International Research and Development Seed Grants
Applications are open for the 2024 seed grant cycle.
The International Research/Development Seed Grants are intended to enhance international
research and development activities at Texas Tech University. We are especially interested
in supporting faculty developing new international relationships that are interdisciplinary
and multi-institutional. Supported work should form a pathway towards establishing
more ambitious, long-term international academic relationships.
Research and Development grant funds are expected to lead to externally funded projects
and are limited to $2,000 or less. Funds available include $25,000 to support TTU
faculty in all fields of knowledge. Projects in all disciplines are invited to apply.
2024 Application Template & Guidelines
2023 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. Joseph Aranha |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Architecture |
| Country of interest: |
India |
| Project Title: |
Documentation of vernacular architecture in Manipur, India |
| Name: |
Drs. Sandra Huston and Sonya Lutter |
| Academic college and department: |
School of Financial Planning |
| Country of interest: |
Netherlands |
| Project Title: |
Expansion of Money Scripts and its Application to Financial Well-Being |
| Name: |
Dr. Ali Duffy |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Theatre and Dance |
| Country of interest: |
Ireland and the United Kingdom |
| Project Title: |
International Parenting and Dance Network |
| Name: |
Dr. Catherine Jai |
| Academic college and department: |
Department Hospitality and Retail Management |
| Country of interest: |
Taiwan |
| Project Title: |
Technology meets tradition: Indigenous culture and heritage |
| Name: |
Dr. Jing Li |
| Academic college and department: |
Department Hospitality and Retail Management |
| Country of interest: |
China |
| Project Title: |
Resident-tourist interaction: The role of residents' perceived tourism impacts and
life satisfaction |
| Name: |
Dr. Natalia Velikova |
| Academic college and department: |
Department Hospitality and Retail Management |
| Country of interest: |
Greece |
| Project Title: |
Uncorking Business Potential for Wines of Crete |
2022 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. Nural Akchurin |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country of interest: |
Ireland |
| Project Title: |
Imagining Queen Maeve's Cairn: Archaeology Meets Cosmic Muons |
| Name: |
Drs. Syed Badruddoza and Modhurima Dey Amin |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Country of interest: |
Bangladesh |
| Project Title: |
Market Assessment and Opportunity Identification for Export of U.S. Dairy to Bangladesh |
| Name: |
Dr. Wendy Chen |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Political Science (Public Administration) |
| Country of interest: |
Japan |
| Project Title: |
A Comparative Study of Cross-Sector Collaboration on Rural Economic Development |
| Name: |
Dr. Mahyar Hadighi |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Architecture |
| Country of interest: |
Scotland and Poland |
| Project Title: |
Tracing Hybridity in Alexander Thomason's Architecture: A "New" Classical Language
Within the Urban Order of Glasgow, Scotland |
| Name: |
Dr. Thomas Kupfer |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country of interest: |
Germany |
| Project Title: |
Compact Binaries as Supernova Ia Progenitors |
| Name: |
Dr. Sandip Pal |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Geosciences |
| Country of interest: |
India |
| Project Title: |
Impact of Land-Atmosphere Feedback Processes on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Dynamics
Over an Arid Region Under Synoptically Active and Benign Weather Conditions |
| Name: |
Dr. David R.W. Sears |
| Academic college and department: |
School of Music |
| Country of interest: |
Switzerland and the Netherlands |
| Project Title: |
Syntactic Processing in Music and Language |
2021 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Drs. Claudia Cogliser and Christine Nittrouer |
| Academic college and department: |
Management Department, Rawls College of Business |
| Country of interest: |
Australia |
| Project Title: |
Cross-cultural study of workplace accommodations that promote job satisfaction and
retention for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) |
| Name: |
Dr. Mahyar Hadighi |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Architecture |
| Country of interest: |
Cyprus |
| Project Title: |
From Bauhaus to the Levant: Modernization of Space and Hybridization of Architectural
Styles in the Eastern Mediterranean |
