Scholarship

You are here: American University Finance Annual Report 2018-2019 Scholarship

We believe in knowledge with purpose. We do not just deepen understanding; we apply it to the world’s thorniest challenges. We find innovative ways to approach problems old and new alike. We explore the pages of history to inform our vision of the future.

We are combining all our strengths, because we are not content with being an either-or institution. Our faculty are scholars and teachers. Our students are learners and researchers. We do imperative research and turn it into real-world solutions.

From bridging the partisan divide, to investigating the potential benefits and risks of new technologies, we are using our scholarship to improve the human condition. Because nothing motivates us more than making an impact.

Transforming Science Research into Results

As the new Hall of Science continues to rise over AU’s bustling campus, so does the university’s reputation for research. The facility, slated to open in June 2020, is a fitting symbol of AU’s evolution as a leader in the realms of scientific discovery.

The Hall of Science will bring researchers, policymakers, and communicators together to translate new science knowledge into actions that make an impact on a global scale. A $5 million gift from Board of Trustees member Gary Abramson, SPA/BA ’68, and his wife, Pennie Abramson, kicked off a $40 million fundraising campaign for the hall.

The building’s 95,000-square-foot gross floor area expands on the university’s synergistic science culture by creating functional lab groupings that cluster scholars together, rather than hosting a collection of individual laboratories. With a focus on interdisciplinary solutions, researchers will deploy state-of-the-art spaces and equipment to tackle pressing problems like cancer, dementia, climate change, obesity, and environmental degradation.

The hall will attract an influx of esteemed scientists and give students greater opportunities to work on innovative research with expert faculty—a unique attribute made possible by AU’s medium size and deeply collaborative spirit.

Construction on AU's new Hall of Science

Catalyst for Discovery

The Hall of Science will soon be home to innovative work at AU, taking this high-caliber research even higher.

Finding Political Common Ground

Amy K. Dacey, Sine Institute Executive Director

The Sine Institute of Policy and Politics aims to change the tone and outcome of political discourse. With a focus on finding common ground, experts and scholars join forces on AU’s campus to shape policy through bipartisan solutions.

Established in 2018, the Sine Institute is an incubator for policy innovation and a convener of the best minds in the nation’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

The institute leverages AU’s DC location to connect diverse perspectives at this nexus of government and policy and growing international business center.

Executive Director Amy K. Dacey has been a leader in policy, politics, and civics education for over two decades. Sine Institute Fellows work with experts, faculty, and students to uncover new ways to inform cross-sectoral policy solutions. The inaugural class includes governors, political commentators, former CEOs, and a playwright.

Leading Scholarship on Race and Commerce

Kogod marketing professor Sonya Grier is blazing a research trail in a growing field of study about issues at the intersection of race and markets.

Grier has pioneered work on how policymakers view target marketing and the implications for interventions to address the health and well-being of minorities.

She is coeditor of the 2019 book Race in the Marketplace: Crossing Critical Boundaries, a compendium of scholarship from multiple disciplines on the impact of race in various markets such as retail, education, housing, advertising, marketing, health care, and food products on minority consumers’ quality of life.

She cofounded the Race in the Marketplace Research Network to encourage global collaboration among scholars from a variety of disciplines on issues related to race and markets. She has organized two forums for the network, the first held at AU in 2017 and another in Paris in 2019.

Study Looks at Climate Change from the Top

In a first-of-its-kind study, environmental science professor Michael Alonzo is using satellite imagery to determine how �ƹ��Ƶ, DC, tree species, like maples, oaks, and cherries, are responding to climate change.

Alonzo and several student researchers, including Melissa Knapp, CAS/MS ’19, and Avery Williams, CAS/MS ’21, utilize inexpensive satellites called cubesats to obtain weekly images of individual tree crowns in high-traffic areas of the nation’s capital. Over multiple years, these images will allow the researchers to observe heat-related variability in the tree life cycle of leaf growing and shedding.

Information from the study will be critical in helping nonprofits like Casey Trees and DC’s Urban Forestry Administration determine optimal planting locations for each tree species.

“It also gives a window—because urban areas are warmer—into what changes we are looking forward to in rural environments that have not yet warmed as much as cities have,” Alonzo says.

First Madison Prize Honors Bipartisanship

Senators Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander with Vicky Wilkins

Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) are the inaugural recipients of SPA’s Madison Prize for Constitutional Excellence. The award recognizes lawmakers who strive for legislative comprise in the same spirit outlined by James Madison in “Federalist No. 10”.

Murray and Alexander were honored for their bipartisan collaboration on the Faster Access to Federal Student Aid Act, which simplifies the student financial aid application and loan repayment processes, and the 21st Century Cures and SUPPORT Acts that advance medical innovation and confront the opioid epidemic.

“We’re thankful for the example they both set for the leaders of tomorrow, in our classrooms today, and the nation as a whole,” says President Sylvia M. Burwell.

Awarded at the end of each biennial congressional session to a member from each major political party, the prize is made possible through a gift by former congressman David Skaggs (D-CO) and his wife, Laura Skaggs.

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