Grant Awards

Carly Gilson, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies

ELEVATE Transition is a PhD training fellowship in Special Education funded by the Office of Special Education Programs. Beginning in Fall 2025, ELEVATE Transition will train approximately 20 scholars across six universities to become leaders in secondary transition either in school administration or higher education. Scholars will be trained with a specific focus on secondary special education and transition and the transition into adult life for students with disabilities. Across the six institutions, we will prepare doctoral scholars to be leaders (professors, researchers, administrators, directors) in the field of special education, focusing on transition to adulthood, competitive employment, and postsecondary education.

Penny Pasque, Professor, Department of Educational Studies

Penny Pasque and the QualLab research team [Dr. Ruth Lu, Mianmian Fei, Sohan Daniel] are spearheading the qualitative aspects of a multi-disciplinary Department of Defense grant on mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and vision impairment. Collaborating with experts across the U.S. and Australia, the team is developing a Patient-Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) to assess the quality of life for young adults with mTBI-related oculomotor disorders. Through focus groups, interviews, and cross-team data analysis, their work enhances research discovery on quality-of-life domains and bridges critical gaps in understanding participants’ health and well-being.