The faculty development programs offer an opportunity for faculty members to grow professionally, to remain current with developments in their disciplines, and to infuse these experiences into the classroom to enhance student learning. As illustrated below, NKU’s faculty development programs have enabled our faculty members to undertake important work in their fields, often including students in their research, and have brought renown to the university.
SABBATICAL LEAVES are granted by the University to promote the professional growth and effectiveness of the faculty. Sabbatical leaves are granted to enable recipients, based on merit, to devote additional time to scholarly activity and research, advanced study, or artistic performance—all in pursuit of academic objectives. Tenured, full-time faculty, and department chairs are eligible to apply for sabbatical leave.
SUMMER FELLOWSHIPS provide funds to support professional development during the summer months. Examples of types of activities that may be applicable include: improving teaching skills; research; scholarly writing; creative or artistic projects; preliminary studies and literature searches; and attending seminars or courses related to one’s field or professional work. Full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty may apply for a faculty summer fellowship. Each faculty member awarded a fellowship for summer 2025 received an award of $6,000.
PROJECT GRANTS provide funds to pay expenses, purchase equipment, and to cover other financial needs for sabbatical leaves, faculty summer fellowships, and for other instructional, scholarly, and creative activities where financial support is not available through department budgets. Full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty may apply for a faculty project grant not to exceed $6,000. In 2024-25, 12 faculty members completed project grants.
The projects below were undertaken from Fall 2024 through Summer 2025.
Matthew Albritton
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts Program
Samuel Cho
Associate Professor
School of Computing and Analytics
BUILDING AN INTERNET OF THINGS PLATFORM
This research project addresses key challenges in Internet of Things (IoT) application development platforms by proposing and implementing a novel IoT programming platform. Unlike conventional desktop, web, or mobile environments, IoT systems are inherently heterogeneous, requiring developers to take care of the interplay between software, hardware, and diverse communication protocols.
The project focuses on three main goals: (1) defining an Ontology based IoT programming model that provides semantic abstractions for IoT entities, their attributes, and relationships among themselves; (2) designing a scalable IoT programming framework with a modular architecture, including a core kernel and an extensible plugin system; and (3) implementing a fully functional platform. Key contributions include an IoT Ontology, an IoT query language that is working on the Ontology, and NoSQL page-based tools on Markdown, JSON, and YAML. The platform also extends and incorporates Obsidian’s knowledge management capabilities, enhanced with custom JavaScript extensions, and integrates with GitHub for collaborative knowledge sharing.
This research identifies the important role of software design in managing complex systems and identifying the relationship among IoT components. It shows that ontology-based reasoning, implemented through graph database models, allows for declarative relationship definitions and semantic search capabilities for IoT applications. The findings provide a foundation for both educational use in software engineering curricula—shifting focus towards problem-solving and architectural thinking—and for practical IoT development tools in real-world environments.
Joshua Cooper
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Advancing diatom genome research through scholarship, publication, and research collaboration.
As an evolutionary microbial ecologist specializing in diatom biology and microbial genomics, this sabbatical advanced several interconnected projects in freshwater ecology, genomics, and teaching development. In collaboration with Sanitation District 1 and undergraduate researchers, a voucher flora approach was piloted to assess water quality in Northern Kentucky streams, producing a digital reference of more than 300 diatom taxa supported by over 500 scanning electron micrographs. Research on antibiotic resistance in the Ohio and Licking Rivers yielded 94 resistant bacterial isolates, with five trimethoprim-resistant strains selected for genome sequencing. All genomes assembled as complete circular chromosomes, revealing widespread resistance determinants, several putative new species, and one isolate exhibiting resistance through an unknown mechanism. These findings are being prepared for publication. Work in microbiome bioinformatics focused on implementing functional pipelines, including HUMAnN, to analyze mouse gut microbiomes as part of an NIH-funded project. Efforts to estimate diatom genome sizes by flow cytometry proved technically challenging, but this work evolved into microbial community phenotyping, leading to a collaboration with Miltenyi Biotec. More than 200 Stephanodiscus niagarae cultures were also established from western U.S. lakes, positioning future studies to test hypotheses about genome size and speciation. Teaching and curriculum development were advanced through revisions to BIO458, the creation of 18 laboratory protocols for the new BIO474L course, and the integration of flow cytometry activities into BIO302L. Mentorship extended across NKU and multiple universities, supporting graduate students with dissertation design, statistical analysis, publications, and professional growth. Overall, the sabbatical provided the sustained focus and flexibility needed to expand research on diatom evolution, microbial ecology, and antibiotic resistance, while also producing immediate benefits for teaching and student development.
