Provost’s Academic Excellence Initiative Projects Announced
Three students and two professors were awarded grants from the Provost’s Academic Excellence Initiative (PAEI) to support their projects. Initiated in 2010, the program is designed to enhance the academic experiences for Rio students.
The PAEI is part of a larger initiative to support and encourage scholarship and research among Rio’s faculty and students. Other initiatives include the Faculty Scholarship Release Time Awards, the President’s Undergraduate Student Research and Travel Grants, and the Faculty Sabbatical Awards.
According to Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. David Lawrence, in the spring 2019 semester, Rio faculty and students involved in research projects hosted the 5th Annual Research and Scholarship Exhibition, called RISE. During this exhibition, numerous students and faculty held Poster sessions, Panel presentations, Music Portfolio presentations, and performances at the all-day event.
The event allowed students from a variety of disciplines to participate, including Communication, History, English, Chemistry, Art, Music, Sports & Exercise Studies, Psychology, eSports, Radiology, Wildlife Conservation, Biology, and Social Sciences. But because of COVID-19, this was the last RISE event at Rio.
“I want to support and encourage our students and faculty to participate in research and scholarship, bring back RISE, and provide them the opportunity to display the scholarly work they’ve done,” said Dr. Lawrence.
This year’s award winners are:
Dr. John Means, Professor of Chemistry and student Grace Forrest, for the project, “The impact of neurotransmitters on substrate selective degradation of insulin and amyloid-beta by insulin-degrading enzyme.”
Dr. Wayne Rossiter, Associate Professor of Wildlife Conservation and student Emillee-Anne Ross, for the project, “Population Health Assessment of Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum).”
Dr. Rossiter and student Brandon Misner, for the project, “Modulation of fish competition by a parasite (Posthodiplostomum minimum).”
The winning teams will present their findings to the university community during the Spring 2025 term.