Annual Grant Cycle Archives - The Jefferson Trust

January 25, 2024January 25, 2024

Jefferson Trust Grants Highlight Student Experiences

The Jefferson Trust Board of Trustees has awarded $1.4 million to 17 new projects and programs.

“Given the volume of requests we received this year, I couldn’t be more pleased with the scope of projects and programs the Trustees ultimately funded,” says Brent Percival, Executive Director of the Jefferson Trust. “The Trust made fourteen Annual Cycle grants each of the past two years. This year, we have 17, which speaks to the Trustees desire to maximize the limited funding available to impact as many parts of the University community as possible”.

“This Annual Cycle started with 123 letters of inquiry and resulted in 17 grants,” shares Amy Bonner, Director of Grants. “While I wish we could fund them all, this is a great step toward our vision of seeing every great idea at UVA come to fruition”.

This year’s proposals and subsequent grants were among the most diverse we have ever seen. From community impact measures to unique student projects, to translational research, these ventures illustrate the vibrancy that exists across the University.

The 2023-24 Grants:

UVA Student Engagement with Local Black Histories: River View Farm: $98,800

Support enhances undergraduate course AAS 4501 and creates a summer internship program with the Department of African American and African Studies and the Ivy Creek Foundation. Students will be trained in public history methods, and archival and genealogical research at River View Farms, exposing them to archive-based research, oral history, and 3D modeling.

The World at Your Doorstep, Democracy’s Future in Your Hands: $100,000

New courses will be created to allow students to establish research partnerships with faculty and international advocates and participate in international conferences focused on the future of democracy and democratic rights. The program will bring leaders in the field to Grounds and provide students hands-on global experience.

Jefferson Society Bicentennial Storytelling Project: $33,850

Interviews from alumni will be recorded and compiled into a multimedia exhibit, along with the society’s physical archives, to celebrate the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society’s bicentennial in 2025.

Nursing Narratives: $24,000

Funding helps to add a recurring editorial section to both the print and digital versions of “Virginia Nursing Legacy,” UVA School of Nursing’s quarterly magazine. Content will focus on capturing the voices, experiences, and opinions of UVA nurses (including students, faculty, and alumni), giving them a platform to share, and giving readers a closer look at the issues and topics that impact nurses.

SPRINT Program: Bridging the Gap to Enhanced Rehabilitation and Community Engagement: $120,000

The Sports Performance Rehabilitation Integrating Neuromuscular Training (SPRINT) program aims to reduce re-injury rates and increase the number of patients successfully returning to sports post-surgery, from knee injuries. SPRINT will serve as a learning platform for students aspiring in sports medicine, physical therapy, or sports performance domains.

D-Mine: $24,972

With the purchase of a thermal camera, a drone with increased thermal sensitivity, and other related equipment, the D-Mine project aims to develop new de-mining software that can save lives, resources, and time for anti-explosive teams, ultimately de-mining territories more quickly and safely.

UVA Cyber Range: $71,548.79

Designed to enhance cybersecurity education, support research, and promote cybersecurity endeavors outside the classroom, a team of students will provide an environment for students to conduct a wide range of cyber experiments.

A Partnership to Promote Innovation and Excellence in Lower Division Mathematics Courses: $170,000

A collaboration between lower division mathematics faculty and the Motivate Lab, this project aims to increase students’ success in calculus classes through growth-based assessments and a summer bridge program.

UVai Vanguard: $112,870

This project is a groundbreaking initiative to integrate Generative Artificial intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) into academic settings including research, mentorship, and teaching.

Preparing Students for Careers in Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (CTAP): $90,000

Through research, outreach, collaboration, and pilot courses, the Careers in Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Program (CTAP) aims to provide UVA students with the skills and knowledge required to succeed in the growing Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) workforce.

Design Discovery Youth Summer Program: $86,300

Hosted by the UVA School of Architecture, Design Discovery is a six-day summer program bringing high school students to explore design school and related professions, through academic and real-world settings.

The influence of early-life sensory exposure on neural circuitry following preterm birth: $200,000

A multi-disciplinary, cross-Grounds team of researchers and clinicians is examining how variable early life sensory exposure following preterm birth shapes developing neural circuitry to ultimately impact developmental outcomes.

UVA Facilities Management Community Connections Program: $102,000

In partnership with the Charlottesville communities and surrounding counties, Facilities Management is expanding a workforce development pipeline program for middle- and high-schoolers to work towards pre-apprenticeship certification in skilled trades.

ChangeMaker Bootcamp: $20,000

Through skill development, networking, mentorship, and resource access, social entrepreneurial minded students will gain experience planning, developing, and building a new social venture in this week-long program.

Gardening Grounds: Envisioning Alternate Paradigms and Practices of Landscape Care at UVA: $30,000

A collaborative research project across Grounds, involving Landscape Architecture and Architecture graduate students, explores how the design and care of planted landscapes across Grounds can be adapted to sustain greater biodiversity, spark awareness and foster stewardship of the mutual relationship between landscape health and human well-being.

Center for Forest Urbanism: $86,000

A new pan-university research and policy center focused on the conservation of urban trees and forests, the center will engage a range of disciplines, expertise, and partners across Grounds, and nationally, to gather insights from innovative city best practices, law, policy, economics, and science.

VCAC Student Symposium: $30,000

Funding helps to bring current UVA students who were served by Virginia College Advising Corps (VCAC) advisers together for a symposium, which will include networking opportunities and related programming over shared experiences.

August 3, 2020

Have a Great Idea? Read This!

Jefferson Trust award recipients

Interested in applying for a grant, but not sure where to start? Here are insights on the application process, including some tips from Elgin Cleckley, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and a grant recipient with multiple successful submissions to the Trust over several years.

