence of MRSA among livestock workers.
from low-income countries, like Kenya, he’s realized those areas are often neglected in terms of research studies. “If our students want to work there, then I’m going to help them,” he said. “There are so many communities that have so many questions about what’s going on in their community. In many cases, they just need the data to be able to make future decisions on how to deal with their problems.” One of Marion’s current research projects focuses locally on e-cigarette usage among college students in the Appalachian region. With a graduate student taking interest in studying e-cigarettes, the initial survey was conducted in 2014. The student received award recognition by the tobacco control section of the American Public Health Association. Then, the survey was repeated in 2018 by another graduate student using the same data collection technique. Surveys on what Marion calls “hot button issues,” like e-cigarettes, can generate strong participation bias. To avoid skewed results, the students took the approach of visiting general education courses to conduct their surveys. This method produced a high response rate and cross-section sampling consistent with the University’s student population.
When a student wants to research an issue in their hometown, Marion jumps at the opportunity. Having students from rural communities within EKU’s service region and international students
Between the first and second surveys, Marion and the student researchers discovered an increase in e-cigarette usage among students, along with a significant softening of support for policies related to prohibiting e-cigarettes on campus. The noticeable increase in e-cigarette usage was especially prevalent among students engaged in Greek life, and even more so among fraternity men.
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SPONSORED PROGRAMS BY THE NUMBERS
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First-Time Project Directors
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Furthermore, the study showed students under 21 years of age were more likely to use e-cigarettes than older students. And Kentucky students were less likely to use e-cigarettes than out-of-state students, although both groups were more likely users than students attending universities outside Kentucky. “There’s still a lot of other studies that can be taken from our data set to look at how people’s perceptions of e-cigarettes have changed,” Marion said. He’s hopeful a future graduate student will take interest in the topic and conduct another repeat study. Because e-cigarette usage seems to correlate with social activities, he’s curious to find out if this year’s COVID-19 pandemic has had any effect on e-cigarette usage. Through his many research endeavors, Marion’s seen success with college students conducting surveys as an effective means of data collection. “When you have students that are from certain communities, people are much more willing to work with them,” he said. In working in rural areas like Kenya, Marion noted “So few people are actually employing international students to be able to go to their home communities where this kind of work is needed and empowering them to collect the information.”
MARION IS NOW CONSIDERED A LEADER IN HIS FIELD AND ALSO SERVES IN VARIOUS LEADERSHIP ROLES ON CAMPUS.
The most difficult part of the research, Marion said, is “when you do discover an extensive problem, what are you going to do about it?” To address his concern, he’s exploring ways to give communities the data collection tools they need to develop solutions. He’s working to develop the technology for communities and well water users to test their own water, for example. Marion joined EKU’s faculty in 2012 after working for Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources for 13 years while pursuing his graduate studies. Being from an Appalachian community and having attended a regional university in Kentucky, Marion wanted to give back by working at EKU. He was also drawn by the faculty in his department. “They were all just so kind and generous,” he said. “And not only that, they were also leaders in the profession.” Marion is now considered a leader in his field and also serves in various leadership roles on campus. With this year’s pandemic, he’s been participating in federal review panels and evaluating proposals regarding technology for COVID-19 surveillance and the development of early warning systems. He also plays a key role in EKU’s COVID-19 response team. All the while, he prioritizes teaching and stays active in research. “I have learned so much through my research applications that have forced me to stay current, and that has impacted my teaching,” Marion said. “I use the research to make me a better teacher.”
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Proposal Submitters
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Human Subjects Research Protocols
Chemistry Professor Contributes to Statewide Advanced Manufacturing Research Passionate about finding new solutions to power the world, Dr. Judy Jenkins, associate professor of chemistry at EKU, applies her chemistry and solar energy expertise to a collaborative statewide research project, the Kentucky Advanced Partnership for Enhanced Robotics and Structures (or KAMPERS).
manufacturing technologies, flexible electronics and robotics. The $24 million, five-year project relies on the expertise of 40 multidisciplinary researchers from eight Kentucky universities and colleges, including Jenkins at Eastern Kentucky University. The researchers are working together to develop 3D printable smart devices, Jenkins explained. While technology to 3D print objects is well-developed, this project focuses on embedding electronics into structural components, like a prosthetic hand, for example. In order for a prosthetic hand to function like a human hand, it needs electronics that sense and respond to touched objects and interface with nerves to allow human-driven movement.
