ASU Graduate College recognizes research at 2021 Knowledge Mobilization Awards

The ASU Graduate College has announced the awardees of the fifth annual Graduate College Knowledge Mobilization Awards. The daylong virtual event featured four graduate student and postdoctoral scholar finalist sessions, a faculty panel and the awards presentation, which featured a keynote address by Ronald Beghetto of ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

The Knowledge Mobilization Awards are an annual event celebrating the innovation and ingenuity of Arizona State University's graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Sponsored by the Knowledge Mobilization Initiative at the Graduate College, the initiative helps researchers move academic knowledge beyond the university to put it into use — in current practice, informing policy change and collaborating with industry and/or community-based organizations.

The 2021 pool of applications was historically large, including 116 applications from 23 academic units and over 70 programs. Applications were evaluated by an interdisciplinary review panel using the following criteria: 

• Clearly poses a research question or hypothesis in plain and persuasive language.

• Identifies the broader social impact of the research, including whom it may benefit and how it can tangibly impact that community (for example, through a change in practice or creation of new policy).

• An example knowledge mobilization product, or an artifact (presentation, poster, article, white paper, art exhibit, etc.) that demonstrates how this research engages with relevant stakeholders.

For this year’s virtual event, finalists showcased their research projects in small, informal round table sessions, discussing their experiences as early career researchers and answering questions from the audience. Six awardees were selected from the 18 finalists.

2021 Knowledge Mobilization Award winners

• Amanda Trakas, The Design School, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
  Master’s Research in Progress ($500.00): “KIDSS: Considering Kids in Design of Safe Streets.”

• Cameo Flores, School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
  Master’s Completed Research ($500.00): “Weaponizing the Mariachi 2015–Today: Mexicanidad and the Trump Administration.”

• Noa Bruhis, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures. 
  Doctoral Research in Progress ($750.00): “Helium rising: A case study on envisioning futures for underground resource extraction.”

• Anais Roque, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
  Doctoral Completed Research ($750.00): “Water Sharing as Disaster Response in Puerto Rico: Coping with Water Insecurity in the Aftermath of Hurricane María.”

• Barbara Quimby, Morrison Institute of Public Policy.
  Postdoctoral Research in Progress ($1,000.00): “Water for Agriculture: Stakeholder Engagement in the Verde Valley, Arizona.”

• Shawna Andrea Foo, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.
  Postdoctoral Completed Research: ($1,000.00): “Drivers of fish populations in Hawaii Island.”

“We are incredibly pleased to see that students and postdocs from so many academic programs participated in this year’s Knowledge Mobilization Awards,” said Elizabeth Wentz, vice provost and dean of the Graduate College. "Knowledge mobilization is a research framework that calls for the discovery of public value through use-inspired research in order to transform society. It speaks directly to the ASU Charter and design principles. The fact that so many members of our research community see its value means that ASU will be well-prepared for the future of research.”

The beautiful risk of action-forward research

A panel of faculty experts discussed their professional experiences conducting applied and socially impactful research, as well as the need to use knowledge mobilization as a framework for graduate research that is action-forward. The panel included Gustavo Fischman from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College; Flavio Marsiglia and Laurie Mook from the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions; Vice Provost and Dean Elizabeth Wentz and Associate Dean Enrique Vivoni of the Graduate College.

The event concluded with a keynote address from Ronald Beghetto of ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. In a talk titled “The Beautiful Risk of Action-Forward Research,” Beghetto discussed the benefits of approaching research creatively, working through uncertainty, and finding opportunities to continually reflect and learn

Following his address, the six awardees were announced.

The full list of awardees and finalists for each category are:  

Master's Research in Progress

• Winner: Amanda Trakas, The Design School, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
  "KIDSS: Considering Kids in Design of Safe Streets."

• Alli St. John, School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
  "Consent and Staged Intimacy in High School Theatre Programs."

• Jeff Tabet, School of Justice and Human Rights, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. 
  "Choose Awareness."

Master's Completed Research 

• Winner: Cameo Flores, School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. 
  "Weaponizing the Mariachi 2015–Today: Mexicanidad and the Trump Administration."

• Akshay Kumar Dileep, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision System Engineering, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
  "Early Detection of At-Risk Students in a Calculus Course."

• Tareq Al-Ahdal, College of Health Solutions. 
  "The impact of climate change on diarrheal diseases in Jordan in the period between 2004–2018."

Doctoral Research in Progress 

• Winner: Noa Bruhis, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures. 
  "Helium rising: A case study on envisioning futures for underground resource extraction."

• Lushanya Echeverria, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. 
  "Dialogical Narrative Analysis as a Responsive Approach to Compassion Fatigue Reduction in Teachers."

• Man Luo, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
  "Semantic Information Retrieval in Biomedical Domain."

Doctoral Completed Research

• Winner: Anais Roque, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
  "Water Sharing as Disaster Response in Puerto Rico: Coping with Water Insecurity in the Aftermath of Hurricane María."

• Gabrielle Lout, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures.
  "Descent work in the Caribbean: Sub-regional assessment of the shrimp and groundfish fisheries in Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago."

• Marzieh Bitaab, School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
  "Detecting Scam Websites at Scale."

Postdoctoral Research in Progress

• Winner: Barbara Quimby, Kyl Center for Water Policy, Morris Institute. 
  "Water for Agriculture: Stakeholder Engagement in the Verde Valley, Arizona."

• Lauren van Huisstede, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.
  "Developing a Graduate Student Workshop Series in Data Management Best Practices."

• Stefania Kapsetaki, Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society.
  "Disease in spacetime: 1460 species approaching the T(r)opic of Cancer at the top of the food pyramid."

Postdoctoral Completed Research 

• Winner: Shawna Andrea Foo, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.
  "Drivers of fish populations in Hawaii Island."

• Emily Springer, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.
  "Dumb Numbers: How international development evaluation undermines gender justice."

• Annabelle Atkin, T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics.
  "Understanding Familial Support of Multiracial Youths' Experiences."