Allyson Graf
Associate Professor
Department of Psychological Science
Data Rich, Time Poor: Advancing Two Major Projects Towards Completion
The proposed sabbatical project was focused on research dissemination of past projects in the form of two manuscripts and two conference presentations. During sabbatical, I submitted three manuscripts for review (two co-authored with a recent graduate as first author and a first-author publication). Additionally, progress was also made on a fourth manuscript. I attended the Gerontological Society of America’s annual meeting in Seattle, WA (November 2024), convening a symposium, and presenting on two distinct projects. Additionally, I reworked my courses in response to AI advancements, including developing a new project for PSY 321: Lifespan Development and a new optional assignment for PSY 210R: Careers in Psychology.
Michael Hatton
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Theatre & Dance Program
Kristy Hopfensperger
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Boshra Karimi
Associate Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
| Journey Towards Precision: A Sabbatical Exploring Construction Estimating and Virtual Reality During my Spring 2025 sabbatical, I spent the semester at Messer Construction, a leading general contractor managing large-scale institutional and commercial projects such as the $400 million Children’s Hospital and the expansion of Xavier University.I engaged with professionals across multiple departments, including safety, IT, finance, estimating, Building Systems Group, and Virtual Design and Construction. By observing day-to-day operations, attending project meetings, and visiting active sites, I gained valuable insights into project management, cost estimation, risk assessment, and sustainability. These experiences highlighted opportunities to align NKU’s curriculum more closely with industry practices.A major focus was exploring Messer’s integration of emerging technologies, including drones, laser scanning, 3D printing, AR/VR, and BIM. Inspired by their innovation, I purchased a 3D printer to enhance teaching and research at NKU.A particularly rewarding aspect was reconnecting with NKU alumni and students at Messer, many of whom have advanced into leadership roles. Meeting a former student from my first NKU cohort, now leading Messer’s technology department in Charlotte, was especially meaningful. Finally, I collaborated with Messer’s leadership on strengthening their co-op program. I am developing a survey to collect student feedback, with the goal of improving both Messer’s and NKU’s internship programs.This sabbatical provided invaluable industry exposure, strengthened NKU’s relationship with Messer, and equipped me with case studies, research opportunities, and updated practices to enrich student learning and program development. |
Dhanuja Kasturiratna
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Understanding the host-pathogen interactions in chronic viral infections
This project investigated novel strategies to prevent and control chronic viral infections by advancing our understanding of innate and adaptive immune responses. Three interconnected studies were conducted. The first examined how immune dysregulation contributes to cardiovascular complications in patients with Long COVID. The second explored impact of bacterial colonization on host immunity, with a focus on developing new approaches to target Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of gonorrhea. The third investigated the role of immune cells in HIV-associated atherosclerosis, a major contributor to cardiovascular disease. In all three studies, flow cytometry of patient blood samples was used to identify unique immune cell characteristics. Data were analyzed using advanced high-dimensional methods, leading to novel insights. Collectively, this work generated three peer-reviewed publications.
Yasue Kuwahara
Professor
School of Media and Communication
Diversity and Inclusion in Japanese TV Drama
I am contracted with Bloomsbury (formerly Lexington Books) to write a monograph on diversity and inclusion in Japanese television drama. I spent the spring semester of 2025 writing two new chapters, revising previously written chapters, and finalizing the manuscript for submission. The sabbatical leave enabled me to focus intensively on completing this comprehensive scholarly work, which examines how Japanese television drama has represented diverse communities and addressed social inclusion issues over time.
Julie Mader-Meersman
Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts Program
CSS Dollhouse — A Web Design Resource for Designers and Artists
During my fall 2024 sabbatical, “CSS Dollhouse — A Web Design Resource for Designers and Artists,” I designed and built an instructional web design resource called the CSS Dollhouse (nku.edu/cssdollhouse). CSS (cascading style sheets) is a coding language that gives visual form to the web. My site exists to make it visually engaging, conceptually inspiring, and technically meaningful for designers to learn this medium. The CSS Dollhouse site was successfully incorporated into my spring 2025 interaction design classes.
While on sabbatical, I was a Maker-Creator Fellow at Delaware’s Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Earning a residency in this internationally competitive program was an extraordinary opportunity to conduct visual and historical research to inspire my web site design. The residency provided uninterrupted time and space to work on my project in a resource-rich, multi-disciplinary, academic and cultural environment where I studied rare books and objects, ephemera, architecture, and artifacts. It was an exceptionally inspiring place that greatly influenced the design of the CSS Dollhouse and allowed for the gathering of a vast bank of visual resources for use in the project and in design and typography classes. While there, I also gave a talk on my project to the University of Delaware Winterthur Program in American Material Culture community.
In May 2025, I was the featured speaker for CreativeMornings Cincinnati. In my talk about the sabbatical project, “CSS Dollhouse: A Revival in Three Parts,” I highlighted three topics: ways that creatives can spark professional renewal; the value of play in design and learning processes; and historic artifacts brought out of the preservation environment of museums, libraries, and special collections into modern tech.