Funded by the Kentucky National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and institutional matching funds provided by participating schools, the KAMPERS project supports the fundamental science needed to advance next-generation
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The challenge in printing electronics is that the materials used for wires and sensors, such as copper and silicon, would need to be printed at very high temperatures –– temperatures that would melt the structural components. And that’s where Jenkins’ role comes in. She’s investigating carbon-based polymers that convert light into electricity, just as silicon does in traditional solar cells. In addition to being lightweight, flexible and affordable, these polymers melt at much lower temperatures than silicon, making them candidates for printable electronics.
research focuses specifically on the molecular-level chemistry of polymers that are both highly efficient as solar cells and are potentially printable. In our lab, we have instrumentation that allows us to make different types of polymers and then test their properties –– like how much sunlight a polymer can capture, for instance.” Having students help with the research is Jenkins’ favorite part of what she does. “At Eastern, we can let our students be part of this huge, statewide effort,” she said. “Students get to actually put the things they’re learning about to work, solving big problems.”
“We can envision 3D-printed structures that will need power sources,” Jenkins notes, “so our
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“THERE’S A BIG PART OF MY HEART THAT REALLY JUST WANTS TO CHANGE THE WORLD,” JENKINS SAID. AND SOLAR ENERGY RESEARCH IS HER WAY OF CREATING CHANGE.
She sees students’ participation in research as some of the most valuable experiences they can gain. Through these experiences, students can connect what they learn in the classroom to why it matters, learning what they can do with what they know. In addition, Jenkins said students learn to deal with failure as a result of working on research projects. “If students can leave here being better at persisting through failure until we get something to work, that’s something worth learning,” she said. Jenkins has been involved in many solar projects on EKU’s campus. She received an EKU Innovation Fund Award to connect a not-yetcompleted new campus facility to solar panels. She also worked on a donor-funded project to add solar arrays on top of the Science Building and by the greenhouse of the Science Building. As part of the agreement with the donor, EKU alumnus Dr. Gary Booth, the money saved on electricity as a result of the solar panels goes to students in the form of the Photon Fellowship.
“We all benefit from the solar panels because we emit less carbon dioxide to get the power we need, but we also get to use the monetary savings for scholarships,” Jenkins said. “For me, that’s the most exciting outcome of these arrays.”
Although the KAMPERS project spans just five years, the research and the impact of the project will be ongoing. As a result, the project aims to expand the state’s economy, train students for jobs of the future, and position Kentucky to become a national leader in economic, industrial and commercial success. Already, Jenkins has made significant strides through her solar energy research at Eastern Kentucky University and with the KAMPERS project. Her contributions will continue beyond the KAMPERS project, as she constantly strives to positively impact the planet. “There’s a big part of my heart that really just wants to change the world,” Jenkins said. And solar energy research is her way of creating change.
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Board of Regents Innovation Fund Dr. James Maples and Dr. Michael Bradley created the Division of Regional Economic Assessment and Modeling, to provide cost efficient economic impact, tourism, and outdoor recreation research to communities across Kentucky.
Announced at the June 2018 Board of Regents meeting, the $250,000 Board-sponsored faculty and staff Innovation Fund matches seed projects designed to advance the mission of EKU. A strong preference given to applications that (1) demonstrates an innovative or entrepreneurial solution; and (2) an ability to generate a return on investment, (3) create operating efficiencies, (4) is related to Kentucky priorities, and (5) brings positive attention to EKU.
Kelly Smith developed an Open Educational Resource Challenge Grant, that incentivizes faculty to write open source textbooks. The seed money from this award saved students $300,000 in the first year of implementation.
