Marquette COVID-19 Research Initiative
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected most aspects of the daily lives of Americans and people across the world. Marquette University, a research and student-focused institution, is in the unique position to bring together scholars from the Marquette community, including faculty, staff, and students, to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, how we got here, and the emerging trends and strategies to address the changing world.
The primary goal of this research initiative is to identify, and promote research performed by the Marquette community on the immediate and long-term issues and the impact on society related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This could involve small or large research collaborations, from new or existing interdisciplinary collaborative teams, or work led by individual investigators. The emphasis will be on achievable and feasible short- and long-term research projects or educational opportunities focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative will provide high-impact learning opportunities for Marquette graduate and undergraduate students through research of COVID-19 pandemic issues that will affect this generation for years to come. The Marquette initiative will complement the current Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin (CTSI) COVID-19 Research Initiative that is focused on clinical and health systems studies.

Recent Updates
The Marquette COVID-19 Research Initiative is gaining significant traction. Projects, studies, podcasts, commentaries, webinars, and classes are in the making by teams and individuals. The outcomes are emerging. Learn about the latest developments and projects taking place through the COVID-19 Research Initiative:
- BeyondMU: Lifelong Learning
Check out BeyondMU's virtual offerings, including pandemic-focused research.
- Dr. Sandra Hunter on WUWM: Dr. Hunter was recently featured on Milwaukee's WUWM to give tips on exercising while wearing a mask.
- President's Challenge for COVID-19 Response Awardees: Congratuations to the President’s Challenge - COVID-19 Response Grant Winners!
- Dr. Walter Bialkowski, “Empowering Those Who Seek to End Hunger through Collaboration and Innovation”
Solutions to optimize public food service distribution to meet the growing need brought upon by sudden unemployment.
- Dr. Andrea Schneider, “When Safer-at-Home is Not Actually Safe: Supporting Intimate Partner Violence Survivors during Quarantine”
A study on the impact of safer-at-home orders has on intimate partner violence
- Mr. Patrick Kennelly, “Promoting Resiliency & Improved Coping in Education (PRICE)”
An online toolkit resource for teachers to assist students from disproportionately affected populations with the effects of COVID-19 and systemic racism
- Short Survey: To help understand the work being done and the people involved we would appreciate you taking the time to fill out a short survey . This will allow us to obtain more information on current projects (research studies, education pursuits, humanities focused projects, community programming etc.) and those involved, including faculty, staff and students. Keep in mind that each survey submission is to represent one project. Thus, if you are involved in several projects, please arrange one submission for each project. If you are significantly associated with studies at other institutions (e.g. MCW) please include.
Additional Initiative Information
External Funding Opportunities
External funding opportunities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic can be found on the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) website.
Virtual Town Halls - April 28th and 29th. A recording of the town hall is available here. (Restricted to Marquette VPN and campus network only)
CURTO COVID-19 Seminar - View the recording here.
Conducting Culturally-Sensitive Research Webinar - July 16th, 10AM; view recording here.
COVID-19 Lightning Talks - During COVID-19 Lightning Talks, Marquette researchers share their pandemic-related research in 5 minutes or less.
- June 23rd, 10AM - view the recording here.
- August 4th, 10:30AM - view the recording here.
- Student Research Lightning Talks - view the recording here.
Covid Conversations Podcast
Covid Conversations is an exciting project designed to highlight some of the research currently underway at Marquette, as well as share how our classes are exploring topics related to the pandemic and its impact on society. Our goal was to bring together an interdisciplinary group to reflect on a topic and then produce a podcast based on their conversation.
Listen and learn more.
Student Research Opportunities
Summer Undergraduate Research Program - We are in the process of identifying all undergraduate students who are working on COVID-19 pandemic related project to start a program in the coming week. If you know of any student(s) please have the student or yourself contact Dr Gigi Makky or Toni Uhrich who are leading this summer research undergraduate research program.
COVID-19 Student Lightning Talks - On September 8th, 2020 at 3pm, student researchers will share their COVID-19 research in 5 minutes or less! Email michael.haischer@marquette.edu to register.
Public Health & Equity Fellowship Program - Students are welcome to apply to be fellows in the 2020-2021 Public Health and Equity Fellowship Program. Fellows will 1) Engage in COVID-19 related research by applying public health and other disciplinary approaches and 2) Engage in health equity research related to racial injustice by applying public health and other disciplinary approaches.
AHPRC Student Research Initiative - the AHPRC's SRI is designed to facilitate undergraduate and graduate research from different colleges across campus and support the mission and global goal of the AHPRC. Students are welcome to apply to conduct research in human performance and health-related areas, including COVID-19 pandemic research.
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Steering Committee:
Dan Bergen (Office of Economic Engagement)
Executive Director, Office of Community Engagement
Edward Blumenthal (College of Arts & Sciences)
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs, Arts & Sciences
Co-Director, Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute
Andrew Dentino (School of Dentistry)
Associate Dean of Research, Dentistry
Guilherme Garcia (Dept of Biomedical Engineering)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University and The Medical College of Wisconsin
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin
Kimberlee A. Gretebeck (College of Nursing)
Interim Associate Dean for Research
Michael Haischer (Athletic and Human Performance Research Center)
Laboratory Manager, AHPRC
Graduate student, Exercise Science and Rehabilitation program, Dept of Physical Therapy
Sandra Hunter (Exercise Science, Dept. of Physical Therapy)
Planning Director, Athletic and Human Performance Research Center (AHPRC)
Krassimira Hristova (Dept of Biological Sciences)
Director, Global Water Center (GWC)
Young Kim (Diederich College of Communication)
Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication
Lezlie Knox (Dept. of History)
Assistant Chair, Dept. of History
Committee on Research, Humanities representative
John Mantsch (Dept. of Biomedical Sciences)
Chair, Dept. of Biomedical Sciences
Sameena Mulla (Dept. of Social and Cultural Science)
Associate Professor Dept. of Social and Cultural Science
Paula Papanek (Exercise Science, Dept. of Physical Therapy)
Director, Exercise Science Program
CTSI Executive Committee and COVID-19 Research Initiative Steering Committee
Andrea Schneider (Law School)
Director, Institute for Women's Leadership
Director, Law School Dispute Resolution Program
Lucas Torres (Dept. of Psychology)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology
Faculty Fellow, Officie of Research & Innovation
Leigh Vandenkieboom (Dept. of Educational Policy)
Chair, Dept. of Educational Policy
Amy Van Hecke (Dept of Psychology)
Executive Co-Director, Next Step Clinic
Director, Marquette PEERS Program in the Interdisciplinary Autism Initiative
Chair, Committee on Research
Kalpa Vithalani (Office of Economic Engagement)
Executive Director, Technology Transfer
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