The Faculty Competition for Graduate Research Assistantships is designed to encourage the development of new directions in Ph.D. training in leading edge research and scholarship, to facilitate graduate and undergraduate participation in collaborative, multi-disciplinary projects, to enhance the university’s ability to obtain extramural training grants, to facilitate strategic plan-driven initiatives in Ph.D. research/training, and to assist faculty recruitment and retention efforts.

The following faculty members were selected to receive Graduate Research Assistants for the listed projects through the 2007-2008 Faculty Competition for Graduate Research Assistantships:

Gregory Auner, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Novel Combinatorial Sensing and Imaging of Neural Activity with Nanosystems

Ivan Avrutsky, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nanoscale Photonic Circuits

Alexander Benderskii, Chemistry, Nonlinear Spectroscopies of Surfaces, Interfaces, and Nanostructured Materials

Karen Beningo, Biological Sciences, Defining the Tyrosine Phyosphorylation Targets of Calpains 1, 2 and 4 Responsible for the Production of Traction Forces and Mechanical Sensing in Fibroblasts

Cynthia Bir, Biomedical Engineering, Blast Induced Neurotrama

Kevin Deegan-Krause, Political Science, The Comparative Study of Political Cleavages

Ming Dong, Computer Science, Brain Tumor Informatics: Visualization and Mining of High-order Heterogeneous Data

Steven Firestine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, DNA Binding Agents as Potent Antibiotics against Methicillin-resistant and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Faith Hopp, Social Work, Barriers and Facilitators to Advanced Heart Failure Care in Urban Settings

Jing Hua, Computer Science, A Computational Modeling and Statistical Learning Framework for Brain Disorder Study

Rangaramanujam Kannan, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Dendrimer-based Nanodevices for Targeted Ocular Drug Delivery

Gregory Kapatos, Pharmacology, Epigenomics of Human Cocaine Addiction

Hyeong-Reh Kim, Pathology, Platlet-Derived Growth Factor Signaling and Prostate Cancer

Stephen Krawetz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Determining the Fate of the Gamete Genome

Shiyong Lu, Computer Science, Scientific Workflow Approach to Biological Simulations

Guangzhao Mao, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Phage Coatings for the Development of Bacterial Biosensors

Larry Matherly, Pharmacology, Karmanos Cancer Institute NOTCH1 Signaling and Therapy of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children

Bharati Mitra, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Investigating the Basis of Mental Selectivity of a Metal Transporter

Karen Myhr, Biological Sciences, Gene Expression Profiling of Sensory Neurons Sorted by the Novel Live FISH Technique

K. Y. Simon Ng, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Alternative Energy Technology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Fuel Cell Technology for Automotive Applications

Mary Kay Pflum, Chemistry, Development of Novel Mass Spectrometry-based Methods to Monitor Protein Phosphorylation

Barry Rosen, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Protein-Protein Interactions by an Arsenic Detoxifying Enzyme

Weisong Shi, Computer Science, In-Site Psychosocial Stress Information Collection Using Body Area Wireless Sensor Networks

Bonnie Sloane, Pharmacology, Proteolytic Pathways in the Conversion of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ to Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

Chin-An Tan, Mechanical Engineering, Power Harvesting for Wireless Implantable Biosensors

James Tucker, Biological Sciences, Alternative Splicing as a Switch in Regulation of Apoptosis upon Radiation Exposure

Pamela VandeVord, Biomedical Engineering, Nanotopography Can Mediate Cell Adhesion and the Inflammatory Response to Neural Microelectrodes

Patrick Woster, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Small-Molecule Inhibition of Aspartyl Proteases as a Therapeutic Strategy: Establishment of a WSU Collaborative Drug Discovery Group