Advancing research at Marquette in 2024

Ranked among the top 40 Most Innovative Universities by U.S. News and World Report, Marquette University is committed to fostering a thriving academic research and scholarship community.  

“Marquette’s community of scholars continues to excel as researchers and innovators, with a number of projects engaging students or the broader community,” says Dr. Jeanne Hossenlopp, vice president for research and innovation. “Many of the examples featured below support our new strategic plan for growing research in areas related to the Jesuits’ Universal Apostolic Preferences, specifically Care for our Common Home and Walking with the Excluded.”   

Here are just some of the ways Marquette faculty are leading the way:   

Elite research grants, awards and funding:    

Marquette faculty members in 2024 were awarded major grants from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and the U.S. Office of Naval Research. Following is a sample of research underway:   

• Dr. Brian Schmit, professor of biomedical engineering, and collaborators received a $3.3 million R01 research grant from the National Institutes of Health for his study on multiple sclerosis rehabilitation. The team combines high-intensity workout and balance training as key to improving balance and cardiovascular outcomes, getting more of the MS community walking. 

• Dr. Sam Nemanich, assistant professor of occupational therapy in the College of Health Sciences, was awarded a two-year, $440,000 R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his study on everyday devices and their use for pediatric patients with cerebral palsy. 

• Dr. Brandon J. Tefft, assistant professor in the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded an anticipated $572,770 National Science Foundation CAREER Award for producing a growing heart valve that can reduce the need for repeat surgery in individuals with congenital heart valve defects.   

• Marquette’s “In Defense of Water” project has received $4.2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, its third grant from DOD. The continued partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began in 2021 with an initial $3.8 million award; they increased the scope of the research with another $3.8 million in August 2023. 

• Dr. Adam Dempsey, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has been awarded $2 million from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to develop a naval combustion system that works with a wide range of lower carbon intensity fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The grant will fund work on the concept of prechamber enabled mixing-controlled combustion with a fuel reformer. 

• The National Institutes of Health awarded an expected value of $2.4 million over four years to Dr. Jeffrey Toth, associate dean for research and professor of biomaterials in the Marquette School of Dentistry, and the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Dr. Carol Everson. The objectives of the proposed research are to determine the mechanisms by which chronic sleep restriction impairs bone remodeling and how this may change the trajectory of normal bone health toward osteoporosis and fragility later in life. 

Other notable research and prestigious awards: 

• Marquette nursing professors Drs. Kristen Haglund and Abiola Keller are playing a vital role in shaping the Concordia 27 community center. They surveyed residents of Milwaukee’s Near West Side neighborhoods about their health needs — providing vital information for Concordia 27, a comprehensive community center supporting the health priorities of its residents. 

• Dr. Sarah Wadsworth, professor of English in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences and director of Marquette University Press, was awarded a prestigious summer stipend award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The stipend will support Wadsworth’s work on her new book, “In Deepest Sympathy: An Anthology of Letters from the Nineteenth Century.” 

• Dr. Melissa Gibson, associate professor of educational policy and leadership in the College of Education, through a $1.27 million MKE Roots project, is helping K-12 students improve school performance by revealing history and culture in Milwaukee neighborhoods.   

• Dr. Sheila Schindler-Ivens, associate professor of physical therapy in the College of Health Sciences, took second place in the Life Science category at the annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest with her startup Venus Rehabilitation Technologies.  

• A research volume co-edited by Dr. Eugenia Afinoguénova, chair and professor of Spanish in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, and collaborators illuminates the lasting cultural meaning of art created during the Spanish Civil War. The project is the result of nearly $125,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities in the fall of 2023. 

• Drs. Nicholas Jolly and Kathryn Wagner in the College of Business Administration received an award from the Wisconsin Department of Justice for “The Effect of Job Displacement on Violent Crime and Suicides Involving Firearms.” The project examines the effect of job loss likelihood on two outcomes: the rate of suicides committed by firearms and the rate of violent crimes involving firearms.