Partnerships

2018 Partnerships

Partnerships between USF faculty and their collaborators at other global or national universities, national laboratories or research centers are at the heart of the USF Nexus Initiative. Through joint research and scholarship, our faculty and their partners are shaping the future of their local communities, their countries and the world enabled by interdisciplinary projects dispersed around the globe.

In 2018, UNI supported partnerships in nine U.S. states and nineteen countries.

Ross Andel
Examination of Biological and Genetic Markers for Alzheimer’s Disease in the Czech Republic
Partnership:
Jakub Hort, M.D., Ph.D., Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic)

Ilene Berson & Michael Berson
Integrating Digital Play with Tangible Technologies into Inquiry Project Investigations in Early Childhood Classrooms
Partnerships:
Tiane Liu, Ph.D., Professor, Hubei University of Arts and Science (Xiangyang City, China)
Jiabao Wang, M.Ed., Dean, College of Education, Hubei University of Arts and Science (Xiangyang City, China)
School of Education, Curtin University (Bentley, Australia)
School of Education, University of Sheffield (Sheffield, U.K.)

Alisha Braun
Inclusive Education in Tanzania: Exploring Primary School Teacher Preparedness
Partnership:
Joachim Tamba, Institute for Educational Development, East Africa, Aga Khan University (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)

Stephanie Carey
Robotic Framework for Bipedal Locomotion Benchmarking
Partnerships:
Diego Toricelli, Ph.D., Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute Spanish Research Council (Madrid, Spain)
Jose Pons, Ph.D., Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute Spanish Research Council (Madrid, Spain)

Gary Daughdrill
Structure and Dynamics of the Adenovirus E1A Protein Binding to the Human Retinoblastoma Protein, Rb
Partnership:
Lucia B. Chemes, Ph.D, Group Leader and Professor, Institute for Biotechnological Investigations-CONICET, National University of San Martín (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Eric Davis
The Examination of Child Teacher Relationship Therapy Training for Speech-Language Pathology Students Working with Preschool Children with Language Disorders and Behavioral Issues
Partnership:
Diane Loeb, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Martin Family Endowed Chair, Baylor University (Waco, Texas)

McArthur Freeman
Multimodal Strategies for Visual Storytelling in VR
Partnerships:
Kyoung Lee Swearingen, Professor, The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio)
Scott Swearingen, Professor, The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio)

Boris Galperin
Experimental Investigation of the Momentum and Mass Transfer by Zonal Jets
Partnerships:
Stefania Espa, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, Italy)
Gregory King, Ph.D., Research Associate, University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, Florida)

Elizabeth Hordge Freeman
Color Matters: The Impact of Colorism on Affective Relationships and Financial Transfers in U.S. Families
Partnership:
Jessica Kizer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pitzer College (Claremont, California)

Maayan Lawental
Stigma Towards Persons with Dual Diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health
Partnership:
Tal Araten-Bergman, Ph.D., La-Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia)

John Lennon
Working-Class Literature from a Global Perspective
Partnership:
Magnus Nilsson, Ph.D., Professor, Malmo University (Malmo, Sweden)

Xiaopeng Li
Investigation of Surface Self-assembly of Giant Supramolecules by Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
Partnership:
Bingqian Xu, Ph.D., Professor, University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)

Lisa Meloncon
Testing the Attention-Comprehension Gap
Partnership:
Menno de Jong, Ph.D., Professor, University of Twente (Enschede, Netherlands)

Frank Muller Karger & Enrique Montes
Marine Biodiversity Workshop: from the Sea to the Cloud-Laying the Foundations of the Pole-to-Pole Marine Biodiversity Observation Network of the Americas
Partnerships:
Antonio Carlos Marques, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Institute of Biosciences, University of Sao Paulo (Sao Paolo, Brazil)
Eduardo Klein Salas, Associate Professor, Remote Sensing and Geo-Spatial Analysis Laboratory, Simon Bolivar University (Miranda, Venezuela)
Tina Dohna, Ph.D., University of Bremen (Bremen, Germany)
Kristin Kaschner, Ph.D., Research Associate, Albert-Ludwigs University (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany)
Kirsi Kostamo, Ph.D., Leading Research Scientist, SYKE Marine Research Center, University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)

David Murphy
Sea Butterfly Swimming: Bio-Inspiration for Aquatic Micro Aerial Vehicles
Partnership:
Amy Maas, Ph.D., Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (St. George's, Bermuda)