Before submitting a proposal

Research! Use the guidelines and additional information provided to determine whether your great idea aligns with the mission of the Jefferson Trust.
Use the application to help frame your idea:

“I found the goals of the Trust, creativity, innovation, leadership, and University and/or student experience, as excellent guides when developing ideas for the application. These four points became a rubric — beneficial in discussions in collaborations, evaluation, and testing of the grant ideas, helping to guide the development of program goals and narrative.”

Refine your vision:

“A clear, easy to understand narrative is essential — with University, student, and community impacts.

For example, for the Minority Pipeline Architecture Program with Barbara Brown Wilson and the School of Architecture, we were sure to focus on the data of African American students in the field, the established national program through the National Organization of Minority Architects, and details on the adaptation of the project here in Charlottesville.

We were sure to include the leadership roles for students at the School of Architecture, empathic, established connections with community organizations, and above all, lifelong skill building for our local Charlottesville design participants.

The impacts are evident, as the engagement continues this summer online with the UVA Equity Center, with students from the past program.”

Reach out. Jefferson Trust staff is here to help — if you have questions, contact us!

During the review process:

Be prepared to answer follow-up questions. Trustees may ask for clarifications by email or during presentations to the board.
Know your audience. The individuals who comprise the review board span a broad range of industries and life experiences and may or may not be experts in your subject matter.

“It is important to also think of the diversity of the Trust — ensuring that your idea/program is inclusive in its content, guiding your presentation at the interview.

We were sure to bring physical imagery to the interviews, to clarify any points of our idea, and overall, to create excitement.”

Post-award:

Keep in touch with the Trust. Let us know how things are going, and what we can do to help.

“It’s helpful for recipients to know of the support network of the Trust, advisors, and recipients. This support network allows for further expansion of your idea / program and provides beneficial guidance during development.”

Above all, the Trust wants its grants to be successful. Many of the most common problems can easily be resolved by reaching out — whether it is a question on how to convey an idea within the proposal, how to address an obstacle during implementation of the program, or how to scale up and manage success.

The Jefferson Trust network includes our highly engaged Trustees, well-connected former grant recipients, and University supporters. Come join us!

February 1, 2019

Jefferson Trust Announces $800,000 in Grants for Innovating Education

The Jefferson Trust, an initiative of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, approved 13 new grants totaling $800,579 after a dedicated review process.

Many of the grants this year sought to provide innovative educational experiences for University of Virginia students.

Established by the Alumni Association in 2006, the Jefferson Trust has invested in 192 initiatives, representing over $7.8 million, brought forth by students and faculty representing all 11 schools and a myriad of programs and organizations at UVA. With grant awards ranging from as little as $2,500 to as much as $100,000, all of these seed-funded projects add exceptional value to the UVA experience. Many evolve to become a permanent part of the fabric of the University’s life and legacy

The 2019 grants include:

Rotunda Planetarium: $30,000
The Rotunda Planetarium reconstructs Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural vision for the Rotunda Library’s dome room. The Rotunda Planetarium will run from November 2019 until June 2020.

Infectious Disease in 3D: $99,945
The proposed “Infectious Disease in 3D” program aims to build VR and AR content for teaching complex biological information in UVA classrooms. The end product will directly benefit UVA classrooms by enhancing motivation and retention of material.

Religion, Race, and Democracy: An Undergraduate Multimedia Research Project: $100,000
The Religion Lab will offer to undergraduate Student Research Collaborators: 1.) Regular training and mentorship; 2.) Funding and technology; 3.) A website to publish the research. They will also benefit from the expertise and guidance of Religion Lab faculty and staff.

Cadaver-specific virtual dissection table: $70,491
An initiative to provide state of the art interactive and psychometric learning to students in Kinesiology for the enhancement of knowledge in anatomy and patient care leading to the development of unparalleled clinical skills.

Developing Tools to Transform Student Experiences: $141,173
To develop and use web-based observation tools to not only shed light on how UVA faculty teach in their classrooms, but also to use the data from the tools to work with instructors and the broader university to improve teaching at UVA.

UVA Medical Design Program: Phase II: $81,500
The UVA Medical Design Program (UVAMDP) provides first-year medical students with hands-on instruction in the application of design thinking to address healthcare challenges.

Student Veteran’s Support Initiative: $60,000
The Veteran’s Support Initiative is seeking support to set up a structure to better meet the needs of student veterans.

Data for the Social Good: $50,000
With support from the Jefferson Trust, faculty, staff, students and alumni of the Data Science Institute will develop a set of tools to match community non-profits needing data analysis help with students and service-learning classes that can provide it.

Concussion and Headaches: $25,837.02
This project proposes to study administration of magnesium and riboflavin (two common supplements) as agents to reduce the length of time a student might experience headache following concussion.

The Flux Poetry Series: $21,800
The project proposal is a three-semester-long poetry series that will invite award-winning and influential poets to host workshops, performances, consultations, and more, bolstering the already-thriving art community at UVA.

Madayin Aboriginal Art Catalog: $56,000
The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia seeks funding to produce a fully-illustrated scholarly catalog to accompany the touring exhibition “Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Painting from Yirrkala, Australia.”

Reshaping Public and Archival Space: $32,260
The project is the first attempt to capture testimonies video graphically about the Black nursing experience, to be made available to a large audience. The project aims to enhance visibility of Black nurses in archives and public spaces via written documents, photographs, videos, and exhibitions.

Minority Youth Development Program: $31,573
This program aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities, especially African-Americans, pursuing careers in architecture.