In the first three years, the Board has considered over 40 applications, requesting $2 million dollars in competitively-awarded funding. They have awarded a dozen of those projects, totaling $550,000. Here are a sample of those awards:
Dr. Joseph Carucci is creating the Foster Commercial Music Camp, to teach musicians how to think like entrepreneurs and how to record, share, and monetize their musical endeavors in the 21st century.
Dr. Lindsay Cormier and Dr. Margaret Ndinguri’s award paved the way for them to receive $50,000 from the National Institute of Health for work on their novel compounds. They were the only researchers from a Kentucky regional university to receive that award in 2020. Dr. Jason Marion’s award has been helpful in filing an international patent for his method for detection of E.Coli and antibiotic resistant bacteria in water, as well as starting his first company. Dr. Stephen Richter’s award established an outdoor learning pavilion with trails connecting main campus to EKU’s Natural Areas on south campus, to enhance recruitment and retention.
SPONSORED PROGRAMS BY THE NUMBERS
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Animal Use Protocols
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Richter Lab Promotes Research and Resource Management Dr. Stephen Richter is the poster child for what an avid outdoorsman should look like. He’s wearing a faded yellow The North Face t-shirt while we talk over Zoom in his garage, which, of course, is full of mountain bikes. He’s certainly no stranger to spending time “in the field,” which is a biologist’s term for where they do their research (in the woods and the water). When he started his collegiate journey at Berry College in Georgia, pulling salamanders out of creeks wasn’t on the agenda.
“When I started school there, I was pre-med, I wanted to be a doctor-or so I thought. I wanted to be a pediatrician,” Richter said. “Then I realized that I never really thought twice about it growing up. I got to college and didn’t do as well as I hoped. I really didn’t have the focus I needed.” Sceloporus woodi, aka Florida scrub lizards, a small nearly endangered multi-colored lizard native to Florida, changed his life. “The first meaningful
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experience and the one that really changed my outlook was I got a chance to go to Florida with a faculty member and study scrub lizards in the Ocala National Forest. We lived in a scout camp by a lake and it was just an amazing experience,” Richter said. “I realized that was a possibility for me as a career and I really loved that. I knew I wanted to do something to understand reptiles and amphibians and to do conservation work to help them.”
opportunities to the public and EKU students and faculty.”
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But it’s his bond with students, First-Time Proposal Submitters like he formed with his professors early in his career, that drives his work at EKU. He established the Richter Lab in 2005 with the “primary goals of understanding factors that shape the distribution and natural history of amphibians and reptiles and to use the information to inform conservation and management of herptiles and their terrestrial, aquatic, and wetland habitats,” according to his website.
He realized that if research was going to be a big part of his career, he needed to get a master’s degree and a Ph.D. (which he did in Biology and Zoology at the University of Southeastern Louisiana and the University of Oklahoma, respectively). And after that he figured he’d end up with a government agency. “I’ve been incredibly lucky. EKU has a really deep history with decades of wildlife and field ecology. Their support of field-based conservation research, was a big draw. And then when I learned about Maywoods and the Division of Natural Areas, I aspired to become the director,” Richter said.
Fifty-five current and former undergraduate and graduate students are featured prominently and make up the membership of his lab at the University. Down the road, Richter hopes to get as many students involved as possible in research and to help land management agencies best use the resources they have available. He also wants to aid making natural resources available to the public while making sure they’re suitable for the naturaloccurring wildlife and habitat already there. “My ultimate goal is to put lots of students out there in jobs that think the same way and can do this kind of work,” Richter said.
In Aug. 2019, Richter was named Natural Areas Director. “Being able to do conservation research and also implement it has been really rewarding.” His career is the best of both worlds at EKU, Richter said. He set out to do preservation at an agency or research in the academic world, and now he does both and gets to teach the next generation. EKU’s Division of Natural Areas is run similarly to a government agency. “We implement conservation practices that are informed by research, and protect lands and provide educational, research, and recreational
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Wygant Takes Research Inside the Mind Nowhere on a college campus is research as interesting as it is in the psychology realm. Dr. Dustin Wygant, Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Psychology department, is one of Eastern Kentucky University’s faculty members who is making a difference through his research. Wygant’s research explores various personality disorders, with an emphasis on psychopathy.
opportunity to work in a court psychiatric clinic and found it fascinating. “You never know what you’re going to get,” said Wygant. “I fell in love with it.” In addition to teaching at EKU, Wygant has his own Forensic Psychology practice. Students usually accompany Wygant to his forensic evaluations. They go to the jail for interviews and to the courtroom when he testifies about his findings. “I try to not only do this for myself but to train the next generation of forensic and clinical psychologists.”
