Special to UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (January 12, 2017)—Nine proposals from 25 University of Miami professors have been awarded grants for multidisciplinary research groups and individual projects from the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas (UMIA). UMIA grants are intended to encourage interdisciplinary discussion and research on key challenges facing the Americas, including Latin America, the Caribbean, immigrant populations of and in the region, and Miami as a hemispheric hub.

Twenty-two submissions from 67 faculty members were reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee comprised of five faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Miller School of Medicine, the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and the School of Communication. Among the criteria considered were quality, impact, breadth, innovativeness, inter-disciplinarity, sustainability, and the balance of grant awards among academic units and geographic emphases.

The research groups to be supported by the grants include the following:

Language and Democracy in the Americas:  Otávio Bueno, Department of Philosophy; Tracy Devine Guzmán, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures; Kunal Parker, School of Law, conveners. | Christina Civantos, Ralph Heyndels, Lidiana de Moraes, Department of Modern Languages and Literature, College of Arts and Sciences |Romy Lerner, Gema Pérez-Sánchez, Ileana Porras, School of Law.

Building upon the Language and Democracy discussion group and conference organized and hosted at the University of Miami in 2013, the project will examine how linguistic diversity challenges, enriches, empowers, and endangers democratic projects and processes across diverse temporal and geographic contexts.

Toward a Geographic Clearinghouse of Intimate Partner Violence Services and Community Determinants in Miami-Dade County:  Justin Stoler, Department of Geography and Regional Studies, College of Arts and Sciences | Jessica Williams, School of Nursing and Health Studies |Donna Coker, School of Law | Nick Petersen, Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences.

The project creates an Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) knowledge base that will serve as an important public resource for linking IPV and health care providers, and act as a reference guide for local residents in need of assistance. The clearinghouse will also provide a platform for future research exploring disparities in community-level IPV indicators and resources.

The University of Miami-Organization and Method College Collaboration to Establish a Multifaceted Research Infrastructure for Public Health: Viviana E. Horigian, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, convener. |Eddy Pérez, Miller School of Medicine, Organization and Method College of the Dominican Republic | Hermes Florez, Kathryn McCollister, Sunil Rao, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine | Nelson Arboleda, country director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dominican Republic.

The project generates dialogue and collaborative exchange leading to the formulation of research questions, design, and methods for studying cardiovascular disease in the Dominican Republic.

In addition to the research groups, the faculty members below received grants to initiate or continue individual research projects.

Conquering Distance: Argentina and the Fortunes of Steam-Age Globalization, 1860-1910: Eduardo Elena, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences.

The Novel 1960s: Form and Sensibility in Caribbean Literary Culture:  Donette Francis, Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences.

Empowering Local Comadronas in Indigenous Guatemala: A Tool for Sexual and Reproductive Health: Victoria Orrego Dunleavy, Department of Communication Studies, School of Communication.

Does Democracy Breed Relief? Governance, Mosquito Abatement, and Zika in the Americas: Michael Touchton, Department of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences.

Blood and Stone: Afro-Cuban Religious Interventions for HIV Awareness, Education, and Treatment: Martin Tsang, University of Miami Libraries.

In addition, Patricia Saunders, Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences, was the recipient of the grant for a Book Manuscript Workshop. Her book, under contract with Rutgers University Press, is entitled Buyers Beware: Epistemologies of Consumption in Caribbean Popular Culture.

“Faculty grants play a key role in advancing scholarship and strengthening the University’s focus on Latin American and Caribbean studies,” said Dr. Felicia Marie Knaul, UMIA director. “We are excited to support these multidisciplinary projects that address a number of challenges across the Americas.”

UMIA’s mission is to create and share knowledge bridging the Americas, strengthening the myriad areas of the University of Miami undertaking research pertaining to the hemisphere.