Research Fellowship in Aging

Research Fellowship in Aging Flyer

The Office for the Study of Aging (OSA) in the Arnold School of Public Health (ASPH) is committed to advancing research and education on aging-related issues. The Research Fellowship (RF), inaugurated in 2020, is designed to support faculty and professional staff in the ASPH to conduct research in the multidisciplinary field of aging. Topics might include healthy aging, caregiving, social gerontology, the built environment, or Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Annually, one award in the amount of $5,000 will be awarded. This award may be used for research expenses, such as travel, participant honoraria, software, books, supplies, and/or equipment, or for summer salary. Funds must be spent by the end of the academic year following receipt of the award and must follow university policy.

Award recipients are expected to attend one semester OSA post-award meeting to provide an update on their progress related to the work funded by the award.  Any publications or presentations that result from this work should contain an acknowledgment, such as “This work is partially supported by the Office for the Study of Aging Research Fellowship at the University of South Carolina.”

Eligibility Criteria:

This fellowship is open to any full-time, permanent faculty (tenured, tenure-track, or non-tenure-track) or professional staff member with an appointment in the ASPH.

Application Requirements:

The Application Checklist below outlines the required materials for this funding opportunity:

  1. Applicant information
      • Name, email, college/department
      • Endorsement letter from department chair
      • Resume, curriculum vitae, or biosketch
      • Examples of prior work in the field of aging
  2. Proposed Project
      • Proposed Project Narrative (not to exceed 3-pages)
        • Background and Significance
        • Project Description, Design, and Approach
        • Significance of Funding
      • Timeline
      • Budget: Narrative & Itemized
  3.  References
      • Required and are to be in APA format

Fellowship Recipients

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2024

Mark A. Sarzynski, PhD, FACSM, FAHA
Dr. Mark A. Sarzynski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Sarzynski’s research interests involve identifying the molecular transducers underlying the benefits of regular exercise on aging-related cardiometabolic diseases and risk factors. With funding from the Research Fellowship in Aging, he will examine the effects of an exercise intervention on multiple biological aging clocks derived from proteins or metabolites.

2023

Monique Brown, PhD

Dr. Monique J. Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. She teaches “Scientific Writing and Appraisal of Epidemiologic Studies” and “Social Epidemiology”. Her primary areas of research include examining the impact of trauma on health and behavioral outcomes across the life course. With funding from the Research Fellowship in Aging, she will examine the impact of childhood adversity on depression and life satisfaction among older adults, and will examine the potential disparities by race/ethnicity, gender and cognitive status.

2022

Lisa Johnson Norris, PhD

Dr. Lisa Johnson Norris is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (COMD). She is a proud faculty member in the Arnold School of Public Health and serves as an instructor for COMD courses focused in anatomy and neurobiological bases of language. Her primary research interests include investigating the behavioral and neural factors which predict treatment response and long-term aphasia trajectory. Through generous funding from the OSA, she is investigating longitudinal changes of stroke lesions and how degradation of surrounding tissues could be a predictor of cognitive and linguistic declines in persons with aphasia.

2021

J Wei, PhD

Dr. Jingkai Wei’s primary area of research is in the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and cognitive aging. He is particularly interested in how lifestyle (physical activity, diet), psychosocial (depression), and vascular risk factors (hypertension, subclinical atherosclerosis) affect those health outcomes.

2020

Jason Yang, PhD

Dr. Jason Yang received his PhD in Kinesiology at Penn State University with a focus on psychology of physical activity and completed a postdoctoral research fellow working in the Real-Time Eating Activity and Children’s Health Laboratory at the University of Southern California. Dr. Yang has research interests in utilizing Ecological Momentary Assessment/Ambulatory Assessment to understand the dynamics of health behavior change and maintenance in naturalistic settings. He also applies novel data capture methods and advanced statistical approaches to modeling intensive longitudinal data generated from mobile devices.