Recent Grants

Ulku Clark (PI), Vetter, R. "Maritime Cyber Security: Standards Advancement, Research and Workforce Development," Award for $625,000; Grant Period October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2026.

Continuing the work of the National Treatment Court Resource Center, with Kristen DeVall (PI), Christina Lanier (Co-PI), Sally MacKain (Co-PI), Jeanne Persuit (Co-PI), and Ron Vetter (Co-PI), US Department of Justice; Continuation Award for $200,000; Grant Period: October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026. 

Ebrahimi, Ellie,, Gokce, Yasin Emre,, August 2025-May 2026. Cybersecurity Practice and Awareness for Rising Kids, TrendMicro, $10,000.00.

Schroeder, Lindsey, (Principal),, McDaniel, Alexander, (Co-Principal),, Layman, Lucas, (Co-Investigator),, Song, Yang, (Co-Investigator),, Wang, Yishi, (Co-Investigator),, Saeidi, Hamed, (Supporting),, June 2025-June 2027. 2025 NC Innovation Grant, NC Innovation, $850,644.00.

ElSaid, Abdelrahman, (Principal),, Alamleh, Hosam, (Co-Investigator),, June 2024-August 2024. Bridge: Developing Robotics and Remote Sensing Curricula at Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU) and Stimulating Creativity and Cooperation by Transferring Experiences of University of North Carolina Wilmington-USA, Fullbright, $9,100.00

Clark, Ulku, (Principal),, Alamleh, Hosam, (Co-Principal),, Karabacak, Bilge, (Co-Principal),, Rachakonda, Laavanya, (Co-Principal),, Cummings, Jeffrey, (Co-Principal),, Miller, Kasey, (Co-Principal), 2024-2026, MCARTEC Research Hub, UNCW, $200,000.00.

Alamleh, Hosam,, May 2023. Mobile payment system security/ NC-PaCE undergraduate research proposal, NC PACE, $8,000.00.

Layman, Lucas,, April 2023-November 2024. NSF Student Travel Grant for the 2023 Empirical Software Engineering International Week (ESEIW), National Science Foundation, $20,000.00.

Adult Treatment Court Planning, Training, Technical Assistance, and Resources Center Initiative, with Kristen DeVall (PI), Christina Lanier (Co-PI), Sally MacKain (Co-PI), Jeanne Persuit (Co-PI), and Ron Vetter, US Department of Justice; Continuation Award for $1,750,000; Grant Period: November 1, 2023 – September 30, 2025. 

Clark, Ulku, (Principal),, Karabacak, Bilge, (Co-Principal),, Stoker, Geoffrey, (Co-Principal),, Alamleh, Hosam, (Co-Principal),, Greer, Jeffrey, (Co-Principal),, August 2023-December 2024. UNCW-CCN Capacity Building, Carolina Cyber Network, $200,000.00

Jafarikhah, Sima (Tahereh), (Principal),, Siadati, SeyedHossein, (Co-Investigator),, Clark, Ulku, (Co-Investigator),, August 2023-December 2024. NCPaCE (North Carolina Partnership for Cybersecurity Excellence), NC State, $57,000.00.

Liu, Qianqian, (Principal),, Song, Yang, (Co-Principal),, Dogan, Gulustan, (Co-Principal),, Wang, Zhengui, (Co-Principal),, January 2023-December 2024. Collaborative Research: CyberTraining: Pilot: A Cybertraining Program to Advance Data Acquisition, Processing, and Machine Learning-based Modeling in Marine Science., NSF, $205,678.00.

McDaniel, Alexander, (Principal),, Schroeder, Lindsey, (Co-Principal),, Kawczynski, Bill, (Supporting),, Streuli, Justin, (Supporting),, Layman, Lucas, (Other),, June 2022. Isometric Neck Strength Assessment Tool: Prototype Mobile Medical Device for Rehabilitation and mTBI Prevention, North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBC): Translational Research Grant, $110,000.00.

Dodson, Crystal, (Principal),, Layman, Lucas, (Co-Principal),, Dogan, Gulustan, (Co-Principal),, March 2022-September 2023. Refinement of an AI-Driven Mobile App for the Uptake of Pharmacogenetic Testing in Rural Primary Care Settings, NC Biotech Flash Grant, $13,000.00.

Developing a Drug Court Resource Center, with Kristen DeVall (PI), Christina Lanier (Co-PI), Sally MacKain (Co-PI), Jeanne Persuit (Co-PI), and Ron Vetter, US Department of Justice; Continuation Award for $1,600,000; Grant Period: November 1, 2021 – September 30, 2023. 