| Name: |
Dr. Sunghun Lim |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, CASNR |
| Country of interest: |
Canada |
| Project Title: |
Economic Diplomacy, WTO Trade Disputes and Agri-Food Trade between Canada and United
States |
| Name: |
Dr. Mary Murimi |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Nutritional Sciences, Human Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Vietnam |
| Project Title: |
Global Partnerships for Higher Education Reform: Research and Learning Capacity Building |
| Name: |
Dr. Rosalyn Shim |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Plant and Soil Science, CASNR |
| Country of interest: |
Japan |
| Project Title: |
Genetic Basis of Segregation Distortion Leading to Preferential Chromosome Transmission
in Interspecific Hybrids of Rice |
| Name: |
Dr. Christopher Smith |
| Academic college and department: |
School of Music |
| Country of interest: |
United Kingdom |
| Project Title: |
Sounding History: An International Podcase on Music and Global History |
2020 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Amrika Deonarine |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Engineering, Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
Switzerland |
| Project Title: |
Occurrence of thiolated arsenic species in sulfidic aquatic systems |
| Name: |
Brendan Regan |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences, Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures |
| Country of interest: |
Portugal |
| Project Title: |
When being polite is impolite: Pragmatics-politeness analysis of pronouns of address
in Portuguese |
| Name: |
David Gutman |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Engineering, Industrial Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
Australia |
| Project Title: |
Practical Methods for Manifold-Constrained Optimization |
| Name: |
Jin Jung |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Education, Curriculum & Instruction |
| Country of interest: |
South Korea |
| Project Title: |
Global Collaboration for Change: Networked Writing for Youth |
| Name: |
Muntazar Monsur & Eric Bernard |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Landscape Architecture |
| Country of interest: |
Bangladesh |
| Project Title: |
Developing a GIS-Based Index to Measure Child-Friendliness of a City |
| Name: |
NaRi Shin |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences, Kinesiology & Sport Management |
| Country of interest: |
South Korea |
| Project Title: |
A double-edged sword: The Olympicization of Korean ethnic sport Taekwondo |
| Name: |
Jorgelina Orfila |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Visual & Performing Arts, Art History |
| Country of interest: |
Spain |
| Project Title: |
Workshops on animation-making as therapeutic practice at the Polytechnic University
of Valencia |
| Name: |
Dr. Sandip Pal |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences, Geosciences |
| Country of interest: |
Bolivia |
| Project Title: |
Exploring the complexities in atmospheric boundary layer dynamics over mountainous
regions using lidar and in-situ observations |
| Name: |
Stephanie Shine |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences, Early Childhood Development |
| Country of interest: |
Ethiopia |
| Project Title: |
Testing a Teacher Training Model in Early Childhood Education |
| Name: |
Shuxia Tang |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
France |
| Project Title: |
Optimal Sensor Placement in Irrigation Channels |
| Name: |
Sylvia Niehuis |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences, Human Development and Family Studies |
| Country of interest: |
Poland |
| Project Title: |
Development and validation of research tools to measure locus of control in the domains
of singlehood and having a partner |
2019 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. Brian Ancell, Dr. Carol Lindquist |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Geosciences, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work |
| Country of interest: |
Costa Rica |
| Project Title: |
Assessing the Livability and Technological Compatibility of Independent, Interactive,
and Sustainable Water and Power Home Utility System |
| Name: |
Dr. Amy Boren-Alpizar |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Agricultural Education and Communications |
| Country of interest: |
Costa Rica |
| Project Title: |
Rural Youth Migration in Central America |
| Name: |
Dr. Ioana Coman |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Public Relations |
| Country of interest: |
Romania, France, Greece, Italy, U.K. |
| Project Title: |
