How Marquette advanced research in 2025

Ranked among the top 50 most innovative universities by U.S. News and World Report, Marquette is committed to fostering a thriving academic research and scholarship community.

"Marquette's community of scholars continue to excel in their integrated mission of advancing knowledge, engaging students in transformative research opportunities and benefitting society through the research designed to make an impact on the world," says Dr. Jeanne Hossenlopp, vice president for research and innovation. "Central to our research mission is our strategic plan focus on growth in cross-disciplinary research that serves two of the Jesuits' Universal Apostolic Preferences: Care for our Common Home and Walking with the Excluded."

Elite research grants, awards and funding:

Marquette faculty members in 2025 were awarded major grants from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.

Here are some examples of research conducted by Marquette faculty:

• Dr. Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, associate professor of speech pathology and audiology in the College of Health Sciences, and Dr. Kristen Allison, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northeastern University, have been awarded a $3.8 million R01 research grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop a clinical tool for the early and accurate differential diagnosis of motor speech disorders in children. Iuzzini-Seigel explains that, although the disorders they are researching have distinct underlying causes, they can be difficult to diagnose, highlighting the need for a norm referenced protocol to differentiate these disorders.

• Dr. Md. Tahmidul Islam Molla, assistant professor of practice in computer science in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an online rapid entry bridge course for people seeking a career change to pursue a Master of Science in computer and information science. The project builds on an existing program for those who wish to enter the computing field, but it is being redesigned for online, synchronous and asynchronous delivery.

• Dr. Karen Kruger, research associate professor in the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, received a $3.2 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to complete a comprehensive study of the 3D structure and function of pediatric flat feet throughout growth and development. Kruger, along with a consortium of colleagues from universities across the country, will assess weight-bearing computed tomography's ability to provide 3D radiographic imaging for use in developing children.

• Dr. Dennis Brylow, chair and professor of computer science in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, received a nearly $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the training and professional development of computer science teachers in Milwaukee Public Schools. The project aims to adapt a Marquette computer science bootcamp to create a professional development experience for Milwaukee Public Schools teachers to train them to better implement the Exploring Computer Science program.

• Dr. Kristi Streeter, assistant professor of physical therapy, received a $436,808 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to expand her research on breathing after spinal cord injuries. Streeter will research whether combining the lab's novel breathing training program and therapeutic acute intermittent hypoxia will show better results together than independently.

• Dr. Lee Za Ong, associate professor of counselor education and counseling psychology in the College of Education, received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop and expand experiential training opportunities to improve the distribution and supply of the behavioral health workforce. The award will go toward expanding the College of Education's online and in-person clinical mental health counseling-child and adolescent specialization program.

• Dr. Deanna Arble, assistant professor of biological sciences in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, received a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation with an expected value of $1.37 million to study how light affects breathing and the maintenance of blood oxygen levels. Arble hypothesizes that light has distinct effects on breathing via separate populations of retinal cells that transmit light information to the brain.

• Dr. Matthew Hearing, associate professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded an R01 grant worth $2.42 million from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health to develop more effective approaches for treating a range of debilitating, stress-related neuropsychiatric illnesses. Hearing and his team will test the hypothesis that chronic unpredictable stress produces sex-dependent neurological changes that result in deficits in behavioral/cognitive flexibility, and that this reflects impaired function of areas of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex.

• Dr. Yong Bai, McShane Chair and Professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering in the Opus College of Engineering, received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for research and curriculum development of infrastructure construction and engineering. The goal of the Training Workforce for Infrastructure Construction and Engineering project is to better educate the future workforce.

Other notable research and prestigious awards:

• Dr. Priya Deshpande, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Opus College of Engineering, was named a 2025 Engineering Unleashed Fellow by the Kern Family Foundation. Deshpande has been recognized for her work to redesign Marquette's undergraduate database design course and for sharing her ideas with engineering educators across the country. As part of the fellowship, Deshpande will receive a $10,000 grant to advance her project.

• Dr. Peter Staudenmaier, associate professor of history, published an article in Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism titled "Evola's Afterlives: Esotericism and Politics in the Posthumous Reception of Julius Evola." The article discusses the legacy of Julius Evola and examines the texts of and misconceptions about Evola.

• Dr. Manal Hamdan, assistant professor and director of the predoctoral program in oral and maxillofacial radiology, and Dr. Zaid Badr, clinical assistant professor and director of the Technological Innovation Center, were inducted as fellows of the International College of Dentists. The ICD is one of the oldest and most prestigious honorary dental societies in the world and fellowship is by invitation only, recognizing dentists for "outstanding professional achievement, meritorious service and dedication to the continued progress of dentistry for the benefit of humankind."

• Dr. Chima J. Korieh, professor of history, presented a paper titled "Biafra: The Forgotten Genocide" at the 2025 conference of the International Association of genocide scholars in Johannesburg, South Africa.

• Dr. Stefan Schnitzer, Mellon Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, and Dr. David DeFelippis, a postdoctoral researcher, observed more than 117,000 plants over a 10-year period and found that lianas, or woody vines, reduce canopy tree growth and survival, which limits forest carbon storage. Their findings are the first direct empirically supported explanation for the ongoing decline in the American tropical forest carbon sink.

• Dr. Ann E. Millard and Dr. Michele Sheehan, clinical assistant professors in the College of Health Sciences' Department of Occupational Therapy and members of the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program, were awarded a $75,000 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation to create an adaptive sports camp for children with disabilities in the Milwaukee area.

• Dr. Amy Blair, associate professor of English, wrote a book titled "Tasting and Testing Books: Good Housekeeping, Popular Modernism and Middlebrow Reading," which was designated a Choice 2025 Outstanding Academic Title. The book studies Emily Newell Blair's reading advice in Good Housekeeping magazine during the 1920s and '30s.

• Dr. Ayman EL-Refaie, Werner Endowed Chair of Secure and Sustainable Energy Systems and professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been named president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Industry Applications Society and will serve a two-year appointment through January 2027. As president, EL-Refaie will be leading the IAS board and executive office/staff to shape the vision and direction of IAS and its resources and implementing strategic plans in addition to the regular operations.

• A study by Dr. Lucia Kovacikova, assistant professor of political science, reveals that states are beginning to mount their own foreign policies in response to the current administration, through what political scientists call paradiplomacy.

• Dr. Chelsea Cook, assistant professor of biology, and Justine Nguyen, a graduate researcher in the Cook Bee Research Lab, have found that Oxytetracycline, a common antibiotic used in agriculture, disrupts a critical social behavior in honeybees. Honeybees treated with the antibiotic moved faster but reduced participation in fanning the hive, a critical social behavior necessary to keep their colony cool when it gets hot during the summer.

• Dr. Julissa Ventura, assistant professor of educational policy and leadership in the College of Education, through a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Education has allowed students to speak up through her research about what they believe is not working in their schools. Ventura's research and applied "transformative student voice" project operates in multiple schools that are part of the Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership, a collaboration between Milwaukee Public Schools and Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association.

• In "Counting Like a State," Dr. Philip Rocco, associate professor of political science, shows how the production of the U.S. Census now hinges on a series of intergovernmental partnerships throughout the country. Rocco discusses how the 2020 Census proved difficult with disagreements between federal and state officials on what should be on the census.

Stay up to date on Marquette research activity, including new grants and publications, on Marquette Today.