FARE Mutual Mentoring Grant

Team: 

• Dr. Yeil Kwon (PI), Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics

• Dr. Mai Dao, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics

• Dr. Maggie Ward, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

• Dr. Terri Shill, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing 

Project Summary: This project will foster collaboration between faculty members of the School of Nursing and the Department of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics. Nursing faculty often struggle with advanced data analysis due to limited resources and mentorship in statistical methodologies. At the same time, statistics faculty frequently lack access to real-world clinical data for applied research and development of new statistical methods. By forming an interdisciplinary mentoring team, we will address these challenges through three strategic goals over the next year: 1) Submission of a co-authored manuscript of specific quantitative research, as a foundation for future grant development, 2) sponsorship of an intensive data analysis workshop for graduate nursing students twice a year, and 3) development of two to three data analysis modules to integrate into the graduate nursing curriculum. 

 

Team: 

• Dr. Mai Dao, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics  
• Dr. Lokesh Das, Assistant Professor, School of Computing  
• Dr. Arun-Kaarthick Manoharan, Assistant Teaching Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering  
• Dr. Fujian Yan, Assistant Teaching Professor, School of Computing 

Project Summary: Complex modern problems, such as the one we propose tackling—enhancing community resilience through autonomous, AI-enabled power line inspection—demand converged expertise that transcends traditional academic boundaries. The increasing integration of variable energy resources (wind, solar, battery storage) and new electric demands (data centers, electric vehicles) necessitate advanced grid observability and control to maximize the benefit of these new additions. Traditional, labor-intensive, reactive power line inspections are prone to delays, causing cascading failures during extreme weather or infrastructure degradation. We propose an alternative: unmanned aerial vehicle (drone)-based autonomous inspection to improve power grid operations. Current literature lacks comprehensive coverage of drone flight path planning, energy optimization, and context-aware inspection requirements. This research requires various expertise in power systems, AI reinforcement learning, and applied Bayesian statistics. Therefore, our collaboration will explore and develop a novel and comprehensive framework for autonomous drone-based power line inspection in Kansas. 

Team: 

• Dr. Catelin Kass, Assistant Teaching Professor, Physical Therapy 
• Dr. Jennifer James, Assistant Teaching Professor, Physical Therapy 
• Dr. Maggie Ward, Assistant Teaching Professor, Nursing 
• Dr. Shruti Kshirsagar, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computing 

Project Summary: The goal of this project is to develop a network of researchers with an interest in prospective surveillance and health adherence behaviors of cancer survivors. We plan to use and explore software for ecological momentary assessment (EMA). EMA is a survey methodology that prompts participants for daily tracking of health behaviors in the moments they would typically occur. It has a strong evidence base in patients attempting to quit smoking, lose weight, and recover from chronic mental health concerns. Our group has an interest in providing holistic support to cancer survivors, and we intend to use this grant to purchase EMA software and develop a pilot program and generate data. We will then work as a group, pooling our expertise, to analyze the data we collect on health adherence behaviors in cancer survivors and use this preliminary data to develop ideas for future studies, building a strong partnership across research disciplines for development of future studies and grant proposals. 

Team: 

• Yuanyuan Gao, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering 
• Erin O'Bryan, Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders 
• Nils Hakansson, Professor, Biomedical Engineering 
• Quan Lei, Assistant Professor, Psychology 

Project Summary: We propose to establish a Neuroimaging Journal Club on campus to address a key mentoring challenge: fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers interested in utilizing existing neuroimaging technology and developing new neuroimaging approaches. Neuroimaging is a powerful, versatile technology used to study brain function across diverse fields, including engineering, data science, health professions (e.g., aphasia, autism, ADHD, stroke), cognitive science, and psychology. However, one of the major barriers to collaboration is that researchers in these fields are spread across multiple departments. This separation limits opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange, making it challenging to form collaborative research teams. This mutual mentoring model will benefit all participants by creating an interdisciplinary research community, expanding collaborative opportunities, and advancing neuroimaging research on campus. 

 

Team:  

• Jason Allen, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing 
• Susan V.H. Castro, Associate Professor of Philosophy 
• Alyssa Lynne-Joseph (PI), Assistant Professor of Sociology  
• Trevor R. Nelson, Assistant Professor of Musicology 

Project Summary: WSU faculty in tenure-track or tenured positions must actively publish research or produce creative works. While a number of resources exist at the departmental and college levels for publishing journal articles or shorter format peer-reviewed works, there are fewer resources oriented towards longer-term projects like books. This team will establish a support network for faculty who aim to publish book-length works such as academic monographs, anthologies, or novels. As detailed in this proposal, the mutual mentoring grant will promote the creation of this network by funding a dedicated writing group for faculty, as well as contracting outside speakers with expertise in publishing book-length works to present or hold workshops for WSU faculty across campus. 

 

Team: 

• Jennifer Thornberry, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
• Elizabeth Tew, Director of Clinical Education, Assistant Teaching Professor & Simulation Coordinator, Physical Therapy
• Jennifer Sebes, Associate Teaching Professor, School of Nursing
• Justin Smith, Assistant Professor, Physical Therapy 

Project Summary: The goal of this project is to integrate interprofessional education (IPE) between Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students and Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students, while at the same time evaluating student clinical competency and readiness of students to do clinical rotations. First, an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) simulation activity will be developed and facilitated with students in the fall of 2025. This type of activity requires faculty to hire and train community members to act as patients in a clinical setting. There will be several clinical stations with different actors and scenarios. Teams consisting of both DNP and DPT students will work through the various scenarios to interview, examine, and develop treatment plans for the patients while learning from each other about their respective fields. The process will be evaluated through surveys of students, faculty, and participating standardized patients. Outcomes on learning through student scores, student confidence, and process facilitation will be measured.