In March, 108 groups of University of Virginia faculty members, consisting of three members per team, applied for funding with their new interdisciplinary research ideas to 3Cavaliers 2.0, a seed-funding initiative sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Provost.

Fifty-seven of the projects were selected for funding, a majority of them at a level of $60,000 per project in direct costs, and some at the $15,000 level. Now the trios have until 2022 to complete their research and bring the ideas to life.

The first round of the collaborative interdisciplinary seed-funding initiative was held in 2018, awarding more than $4.5 million to 77 projects involving 231 researchers; a symposium in 2019 celebrated the completion of those projects.

Under the 3Cavaliers program’s guidelines, teams must be made up of three faculty members from at least two disparate disciplines, departments or schools. The goal is to foster early-stage interdisciplinary research concepts via seed funding for their exploration. For 3Cavaiers 2.0, researchers from across Grounds, and from the College at Wise, were invited to apply.

Examples of the funded projects for 3Cavaliers 2.0 include:

• “Appalachian Music Project,” with Hannah Wunsch Ryan and Peter D. Ryan, UVA’s College of Wise; and Michael Rasbury, Department of Drama.
• “Heat Mortality, Mortality Displacement and SARS-CoV-2,” with Pamela B. DeGuzman, School of Nursing; Bill Basener, School of Data Science; and Robert E. Davis, Department of Environmental Sciences.
• “Ethics, Authenticity, and Social Identities,” with Gabrielle S. Adams, Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; Kieran Sean O’Connor, McIntire School of Commerce; and Peter Ronald, Darden School of Business.

• “Countermapping the Estuarial Waterways: Building a Community-Driven Initiative at the Intersection of Environmental Justice and Food Sovereignty,” with Ghazal Jafari, School of Architecture; Walter F. Heinecke, School of Education and Human Development; and Kasey Jernigan, Department of Anthropology.
• “Using Technology to Address Domestic Violence in Developing World,” with Sheetal Sekhri. Department of Economics; Sarah Jane Ratcliffe, School of Medicine; and Gaurav Chiplunkar, Darden School of Business.
• “Cavalier Caster Network,” with Michael Luegering, School of Architecture; Patricia L. Wiberg, Department of Environmental Sciences; and Brian L. Smith, School of Engineering.

“We were pleased to have more than 300 researchers apply for this second round of 3Cavaliers funding,” said Melur “Ram” Ramasubramanian, UVA’s vice president for research. “We hope, like the first round, the funding will give these projects results and a leg up as they apply for extramural support in the future and result in good scholarship.”

“Researchers from across Grounds are working together on innovative new projects to tackle complex problems facing society,” Provost Liz Magill said. “Faculty enthusiasm for the 3Cavaliers funding program is just one indicator of the healthy state of research at UVA, and a heartening sign of our collaborative culture.”

Read more about the projects here and watch the video on the first round of 3Cavaliers projects.