Zeel Maheshwari
Associate Professor
Department of Physics, Geology, and Engineering Technology
A Comprehensive Multi-Objective Optimization Tool for Smart Integrated Renewable Energy Systems
During my sabbatical, I significantly advanced the optimization tool for Smart Integrated Renewable Energy System (SIRES). It is a decision-support tool designed to help rural communities sustainably meet essential needs such as electricity, cooking, and domestic water using renewable energy sources. A key improvement was the transition from a two-objective optimization framework using NSGA-II (minimizing Annual Cost Savings (ACS) and CO₂ emissions) to a more robust three-objective framework using NSGA-III, which additionally incorporates the Human Development Index (HDI) as a social metric. This transition not only improved solution diversity but also drastically reduced computation time—from approximately five minutes per simulation using NSGA-II to just one minute using NSGA-III. The updated NSGA-III model was benchmarked against Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) to validate its performance and efficiency. Two critical hard constraints were enforced: Loss of Power Supply Probability (LPSP) and Loss of Water Supply Probability (LWSP), ensuring system reliability. Additionally, Monte Carlo simulations were integrated to model uncertainties in domestic water, irrigation, cooking, and electricity demands. The optimization process was trained on one to two years of hourly data to incorporate seasonal variability and improve accuracy. A multi-page, user-friendly web platform was also developed to facilitate user input, system design, and global accessibility, with capabilities for adding new renewable and storage technologies. Two technical papers are currently being drafted: one detailing the optimization methods and reliability models and a second reviewing sustainable rural energy approaches. This work significantly strengthens SIRES as a globally scalable, socially responsible energy planning tool.
Cecile Marczinski
Professor
Department of Psychological Science
Longitudinal study of alcohol use in traumatic brain injury
For my sabbatical leave, I made significant progress on all three goals proposed in my application. My first goal was to prepare and submit an external NIH R16 grant. The purpose of this research grant is to examine how young adult social drinkers experience and then recover from neurocognitive and motor impairment following a mild traumatic brain injury. I was successful in writing this entire application and had planned to submit it for the deadline of May 28, 2025. Unfortunately, the request for applications was removed from the NIH website one week before the May date. The current federal administration has different priorities from the last administration and that has resulted in significant shifts in research priorities at NIH. However, I am confident that with modifications, I can submit my grant application compliant with the newly released guidelines this fall. My second goal was to prepare a manuscript that examines heavy versus light social drinkers who have and have not had a recent mild traumatic brain injury on how they differ in impulse control and other measured cognitive attributes. I made significant progress on writing this manuscript and will submit it this fall, once I receive final feedback from my student collaborator. Lastly, my third goal was to devote significant research time to better understand the literature on mild traumatic brain injuries in older adults. With devoted time to reading these publications, I perceive that there are numerous avenues of future research that I can embark on in this area.
Karen Miller
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
Bridget Nichols
Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
(A) Towards a Sustainable Future: Understanding Consumer Acceptance of Circular Products
(B) Training for & Development of Sales Analytics courses for undergraduate and MBA
programs
During my Spring 2025 sabbatical, I advanced two interrelated initiatives: a global research study on consumer acceptance of circular products, and the development of NKU’s Sales Analytics curriculum. Supported by prior project grant funding and a Visiting Scholar appointment in Italy, I successfully completed three studies investigating how product messaging and end-of-use cues influence consumer attitudes and circular behaviors. These were presented at the European Academy of Management (EURAM) in Florence and the European Research Seminar (ERS) in Verona, where the work earned a “Best in Track” award. A resulting manuscript is now under second-round review at the Journal of Business Logistics.
In tandem, I completed development of the university’s first MBA-level course in Sales Analytics. The course launched in Spring 2025 as a 5-week intensive online offering and was met with strong student engagement and highly positive feedback. This course aligns with the strategic growth of NKU’s Sales major and Sales Hub.
Additionally, I collaborated with a leading scholar in Supply Chain Management at Baylor University to develop a new research stream exploring how “Long Mile” sustainability actions by firms influence consumer delivery choices at the “Short Mile.” This promising partnership lays the groundwork for future publications and interdisciplinary grant applications.
Overall, the sabbatical provided meaningful professional renewal, international exposure, and scholarly advancement while reinforcing NKU’s strategic focus on sustainability, supply chain innovation, and data-informed sales education.
