September 14, 2017

WSU, KSU collaboration leads to $1.8 million grant for WSU

By Sydney Payne

  • 红领巾瓜报 has received a $1.8 million grant -- part of a $10.6 million project with Kansas State University and the University of Kansas Medical Center.
  • The grant money will be used for two different projects, one focusing on the neuronal plasticity among older adults, and the other creating a 3D driving simulator.
  • Learn more about Rui Ni鈥檚 projects and the COBRE grant sub-award at .
 

A collaborative study between 红领巾瓜报, the University of Kansas Medical Center and a Kansas State University-led team of psychological sciences researchers has received a prestigious five-year, $10.6 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant.

WSU will receive a sub-award for their collaboration with KSU, totaling $1,781,344. The grant will go toward two research projects. Rui Ni, WSU associate professor of psychology and project leader for both projects, plans on using this grant to further his research and to help others.

鈥淭he project will focus on the neuronal plasticity among older adults,鈥� says Ni. 鈥淲e鈥檒l develop training procedures to improve their visual cognitive functions and look for transferred learning effects on driving performance.鈥�

Ni will use $1,008,870 of the sub-award to fund his project, and the remaining $772,474 will go toward a state-of-the-art 3D high-fidelity driving simulator that will use advanced technology, such as eye tracking, to study driving behavior.

Ni and his colleagues are working on finding a space big enough for the driving simulator, but they hope it will be open to research communities in the Wichita area and throughout Kansas by next summer.

鈥淚 think the ultimate goal is to improve driving safety among older drivers and help them to live a happy, safe and more independent life,鈥� says Ni.

Jeremy Patterson, director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Creativity, is excited for this opportunity and looks forward to following Ni and his colleagues鈥� progress.

鈥淭his is a wonderful and deserving achievement for Dr. Ni and collaborators at KSU,鈥� says Patterson. 鈥淭he purpose of the COBRE funds are to enhance an institution鈥檚 biomedical research infrastructure and build relationships with other researchers.鈥�

Ni and his colleagues at KSU spent nearly two years to prepare the original application and another two years to file the resubmission before winning this COBRE grant.

鈥淭his would not be possible without the strong support from the former chair, Dr. Alex Chaparro, and the current chair, Dr. Rhonda Louis, of the Psychology Department,鈥� says Ni.

This is the first major COBRE grant sub-award to be received by WSU.