Krieger, Axel, (Principal),, Kang, Jin, (Principal),, Hsieh, Michael, (Co-Principal),, Saeidi, Hamed,, September 2023-August 2025. Next Generation Robotic System for Supervised-Autonomous Bowel Anastomosis, NIH-R56, $748,337.00.

Kristen DeVall (Principal Investigator), Christina Lanier (Co-Principal), Sally MacKain (Co-Principal), Jeanne Persuit (Co-Principal), and Vetter, R. (Co-Principal), Developing a Drug Court Resource Center, US Department of Justice; Continuation Award for $800,000; Grant Period: November 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022.

Clark, U. (Principal Investigator), Stoker, G. (Co-Principal), Patterson, L. (Co-Principal), Vetter, R. (Co-Principal), Wetherill, W. (Co-Principal), and Vandergriff, G. (Co-Principal), UNCW-CFCC Collaborative Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Program (CCAP), Department of Defense Cyber Scholarship Program – Capacity Building Grant; Award for $196,782; Grant Period: September 15, 2020 – December 14, 2021.

Dodson, Crystal, (Principal),, Layman, Lucas, (Co-Principal),, Van Riper, Marcia, (Supporting),, January 2020-January 2022. Refinement and Usability Testing of a Pharmacogenomics App for Dosing Guidelines for Oncology, Oncology Nursing Society Foundation, $25,000.00.

DeVall, K. (Principal Investigator), Lanier, C. (Co-Principal), MacKain, S. (Co-Principal), Persuit, J. (Co-Principal), Vetter, R. (Co-Principal), "Developing a Drug Court Resource Center", Department of Justice; Award ​for $1,600,000; Funding Period: November 1, 2019 – September 30, 2021.

Morago, B. A., Pence, T. B. (Principal), Ebrahimi, E. (Co-Principal), Moody, A. K. (Co-Principal), Taylor, A. R. (Co-Principal), Stocker, J. (Co-Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Exploratory: Virtual Access to STEM Careers (VASC)", National Science Foundation, Federal, $397,511.14, Funded. (sub: August 7, 2018, start: May 1, 2019, end: April 30, 2021).

Richardson, E. L., Reel, J. J. (Principal), Ricanek, K. (Co-Principal), Wells, A. (Supporting), Dodson, C. H. (Supporting), Hohn, K. L. (Supporting), Boersma, J. M. (Supporting), Pence, T. B. (Supporting), Ebrahimi, E. (Supporting), Ostrom, A. (Supporting), Johnson, R. (Supporting), Borrett, S. R. (Supporting), Internal Grants/Funding, "Interdisciplinary Innovation Café and Seminar Series: Artificial Intelligence and Health", University of North Carolina Wilmington, $10,000.00, Funded. (sub: May 2019, start: June 5, 2019, end: May 31, 2020).

Song, Y. (Principal), Internal Grants/Funding, "Integrating Micro-credentials into Online Question Bank to Build Student Course Competency Portfolios", The Spring/Summer Undergraduate Research and Creativity Awards (SURCA), University of North Carolina Wilmington, $5,000.00, Funded. (sub: October 15, 2018, start: January 1, 2019, end: August 15, 2019).

Morago, B. A., Meyers, V. (Supporting), Internal Grants/Funding, "Building a Multi-Source Imagery Dataset for 3D Reconstructions", SURCA, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,249.00, Funded. (sub: March 18, 2019, start: June 2019, end: July 2019).

Morago, B. A., External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Major Research Instrumentation Program", National Science Foundation, Federal, $139,294.00, Funded. (sub: January 5, 2017, start: August 2017, end: July 2019).

Ebrahimi, E. (Principal), Internal Grants/Funding, "Pilot Grant Award - A Virtual Tool to Inspect Home Safety Hazards", UNC Wilmington, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,492.00, Funded. (sub: October 15, 2018, end: May 31, 2019).

Song, Y. (Principal), Ferner, C. S. (Co-Principal), Pence, T. B. (Co-Principal), Ebrahimi, E. (Co-Principal), Layman, L. M. (Co-Principal), Morago, B. A. (Co-Principal), Narayan, S. (Co-Principal), Tompkins, J. A. (Co-Principal), Stoker, G. M. (Co-Principal), Internal Grants/Funding, "Leveraging Applied Learning in CSC 131: A Department-wide Initiative Impacting 400 Students Per Year", Applied Learning Strategic Initiatives, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $30,000.00, Funded. (sub: March 15, 2019).