Reiko Ozaki
Associate Professor
School of Social Work
Batterer Intervention as a Part of Coordinated Community Response: A Book Project
Domestic violence (DV) is a serious global public health and social problem, encompassing physical, sexual, psychological attacks, as well as controlling tactics by one partner against the other in an intimate relationship. Japan has made progress in victim assistance since the enactment of the DV law in 2001. However, battering intervention (BI) with perpetrators and coordinated community response (CCR) remain underdeveloped. In 2023, Japan’s Gender Equality Bureau issued BI guidelines, following the examples of countries like the U.S. The proposed book explores lessons learned in the U.S. regarding victim advocacy, BI, and CCR, and suggests a reexamination of strategies for Japan. Building upon the accomplishments of the 2024 Summer Fellowship, I continued seeking a suitable publisher throughout my Sabbatical Leave. At the end of my sabbatical, I was awaiting a response from the third publisher recommended by a well-respected social work scholar. Meanwhile, I continued writing, incorporating feedback from my collaborator and the first publisher who reviewed my concept paper and table of contents. The most significant development of my sabbatical leave was the quality and quantity of the connections made and exposures I had in Japan. In November, I was invited to speak twice during a national DV conference, where I shared my thoughts on various topics and discussed my book project. I also had the privilege of meeting other scholars and government administrators, which may lead to further support for my work.
Kelly Ritter
Professor
Department of English
Teaching Creative Writing in a Post-Communist Country
I received a Fulbright Scholar Award to Poland to introduce creative writing to the Department of North American Cultures and Literatures at the University of Warsaw. The Award required me to create two creative writing classes (one graduate and one undergraduate) for their catalog and then teach the courses in order to see how American pedagogical theory would or would not translate to a community of mainly Polish but also international students previously not exposed to the creative writing workshop. Then I was asked to provide a workshop and training to their professors, so that they may continue the work once I departed. Additionally, I traveled to universities, high schools, and American Corners throughout the country to give workshops and lectures. I also started a new collection of poetry based on research of a famous Polish mime, Henryk Tomaszewski, in Wrocław. I ended my stay with an interview about my Fulbright experience on TVP World is Poland's first English-language channel.
Paul Tenkotte
Professor
Department of History
Bridges to American Culture: Catholic Immigrants in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, 1820-1940
During Spring 2025, I pursued intersecting projects that vastly augmented my abilities to publish, mentor, and teach in innovative ways. These included new opportunities:
1) Kendall Hunt Publishing requested a new 2nd Edition of my textbook. It was released in Summer 2025:
· Tenkotte, Paul A. United States History since 1865: From Critical Thinking to Digital Citizenship. 2nd ed., enlarged and updated. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2025. 372 pages. https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/united-states-history-1865-critical-thinking-digital-citizenship
2) Kendall Hunt additionally invited me to prepare a short Metaliteracy primer, also released in Summer 2025:
· Tenkotte, Paul A. A Metaliteracy Primer: Critical Thinking, Generative AI, and Data Research. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2025. 50 pages. https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/metaliteracy-primer-critical-thinking-generative-ai-and-data-research
3) As volunteer Director of the Orville (Ohio River Valley Innovation Library and Learning Engagement) Project (https://orvillelearning.org/), we released our first Open Educational Resource (OER) manuscript:
· Tenkotte, Paul A., ed., and John Boh. “X-Ray City”: Kelley-Koett/Keleket and Covington, Kentucky (1903–1956). Cincinnati, OH: Stevie Publishing and the Orville Project, 2025. 105 pages. https://orvillelearning.org/collections/
4) Dr. Caryn Connelly requested that I teach HIS 103 US History since 1877 in the upcoming Fall 2025 semester in a new 16-week format for NKU’s School-Based Scholars (SBS) Program. This included working cooperatively with Cooper High School’s dual-credit pilot program. It necessitated a complete redesign of my course.
5) Caryn also requested that I teach a new graduate course in the MA in Public History Program in the upcoming Fall 2025 semester, requiring significant research and design.
6) Bloomsbury Press requested that I and my colleague, Dr. Debra Meyers, submit a proposal for a 3-volume history of the Ohio River Valley.
Lauren Williamson
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Advancing neuroscience research through scholarship, publication, collaboration, and grant submission
As a neuroscientist, my research focuses on the interactions between the nervous system and the immune system, especially during development. This sabbatical leave allowed me to advance my neuroscience research, mentoring and teaching by providing me essential time to complete several projects. First, I completed data analysis and wrote a publication with an NKU student and an NKU Biological Sciences colleague as coauthors. We found that repeated inflammatory insults had distinct effects on rats’ cognitive behavior and brain inflammation based on both age and sex. Second, I submitted a review on the effects of acetaminophen exposure on the development of autism with colleagues from UNC-Chapel Hill. Third, I wrote and submitted a competitive renewal application for my National Institutes of Health R15 research grant for the June 2025 deadline. Finally, I worked on revisions for two of my courses for future semesters.
Junko Agnew
Assistant Professor
Department of World Languages and Literatures
Collaborative Research on the Mayerson Project in Japan: A Student-Faculty Partnership
The Summer Fellowship supported the co-authorship of a journal article on the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project (MSPP), which was submitted to the Japan Association for Language Teaching Journal in August 2025. In the MSPP course, students partnered with Japanese nonprofit organizations and completed a survey reflecting on their experiences. Our manuscript presents an analysis of the collected data alongside a literature review that explores career pathways for language majors in the U.S., contrasts nonprofit sectors in Japan and the U.S., and considers the role of language majors in nonprofit careers. While traditional translation jobs have declined due to AI, our research underscores the continued relevance of language study in fostering communication, global awareness, and cross-cultural competencies.
