Elevate Your Research
Discover the Full Program
Connect, collaborate, and grow: join us for cross-disciplinary partnerships, translational and community-based research, and professional development at the AU Research Conference.
Monday, May 11, 2026
Conference program:
Registration & Continental Breakfast · SIS Founders Room
Welcome and check-in for all conference attendees. Continental breakfast will be served.
Research with, Not for: Centering Community Voice in Applied Scholarship - SIS 120
Presenters: Thurka Sangaramoorthy (CAS), Scott Mengebier (United Way ALICE), Kenjus Watson (SOE), Danielle Sodani (SOE)
Moderator: Julie Baldwin (Office of Research)
Rigorous research is not exclusive to the academy. This panel brings together AU faculty and United Way's ALICE initiative to explore what genuine community partnership looks like in practice, illustrating how community organizations are deeply capable of and invested in research, what becomes possible when universities engage as partners rather than leads, and offering the opportunity to engage with United Way data.
Seeking and Securing Applied Research Funding - SIS Founders Room
Presenters: Simon Nicholson (SIS), Jonathan Fox (SIS), Taryn Morrissey (SPA), Jordan Tama (SIS)
Fundraising for applied research - research that responds to particular social and policy problems - requires connecting researcher interests to the efforts and strategies of problem-oriented funders and practitioners. This practical workshop will provide step-by-step guidance on identifying and securing funding for applied research, including identifying overlaps in researcher and funder agendas and building relationships with funders and action communities.
Food as Context and Mission: Expanding on AU's Leadership in the Scholarship of Food - SIS 102
Presenters: Sauleh Siddiqui (CAS Environmental Science), Stacey Snelling (CAS Health Sciences), Matt Hartings, (CAS Chemistry), Brandyn Churchill (SPA), Danielle Vogel (Kogod)
This session will begin with a panel discussion with scholars from across campus. Topics will include successes and campus structures that support and hinder their work. We will end with a broader discussion engaging all audience members, focused on the advancement of food-related research and identifying collaborations and university elements that can best make advancement a reality.
Maximizing Your Research Impact Through Digital Publishing - SIS 120
Presenters: Ashley Roccamo, Leslie Nellis, Rachel Borchardt (University Library)
This workshop explores digital publishing pathways for sharing research beyond print. Learn how the University Library’s institutional repositories, web publishing platforms, and archival services can enhance your scholarship’s visibility, impact, and longevity. Learn the pros and cons of each online hosting service, and gain practical guidance on choosing the right tools to publish, preserve, and promote your work online..
Finding Money for the Things you Want to do Anyway: Teaching, Scholarship, and Supporting Students - SIS Founders Room
Presenters: Bridget Trogden (Academic Affairs)
Fitting student and institutional need with external grant funds is like shaping the right key to unlock resources, with data-informed goals and clear steps helping to turn good ideas into funded realities. In this interactive session, participants will examine successfully funded projects that led to positive student outcomes before workshopping and creating next steps for their own externally-funded proposal.
R1 in Practice: AU's Distinctive Research Enterprise
Moderator: Julie Baldwin, Interim Vice Provost for Research and Innovation
Panelists: Ernesto Castañeda (Center for Latin American and Latino Studies), Dana Fisher (Center for Environment, Community, and Equity), Colin Saldanha (Center for Neuroscience and Behavior), Sauleh Siddiqui (Multiscale RECIPES)
Lunch buffet opens at 12:10 PM
Join Julie Baldwin and research center directors from across AU for a lunchtime panel centered on what makes AU's research enterprise distinctive. The conversation will explore what AU's R1 designation means in practice, how centers position their research for real-world impact, how that work translates into tangible outcomes for communities and fields, and what sets AU apart in its approach to scholarship.
Research Translation Across AU - SIS Founders
Presenters: Susanna Campbell (SIS), Corbin Campbell (SOE), Peter Locher (SOE), Ernesto Castañeda (CAS / SIS), Ignacio Gonzalez Garcia (CAS), Benjamin Stokes (SOC)
What is research translation, and why does it matter? The Translating Research into Action Center will introduce pathways to communicate research to different audiences to increase societal and economic impact, discuss campus support to boost translation skills, and feature campus researchers who discuss how they have integrated research translation into their own work.
Creative Approaches to Amplifying Community-Based Knowledge and Advancing Partnerships in DC - SIS 120
Presenters: Jane Palmer (SPA), Daniel Kerr (CAS History), Brigid Maher (SOC Film and Media Arts), Aram Sinnreich (SOC Communication Studies)
Three former Humanities Truck Fellows and the Director of the Humanities Truck will discuss their respective projects that elevate and amplify knowledge, talents, and wisdom among young people living in DC, incarcerated composers in the DC Jail, and people experiencing homelessness. Panelists will share lessons learned throughout their community-engaged partnerships that interrogate what counts as expertise and who counts as experts. The Humanities Truck will also be featured on the quad.
Fostering Successful Research Partnerships through Mentoring - SIS 102
Presenters: Shari Watkins (SOE), Stacie St. Louis (SPA), Santiago Toledo (CAS Chemistry), Lynne Arneson (CAS Biology), Meg Bentley (CAS Biology)
To deepen our understanding of effective faculty-student research collaborations and mentoring practices, this session will feature faculty from across the university sharing their mentoring practices in a facilitated panel setting. The end goal is the official launch of a new mentoring collective to create a learning community of faculty around the topic of student mentoring.
Research Showcase Poster Session
Cap off the day by connecting with colleagues and exploring the breadth of scholarship happening across AU. This informal, drop-in session features researchers from a wide range of disciplines presenting their current work through an interactive poster format — offering a rare opportunity to browse projects at your own pace, ask questions directly of the researchers, and spark conversations that cross departmental and school boundaries. Whether you're looking for potential collaborators, curious about work outside your own field, or simply want to celebrate the intellectual community at AU, this is a great way to spend the final hour of the conference.