Hub Fund for Advancing Research Awards
On behalf of the Emerson Research Hub, the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship congratulates this spring’s first round of recipients of grants from the Provost’s Hub Fund for Advancing Research. The goal of the Hub Fund is to provide small amounts of discretionary funding to help faculty advance or complete their research or creative projects.
Danielle Drees is an affiliated faculty member for the department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. Drees received support for indexing for her monograph, “Sleep with Spectators,” an interdisciplinary scholarly monograph in the fields of theater and performance studies, visual art, and gender and sexuality studies.
Leah Vonderheide is an Assistant Professor for the School of Film, Television and Media Arts. Vonderheide received support for subvention funds for the completion of her book project on the cinema and legacy of Māori filmmaker Merata Mita, a leader in the film industry of Aotearoa New Zealand. With two of five chapters completed, along with a book proposal, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Press has offered her an advance contract. Subvention funding from the Research Hub will allow her to submit her manuscript for peer review.
Jon Honea, Professor for the Marlboro Institute, received support for the creation of a website highlighting his research with professor emeritus Tulasi Srinivas on sacred waters and river restoration, as well as their proposed collaboration at the intersection of aquatic ecology and spirituality. This website will be used as a communication tool in further grant proposals to demonstrate the depth and interdisciplinarity of their proposed collaboration.
Maria San Filippo is an Associate Professor for the School of Film, Television and Media Arts. San Filippo received support for the completion of “Screening Women Filmmakers,” a co-edited volume under contract with Routledge. The funds will be used to partially cover the fee for licensing a cover image in perpetuity, addressing the remaining balance not covered by the publisher.
Livia Meneghin is an affiliated faculty member for the department of Writing, Literature and Publishing. Meneghin received support for participation in a six-week online drawing and writing workshop led by award-winning poet and educator Oliver Baez Bendorf, toward the completion of an in-progress poetry manuscript. Approximately one-third of the manuscript—about 30 pages—is complete, and funding will enable the creation of the remaining two-thirds through the workshop.
Rhiannon Luyster, Professor for the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, received funding support for a stipend to an expert in the field to “pre-review” a grant application to the National Institutes of Health in late February to support a 3 year project before the February deadline. This is a conventional approach to ensure that the submitted version is as strong as possible and she has secured agreement from an icon in her discipline, Helen Tager-Flusberg, to offer this pre-review; she is available to complete the pre-review before mid-February, which aligns with our short timeline.
Joaquin Serpe, Assistant Professor for the School of Film, Television and Media Arts, received funding support for attendance at the May 2026 LASA Latin American Studies Association annual conference in Paris where he organized and will be co-presenting a panel entitled “Latin American Television: Beyond Digital Platforms” with faculty from Columbia, UC Irvine, and Tulane.
Mneesha Gellman, Associate Professor for the Marlboro Institute, received support for a supplementary sabbatical project funding for a research trip to Mexico City, and attendance at the LASA annual conference in Paris where she is presenting a paper, both directly contributing to furthering new research in terms of direct data collection and disseminating the preliminary findings for feedback.