The data analysis, based on an IRB-approved student survey, evaluated the MSPP’s influence on students’ understanding of social issues, familiarity with nonprofits, compassion, and career interests. Although career preparedness scores were lower than anticipated—likely reflecting diverse student goals—the project notably deepened students’ engagement with social issues and nonprofit work.
This project marked my first experience co-authoring with a student, and our collaborative process—from selecting the journal to exchanging feedback—proved both enriching and affirming, strengthening my commitment to mentoring student-led research.
Amanda Brockman
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy
Disseminating My Research on Relative Deprivation in Protest Emergence: Two Paper Submissions Analyzing Contemporary Teacher Strikes in Important, Urgent, and Novel Ways
Collective behavior theory has moved away from a consideration of relative deprivation (a social-psychological theory that focuses on how people compare themselves with others who are similar to themselves in some way, but better off in another way) as an important aspect of protest emergence. However, the 35 interviews that I conducted with teacher leaders told a different story, making it not only clear that relative deprivation was important in this teacher strike wave, but also demonstrating its importance in novel ways not yet considered by collective behavior theory. This project had the goal of disseminating my findings from these interviews with regard to the role of relative deprivation in these teacher strikes. My goal was to develop and submit two papers from this project to Teachers and Teaching and Mobilization. I reached this goal and the screenshots of the confirmations from the journals are below. I submitted an article entitled “Relatively Deprived Teachers: How Social Comparisons with Other Teachers and Similarly-Educated Professionals Reveal Inequities” to Teachers and Teaching and an article entitled “Frogs in Boiling Water: How Relative Deprivation to the Past Serves as a Powerful Grievance in Contemporary Teacher Protest Strikes” first to Mobilization then to Social Forces. Both of these articles are currently under review.
Bulent Erenay
Associate Professor
Department of Management
Navigating International Franchise Expansion: Critical Success Factors for US and Canadian Companies
Franchising continues to play a critical role in the growth of U.S. and Canadian companies seeking international expansion. While prior studies have examined franchising from a strategic or financial perspective, few have leveraged longitudinal data to identify predictors of long-term global success. This project addresses that gap by analyzing a 20-year dataset from the World Franchising Network to uncover the most influential factors shaping international franchising outcomes.
Support from this fellowship was instrumental in advancing the research agenda and activities during Summer 2024:
· Cleaned and structured a comprehensive dataset that included company demographics, geographic expansion history, and financial requirements for franchisees.
· Built and tested predictive models to forecast the number of total franchise units, using financial entry requirements, expansion timelines, and other relevant predictors.
· Generated initial results, which show promising insights into the relative importance of factors that drive successful international franchising.
· Conducted a detailed literature review to align machine learning methods with international business research, ensuring academic rigor and practical relevance.
These accomplishments provide a strong foundation for the next stages of the project. The immediate goal is to finalize the full analysis and prepare a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal in early Spring 2026. In addition, I plan to present the findings at the 2026 Midwest Decision Sciences Institute (MWDSI) Conference, which will be hosted at Northern Kentucky University.
Sarah Kasten
Associate Professor
Department of Teacher Preparation and Educational Studies
Understanding Elementary Preservice Teachers Mathematical Confidence
The mathematical confidence of teachers, particularly elementary teachers, plays a role in what and how they teach and therefore impacts the mathematical experiences of their students (e.g., Bates et al., 2011; Beilock et al., 2010; Geist, 2015; Mizala et al., 2015). To learn more about the mathematical confidence of the prospective elementary teachers at NKU, I distributed a cross-sectional survey of the current students in the elementary program during the Spring 2025 semester. The population included preservice teachers at all stages of their program. The faculty summer fellowship allowed me to analyze data collected from this group of students. Unfortunately, the response rate for the surveys was quite low in all but one course which meant that the results could not be considered representative and therefore a manuscript was no longer an appropriate outcome for this fellowship. Instead of completing a manuscript, I convened a group of mathematics teacher educators at NKU who work with elementary preservice teachers to plan a longitudinal study to address a specific area of mathematical confidence identified in the survey results. The results from this fellowship project will serve as pilot data to plan and implement that study.
