Scholars program advances research on individual and social challenges

Elizabeth Nyboer wants to make life better for female fishers in Uganda. 

An assistant professor of fish and wildlife conservation, Nyboer’s efforts will now be cast forward with the help of the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment (ISCE) Scholars Program. The support will allow her team to explore how women’s fisheries organizations impact the ability to adapt to climate change within small scale fishery systems along the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. 

“As a new assistant professor, this award will be instrumental in enabling me to grow and strengthen my research program and collaborative relationships at Virginia Tech and beyond,” Nyboer said. “This team has an abundance of skill, and our work together will lay the foundation for future research that will delve more deeply into the intersecting issues of gender equity, food security, and climate resilience in Uganda’s inland fisheries."  

Nyboer’s team was one of five interdisciplinary teams spanning six university departments and four colleges named 2024-25 ISCE Scholars and awarded up to $30,000. The support will advance each groups’ initial research, which addresses critical individual and social concerns, and enable them to compete for additional funding from external agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.  

“The projects selected focused on comprehensive social science research, consistent with ISCE’s four thematic areas and the Virginia Tech Research Frontiers,” said Karen Roberto, University Distinguished Professor and the institute's executive director. “Participating in the scholars program provides both new and experienced faculty and teams with the support necessary to gather pilot data, test the feasibility of their approach, and strengthen collaborations and partnerships, all of which are necessary for developing competitive external grant applications.” 

Within six months of completing the scholar’s program, each of the five research teams is expected to apply for external funding.

Another new scholar, Samantha Margherio will use the funding to establish a blueprint for expanding access to mental health care for underserved, rural youth. Her team will leverage the voices of adolescents, caregivers, and school personnel in the community to codesign a digital mental health resource bank consisting of mental health screeners, digital mental health interventions, and referral resources for youth in need of higher levels of care. 

“My team and I are grateful for this funding that will support our community-engaged work,” said Margherio, assistant professor of psychology. “We will work with our community advisory boards to codevelop an online toolkit to expand access to mental health knowledge and services for adolescents and their families. Eventually, we hope to expand these digital resources to the broader rural youth population.” 

The complete list of the 2024-25 ISCE Scholars, their research topics, as well as their future grant goals: 

Developing A Novel Machine Learning Approach to Identify Changes in Mentalization During Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The team

• Chloe Hudson, principal investigator and assistant professor of psychology in the College of Science
• Brooks Casas, professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and psychology 
• Naren Ramakrishnan, professor of computer science in the College of Engineering
• Louis Hickman, assistant professor of psychology
• Lee Cooper, clinical professor of psychology

The goal is to build the infrastructure and data preparation procedures necessary to develop machine learning and natural language processing techniques that will automate the assessment of mentalization during therapy. Once the initial study is complete, the team plans to submit their findings as part of a K23 application offered through the National Institute of Mental Health to further expand the research. 

Leveraging Community-Centered Research to Expand Access to Youth Mental Health Knowledge and Services

The team

• Samantha Margherio, principal investigator and assistant professor of psychology
• Rosanna Breaux, assistant professor of psychology
• Heather Davis, assistant professor of psychology
• Jody Russon, assistant professor of human development and family science in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

The goal is to establish a plan to expand access to digital mental healthcare resources for underserved youth around rural Appalachia. In the future, the group hopes to apply for individual Early Career (K) awards and a collaborative R34 opportunity through the National Institutes of Health.

Building Resilience to Climate Change in Lake Victoria’s Fisheries: The Role of Women’s Fisheries Organizations in Uganda

The team

• Elizabeth Nyboer, principal investigator and assistant professor of fish and wildlife conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment
• Winnie Nkalubo, director of the National Fisheries Research Institute of Uganda
• Lovin Kobusingye, president of the Uganda National Women’s Fish Organization
• Emma Rice, Ph.D. student, fish and wildlife conservation

This project aims to gather critical preliminary data on factors that have led to successful livelihood outcomes for women involved with women’s fisheries organizations in Uganda. The group plans to apply for National Science Foundation and Nature Conservancy grants once the preliminary research is completed.  

Couples and Race-Related Stress

The team

• TeKisha Rice, principal investigator and assistant professor of human development and family science

The goal is to examine same-race and mixed-race Black couples’ discussions of race-related stressors including acute instances of police brutality and the connection between racial discrimination, the couple’s communication quality, and their overall well-being. Rice plans to apply for the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award once the exploratory research has concluded.

Fusing Disaster Equity into Community Resilience Assessment: Paving the Way for Equitable Resilience Planning

The team

• Lu Zhang, principal investigator and associate professor of building construction
• Yang Zhang associate professor of urban affairs and planning in the School of Public and International Affairs

This project aims to advance the knowledge of the interrelationships between community resilience and disaster equity by formulating a new disaster resilience assessment model that systematically accounts for equity. Once the initial study is completed, the researchers plan to apply for the National Science Foundation’s Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment program for further funding.