Featured Awards – July 2016

‌Gerard Costa and Kaitlin Mulcahy (Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, CEHS) received a $181,500 contract from the NJ Department of Children and Families for the third year of “Project LAUNCH”, which trains providers in Essex County in evidence-based curricula that aim to enhance the caregiver-child relationship and promote emotional and relational wellness.

In addition, the Center was awarded a $334,614 supplement for “The Coordinating Center at Montclair State University (CC-MSU)” by the NJ Department of Health, Governor’s Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism. Through collaborative, multidisciplinary and reflective leadership, the Coordinating Center at Montclair State University (CC-MSU) provides research sites with support, opportunities for sharing and collaboration and ways to streamline practices to increase efficiency and to meet relevant research outcomes for persons affected by ASD. The CC-MSU includes a Principal Investigator with experience in both collaborative leadership and treatment of ASD, and also includes university partners with expertise in research and evaluation, information technology, organizational development, biostatistics, administration, and ASD clinical research and treatment. In addition, the CC-MSU benefits from the wide range of expertise within the research, training, administrative, and academic support structures at the pedagogically excellent and experientially diverse Montclair State University.

Nina Goodey (Chemistry & Biochemistry, CSAM), Katherine Herbert (Computer Science, CSAM), John Siekierka (Chemistry & Biochemistry, CSAM), Marc Kasner (Chemistry & Biochemistry, CSAM), and Jennifer Krumins (Biology, CSAM) were awarded $553,152 by the National Science Foundation for years two through five of the five-year program “Opening Pathways, Engaging, and Networking in Chemistry in Northern New Jersey (OPEN-NJ).” OPEN-NJ will award 51 $10,000 yearly scholarships to students admitted to the M.S. programs in Chemistry, Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry, and Pharmaceutical Biochemistry. The program will serve as a model for enabling Biology B.S. graduates to transition into M.S. degree programs in Chemistry and Biochemistry. The OPEN-NJ program will work together synergistically with the NECST program, headed by Dr. Herbert, in the Department of Computer Science.

Jamaal Matthews (Educational Foundations, CEHS) was awarded $150,435 by the National Science Foundation for the third year of the five-year project “How Urban Adolescents Come to Think of Themselves as Mathematicians,” which will study how African American and Latino middle and high school students construct their sense of self-identity with and in mathematics and the role that teachers play in helping to shape those self-opinions. In conjunction with this project, Matthews has developed and implemented a mentorship program in Newark, NJ based on this research. This mentorship program (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SmBNruQ4ZM) aims to support character development skills and a value of mathematics among young males of color.

‌Robert Reid and Pauline Garcia-Reid (Family and Child Studies, CEHS) were awarded $283,875–the second year of a five-year award–by the US Department of Health and Human Services/SAMHSA for “Project C.O.P.E.,” which will work to prevent substance abuse and the spread of HIV among African American and Latino youth in Paterson, NJ.