Edward Kwon
Professor
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
Escalating Tensions on the Korean Peninsula: An Analysis of the Arms Race and Security Dilemma between North and South Korea
This paper examines the inter-Korean relationship, focusing on the arms race and security dilemma. The inherent security dilemma arising from the hostilities between the two Koreas is scrutinized through their actions and reactions. After the collapse of denuclearization talks with the U.S., Kim Jong Un resumed testing several ICBMs and tactical nuclear weapons, posing a severe security threat to the U.S.-ROK alliance. In response to the escalating nuclear threat, the former South Korea’s impeached President, Yoon Suk-yeol adopted a hardline policy toward North Korea. His failed initiative about indigenous nuclear weapons development and reintroduction of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons further drove inter-Korean relations in a more disastrous way. The Washington Declaration reinforces the United States’ commitment to extended deterrence in support of South Korea, mandating regular deployments of U.S. strategic nuclear assets and trilateral military exercises, which the North deemed increasingly provocative. Kim declared Seoul as Pyongyang’s mortal enemy to be destroyed and authorized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in case of emergency. The ongoing military confrontation between North and South Korea has resulted in arms race instability and security dilemmas due to the relentless buildup of armaments by both states. This paper analyzes key events between the two Koreas during the Yoon period, seeking to understand the actions and reactions that have exacerbated the inter-Korean arms race and security dilemma. The paper explores policy alternatives to defuse military tensions and promote a peaceful resolution, considering the complex dynamics of the U.S.-ROK alliance and North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities.
Dekuwmini (Dee) Mornah
Associate Professor
Department of Management
Julie Olberding
Professor
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
Sydney Oluoch
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Allison Parker
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Junko Agnew
Assistant Professor
World Languages and Literatures
Preparation of the Mayerson Project in Japan
The project grant supported my research on nonprofit organizations in Japan, to prepare for my Japanese drama course, which includes the Mayerson Project component. Typically, students in a Mayerson courses select local nonprofits for their projects. However, since this is a Japanese language course, students will benefit more from directly working with nonprofit organizations in Japan. To determine the legitimacy of these nonprofits and select a few for this project, I visited them in Japan in the summer of 2024 (July 1 to July 23).
Thanks to the Project Grant, I made substantial progress in teaching, research, and professional development. This document offers a concise report on my visits and how they have helped me advance toward my tenure objectives.
Nicholas Caporusso
Associate Professor
School of Computing and Analytics
Doug Feldmann
Professor
Department of Educational Leadership and Advanced Studies
Multi-Regional Perspectives on Rural Teacher Recruitment and Retention Practices: Strategies for Kentucky
The critical shortage of teachers currently being witnessed in public schools in the United States has been well documented. This dilemma is even more acute in many rural sectors of the nation, including communities in Kentucky. Moreover, rural school districts also often experience exceptional difficulty in retaining hired teachers for extended periods of time, as these individuals will often leave such schools after a short period for higher remuneration in more populous areas. Naturally, whether in rural or urban settings, such frequent turnover within public school staffs can have an extremely negative impact on the student populations being served.
However, relative to other states with demographics similar to Kentucky, certain rural school districts in Illinois have enjoyed significant success in recent years in the recruitment of teachers, and of equal importance, the retention of those teachers for significant lengths of time. In respect to the considerable breadth and depth of the national teacher shortage (especially as related to rural areas), it is critical to not only uncover proven methods of efficacy in addressing this issue but also to understand its theoretical beginnings.
The purpose of this Project Grant was for the researcher/applicant to examine the successful operations of state and community-level strategies related to rural educator recruitment and retention in these school districts in Illinois, leading to the potential application of such strategies in agrarian districts in Kentucky.
Eric Jackson
Professor
Department of History
Full of Faith, Full of Hope: The History and Legacy of the Underground Railroad in Kentucky’s Border Lands
Full of Faith, Full of Hope: The History and Legacy of the Underground Railroad in Kentucky’s Border Lands (revised title) is a landmark edited volume that explores the multifaceted history of the Underground Railroad in Kentucky. This project, under contract with the University Press of Kentucky, brings together scholars from diverse disciplines to examine the origins, development, and enduring legacy of the Underground Railroad across the Commonwealth. The volume highlights key individuals, organizations, and geographic locations that played pivotal roles in this clandestine network of resistance and liberation.
The project is grounded in two central themes: first, that the Underground Railroad represents the first multiracial, multi-class, and multi-ethnic human rights movement in the United States—led predominantly by persons of African descent; and second, that its history offers a powerful framework for national racial reconciliation and healing, rooted in the ethical imperative of the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).
With the support of this faculty project grant, the project achieved a major milestone: the delivery of the fully copy-edited and revised manuscript to the University Press of Kentucky by the contractual deadline of September 30, 2024. Although peer review delays have shifted the publication date to Fall 2026, the volume remains on track for release. This report documents the project’s progress, scholarly contributions, and its potential to reshape public understanding of Kentucky’s role in the Underground Railroad and its broader implications for justice and reconciliation in American history.