Wygant first garnered interest in the study of personality disorders during his graduate program at Kent State University. He was given the
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BY THE NUMBERS Wygant received a $28,000 grant to study post-9/11 veterans using the MMPI 3. His research partner is Dr. Jaime Anderson, Assistant Professor in the Subawards Issued Department of OVER THE Psychology LAST SEVERAL YEARS, and Philosophy at WYGANT HAS BEEN Sam Houston State University STUDYING THE PSYCHOPATHIC in Huntsville, Texas.
Wygant’s three main areas of research –– malingering, psychopathy, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) –– encompass what a forensic psychologist does in their career.
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Over the last several years, Wygant has been studying the psychopathic personality trait by collecting research data in nearby prisons. EKU Students interviewed and tested 237 inmates at the Northpoint Training Center in PERSONALITY TRAIT BY Burgin, Ky. Each inmate was The plan is for data to be collected COLLECTING RESEARCH assessed for up to 10 hours to gain from 150 veterans at each institution, DATA IN NEARBY the necessary data and compare it to for a total of 300 participants. The PRISONS. the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, tests and interviews will focus on which has the criteria for various forms of elements such as trauma, post-traumatic psychopathy. Through this study, the students growth, self-harm, anxiety, and depression. completed their clinical hours, gaining the necessary experience to complement their future work. “Post 9/11 veterans are a unique group that we need to pay attention to,” said Wygant. “They In addition to involving students in his research, have a high suicide rate compared to other veteran Wygant also works alongside other EKU faculty and groups. A test like the MMPI can be used to assess alumni for collaborative research projects. Wygant is their mental health needs.” currently working with James Pennington, Assistant Professor for the Department of Government. Their “These are important social issues, and we tackle study is to determine if citing the findings from one little part of it,” said Wygant. “At the ends of psychiatric evaluations during a testimony confuses the day, we are shedding light on the human mind the jury or aids in their decision-making. and how it works, and I think that is important.”
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University-Funded Scholarship Grant Awards
Professor’s Research ‘Challenges Conventional Wisdom’
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While Eastern Kentucky University is primarily known as a teaching institution dedicated to student success –– and powering Kentucky communities with graduates who work as essential employees –– EKU faculty also conduct ground-breaking academic research as part of EKU’s comprehensive mission.
“Resources can affect cultures on a macro level, but they also affect people on an individual level. That’s what we’re looking at,” he said.
Dr. Jonathan Gore, director of undergraduate research and a professor of psychology at EKU, is one of those researchers. Gore is a social and cultural psychologist. In other words, he studies how people influence their culture, and how culture influences them back. His aim is to pioneer “TED-talkable topics that challenge conventional wisdom.” “I like being on the precipice between the known and unknown,” said Gore. “There’s always more to find out.” Recently, Gore has dedicated his time to three primary areas of research. The first, and he says the most fruitful so far, is a study on relational goal motivation, or motivation by the inclusion of a loved one in pursuit of a goal. Gore has found that often, working with a loved one is more motivating than working alone for the sake of achieving a personal goal. “Because you’re connected to that person, it fosters enhanced motivation to pursue that goal together, more than if you had done it out of your own interest,” said Gore.
The next ten years of Gore’s academic life, however, will center around a slow-growing yet promising concept called physical self-construal. He theorizes that some people define themselves by the vitality and function of their body. “I think this project could really take off and give a bunch of insight into psychology in many different regards,” said Gore. The inspiration for most of Gore’s research projects –– and the most rewarding part of carrying them out –– is his students. Students often come to him with ideas that he fosters all the way to publication. He has coauthored over 70 publications that way. “I feel like I’ve been able to get grad student-level work out of undergraduates. I’d put any of our psychology majors up against any major anywhere,” Gore said. Gore’s dual role as a researching professor and director of undergraduate research has given him unique insight into the importance of research experience at the undergraduate level.
