The associate vice president for Research and Graduate Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025-26 Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship (ARCS) awards.

In January 2023, the Office of the Provost created ARCS, which is administered by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies (ORGS). This program had the specific goal of creating a mechanism that encourages researchers and scholars at Illinois State University to collaborate in cross-disciplinary research teams to address big, bold scholarly themes. This type of research seeks to solve some of the world’s most complicated problems, often termed “wicked problems.”

In this second cohort of ARCS awards, teams applied for one of two different tracks. Track I proposals were for fully developed plans for interdisciplinary collaboration and are thus ready to submit a full proposal to support implementation of a robust project with established plans. Track II proposals will support capacity building, allowing individuals and nascent teams to develop a plan to grow innovative ideas into a robust, interdisciplinary project, which can be proposed in the future. Proposals were received from 50 unique investigators from 24 unique units across all seven academic colleges. A total of 14 awards were made to support our scholars, four in Track I and 10 in Track II. Details, including the teams as constituted in the proposals, are included below. Congratulations to these scholars.

Track I winners:

C-Innovate: Building an Educational Bridge Between Engineering, Art, and Enterprise for Ceramic Innovation—Salil Bavdekar (Mechanical Engineering), Albion Stafford (Wonsook Kim School of Art), Tyler Lotz (Wonsook Kim School of Art), Stacey Jones Bock (College of Education), Terry Noel (College of Business)

Advanced Nanopatterning for Next-Generation Resistive Switching Memory Devices—Mahua Biswas (Physics), Uttam Manna (Physics), Md Shahin Alam (Electrical Engineering)

Influence of Skeletal Muscle in Pregnancy on Maternal and Neonatal Health: Closing the Gap in Racial & Ethnic Disparities in Prenatal Health—Samantha McDonald (Kinesiology and Recreation), Michael Torry (Kinesiology and Recreation), Daniel Dodd (Illinois Wesleyan University), Noelle Selkow (Kinesiology and Recreation), Linda E. May (East Carolina University), The Baby Fold

Methamphetamine, Opioids, and Fentanyl in Rural Illinois: An Ethnographic Exploration of Current and Emerging Issues—Joshua Stout (Criminal Justice Sciences), Theresa Adelman-Mullaly (Mennonite College of Nursing), Frank Beck (Sociology and Anthropology), Christopher Brewer (Criminal Justice Sciences), Anjelia Dominguez (Social Work), Kate Sheridan (Social Work), Cherrill Stockmann (Mennonite College of Nursing), Ralph Weisheit (Criminal Justice Sciences)

Track II winners:

Project DBS-SPOTLIGHT: Dried-Blood Spot (DBS) Self-collection Protocol Optimization for Training and Learning in Inclusive Guideline Human Testing—Yeunook Bae (Health Sciences), Jeongae Kang (Special Education)

StageReady: Harnessing XR to Transform Performance and Conquer Anxiety—Katherine Lewis (Music), Jeffrey Kahn (Psychology)

Assessing Needs to Design Intergenerational Programs for Underserved Older Adults—Esther Shin (Social Work), Sojung Park (Washington University, St. Louis)

Education Now Lab—Anna Smith (Teaching and Learning), Natalie Shaheen (Special Education), Kristin Carlson (Creative Technology and Game Design), S. Gavin Weiser (Educational Administration and Foundations/Graduate School)

Establishing Advanced Biomechanical Research Facilities—Michael Torry (Kinesiology and Recreation), Umar Iqbal (Electrical Engineering)

Mediating Flooding and Water Quality Impacts from Climate Change on Environmental Justice (EJ) Neighborhoods Through Green Infrastructure Retrofits—Joan Brehm (Sociology and Anthropology), Noha Shawki (Politics and Government), Eric Peterson (Geography, Geology, and the Environment), Guang Jin (Health Sciences), Melissa Heil (Geography, Geology, and the Environment) (plus three community partners)

Factors Influencing Women’s Return to Work Postpartum in Central Illinois—Julie Campbell (Psychology), Jessica Rick (Communication), Shelby Putt (Sociology and Anthropology)

Understanding and Addressing the “Wicked” Problem of Self-Management Adherence Among Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices and their Caregivers, Leveraging AI-Powered Tools and Gamification—Greg Corness (Creative Technology and Game Design), Kristin Carlson (Creative Technology and Game Design), Jessie Casida (Mennonite College of Nursing), Daniel Cox (Creative Technology and Game Design), Simone Downie (Creative Technology and Game Design), Luke T. Russell (Family and Consumer Sciences)

Cleaning up the river without clearing out the neighborhood: Floating gardens in the Chicago River—Mike Hendricks (Politics and Government), Brehm (Sociology and Anthropology), Alec Foster (Geography, Geology, and the Environment), David Kopsell (Agriculture), Eric Peterson (Geography, Geology, and the Environment), Noha Shawki (Politics and Government)

Tackling the Loneliness Epidemic by Cultivating Inclusive Intergenerational Environments: Evidence-Based Evaluation and Prototypes Development—Chang Su-Russell (Family and Consumer Sciences), Elke Altenburger (Family and Consumer Sciences), Sundeep Inti (Technology), Alec Foster (Geography, Geology, and the Environment), Reem Bagais (Family and Consumer Sciences)