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Food safety, refugee integration among studies earning IU President's International Research Fund grants

• Jan. 17, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has awarded four faculty members with the inaugural round of funding from IU’s President’s International Research Fund. The new program sponsors international collaborative research projects that engage one or more of IU’s Global Gateways and the communities they serve.

The recipients of grants in the first round of program funding are:

• Kan Shao, assistant professor of environmental health in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, for a case study of inorganic arsenic in rice. This is a serious problem in China because rice is the most important staple food, and soil and water have been contaminated.
• Faridah Pawan, professor of literacy, culture and language education in the IU School of Education at Bloomington, for “English language education and teacher preparation among Chinese minority populations.” The project’s goal is to explore national and regional language education policies and how these are reflected in the preparation of in-service English language teachers.
• Alvin Rosenfeld, professor of Jewish studies and English, director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, for a study to provide a basis for recommendations for policy-makers, educators, and local, regional and national agencies that make decisions about accepting and integrating refugees from Syria.
• Steven Mannheimer, professor of media arts and science in the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, for a partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi. Mannheimer will work with teachers and students from two schools for the blind, one in India and one in Indiana, to develop and test new tactile and audio graphic strategies that better align with the ways that blind and visually impaired students experience the world, with the goal of enhancing their classroom learning.

"Indiana University's ever-expanding Global Gateway Network, including its offices in China, Europe and India, is increasingly creating new opportunities for IU's community of scholars to conduct top-flight research in the most politically, culturally and economically dynamic regions of the world," McRobbie said. "Through the President's International Research Fund, we aim to provide IU faculty with additional avenues to new and exciting partnerships and collaborations, as well as access to key resources they need to effectively pursue their research into important issues impacting our planet."

IU’s three Global Gateways in China, Europe and India strengthen and broaden IU’s global engagement through support for research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad opportunities, and engagement with alumni, businesses and nongovernmental organizations.

The President’s International Research Fund provides up to $50,000 per year for projects that make full use of one or more gateway to facilitate valuable research collaborations.

“This new research fund demonstrates IU and President McRobbie’s deep commitment to investing in innovative research collaborations, whether at home or abroad,” said Fred Cate, IU vice president for research.