Five faculty and their research partners have received seed funding through the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. The Research Seed Grant awards provide up to $25,000 for tier one proposals, and up to $50,000 for tier two proposals to seed research that acquires preliminary data needed for submitting a competitive proposal for significant external funding. The proposals were evaluated by a faculty committee made up of experts in the range of fields represented in the applications, and final funding decisions were made by Geri Richmand, interim vice president for research and innovation.
Please visit the OVPRI internal funding opportunities webpage for more information on this and other OVPRI funding programs.
The following projects won funding (click to expand project description):
Quantifying the 'landscape of fear' created by waterborne chemical cues of the predator Pycnopodia helianthoides
Researchers: Aaron W. E. Galloway, associate professor, Department of Biology, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology; Michael Thomas, lab technician in Galloway Lab; Miles Rough, PhD student in Galloway Lab.
Summary: Kelp forest declines along the northern California Current has been driven by intense grazing by purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) following the collapse of their predator, the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). Pycnopodia suppresses urchin grazing through both direct feeding and non-consumptive effects, consistent with a predator-induced ‘landscape of fear’, but the mechanistic basis of this behavioral suppression remains unknown.
This project will investigate the chemical ecology driving predator-induced landscapes of fear in kelp forest ecosystems, providing the first characterization of Pycnopodia derived chemical cues and directly test their role in mediating fear-driven trophic interactions. Findings will support a future application to the National Science Foundation’s Biological Oceanography program, and advance fundamental understanding of predator-prey dynamics and generate critical preliminary data to support future research and innovative kelp forest restoration strategies.
Development of non-restrictive health messages to improve parent feeding and child eating practices
Researchers: Nicole Giuliani, associate professor, Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences and Prevention Science Institute; Nikki McClaran (co-PI), assistant professor, School of Journalism and Communication
Summary: Young children (ages 3–5 years) consume more than 60% of their calories from ultra-processed foods (UPF), which is associated with increased risk for later adverse health outcomes. In response, guidelines encourage parents to restrict children’s UPF intake. However, when children are aware of restriction, this practice is associated with negative outcomes, including greater consumption of restricted foods, disordered eating, and weight gain. Parents most likely to engage in restrictive feeding are those who fear their child’s body size may harm their health, lead to weight-related mistreatment, or reflect poorly on them as parents. Health messages emphasizing risks of high child weight and UPF consumption may inadvertently amplify these fears, increase restrictive feeding, and worsen child outcomes. Non-restrictive approaches (e.g., intuitive eating) emphasize nourishment without control of weight or food intake and are associated with higher diet quality.
Despite their promise, these approaches have not been rigorously tested against restrictive messaging. This project focuses on developing and pilot testing a set of non-restrictive feeding messages for parents of preschool-aged children. This project will lead to a grant application to the National Institutes of Health for a randomized controlled trial testing the effect of these messages on parent emotional responses, parent restrictive feeding behavior, and subsequent child UPF consumption.
Redirecting tumor invasion: Engineering neural guidance conduits for glioblastoma treatment
Researchers: Gabriella Lindberg, assistant professor, Department of Bioengineering; Paul Dalton, associate professor, Department of Bioengineering
Summary: This project aims to engineer implantable, neural-tract-inspired guidance conduits capable of capturing invasive glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells, thereby limiting brain tumor growth and metastasis. GBM remains highly lethal brain tumor due to diffuse, haptotaxis-driven cell invasion along myelinated neural tracts that make removal using surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy highly challenging.
This project proposes a transformative therapeutic approach that converts GBM invasion from a liability into a controllable pathway by guiding tumor cells into surgically accessible conduits. This project brings together complementary expertise in polymer synthesis and advanced scaffold manufacturing to tackle long-standing challenges in GBM therapy to challenge traditional cancer therapies focused on radiation and drug delivery. Ultimately, this seed project will provide foundational data for a competitive grant to the National Institutes of Health and the subsequent launch a transformative neuro-oncological program at UO.
Climate, culture, and human resilience at the end of the Age Ice
Researcher: Katelyn McDonough, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology
Summary: This project addresses major debates about when people first arrived in North America and how they survived rapid climatic change at the end of the last Ice Age (ca. 14,000–8000 years ago). Long-standing models once portrayed the earliest populations as highly mobile big-game hunters arriving ~13,000 years ago, but recent discoveries in the Pacific Northwest reveal earlier occupations associated with different technologies and foodways. Despite these advances, little is known about how they adapted to rapidly changing landscapes because few early sites from this period preserve detailed evidence of daily life. The Connley Caves in Oregon are a rare exception, preserving ancient campfires, stone tools, and plant and animal remains representing one of the most continuous records of human activity in the Americas.
Building on more than a decade of excavation and research, this project will examine how changes in vegetation and animal communities shaped human diets, mobility, and cultural practices across millennia. The project engages in a collaborative archaeological field school with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The project will generate critical data and strengthen partnerships, laying the groundwork for a competitive proposal to the National Science Foundation. By documenting long-term human resilience to climate change, this project provides urgently needed, deep-time perspectives on sustainability while training students and advancing respectful, collaborative research with Indigenous communities.
Refinement and validation of the social emotional inventory (SEI) for transition-age students with disabilities
Researcher: Kyle Reardon, assistant research professor, Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences, Secondary Special Education and Transition
Summary: Students with disabilities face persistent challenges transitioning from high school to postsecondary education, including inadequate planning and limited access to supports. Social-emotional competencies such as self-management, social awareness, and responsible decision-making are critical predictors of postschool success, yet schools lack validated, accessible tools to measure these skills during the transition period.
The proposed project addresses this gap by validating and refining the Social Emotional Inventory (SEI), a psychometrically rigorous and externally owned assessment designed for transition-age students with disabilities. The findings will inform refinement of the instrument and support proposal submission to the National Institutes of Health. By operationalizing evidence-based predictors of college readiness, the SEI will enable educators and transition specialists to identify social-emotional strengths and needs, design individualized supports, and promote resilience during a critical developmental stage.