Research : University of Dayton, Ohio

Our Research

In the College of Arts and Sciences, we embrace and live UD's identity as a Catholic research university. Throughout our departments and programs, we foster research across varied topics including humanities, physical and life sciences, performing and visual arts and social sciences.

Explore some of our recent research and learn about the College’s Liberal Arts Catalyst Program, as well as how students have opportunities to get involved in research.

Featured Research Initiatives and Programs

Paul Laurence Dunbar

UD is home to research and scholarly works revolving around the life and works of Paul Laurence Dunbar.

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Endowed Chairs

Our endowed chairs and professorships are filled for specific terms by faculty who are recognized for their teaching and research.

Explore Endowed Chairs

Dean’s Summer Fellowship

The Dean’s Summer Fellowship program provides an opportunity for undergraduate students in the College to conduct research during the summer in any academic discipline under the guidance of a full-time faculty mentor.

Explore Dean’s Summer Fellowship

Stander Symposium

Students can present their research at the Stander Symposium — an annual event held to recognize, showcase and celebrate mentored academic and artistic accomplishments in undergraduate and graduate education.

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Research

01.30.2025

UD professor among team publishing findings from catastrophic Himalayan flood

New findings reveal the causes and impacts of a catastrophic flood that struck the Himalayan region in 2023.

Research

12.09.2024

UD mathematicians awarded $275K for ‘pure’ math research, student mentoring

The projects explore abstract concepts and theoretical frameworks that could contribute to biology, physics and engineering applications.

Faculty

11.18.2024

UD biologist awarded $498K to study how salamanders respond to climate change

Maggie Hantak’s research focuses on two 'color morphs' of the Eastern red-backed salamander.

Liberal Arts Scholarship Catalyst Grants

The College's Liberal Arts Catalyst Program is one important investment we're making in faculty scholarship. The program makes available, on a competitive basis, funds for scholarly and creative work that shows clear potential for increasing the faculty member's research productivity and advancing professional goals, including the pursuit of external funding and application for promotion.

Additional Information

Given existing sources of research support for tenure-track faculty, most notably Research Council Seed Grants, and the dearth of comparable internal programs for tenured faculty, Liberal Arts Catalyst grants are limited to tenured faculty in the humanities, social sciences and arts divisions of the College.

Grants support work taking place in the summer and during the following academic year.

2025-26 Recipients

Julius Amin (Dept. of History): West Africa — US Foreign Relations: A Case Study of the Contours of Diplomacy
Dorian Borbonus (Dept. of History): Mapping the Funerary Landscapes of Imperial Rome
Simanti Dasgupta (Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work): Riparian Clay: Climate Change, Gender and Out-Migration in the Sundarbans, India
Liz Hutter (Dept. of English): “A modern classic built for the digital age”: Exploring the design discourse of medical training manikins
Li-Yin Liu (Dept. Political Science): AI and Administrative Evil: Empirical Insights into Organizational and Individual Dynamics in Public Administration

2024-25 Recipients

Haimanti Roy (Dept. History): Paper Trails: Documentary Identity and the Indian Citizen, 1920-2015
Jamie L. Small (Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work): Split: How Do Divorce Lawyers Make Decisions about Property Settlement, Financial Support and Child Custody in the Modern Family?
Cecilia Moore (Principal investigator), Nicholas Rademacher (Principal investigator), Joseph Flipper (Contributor), Dept. of Religious Studies: Documenting the Black Catholic Experience in Dayton, Ohio

Developing Solutions

At UD, research is about more than innovation for the sake of discovery. It's about developing solutions to help others.

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