John Martinson Honors College faculty awarded seed grants for high-impact research projects
Purdue’s John Martinson Honors College recently announced the recipients of the 2024 “Elevating the Visibility of Research” seed grants. The funding is designed to support faculty members who have written academic books, monographs and high-impact review papers. The grants aim to enhance the visibility and impact of faculty research across a variety of disciplines, empowering scholars to expand their work’s reach and foster broader public engagement.
Honors College faculty members whose innovative projects have been selected for funding include:
- Kristen Bellisario: clinical assistant professor, faculty fellow with Center for Global Soundscapes, director of HiFi Research Generator
- Muiris MacGiollabhuí: clinical assistant professor, director of the JMHC Honors Mentor Program
- Lindsay Weinberg: clinical associate professor, director of the Tech Justice Lab
- Katie Jarriel: clinical associate professor, director of C3 Research Generator
- Adam Watkins: clinical associate professor, assistant dean for Leadership Development
- Elizabeth Brite: clinical associate professor, associate head of Academic Affairs
Through the seed grants, the Honors College continues its commitment to fostering academic excellence and encouraging impactful research that resonates within and beyond the university community.
Recipients of the 2024 “Elevating the Visibility of Research” seed grants are shown. From left to right: Kristen Bellisario, Muiris MacGiollabhuí, Lindsay Weinberg, Katie Jarriel, Adam Watkins and Elizabeth Brite.
“The Soundtrack of Wilderness”
Kristen Bellisario’s monograph “The Soundtrack of Wilderness” explores the impact of modern noise on natural soundscapes through the perspective of a female naturalist.
“The once-clear calls of wildlife are obscured by the barrage of progress, leaving a contrast between the melodies of the wild and the noise of human advancement,” shares Bellisario.
Her monograph raises awareness about the significance of natural soundscapes and the often-overlooked field of acoustic ecology. By making this subject accessible to a wide audience, Bellisario encourages readers to appreciate and protect nature’s acoustic dimension.
“By identifying gaps in current research and proposing new areas of investigation, the book paves the way for future studies in acoustic ecology and environmental science,” she explains.
Bellisario notes that her work will contribute to soundscape ecology, using a personal narrative from places she’s visited or researched.
“I hope to inspire a new generation of naturalists who love the natural world as much as I do,” she shares.
“Disunited Irishmen: The Transnational History of the United Irishmen, 1791-1827”
Muiris MacGiollabhuí’s book, “Disunited Irishmen: The Transnational History of the United Irishmen, 1791-1827,” examines the exile and revolutionary aspirations of the United Irishmen, a group of Irish revolutionaries forced out of Ireland by British authorities following their failed 1798 rebellion.
His purpose is twofold: to explore the international implications of their exile and to delve into what it means to be a revolutionary during the “Age of Revolution.”
“The reframing of the United Irishmen as international revolutionaries positions Irish history within the broad expanses of world history,” explains MacGiollabhuí. “It also allows us to explore how traditional categories of radicalism can mask how variable revolutionaries could be on matters of class, race and gender.”
By focusing on the history of the United Irishmen as both Protestants and Catholics, united in an anti-colonial struggle, the author offers a more complex narrative of collaboration between groups historically seen as enemies.
“History is more complicated than that,” MacGiollabhuí explains. “Engaging in these histories offers a way to imagine shared histories maintaining an era of peace between both communities today.”
MacGiollabhuí intends the book to reach a broad audience, including general readers interested in Irish history and academic scholars of Irish revolutionary ideology. He highlights the book's relevance to contemporary Irish society, as the themes of collective memory and cultural identity have far-reaching impacts.
“Not all knowledge is created in the university,” notes MacGiollabhuí. “I want as many people engaging with the book as possible, inside and outside of academia.”
“AI and the Future of Academic Labor”
In “AI and the Future of Academic Labor,” Lindsay Weinberg explores the transformation of faculty work under the growing influence of algorithmic management in U.S. universities. Her book offers a critical examination of emerging trends, examining the role of AI and its effect on academic freedom.
“Academic labor is increasingly managed through algorithmic technologies that intensify administrative surveillance and apply business logics that undermine academic workers’ rights and wellbeing,” explains Weinberg. “Currently, U.S. universities are being restructured around the production of digital data.”
Weinberg shares that this restructuring goes hand-in-hand with the quantification of faculty labor — including citation counts, impact factors and performance metrics.
She hopes her work inspires academic workers to hone strategies for resisting AI-enabled tools that undermine freedom, increase exploitation and intensify precarity. Her target audience includes higher education workers and science and technology studies scholars, but she hopes to provide a roadmap for workers in other sectors.
“Critical studies of education have a great deal to learn from science and technology studies,” shares Weinberg. “Higher education literature would benefit from more critical perspectives on technology.”
Weinberg is excited to build on her prior research for “Smart University: Student Surveillance in the Digital Age,” another work funded by the Elevating the Visibility of Research grant.
“A Review of Teamwork Training in Higher Education: Elevating an Essential Twenty-First Century Skill”
Adam Watkins and Katie Jarriel identified teamwork as the top work trend in the world. Their article, “A Review of Teamwork Training in Higher Education: Elevating an Essential Twenty-First Century Skill,” evaluates where educators succeed in teaching teamwork and identifies areas for improvement.
Their research includes developing a video game with an undergraduate student team to help “level up” students’ collaboration skills, since teamwork is an essential skill sought in new college graduates.
“In designing the video game, we realized the need to systematically review how educators teach teamwork to college students, what new teaching practices have been developed and how students can transfer skills from classroom collaboration to real life,” shares Watkins.
While teamwork is something that instructors often expect from students through group projects, Watkins explains questions remain about whether students are learning to work effectively in teams.
“We want to empower educators to teach teamwork using approaches that are deliberate, exciting and constructive, rather than expecting collaboration to automatically lead to better collaborators,” explains Jarriel.
The team’s research is particularly relevant at Purdue, which focuses on preparing students for graduation and for the 21st century. Jarriel and Watkins express their excitement about collaborating with an undergraduate student team to design their video game.
“Good collaboration is as important a research process as it is a research subject,” shares Jarriel.
“The Khorezmian ‘Pivot’ in the Lowland Aral Sea Basin and its Implications for Climate Change and World History”
In “The Khorezmian ‘Pivot’ in the Lowland Aral Sea Basin and its Implications for Climate Change and World History,” Elizabeth Brite delves into the intricate relationship between climate change and human history in Asia, through the lens of the Aral Sea Basin.
“Just because the historical and climate records align doesn’t mean they explain human experiences and responses,” explains Brite. “Correlation is not causation.”
Brite’s interest lies in studying the interaction between well-known historical events — like the Mongolian invasions in the 13th century — and the intricacies of improved climate change data.
She hopes that her work will increase nuanced thinking about relating climate data to historical events. Brite also wants to help reveal and utilize often-overlooked legacy research done by Soviet researchers in the 20th century.
“I love the ways that my research area in archaeology makes it possible to speak across the ‘two cultures,’” shares Brite. “I can help scientists to think more complexly about the humanities, and vice versa.”
To learn more about the seed grant funding, interested faculty members should visit the Office of Research’s website pages regarding academic books and monographs and high-impact review papers .
Mina Reising
Senior Communication Assistant for Teaching and Learning, tlcoms@purdue.edu