Ricanek, K. (Co-Principal), Albert, A. M. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Child Face Recognition Development", FBI Biometric Center of Excellence - West Virginia Univ, Federal, $330,136.00, Funded. (sub: September 2016, start: May 1, 2017, end: September 30, 2018).

Layman, L. M. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Pocket Security – Smartphone Cybercrime in the Wild", National Science Foundation, Federal, $309,000.00, Funded. (start: September 1, 2016, end: August 31, 2018).

Ricanek, K., Albert, A. M. (Co-Principal), Patterson, E. K. (Co-Principal), External Contracts, "CASIS 2016-2017", Central Intelligence Agency - North Carolina A&T, Federal, $1,123,741.00, Funded. (sub: August 2015, start: September 2015, end: August 2018).

Song, Y. (Principal), Internal Grants/Funding, "An Investigation of Peer-nomination as a Novel Educational Peer-assessment Setup", CAS Research Initiative, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,500.00, Funded. (sub: April 2018, start: May 15, 2018, end: August 15, 2018).

Morago, B. A., External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Pilot Grant Award - Faculty Early Career Development Program - CAREER: Registering Multi-Modality Imagery", UNCW College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,500.00, Funded. (sub: September 10, 2017, start: June 1, 2018, end: June 30, 2018).

Layman, L. (Principal), Ricanek, K. (Co-Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "IARPA Janus Project Verification", Applied Learning, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,500.00, Funded. (sub: September 29, 2017, start: January 8, 2018, end: May 31, 2018).

Layman, L. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "A Social Media-based Early Warning System for Cyber Threats", SPARC Cahill Award, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,270.00, Funded. (sub: October 16, 2017, start: January 2, 2018, end: May 31, 2018).

Ricanek, K., External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Face Data Aggregation Across World Ethnicities", Oak Ridge National Labs, Federal, $80,421.00, Funded. (sub: March 2019, start: June 1, 2017, end: May 2018).

Layman, L. (Principal), Ricanek, K. (Co-Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "IARPA Janus Project Verification", Applied Learning, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,500.00, Funded. (sub: September 29, 2017, start: January 8, 2018, end: May 31, 2018).

Pence, T. B. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Student Support for the IEEE VR 2017 Doctoral Consortium", National Science Foundation, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $15,540.00, Funded. (sub: February 2, 2017, start: March 1, 2017, end: February 28, 2018).

Morago, B. A. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Creation of Course " Computer Vision for 3D Reconstruction "", UNCW Applied Learning, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,455.45, Funded. (sub: March 14, 2017, start: August 1, 2017, end: December 31, 2017).

Layman, L. M. (Principal), Diep, M. (Co-Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Data Protection Policy Effectiveness Measures", Cisco University Research Program Fund, Private, $100,000.00, Funded. (start: December 1, 2016, end: November 30, 2017).

Song, Y., Internal Grants/Funding, "Building and Analyzing Students Micro Credentials from Computer Science Core Courses", The Spring/Summer Undergraduate Research and Creativity Awards (SURCA), University of North Carolina Wilmington, $5,000.00, Funded. (sub: November 2017).

Ferner, C. S. (Co-Principal), Chang, Y. O. (Principal), Chen, C. (Co-Principal), Dunn, E. (Co-Principal), Halls, J. N. (Co-Principal), Narcisa, P. (Co-Principal), Wang, Y. (Co-Principal), Internal Grants/Funding, "Applied Learning proposal “High Performance Computing cross the curriculum – A pilot study", UNCW Applied Learning, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $5,000.00, Funded. (sub: August 18, 2017, start: August 23, 2017).

Ferner, M. J., Internal Grants/Funding, "Development of CIT 213 for Online Delivery", Office of e-Learning UNCW, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $2,000.00, Funded. (start: July 1, 2017).

Layman, L. M. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Transfer Learning in Software Engineering", National Science Foundation, Federal, $482,852.00, Funded. (start: July 1, 2013, end: June 30, 2017).

Morago, B. A. (Principal), Pence, T. B. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Joint Virtual Reality/Film Course Development", UNCW College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $3,500.00, Funded. (sub: November 1, 2016, start: June 1, 2017, end: June 30, 2017).

Pence, T. B. (Principal), External Grants/Sponsored Research, "Student Support for the IEEE VR 2016 Doctoral Consortium", National Science Foundation, University of North Carolina Wilmington, $11,448.00, Funded. (sub: February 2, 2016, start: March 1, 2016, end: February 28, 2017).

Stapleton, A. (PI), Vetter, R., "The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for the Life Sciences,  National Science Foundation (part of an award for $50 million thru the University of Arizona and the University of Texas at Austin); Award for $627,870; September 1, 2013 – August 30, 2016.