First Year Research Awards are scholarships designed to match outstanding students with Wittenberg’s award-winning faculty. Students selected for First Year Research awards will work closely with a faculty member while pursuing exciting research opportunities in the first year at Wittenberg.
The First Year Research Awards are for $2,000 ($1,000 per semester) for the student’s first year only. This is a non-renewable award. Students can only receive one First Year Research Award and one will be awarded per area listed below. First Year Research Awards can be combined with other Special Interest Awards.
- Deadline: February 15
Students must be admitted to Wittenberg prior to submitting a First Year Research Award application. When clicking the link to apply for an award, please log in using your Wittenberg Admission Portal username and password.
Nursing, Professor Marie Bashaw
Recipient will assist Dr. Marie Bashaw in her research on educational practices to build clinical judgment in nursing students.
Biological and Environmental Sciences, Professor Kunal Chatterjee
Recipient will assist Dr. Kunal Chatterjee in his current research in the area of tRNA nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling and quality control. For more information about Dr. Chatterjee’s current research activities please visit this website.
Chemistry, Professor Kristin Cline
Recipient will assist Dr. Kristin Cline in her research working to characterize the presence and identity of microplastics in local water sources.
Education, Professor Michael Daiga
Recipients will assist Dr. Michael Daiga in his research involving experiential learning in STEM education in partnership with the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont.
Data Science, Professor Sachith Dassanayaka
Recipient will assist Dr. Sachith Dassanayaka in his current research in the areas analyzing disinformation campaigns on social media using machine learning and NLP, data visualization, machine intelligence, and computer networks and security. For more information about Dr. Sachith’s current research activities, please visit this website.
Neuroscience and Psychology, Professor Gwynne Davis
Recipient will assist Dr. Gwynne Davis in her research focused understanding the biological basis of goal-directed motivated behavior, impulse control, and habit formation.
Psychology, Professor William Davis
Recipient will assist Dr. William Davis in his research in social and personality psychology, including topics such as authenticity, and meaning in life, and well-being. For more information about Dr. Davis’ recent research interests and activities, please visit this website.
Chemistry, Professor Ray Dudek
Recipient will assist Dr. Ray Dudek in improving a thermodynamics laboratory experiment measuring flame temperatures.
Religion, Professor Kati Fitzgerald
Recipient will assist Dr Kati Fitzgerald in her ongoing research on Buddhism in American prisons.
Physics, Professor Elizabeth George
Recipient will assist Dr. Elizabeth George in her research involving positronium, an artificial “atom” consisting of an electron and a positron (the antiparticle of the electron). The goal of the research is to investigate differences between matter and anti-matter.
Nursing, Professor Stacy Gilson
Recipient will assist Professor Stacy Gilson in her research on attrition, burnout, and satisfaction in nursing and nursing education.
Business and Economics, Professor Ross Jackson
Recipient will assist Dr. Ross Jackson in his current research on management, organizational praxis, power dynamics and resistance, and business language and rhetoric.
Nursing, Professor Jessica Johnson
Recipient will assist Professor Jessica Johnson with her research on undergraduate curriculum related to the provision of healthcare for LGBTQA+ clients.
Math and Computer Science, Professor Adam Parker
Recipient will assist Dr. Adam Parker in his research implementing and assessing a new Learning Assistant (LA) program at Wittenberg.
Religion, Professor Travis Proctor
Recipient will assist Dr. Travis Proctor in his research on early Christian depictions of Jesus of Nazareth, as understood through perspectives drawn from religious studies, gender studies, and the environmental humanities.
English, Professor Marlo Starr
Recipient will assist Dr. Marlo Starr in her research which focuses on women’s poetry from the Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
Nursing, Professor Catherine Short
Recipient will assist Dr. Catherine Short in her research looking at the current image of nursing in the general population and how the general population perceives the role of nurses in healthcare as well strategies to change the nursing image to recruit more diverse populations into the nursing profession.
Biological and Environmental Sciences, Professor Timothy Swartz
Recipient will assist Dr. Timothy Swartz in his research on restoring habitats to ensure that plants and animals thrive in our forests, wetlands, and meadows. His lab is currently working to design, implement, and monitor ecological restoration activities in local natural areas. For more information about Dr. Swartz’s research activities, please visit this website.
Physics, Professor Jeremiah Williams
Recipient will assist Dr. Jeremiah Williams in the ongoing research activities of the Wittenberg University Plasma Laboratory (WUPL). The specific project will be determined based on student background and the current research priorities of the laboratory. For more information about the current research activities in the WUPL, please visit this website.