Measles Outbreaks, Vaccines Denials - What's Going On and What Can Be Done? An International
Look at Communication Surrounding Measles Vaccine and Strategies |
| Name: |
Dr. Kwanghee Jung, Dr. Jaehoon Lee |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership |
| Country of interest: |
Canada |
| Project Title: |
Development of a New Machine Learning-based Predictive Model for ADHD Diagnosis Using
ADHD-200 Brain Imaging Datasets - Collaborative Research |
| Name: |
Dr. Callum Hethering |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Geosciences |
| Country of interest: |
Republic of South Africa, Norway |
| Project Title: |
Application of Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) and Trace Element Analysis
to Understating Magnetite-Growth Processes in Layered Igneous Intrusions |
| Name: |
Dr. Changzhi Li |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
Germany |
| Project Title: |
Smart Millimeter-Wave Technologies for Human-Aware Sensing and Localization |
| Name: |
Dr. Ting Lin |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
Germany |
| Project Title: |
Advancing Infrastructure Resilience Against Natural and Manmade Hazards |
| Name: |
Dr. Sandip Pal |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Geosciences |
| Country of interest: |
Bulgaria |
| Project Title: |
Impact of Advected Urban Boundary Layer on the Atmospheric Dynamics and Convection
Initiations over the Adjacent Sub-urban and Rural Areas |
| Name: |
Dr. Carlos Portillo |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Natural Resources Management |
| Country of interest: |
Mexico |
| Project Title: |
Prototyping a Monitoring System for Detecting Emerging Deforestation Trends In and
Around Tropical Forest Reserves |
| Name: |
Dr. Simone Scaringi |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country of interest: |
The Netherlands |
| Project Title: |
Data Discovery Within the BlackGEM Survey |
| Name: |
Dr. Matt Siebecker |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Plant Soil Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Costa Rica |
| Project Title: |
Arsenic Concentration, Speciation, and Mobility From Soils, Sediments, Potable Water
Filter Waste Residues in Bagaces/Bagatzi, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica |
| Name: |
Dr. Andrew Whitbeck |
| Academic college and department: |
Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country of interest: |
India |
| Project Title: |
Advanced Particle Detectors for Glimpsing Dark Matter |
2018 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. Beth Thacker |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Physics & Astronomy |
| Country of interest: |
Ethiopia |
| Project Title: |
Research on Instructors' Conceptions and Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics and
the Relationship to Pedagogy |
| Name: |
Dr. Cameron Griffith* & Dr. Hemachandra Reddy** |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Geosciences*
TTUHSC Garrison Institute on Aging**
|
| Country of interest: |
Belize |
| Project Title: |
Interdisciplinary pilot study to test the anti-diabetic potential of Chaya, a medicinal
plant from Central America |
| Name: |
Dr. Clifford Fedler |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Engineering: Civil, Environmental, & Construction Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
China |
| Project Title: |
Food, Water and Sustainability with Technology Integration |
| Name: |
Dr. Jyotsna Sharma |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources: Plant & Soil Science |
| Country of interest: |
Belarus |
| Project Title: |
Do widely distributed plants utilize similar mycorrhizal associates across continents? |
| Name: |
Dr. Karin Ardon-Dryer |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Geosciences |
| Country of interest: |
Bolivia |
| Project Title: |
The Efficiency of Particles from the High-Altitude Mount Chacaltaya (Bolivia) Laboratory
Station as Ice Nucleation Particles |
| Name: |
Drs. Lourdes Juan*, Kevin Long*, Angela Peace*, & Greg Mayer** |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Mathematics* & Environmental Toxicology** |
| Country of interest: |
England |
| Project Title: |
Stoichiometric Ecotoxicology - Collaborative Research |
| Name: |
Dr. Narissra Punyanunt-Carter |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Media & Communication: Communication Studies |
| Country of interest: |
Thailand |
| Project Title: |
Understanding how young people communicate via social media in the United States and
Thailand |
| Name: |
Dr. Roxie Godfrey |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Family & Consumer Sciences Education |