Yasue Kuwahara
Professor
School of Media and Communication
Diversity and Inclusion in Japanese TV Drama
The project grant financed my fieldwork conducted in Japan between October 9 – 21, 2024. This project involved conducting primary research at the Broadcast Library in Yokohama, Japan, to examine historical and contemporary Japanese television dramas for analysis of diversity and inclusion themes. The research directly supports a contracted monograph with Bloomsbury (formerly Lexington Books) that explores how Japanese television drama has portrayed and evolved in its representation of diverse communities and social inclusion issues. The project required accessing archived drama materials unavailable outside of Japan, making the research trip essential for completing a comprehensive analysis for the forthcoming publication.
Kimberly Lazzeri
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Music Program
Freylekh: A “joyful” rediscovery of the Yiddish folksong arrangements of Robert De Cormier
In Fall 2023, Dr. Kimberly Lazzeri recorded her first album of songs from the newly-published The Yiddish Folksong Project Anthology: The arrangements of Robert De Cormier. Not only is this anthology the first-ever publication of De Cormier’s arrangements of Yiddish folksongs, but it is also the first-ever large body of Yiddish folksong repertoire that is arranged in the classical style for performance on the concert or recital stage. Dr. Lazzeri recorded the album and created promotional videos in collaboration with NKU faculty Dr. Christina Seal (piano) and Dr. William Herzog (violin) on-campus in Greaves Concert Hall. In advance of the recording, the trio coached the repertoire for stylistic insights with Professor Donna Loewy from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and consulted with Dr. Jordan Finkin from Klau Library on the authenticity of Dr. Lazzeri’s Yiddish pronunciation. The album has been released for worldwide distribution and features a cover designed by one of Dr. Lazzeri’s applied-voice students, Meg Booker. After being introduced to this less-commonly performed repertoire, Meg chose to program selections from the album on her recital with Glow Music Concerts at ARCO in Price Hill as well as on her senior recital at NKU. Dr. Lazzeri was pleased to perform with the trio alongside the NKU Chamber Choir on an all-Yiddish program as part of the inaugural Cincinnati Jewish Music and Culture Festival in March 2024. Dr. Lazzeri’s album recording was made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council, the Susan and Murray Bloom Jewish Music Foundation and NKU. To listen to the album and view videos, please visit www.kimberlylazzeri.com.
Julie Mader-Meersman
Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts Program
Preparing to make the CSS Dollhouse Web Site—Professional
Certification for Web and User Experience (UX) Design and Artistic Visual
Research
My 2024–25 Faculty Project Grant, “Preparing to Make the CSS Dollhouse Web Site — Professional Certification for Web and User Experience (UX) Design and Artistic Visual Research,” correlated with research and creative activity completed during a 2024 Summer Fellowship and fall Sabbatical that the funding support of this grant helped to provide. My main project completed, the “CSS Dollhouse,” (nku.edu/cssdollhouse) is a creative, instructional resource that helps teach CSS (cascading style sheets — the coding language that shapes the appearance of the web) to designers.
To accomplish this work and professional development, I successfully obtained Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) User Experience (UX) Certification in the summer of 2024 and Webflow Certification in the fall. NN/g certification required passing five in-depth, virtual, synchronous, UX design and research courses with global experts: Usability Testing, Emerging Patterns in Interface Design, Design Systems and Pattern Libraries, Practical AI for UX Professionals, and Designing Complex Apps for Specialized Domains. Certification for Webflow—a visual design and development platform that facilitates the creation of visually and interactively sophisticated web site designs—consisted of taking online courses and passing three tests, which I successfully completed.
Additionally, this grant funded travel-related costs and some equipment associated with research-centered museum visits to the Art Institute of Chicago for creative inspiration. It also funded travel for an internationally competitive Maker-Creator Fellowship I was awarded to conduct extensive visual research at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (Sept., 2025).
While at Winterthur, I presented my project to other Fellows and the academic community of the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. Additionally, I was invited to present my project to CreativeMornings Cincinnati (May, 2025). My talk, “CSS Dollhouse: A Revival in Three Parts,” was for creative professionals, students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members.
Bridget Nichols
Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
Towards a Sustainable Future: Understanding Consumer Acceptance of Circular Products
This project, Towards a Sustainable Future: Understanding Consumer Acceptance of Circular Products, investigated how consumers perceive and respond to circular supply chain initiatives, with a focus on product messaging and end-of-use behaviors. Three studies were completed: (1) a multinational survey of over 1,000 respondents explored cross-cultural differences in understanding the terms “circular” vs. “sustainable,” (2) an online experiment examined how intrinsic (e.g., material composition) and extrinsic (e.g., marketing language) product cues influence consumer perceptions and willingness to buy circular products, and (3) a field study conducted in Verona, Italy tested the effect of circular messaging on consumer behavior at the end of a product’s life cycle.
Results from Studies 2 and 3 revealed that messaging emphasizing End-of-Use behavior (such as recycling or keeping/extending) significantly enhances brand attitudes and purchase intentions toward circular products. These findings point to the importance of communicating the entire product lifecycle to increase consumer acceptance of circular solutions.