Cecilia Nunes
Identifying Potential Abiotic Stress-Associated Biomarkers in Strawberry Fruit Using Advanced Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics and Classical Biochemical Approaches
Partnership:
Stanley N. Stevens Jr., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (Colchester, Vermont)

Hua Pan
Developing Novel RNA Alteration Strategies for Neurological Disorders by Targeting TMEM16 Family Protein
Partnership:
Huanghe Yang, Ph.D., Professor, Duke University (Durham, North Carolina)

Sanghoon Park
Design and Validation of Culturally-contextualized Virtual Teaching Scenarios for Immersive Virtual Teaching Simulations
Partnership:
Jeeheon Ryu, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Chonnam National University (Gwangju, South Korea)

Manh-Huong Phan
Novel Multicalorie Heterostructures for Advanced Spintronies Applications
Partnership:
Xavier Moya Raposo, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, University of Cambridge (Cambridge, U.K.)

Clint Randles
Exploring the Dispositions of Highly Effective Teachers in Contemporary Ensemble Settings
Partnership:
Peter Webster, Ph.D., Vice Dean of Scholarly and Professional Studies, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California)

John Robison
Chinese and Chinese-Influenced Music in the Twenty-First Century
Partnership:
Hui Yu, Ph.D., Professor, Yunnan University (Kunming Shi, China)

Jeff Ryan
Characterizing Slab-to-Mantle Chemical Fluxes during Subduction: Isotopic and Abundance Systematics of Fluid-Mobile Elements in Subduction-Related Igneous and Metamorphic Rock suites
Partnership:
Hong Yan Li, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Guangzhou, China)

Stephen Saddow
Brain Implantable Electrode Array Based on SiC Nanowire Networks
Partnership:
Konstantinos Zekentes, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Foundation for Research & Technology, University of Crete (Crete, Greece)

Elizabeth Schotter
Using Eye Movements and Computational Modeling to Understand the Earliest Stages of Reading
Partnership:
Amy Lieberman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts)

Glenn Smith
Teen Text and Talk Games in Web eBooks for Plurilingualism
Partnership:
Slavko Zitnik, Ph.D., Research/Teaching Faculty, University of Ljubljana (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Hariharan Srikanth
Garnet Thin films with Tunable Anisotrophy for Spin Caloritronics
Partnership:
Manfred Albrecht, Ph.D., Professor, Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Augsburg (Augsburg, Germany)

James R. Stock
Identification of Best Practices in Supply Chain Sustainability in South African Manufacturers and Retail/Service Firms
Partnerships:
Jan Havenga, Ph.D., Professor, Stellenbosch University (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Mrs. Anneke De Bod, Stellenbosch University (Stellenbosch, South Africa)

Helena Szepe
Renaissance Manuscripts and Modern Memory
Partnerships:
Frederica Toniolo, Ph.D., Professor, University of Padua (Padua, Italy)
Chiara Ponchia, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Padua (Padua, Italy)

Tony Tan
Role of Collectivism, Individualism, and Social Sensitivity Alleles in the Etiology of Anxiety-Related Behaviors
Partnership:
Jun Li, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University (Beijing, China)

Davide Tanasi
American French Collaborative Research of Paleo-Contents of Roman Amphorae from Sicilian Underwater Contexts
Partnership:
Michel Bonifay, Ph.D., Director of Research, Centre Camille Jullian, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University (Aix-en-Provence, France)

Sylvia Thomas
Bio and Electronic Advanced Material Systems (USF BEAMS)
Partnerships:
Vincenzo Guarino, Ph.D., Research Scientist and Scientific Lead, National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Polymers, Composites, and Biomaterials (Rome, Italy)
Mario Caironi, Ph.D., Tenure-Track Researcher, Italian Institute of Technology, Center for Nano Science and Technology (Genoa, Italy)

Arjan van der Vaart
Elucidating the Structure and Dynamics of Intrinsically Disordered Spider Silk Proteins by NMR and Modeling Approaches
Partnership:
Jeffery L. Yarger, Ph.D., Professor, Arizona State University (Phoenix, Arizona)

Sarath Witanachchi
USF-Botswana Collaborative Research Towards Portable Power Generation in Rural Africa
Partnerships:
Gregory Hillhouse, Ph.D., Professor, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (Palapye, Botswana)
Davison Murape, Ph.D., Botswana International University of Science and Technology (Palapye, Botswana)