CISS Announces 2026-27 Pilot Grant Winners

  • By: Shannon Landis

CISS is excited to announce we have awarded three $5,000 2026-27 pilot grants to researchers applying interdisciplinary lenses and methods to cutting-edge social issues. Each year, CISS invites proposals for such research projects.  Learn more about the recipients and their projects below.

Wade Campbell (CAS Anthropology & Archaeology)

Wade Campbell is a Diné (Navajo) historical archaeologist and assistant professor in the Archaeology Program whose research examines the relationships between Diné communities and other local groups in the U.S. Southwest from the 17th century to the present day, including the Pueblos, Spanish, and Americans. Wade is engaged with a range of questions related to longer-term patterns of Navajo settlement and economic activity across the greater Four Corners region, with a particular focus on incipient Indigenous pastoralism and related shifts in land-use, social organization, & diet/subsistence practices.
Project: “Early Navajo equids pilot project [ENEq]”
Following their reintroduction to the U.S. Southwest in the 16th century, Łį́į́ (horse) became the quintessential companion animal in Diné (Navajo) culture. By the early 1800s, horses and other equids (i.e., donkeys; mules) had become key indicators of wealth and status in Diné society, as well as integrals part of the highly mobile, sheep-based pastoral system that allowed the Diné to resist Euro-American colonialism for over 300 years. Through a zooarchaeological analysis of equid faunal remains from 18th century Diné fortresses in northwest New Mexico, the Early Navajo Equids [ENEq] pilot project aims to better understand the socio-economic role(s) these animals played in pre-modern Diné society and how such practices contribute to the continued resilience of the Diné-Equid relationship today.

Yunmei (Mabel) Bai (SHA/Revenue Management)

Yunmei (Mabel) Bai, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Hospitality Administration whose research examines on Revenue Management and Consumer Behavior. More specifically, her research focuses on consumer responses to service and experience design across diverse market segments, as well as the corresponding pricing strategies.

Project: “Social and emotional needs of older adults living in senior living communities”

Dr. Bai’s project uses a sequential mixed-method design to examine how hospitality principles can be applied in senior living communities to enhance older adults’ social and emotional well-being, examining the social and emotional needs of older adults living in senior living communities and investigating how hospitality principles and practices, such as personalized services and memorable experience design, can be integrated to senior living management to improve residents’ social and emotional well-being.  The long-term objective is to develop and validate a “Hospitality-to-Aging” model that bridges hospitality management and aging services.

Arjun Vishwanath (CAS/Political Science)

Arjun Vishwanath is an Assistant Professor in Political Science. He researches representation and public opinion in American politics. Much of his ongoing work explores the nature of voters’ values and how these values relate to other attitudes along with legislators’ actions.

 

Project: “A Utility Framework for Values and Policy Attitudes”

Dr. Vishwanath’s project develops a new measure of the public’s values, or beliefs about how society should be organized, to assess whether their values inform their policy positions. We use the rational choice framework of political economy to determine the extent to which the public is consider policy in a principled manner.

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