Proposals Funded 2007
2007 Full Proposals
Groupscope: Instrumenting Research on Interaction Networks in Complex Social Contexts
Principal Investigators: Feniosky Pena-Mora, CEEScott Poole, NCSA/Speech Communications
Co-Investigators: Peter Bajcsy, NCSA
Nosh Contractor, Northwestern University
Dorothy Espelage, Education
Margaret Fleck, Computer Science
David Forsyth, Computer Science
Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, ECE
Caroline Haythornthwaite, GSLIS
Klara Nahrstedt, Computer Science
Michael Pratt, Business Administration
Groupscope brings together 11 investigators from eight campus units and five colleges who propose to develop technologies to understand social interactions with a fidelity that enables break through social research. The project will employ advanced computing applications and technologies to capture, annotate, and analyze group interaction networks in complex social contexts. These technologies will address a major challenge faced by researchers studying the socio-economic consequences of decisions made by individuals acting in groups – the inability to collect high resolution, high quality, high volume interaction network data necessary to test and extend the science of group interaction networks. This complex methodology will implement sophisticated never-before-used models for interaction analysis which will enable researchers to contribute significant theoretical insights and practical applications in diverse yet socially significant areas such as disaster response and adolescent deviancy.
Networked Environmental Sonic-Toolkits for Exploratory Research (NESTER) Project
Principal Investigator: J. Stephen Downie, GSLIS
Co-Investigators: Mike Ward, INHS
David Enstrom, INHS
Loretta Auvil, ALG, NCSA
David Tcheng, ALG, NCSA
Brian Heidrorn, GSLIS
The Networked Environmental Sonic-Toolkits for Exploratory Research (NESTER) will bring together independent research threads to form the foundation for a new, cross-domain, high-impact, bio-acoustic research collaboration. NESTER is comprised of three inter-related components that include: environmental biology, technology development, and community building. Using remotely gathered Cardinalis cardinalis vocalization data (i.e., bird songs) campus experts in bio-acoustics, music/audio processing, and distributed data mining will develop a suite of open-source networked environmental sonic-toolkit prototypes. Ultimately, NESTER has the potential to establish a new global bio-acoustics infrastructure that will revolutionize environmental biology research and the way that members of the research community interact with raw data, research results, and each other.
Psychological Disorders on Campus: Exercise Effects on Symptoms, Academic Performance, and Social Integration
Principal Investigator: Edward McAuley, Kinesiology & Community Health
Co-Investigators: David Strauser, Disability Research Institute
Kimberly Collins, Disability Research Institute
Robert Motl, Kinesiology & Community Health
This project proposes a novel, behavioral, interdisciplinary approach to treating an escalating problem on college campuses; the increasing prevalence of psychological disorders among undergraduate students and the resultant influence on social, interpersonal, and academic performance. This will be accomplished using a randomized controlled pilot trial examining the effectiveness of an internet-delivered physical activity counseling intervention as an adjunct to standard counseling care in reducing psychological symptoms and improving academic performance and social involvement.
Understanding Fundamental Material-Degradation Processes in High Temperature Aggressive Chemomechanical Environments
Principal Investigator: Petros Sofronis, Mechanical Science and Engineering
Co-Investigators: Andrew Gewirth, Chemistry
Huseyin Sehitoglu, Mechanical Science and Engineering
Ian Robertson, Materials Science and Engineering
Securing sustainable energy sources is essential to our future economic development and security. Materials development is a critical enabling technology for the next generation of energy production systems. Scientists must acquire an understanding, at the atomistic and molecular level, of the degradation and failure processes of materials subjected to various stressors including extreme temperature and pressure cycling. This project aims to reveal the fundamental physicochemical and mechanical mechanisms governing material degradation at elevated temperatures in extremely corrosive environments. The project team will work to develop predictive models to test new design strategies that will produce materials that possess high toughness, high strength, low species permeability and ductile protective oxide scales.
2007 Planning Proposals
Multiscale Chemical Imaging (MuSCI): Combining Multichannel Scanning Force
Principal Investigator: Rohit Bhargava, BioengineeringCo-Investigators: Paul Scott Carney, Electrical and Computer Engineering
William Paul King, Mechanical Science and Engineering
Nanoscale structure is commonly determined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) while chemical analyses are routinely performed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. MuSCI aims to combine the best benefits of these two established technologies in order to provide a practical instrument that can be used in numerous scientific investigations. Project activities involve designing and theoretically modeling unconventional probes using optical theory and a novel model for multi-tip interaction.
Center for Sport and Consumer Culture
Principal Investigator: C.L. Cole, Advertising/Gender and Women’s Studies
Co-Investigators: Amy Aidman, Institute for Communications Research
Nancy Benson, Journalism
Norman Denzin, Institute for Communications Research/Advertising
Michael Giardina, Advertising
Cameron McCarthy, Educational Policy Studies
Sarah Projansky, Gender and Women’s Studies/Cinema Studies
Synthia Sydnor, Kinesiology and Community Health
This project lays the groundwork to establish a Center for Sport and Consumer Culture which will coordinate and promote collaborative research and creative endeavors, instruction, workshops, conferences, media presentations and publications that will explore how changes in media and advertising have impacted the way that sport is delivered, consumed, and experienced across the globe. Not only will the group work to incorporate sport-related phenomena into the College of Communications’ curriculum but they will also facilitate forward-thinking scholarship that advances widespread understanding of sport, promotional culture, and social issues in the global context.
The Science of ConflictSpace: The Spatial Analysis of Conflict
Principal Investigator: Colin Flint, Geography
Co-Investigators: Paul Diehl, Political Science
John Vasquez, Political Science
Jurgen Scheffran, ACDIS
Luc Anselin, Geography
Paul Schroeder, History
ConflictSpace will address the question of how conflicts spread from localized disputes to become regional or even global wars. Campus expertise in geography, political science, complexity science, and history will contribute to advancing the scientific study of the diffusion of conflict and will position UIUC as the global leader in this emerging field. ConflictSpace modeling will integrate the physical contiguity of states with the position of states within networks of economic, political, and cultural exchanges to explain when and why states choose to enter an ongoing conflict. A conference of scholars will be convened to discuss state-of-the-art spatial analysis of conflict and to provide feedback on the ConflicSpace model and associated data analysis techniques.