| Country of interest: |
Germany |
| Project Title: |
An International Study of Health Literacy Education in Home Economics Classes in Munich,
Germany |
| Name: |
Dr. Stephanie Shine |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Human Development & Family Studies |
| Country of interest: |
Ethiopia |
| Project Title: |
Developing Early Childhood Programs in Ethiopia |
2017 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. David Sand |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Physics |
| Country of interest: |
Australia, Chile, Canada, USA |
| Project Title: |
Using Globular Clusters to Trace the Dark Side of Nearby Galaxies |
| Name: |
Dr. Mary Murimi |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Mexico |
| Project Title: |
Nutrition Education Intervention for the prevention of type 2 diabetes in the Texas-Mexican
border |
| Name: |
Dr. Shaikh Rahmn |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Japan |
| Project Title: |
Blueberry (Vaccinium Virgatum Aiton) Leaf Extract Reduces Macrophage Activation and
Atherogenesis |
| Name: |
Dr. Kanika Batra |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: English |
| Country of interest: |
Tunisia |
| Project Title: |
Workshop on African Islamic Feminism |
| Name: |
Dr. Marcos Sanchez-Plata |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources: Animal & Food Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Colombia |
| Project Title: |
Understanding the Effect of Production Systems and Post-Harvest Antimicrobial Interventions
on the Poultry Meath Microbial Ecosystem and Pathogen Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns
in Colombia |
| Name: |
Dr. Peter Barta |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures |
| Country of interest: |
Italy |
| Project Title: |
Revisiting Hippocrates and Galan |
| Name: |
Dr. Kent Wilkinson |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Media & Communication: Journalism & Electronic Media |
| Country of interest: |
Chile |
| Project Title: |
Understanding Persuasive Messaging Through Eye-Tracking |
| Name: |
Dr. Roxie Godfrey |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Family & Consumer Sciences Education |
| Country of interest: |
Malta |
| Project Title: |
An International Study of Family and Consumer Sciences/Home Economics student teacher
stages of concern teaching FCS/HE literacies and integrating eLearning and mobile
technologies |
| Name: |
Dr. Wilhelmina Theron |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
South Africa |
| Project Title: |
Cardiovascular Risk Markers and Genetic Polymorphisms in Black South African Children
Aged 6-18 Years Old. |
| Name: |
Dr. Tigga Kingston |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Biology |
| Country of interest: |
Malaysia |
| Project Title: |
Ecological Evaluation of a Mixed Agroforestry System in the Bornean Highlands |
2016 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. Naima Moustaid-Moussa |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Project Title: |
Mechanisms Meditating Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Metabolic
Disorders: Role of Lipid Mediators and microRNAs |
| Name: |
Dr. Wilna Oldewage-Theron |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
South Africa |
| Project Title: |
The role of human adenoviruses in obesity in South Africa |
| Name: |
Dr. Brenda Ariba Zarhari |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Ghana |
| Project Title: |
Harnessing baobab in addressing iron deficiency anemia in Ghana |
| Name: |
Dr. Barbara Hahn |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: History |
| Project Title: |
Plague, Public Health, and Port Cities in the Third Pandemic |
| Name: |
Dr. Cristina Bradatan |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work |
| Project Title: |
Governing the commons: irrigation, drought and community structure |
| Name: |
Dr. Sandra Diamond |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Biological Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Cuba |
| Project Title: |
Exploring the Use of Spatial Statistics to Progress Shark Conservation in Cuba |
| Name: |
Dr. Jennifer Vanos |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Geosciences |
| Country of interest: |
Mexico |
| Project Title: |
Building Resilience for Climate and Weather Extremes in US-Mexico Border Cities |
| Name: |
Dr. Mary Murimi |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Bangladesh |
| Project Title: |
Effect of maternal and child diet on childhood undernutrition in rural Bangladesh |
| Name: |
Dr. David Sand |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Physics |
| Project Title: |
