Noteworthy: Research grants, awards and publications

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 30, 2024) — The latest developments on University at Albany faculty and staff who are receiving research grants, awards and other noteworthy attention.

• A new book by Sheila Curran Bernard, associate professor in the Department of History and director of the graduate program in Public History, was featured in several recent publications. An excerpt from Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, which examines the life and lore of legendary Black folk musician Huddie Ledbetter, appears in the most recent edition of NEH’s Humanities magazine. A review was published in The Telegraph last month and reprinted on MSN.com.
• Pedro Cabán, professor in the Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies, published an article titled “The Changing Priorities of the U.S. Empire and the Fate of Puerto Rico,” which appears in the most recent issue of The Brown Journal of World Affairs.
• Public Administration PhD student Tzuhao Chen and CTG UAlbany researchers J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, G. Brian Burke, Alessandria Dey and Derek Werthmuller co-authored an article on “Characterizing Technology, Affordances, Constraints, and Coping Strategies for Information Dissemination to the Public: Insights from Emergency Messaging in US Local Governments," published in Government Information Quarterly.
• CTG UAlbany research assistants and Public Administration PhD students Tzuhao Chen, Battulga Buyannemekh, Zong-Xian Huang and Information Science PhD student Dwi Sari recently presented their research at the 25th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (dg.o 2024) in Taipei, Taiwan. Papers co-authored with CTG UAlbany researchers J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, Mila Gasco-Hernandez, Aryamala Prasad, G. Brian Burke and Derek Werthmuller are available here.
• Kristin Christodulu, clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychology and director of UAlbany’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, is principal investigator on the long-term project “A Statewide Initiative Designed to Increase Capacity of School Teams to Develop Effective Educational Programs for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.” This month, the project received $2.5 million from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to continue its work, with a focus on helping school districts build capacity to develop effective educational programs for students with autism spectrum disorder. Now in its 18th year, the project has secured $11 million in NYSED support.
• Gregory Cox, assistant professor of psychology, received the 2023 William K. Estes Early Career Award from the Society for Mathematical Psychology, which recognizes exceptional published research in the field of mathematical psychology by an early career researcher. The honor was acknowledged at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology held at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands earlier this month. Cox also recently gave a talk as part of the Psychonomic Society's "One World" Cognitive Psychology Seminar Series; watch the video recording to learn more.
• Professor of Chemistry Evgeny Dikarev has received $464,400 from the National Science Foundation to support his project “Synthesis of Heterometallic Single-Source Carbonaceous Precursors for Materials that Require a Carbon Modulation.” The work aims to develop a new method for synthesizing chemicals used to manufacture rechargeable batteries. As part of this project, the research team will engage high school and undergraduate students, to help create a pipeline of young scientists interested in pursuing chemistry research in college and as a career.
• Claudia Hernández, chief of staff to the president at UAlbany, was named a 2024 Excelencia in Education Policy Fellow. Excelencia, the nation’s premier authority on efforts to accelerate Latina and Latino student success in higher education, selected seven fellows from colleges and universities that have earned the Seal of Excelencia, a national certification for institutions that intentionally serve Latino students. As fellow, Hernández will draw on her expertise at the campus level to engage Excelencia’s policy agenda, contributing to national conversations about affordability, institutional capacity, retention and transfer, and workforce preparation to accelerate Latino student success. 
• Micki Olson, a senior research scientist at the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, was featured Monday on the Academic Minute sharing her research on risk communication around extreme heat events. The Academic Minute airs on 70 NPR-affiliated stations and features a two-and-a-half-minute segment each day from professors around the world.