Cohen Announces More Than $1.5 Million for University of Memphis

Press Release

Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of Memphis two grants totaling $1,523,867 for new research. One grant for $1,083,868 will fund a project entitled "Beyond Boredom: Modeling and Promoting Engagement during Complex Learning." The second grant for $439,999 will fund a project entitled "Collaborative Research: Great Earthquakes, Megathrust Phenomenology and Continental Dynamics in the Southern Andes."

"The University of Memphis is a commended research institution that consistently expands the field of knowledge in areas as diverse as education and seismology," said Congressman Cohen. "These new federal funds will allow the University of Memphis to continue to make substantial advances in its many areas of research."

Sidney D'Mello, research assistant professor in the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis, will direct the "Beyond Boredom: Modeling and Promoting Engagement during Complex Learning" project. Dr. Robert Smalley, professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis, will direct the "Collaborative Research: Great Earthquakes, Megathrust Phenomenology and Continental Dynamics in the Southern Andes" project.

The NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to "promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense." In 2010, the NSF had an annual budget of $6.9 billion and funded approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.

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