Grant Announcements

App State plant geneticist Dr. Matt Estep is working with the Blue Ridge Parkway to examine the genetic diversity of spreading avens — a federally endangered plant native to Western North Carolina. His five-year study, funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will help inform conservation efforts aimed at preserving and protecting the species.

App State assistant professor Dr. Maggie Sugg has earned a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. These awards support early career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

App State is bringing a cultural blend of Appalachian and Latino music, dance and theater to campus and the local community through a three-day, virtual residency of Cornbread and Tortillas — a collective of artists hailing from Appalachia, the Andes, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua.

App State has received grant funding from the North Carolina Arts Council to support operations of the Schaefer Center and its virtual performing arts programming — including live remote events, live-streamed performances and recorded content — amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three religious studies faculty members at App State are engaged in a grant-funded project to envision a public-focused future for religious studies teaching and scholarship — one that explores the relationship of religion to topics at the center of public conversation and debate.

Dr. Mark Spond, App State’s liaison to the National Park Service (NPS), was awarded NPS funding to conduct studies of bats along North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway — data from which will help expand NPS knowledge of the area’s rare bat species and those affected by white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fatal fungal disease.

Nearly 750 App State students were treated to a sweet reminder to vote, along with voter information, as part of “Doughnut Forget to Vote” — a nonpartisan voter education and mobilization event held Oct. 22 on App State’s campus.

For more than 30 years, App State’s Parent to Parent Family Support Network-High Country has supported High Country families with special needs children — work made possible by donations and external grant funding. Read on to learn about the organization’s $73,000-plus in grant support for 2019–20.

The National Science Foundation has awarded Appalachian $995,509 in grant funding to implement ADVANCE APPALACHIAN — a program designed to support and advance the careers of Appalachian faculty who are women in STEM disciplines. The program will be implemented over the next three academic years.