RESEARCH CATALYST GRANT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Dr. Zuyi (Jacky) Huang
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Dr. Venkat Margapuri
Department of Computer Science

Project Title: An AI-Driven Mobile App for Analyzing and Visualizing Antimicrobial Resistance Data in Foodborne Pathogens for Stakeholders

The proposal aims to develop advanced artificial intelligence techniques to analyze antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data from the NCBI Pathogen Isolate Browser, with the focus on foodborne pathogens in U.S. farm animals. By identifying spatiotemporal patterns of AMR gene transfer, the project will provide valuable insights into the spread of resistance genes across regions and animal hosts. The findings will be visualized through the “Nova-AMR-Insights” mobile application, making real-time data accessible to key stakeholders, such as veterinarians, ranchers, and policymakers. The project will contribute to improving antimicrobial stewardship in agriculture by offering tools for decision-making that minimize overuse of antimicrobials. The team’s interdisciplinary expertise in genomic data analysis, artificial intelligence, and app development ensures the successful creation of this app. In the long term, the platform will expand globally, offering a scalable solution to combat AMR and contributing to public health and food safety. The development of this app also opens new opportunities for collaboration with industry and government agencies, reinforcing Villanova University’s leadership in AIdriven solutions for global challenges.

Dr. Lisa Marco-Bujosa
Department of Education

Dr. Steven Goldsmith
Department of Geography and the Environment

Dr. Kabindra Shakya
Department of Geography and the Environment

Project Title: A Place-based Research Experience for Urban Science Teachers: Integrating Environmental Justice in Secondary Science Education

Many of the most pressing global, national, and regional current events are related to the environment, including climate change, food insecurity, and other public health issues. Urban settings are disproportionately impacted by these and other environmental issues, such as water, air, and soil contamination. Yet, urban communities have a higher representation of economically disadvantaged and racially minoritized residents that are vastly underrepresented in the environmental fields tasked with remedying these issues. Enhancing environmental education is essential to making the social, scientific, economic, and political changes necessary to remediate current and future environmental issues. Yet, the secondary science teaching workforce is ill-prepared to address the environmental literacy goals for all students, especially for those in urban school districts. Students in urban schools have fewer opportunities to take geoscience coursework than their suburban and rural counterparts and are more likely to be taught by less experienced, out of field, and emergency certified teachers, all leading to inequities in student access to high quality environmental science learning opportunities. An interdisciplinary team consisting of faculty from the Villanova University Departments of Education and Counseling (EDUC; MarcoBujosa) and Geography and the Environment (GEV; Goldsmith & Shakya) propose to create a more agentic and connected environmental science learning experience by enhancing the content knowledge and pedagogy of local teachers through an authentic place-based research experience alongside high school students. The proposed research and development project draws upon the frameworks of environmental justice and placebased education to provide meaningful opportunities for secondary science teachers in Philadelphia to gain knowledge of: 1) environmental pollution affecting residents of the city; 2) environmental geochemistry research techniques; 3) instructional design techniques to develop and implement their own place-based environmental geochemistry units; and 4) students’ capacity to do science research and take social action. The project will achieve this goal through the following two-pronged approach: (1) engaging teachers as researchers in the Villanova Environmental Geochemistry Summer Institute (VEGSI) – a summer program for high school students to engage in in urban environmental geochemistry (e.g., environmental science) research with Villanova faculty and undergraduates – and (2) providing sustained support for teachers to modify and implement an environmental justice mini-module about air, water, or soil with their students.

Dr. Alyssa Stark
Department of Biology

Dr. Gang Feng
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Scott Dietrich
Department of Physics

Project Title: Exploration and Development of a New Bio-inspired Underwater Adhesive

The U.S. Adhesives and Sealants market is estimated to be worth ca. $8 billion USD in 2021, with a growth rate of near 5% expected from 2022- 2030. Adhesives are used in a remarkable range of industrial applications, including but not limited to medicine, manufacturing, packaging, construction, and consumer use (e.g., super glue, tapes). While specialty adhesives, like underwater adhesives, take up a smaller portion of the market, the design and functionality of these adhesives can be used in nearly all markets. Our project challenges current synthetic adhesive limitations around surface priming and adhesive application in air by identifying a new biological model – sea urchins - that can apply a strong adhesive underwater on rough and dirty substrates repeatedly and with a level of plasticity that can be used to develop a “smart” (i.e., tunable) underwater adhesive.
 

Dr. Rachel Skrlac Lo
Department of Counseling and Education

Dr. Thomas Ksiazek
Department of Communication

Project Title: What’s Partisan about Education Journalism?: Exploring News Coverage of Literacy Education

A tidal wave of state laws has affected literacy education in elementary schools since 2021. Public schools in over 80% of states are impacted by new policies: In just three years, 39 states passed laws mandating a specific reading curriculum in elementary education and 42 states have removed books from public schools due to challenges or proposals to pass legislation to support systematic banning. Given the speed and scope of implementation affecting most students in public schools—and lack of research to support these new policies—studying public discourses related to reading curriculum and book bans is warranted. This study is the first step in a long-term project that aims to remove critical barriers to public understanding of literacy education. Our overarching question is: How is national news presenting these debates on reading instruction and book bans? Leveraging interdisciplinary expertise in literacy, news media, and media effects, we examine public discourses about literacy education through a focus on national news coverage on the topic from 2021 to 2023. To address this, during the period of the Research Catalyst Grant, we will deploy a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative analysis of language patterns, via a Literacy Education language model, with a qualitative analysis of people, infographics, and additional footage. The results will include a “map” of national discourses about literacy education and a refined analytic language model. In future phases of this project, these will be used to extend research across media platforms in order to improve knowledge of how education journalism affects public understanding of literacy education.