Gore’s second area of research centers around the effect of resource availability on psychological outcomes. Also a challenge to conventional wisdom, his findings indicate that the stability of resources is a better predictor of positive outcomes than the amount of resources available. For example, a reliable paycheck and constant social support tends to be better than a large, but sporadic paycheck and a wide but inconsistent social network.
THE INSPIRATION FOR MOST OF GORE’S RESEARCH PROJECTS –– AND THE MOST REWARDING PART OF CARRYING THEM OUT –– IS HIS STUDENTS.
“All institutions should be investing in undergraduate research,” said Gore. “There are a lot of students who have great ideas and a great work ethic. We just need to encourage them with our financial and emotional support.”
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Management Professor Seeks Answers to Benefit Both the Workplace and Classroom If Dr. Beth Polin, associate professor of management at EKU, asks a question that hasn’t yet been answered, she sets out to find the answer. Her curiosity and love for learning drives her motivation for research and seeking answers. And as a professor, she’s able to share her findings with students in the classroom, giving them tools they need to go into the workplace and make a positive impact.
answers to give employees techniques they can use right away to maintain those positive working relationships. “Most of the time we don’t mean to break trust, but we’re human and it happens,” said Polin. “We have to aim for efficiency and effectiveness, and to get back on track, we have to repair the broken trust.” The easiest way to repair trust is through an apology –– a concept fueling Polin’s extensive research on effective apologies.
Polin’s research focuses mostly on conflict management and trust repair, because “it can have an immediate positive impact on Polin and co-authors published research on the already difficult situations.” She components of an apology a few years believes positive working ago. The research gained considerable relationships drive workplace national attention, earning mentions THE RESEARCH success, and therefore, seeks on The Today Show, Psychology GAINED CONSIDERABLE
NATIONAL ATTENTION, EARNING MENTIONS ON THE TODAY SHOW, PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, CBS NEWS, AND TEEN VOGUE, AMONG OTHERS.
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Today, U.S. News & World Report, CBS News and Teen Vogue, among others. But the answers led to more questions for Polin. “Should different genders apologize differently?” she asks. In addition to the gender of the apologizer, she also wonders if the gender of the victim, or person receiving an apology, affects the expectations for the apology.
student isn’t a child learner, and not yet an adult learner, she looks to find tangible resources to better educate 18- to 25-year-olds.
SPONSORED PROGRAMS BY THE NUMBERS
6
Research “I love coming up with new Enhancement Grant activities to try in the classroom Awards with my students,” Polin said. “I’ve taken some of the projects that work really well with students, and I’ve written those up to share with other academics so they could try those activities in their classrooms, as well.” After she discovers the relationship between gender and an apology, she’ll continue to dissect the anatomy of an effective apology, as she plans to next look at the influence of cultural differences and mediums for delivering an apology.
Excited to analyze the data and see the results, Polin is currently in the process of collecting data for this research project. Once several sets of data are in, she’ll analyze it, present it at conferences, then submit it for peer review, before it’s finally published. “Not only am I interested in sharing my research with my students, and having the classroom help fuel that research,” Polin said, “but then I want to communicate the information to students in the most effective way possible, and that’s where the pedagogy line of research comes in.” Understanding that the traditional-age college
“There’s nothing better than asking a question, and having the tools to be able to find an answer to that question,” Polin said.
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Research Enhancement Grant Program Report PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Research Enhancement Grants (REG) support faculty who had previously secured external funding awards and to facilitate the obtainment of additional awards.
Jennifer Koslow (Biological Sciences). A Half-Century of Change in an Old-Growth Forest: Lilley Cornett Woods, Letcher County, Kentucky. $15,000.
The REG program was created to support activities in three tracks: (1) Research Project, (2) Publication Development, and (3) Grant Proposal Development.