Discovering the Smallest and Most Dark Matter Dominated Galaxies in the Universe |
| Name: |
Dr. Yunjuan Luo |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Media & Communication: Journalism & Electronic Media |
| Country of interest: |
China |
| Project Title: |
eHealth literacy in China: Assessment of eHealth literacy levels among senior Chinese
citizens |
| Name: |
Dr. Sung-Wook Kwon |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Political Science |
| Project Title: |
Investigating Sustainability Actions in Korean Local Governments |
| Name: |
Dr. Marc Lochbaum & Dr. Jennifer Vanos |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Kinesiology & Sports Management |
| Project Title: |
A Cross-Cultural Collaboration for Validating Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity
(MVPA) Games for Children and Youth |
| Name: |
Dr. Fethi A. Inan |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Education: Educational Psychology & Leadership |
| Project Title: |
Data Mining Application in Online Educational Data |
| Name: |
Dr. Hyojung Cho |
| Academic college and department: |
Museum of Texas Tech University |
| Country of interest: |
Afghanistan |
| Project Title: |
Museum-to- Museum of Afghanistan |
| Name: |
Dr. Mary Murimi |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Kenya |
| Project Title: |
Investigating the drivers of food choices associated with health communication in
Kenya |
| Name: |
Dr. Costica Bradtan |
| Academic college and department: |
Honors College |
| Project Title: |
Philosophy of Everyday Life |
2015 Seed Grants
Selected Projects
| Name: |
Dr. Guillermo Arraya |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Engineering: Mechanical Engineering |
| Country of interest: |
Norway |
| Project Title: |
Collaborative research: Assessment of high winds in North Norway via the WRF model
for wind energy applications |
| Name: |
Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Human Development & Family Studies |
| Country of interest: |
Colombia (South America) |
| Project Title: |
HIV knowledge, Sexual Behaviors, and HIV-Hepatitis C Coinfections among Young Injection
Drug Homeless Users in Colombia: Training for Prevention |
| Name: |
Dr. William Lan |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Education: Educational Psychology and Leadership |
| Country of interest: |
China and/or Thailand |
| Project Title: |
Cross-cultural comparisons on factors and strategies related to successful aging and
life satisfaction |
| Name: |
Dr. David Lawver |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources: Agricultural Education and Communications |
| Country of interest: |
Kenya |
| Project Title: |
Developing the Capacity of Middle-Level Tertiary Education Systems:
Entrepreneurship Education, Community-Based Agricultural Extension Workforce Development,
and Institutional Leadership and Change Management |
| Name: |
Dr. Naima Moustaid-Moussa |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Sri Lanka |
| Project Title: |
Biomarkers for Mechanism Responsible for Insulin Resistance in South Asian
Adults |
| Name: |
Dr. Mary Murimi |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Human Sciences: Nutritional Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Kenya |
| Project Title: |
Empowering Women by improving health literacy level, food insecurity, and
reducing maternal and child malnutrition among low income rural populations through
nutritional education. |
| Name: |
Dr. Sohyun Park |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources: Landscape Architecture |
| Country of interest: |
South Korea |
| Project Title: |
Evaluating Trans-boundary Landscapes for Ecosystem Services in Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ) in Korea |
| Name: |
Dr. Jorge Salazar- Bravo |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Biological Sciences |
| Country of interest: |
Brazil |
| Project Title: |
Multiple dimensions of host-pathogen biodiversity: Rodents, virus in South
American habitats |
| Name: |
Dr. David Sand |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Arts & Sciences: Physics |
| Country of interest: |
United Kingdom (primary), South Africa, Australia |
| Project Title: |
Measuring Supermassive Black Hole Masses Near and Far with a Global Network of Robotic
Telescopes |
| Name: |
Dr. David Weindorf |
| Academic college and department: |
College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources: Plant and Soil Science |
| Country of interest: |
Romania |
| Project Title: |
Proximal sensor assessment of urban pollution: Synthesis of environmental and public
health record data, Baia Mare, Romania |
