By Xoel Cardenas, Sr. Communications Specialist, Office of the Vice President for Research
The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is honored to announce that twelve research teams were awarded seed grants as part of the 1U4U Seed Grant Program.
The program supports cross-campus/cross-disciplinary research teams to solve some of the greatest challenges of our local, national, and global communities. These awards are jointly funded by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences.
The 2025 theme was Women Across the Lifespan: Health, Technology and Society. Research projects focus on expanding knowledge of/for women across their lifespans, which includes the study and analysis of issue specific to women, issues that disproportionately impact women, and issues that affect women differently than other populations or demographics.
Some of the topics of winning projects include transforming maternal mental health care, combatting sarcopenia, and tailoring conversational AI’s communication styles to help promote colonoscopies.
“The awardees represent the forefront of innovative thinking — their work bridges disciplines to tackle complex challenges with creativity, rigor, and purpose,” said Dr. Jakob Jensen, Associate Vice President for Research. “Their projects are a testament to the transformative power of collaboration and the profound impact of investing in bold, cross-cutting research.”
For FY2026, the theme will be Mental and Behavioral Health.
List of winning projects, in no particular order:
Research Team: Haoning Xue (Humanities), Kim Kaphingst (Humanities), Echo Warner (Nursing) & Lynn Huang (Medicine)
Application Title: Tailoring Conversational AI’s Communication Styles to Promote Colonoscopy Among At-Risk Women: A Patient-Centered Communication Strategy
Research Team: Ismail Ahmed (Medicine) & Shreya Goyal (Pharmacy)
Application Title: Advancing Labor Augmentation: Imaging and Precision Titration of Oxytocin Induced Uterine Contractions
Research Team: Jeffrey Bates (Engineering), Amandine Chaix (Health) & Karen Hilgendorf (Medicine)
Application Title: (Microplastics) 1U4U: Women Across the Lifespan: Health, Technology, and Society
Research Team: Whitney Maxwell (Medicine), Kim Kaphingst (Humanities), Elissa Ozanne (Medicine) & Phoebe Freer (Medicine)
Application Title: Enhanced Management of Breast Risk Assessment through Chatbot Engagement (EMBRACE)
Research Team: Himanshu Sant (Engineering), Jayant Agarwal (Medicine) & Jill Shae (Medicine)
Application Title: Convection-Enhanced Local Drug Delivery Device for Breast Cancer Treatment
Research Team: Carolyn Swenson (Medicine) & Micah Drummond (Health)
Application Title: Metformin for Postpartum Pelvic Floor Muscle Recovery
Research Team: Mindy Vanderloo (Medicine), Megan Call (Medicine), Jake Van Epps (Education)
Application Title: Pilot of the 3R Well-Being Model for Healthcare Professionals
Research Team: Arthurine Zakama (Medicine), Nathan Blue (Medicine), Rana Jawish (Medicine) & Warren Pettine (Medicine)
Application Title: Transforming Maternal Mental Health Care Using Innovative Digital Solutions for the Intermountain West
Research Team: Natalie Badgett (Education), Lisa Taylor-Swanson, (College of Nursing) & Jane Price (Center for Teaching Excellence)
Application Title: The AWAKEN Study: Autistic Women’s Knowledge and Experiences of Menopause
Research Team: Melissa Ilardo (Medicine), Justin Nosch (Medicine) & Micah Drummond (Health)
Application Title: Harnessing Evolutionary Adaptations for Women’s Muscle Health: A Novel Approach to Combat Sarcopenia
Research Team: Julia O’Connor (Social Work), Lindsey Gezinski (Social Work) & Sonia Salari (CSBS)
Application Title: Expanding Care on Campus: Piloting a Dating and Sexual Violence Screening Instrument for College Students
Research Team: Samira Shiri (Engineering) & Kristi Warren (Medicine)
Application Title: Optimizing Progesterone and Estrogen Dosing for Immune Cell Response in Asthma Using SPOTs High-Throughput Liquid Handling Device
About 1U4U
The goal of the 1U4U Seed Grant Program is to incentivize researchers from different disciplines to collaborate. Exemplary proposals will focus on bringing together researchers from different fields, departments, colleges, units, and other intellectual or organizational divides to pursue groundbreaking research.
The 1U4U Seed Grant Program topic will change from year-to-year and will be informed by the University of Utah research community. This will allow the institution to build and support teams around timely topics that highlight/promote the strengths of University of Utah researchers, address a topic that is timely and relevant to our current society, and to continue to build new interdisciplinary connections for future research work.
1U4U applications are reviewed by a standing committee comprised of faculty from across the university.
For more information on the 1U4U Seed Grant Program, click here or contact VPR Grants.