Project outcomes were disseminated at two international conferences: the European Academy of Management (EURAM) in Florence, Italy and the European Research Seminar (ERS) on Logistics and Supply Chain Management in Verona, Italy where the project was awarded “Best in Track.” A resulting manuscript is currently under second-round review at the Journal of Business Logistic – an A* rated journal.
The grant supported participant incentives, experimental materials, and international travel. This project not only advanced scholarly understanding of consumer behavior in the circular economy but also contributed to NKU’s Sustainability Strategy (2017) by embedding applied sustainability research into the university’s mission.
Hans Schellhas
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts Program
Essential Camera Upgrade for Teaching and Creative Activity (Scholarship)
This project grant provided the means to purchase a high-grade camera to enhance instruction in ARTV 427: Motion Design and to update technology for both
photographic and potentially video-based work in my creative and scholarly
practice.
Previously, I relied on an outdated personal camera for course instruction. This
year, I introduced the new equipment into Motion Design, allowing students to
engage with current practices through demonstrations, higher-quality visuals, and
instructional materials. This upgrade not only enriches student learning but also
ensures continued alignment with industry standards.
The equipment has also advanced my scholarly and creative work. Its expanded
capabilities have enabled me to incorporate newly produced photographs into
design projects, elevating the quality and scope of my output. Within a short
period, this investment has already yielded results: I submitted new work to
international and national competitions, including the regarded journal, Creative
Quarterly, where my work was recognized and included in the CQ 80 online
gallery. Another submission is currently under review.
This grant has had a significant impact on both teaching and scholarship. It
modernized instructional resources, provided students with industry-relevant tools,
and directly contributed to competitive recognition of my creative work. The
investment has already demonstrated lasting value and will continue to support
pedagogical and scholarly growth.
Brittany Smith
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychological Science
Efficacy of choline supplementation after prenatal opioid exposure
Prenatal opioid exposure is associated with deficits in cognitive function and brain volume reductions in human offspring. A mouse model can identify causal effects of opioids on behavioral and brain outcomes, while controlling for other factors present in the human population. Choline is an essential nutrient needed for brain development and is used to create acetylcholine, an important signaling molecule in the brain. Prenatal opioid exposure can reduce brain acetylcholine levels in neonatal offspring. Choline supplementation can restore acetylcholine levels and subsequent cognitive function in mouse models of genetic mutations and is beneficial in ameliorating effects of prenatal alcohol exposure. Based on community input, choline has also been anecdotally helpful for behavioral issues in children after prenatal opioid exposure, yet it has not been tested in a controlled manner. Therefore, this project grant sought to determine whether adolescent choline supplementation improves cognitive function and brain acetylcholine levels after prenatal opioid exposure. We examined cognitive function using a mouse touch screen task and measured brain acetylcholine levels using mass spectrometry. We found that choline supplementation improved complex cognitive function but slightly impaired motivation in the touch screen task. Opioid exposure reduced brain choline and acetylcholine levels, while choline supplementation increased brain choline levels but not acetylcholine levels. Our results indicate that choline supplementation caused partial restoration of brain and behavioral effects after prenatal opioid exposure. This safe and noninvasive approach may have benefits that extend beyond overall health and into brain health after prenatal opioid exposure.
Yingying Xie
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Mahdi Yazdanpour
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics, Geology, and Engineering Technology
Kristine Yohe
Professor
Department of English
Reckoning with the Past: The Historical Poetry of Frank X Walker
The major accomplishment for my Project Grant was that it enabled me to complete its explicit goal: to support the publication of my book by first securing legal permissions (pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law) for the inclusion of copyrighted quotations and images. The Project Grant enabled me to acquire and pay for legal permissions for several images—14 photographs, a painting, and a map—and multiple poetry and prose quotations, all of which are included in my forthcoming book, Reckoning with the Past: The Historical Poetry of Frank X Walker. The 16 images each required a permission fee, which ranged from $13 to $600 and were paid to individual sources including the Montana Historical Society, the Keeneland Association, Getty Images, and the family of Medgar and Myrlie Evers. The book includes many quotations, most of which are short enough not to need permission because they qualify as fair use. But there were several that required payment, including Northwestern University Press, University Press of Mississippi, and Old Cove Press.
A former Kentucky Poet Laureate, Frank X Walker in 1991 co-founded the Affrilachian Poets, a literary collective composed of writers of color from Appalachia. My book—which will be published by the University Press of Kentucky on 27 January 2026—is an in-depth study of Walker’s five books of poetry that focus on real people and events from American culture. Reckoning with the Past explores how Walker’s created poems reimagine often-hidden Black figures from American history in order to provide these heroic people their overdue respect and thus to contribute to essential societal healing.