Cy Mott (Biological Sciences). Phenotypic plasticity as a response to climate change in peripheral amphibian populations. $14,938. James Maples (Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work). Reassessing the Economic Impact of Rock Climbing in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. $9,090.
FY 2020 COMPETITION
For the competition, starting in Fall 2019, eight (8) applications were received requesting $100,184 in funding. Following the competitive review process by the University Research Committee, a total of $75,000 was awarded for six funded applications. All six (6) awards were funded for research activities. One award was funded for both research activities and publication development, and one award was funded for research activities, publication development, and grant proposal development.
Judy Jenkins (Chemistry). Enabling StructureFunction Characterization of Polymers for Clean Energy Conversion and Energy Storage. $11,057.
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
All funded projects provided direct research experience for EKU students. A total of 12 EKU students benefitted from participation in the funded projects.
AWARDS
Three recent EKU graduates had the opportunity to work with an EKU faculty member in preparing manuscripts for publication. Five additional EKU graduates will have the opportunity to continue collaborating with an EKU faculty member in preparing manuscripts for publication this fall.
Bradley Kraemer (Biological Sciences). Evaluating the Contributions of the p75 Neurotrophin Receptor to Neurodegeneration Associated with Parkinson’s Disease. $14,998. Jason Marion (Environmental Health Science). Assessment of ColiGlow for Enumerating E. coli in Western Kenya. $9,917.
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Reseach and Commercializations Partnerships KENTUCKY COMMERCIALIZATION VENTURES Launched in 2020, KCV provides intellectual property (IP) and tech transfer services and resources to EKU and the state’s public, regional universities. These services and resources assist EKU with expanding its commercialization industry engagement.
KENTUCKY NETWORK FOR INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION The KYNETIC program offers proof-of-concept grants for all types of health-related ideas to accelerate translation of academic innovations to the marketplace. Dr. Lindsay Calderon and Dr. Margaret Ndinguri received $50,000 in funding in the last cycle.
LAUNCH BLUE An early-stage accelerator program offered by The University of Kentucky and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures, nurtures the most promising founders and their technology toward commercialization, including preparation for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications, creation of a startup, and/or licensing of the technology. Dr. Jason Marion graduated from the inaugural cohort in December, 2020.
FOUNDER HUNT Connect research-based technologies with start-ups from across the country, who want to build a company based on the technology. Two EKU innovators pitched their technology in November 2019.
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Sponsored Programs by the Numbers The number of awards for each college is reflected in the graph below with the four-year trend illustrated in the chart that follows.
AWARDS BY COLLEGE
BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY
8 11
EDUCATION
35
OTHER
10
HEALTH SCIENCES
6
7
14
SCIENCE
JUSTICE & SAFETY LETTERS, ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES
AWARDS BY COLLEGE: FOUR-YEAR TREND 8 5 6 6
11 16 15 17
BUSINESS & EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
FY 2017
6
10
15
11
7 4
14 19
35
9
25
36
37
8
11
8
10
8
23
39
HEALTH SCIENCES
JUSTICE & SAFETY
LETTERS, ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES
SCIENCE
OTHER
FY 2018
FY 2019
28
FY 2020
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OFFICE OF RESEARCH & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BTC 147 Eastern Kentucky University 521 Lancaster Avenue Richmond, Kentucky 40475 PREFER DIGITAL? Visit go.eku.edu/viewbook to download a digital version of this brochure and for easy access to web resources.
W W W. E K U . E D U Eastern Kentucky University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and educational institution and does not discriminate on the basis of age (40 and over), race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, ethnicity, disability, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information in the admission to, or participation in, any educational program or activity (e.g., athletics, academics and housing) which it conducts, or in any employment policy or practice. Any complaint arising by reason of alleged discrimination should be directed to the Office of Equity and Inclusion, 416 Jones Building, CPO 37, Eastern Kentucky University, 521 Lancaster Avenue, Richmond, Kentucky 40475-3102, (859) 622-8020 or the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC. 20202 1-800-421-3481 (V), 1-800-877-8339 (TDD). EKU-21100-2020_EconomicDevelopmentAnnualReport-Singles-2
