As a classified Minority-Serving and Hispanic-Serving Institution, UNT researchers are finding innovative and interdisciplinary ways to advance equity in all areas of society, from health care and education to industry.

“I’d hang out with some kids one summer, and by the next summer they’d made a ton of improvement,”she says.“It was a common thread that a lot of these kids were getting applied behavior analysis therapy.”

Born in Colombia, Otero migrated to the U.S. at the age of 5 as a political refugee with her mother and older sister. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in behavioral analysis at UNT — one of few universities in the nation to offer the program to undergraduates — she’s now a second-year doctoral candidate and a member of G-RISE, a National Institutes of Health-funded program that recruits and prepares a diverse pool of doctoral scientists for careers in the biomedical research fields.

“G-RISE has given me the opportunity to focus on my research, which is what I'm most passionate about,” she says. “Because it’s funded by NIH, we get classes on grant funding and how to be future NIH fellows. It also funds things like going to conferences, which allows me to network with like minded people and disseminate our research — all the things that will set me up to get the job I dream about.” 

She’s well on her way, currently serving as a board-certified behavior analyst at Cook Children’s Hospital providing early intensive behavioral interventions to children with autism spectrum disorder.

Through her research in the lab of Manish Vaidya, associate professor of behavior analysis, Otero is working to develop technologies that enable clinicians, teachers and other caregivers to be more efficient and effective in providing data-driven interventions for children with learning difficulties. She has designed a prototype for an app called Rapid Empirical Assessment of Discrimination Indices (READI), which is designed to quickly determine whether a child has the prerequisite skills needed to learn a complex verbal task.

“I focus on creating technologies that help facilitate learning for children,” she says.“Systemically speaking, there just aren’t enough people to provide the services they need, and that can set them behind for the rest of their lives. But we can make a difference; through research and through technology that is user-friendly and accessible, we can bridge those gaps.”

As a classified Minority-Serving and Hispanic-Serving Institution, UNT’s research is more than ever focused on creating equity and addressing real issues plaguing our society from health care, research and education to opportunities for those often underserved entering the workforce. This past year, UNT saw a number of firsts for its HSI initiative, including membership in Excelencia in Education’s Presidents for Latino Student Success, a network of college and university leaders committed to cultivating a learning environment where Latino students thrive.

The partnership came shortly after UNT announced its founding membership in the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities, a group of 21 of the nation’s top research universities committed to increasing opportunity for students historically underserved by higher education. Members strive to achieve two key goals by 2030: to double their number of Hispanic doctoral students and increase their Hispanic professoriate by 20%.

“Becoming more intentional in the steps we take to serve all of our students will have far-reaching benefits for not just all of the members of UNT’s diverse and caring community,” says Pam Padilla, vice president of research and innovation,“but our society at large as these innovative thinkers create solutions for a more equitable future.”

UNT’s Center for Racial and Ethnic Equity in Health and Society (CREEHS) continues to increase its impact, engaging faculty from all disciplines to increase the quality of life for all Texans by narrowing longstanding racial and ethnic gaps in health care. Created in 2020, CREEHS investigates health inequity in the systems and conditions in which people in Texas, live, work and learn.

As part of the center’s research, Head Start to Healthy Lifestyles is a five-year project led by Tao Zhang and Jean Keller, professors of kinesiology, health promotion and recreation. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Texas Department of Health and Human Services, the program is a large-scale partnership with Child Care Associates, Texas Woman’s University, Denton ISD and Tarrant Area Food Bank administered through Head Start and by parents at home to explore how physical activity and evidence-based nutrition can improve health outcomes for preschoolers from underserved communities.

“We want to help these children live healthier, more meaningful lives, and that starts with establishing good physical activity habits at a young age,” Zhang says.

Additionally, medical sociologist Gül Seçkin, an associate professor of sociology and CREEHS faculty associate, was struck by how the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a growing threat to health equity in the U.S.: digital health misinformation and how it affects marginalized communities and communities of color. She is working to create a tool for a wide range of communities that will strengthen digital health literacy and build more trust in the medical system.

Seçkin is working on a National Institutes of Health research proposal to dive deeper into racialized health misinformation found online.  

 “Given the history of medical mistrust in communities of color, this phenomenon — in conjunction with widespread health misinformation — reduces confidence in vaccines and in science and medical professionals,” Seçkin says. 

With support from UNT’s Division of Research and Innovation, Seçkin is working to create a tool for a wide range of communities that will strengthen digital health literacy and build more trust in the medical system.  

“The goal is to help people, especially older adults, develop the skills to assess the credibility of information they access online,” she says.

For Karisma Morton, assistant professor of mathematics education, the first step to transforming the future landscape of education is transforming future teachers.

How children learn math — and more importantly, what they believe about how they learn math — is deeply influenced by cultural and societal factors. Through her scholarly work and teaching, Morton investigates the mechanisms through which gender and racial inequities in STEM education occur and works to instill the principles of equity-minded pedagogy in preservice elementary teachers. In her classes, Morton cultivates opportunities for her students to interact with the concepts of justice-oriented pedagogy, to reflect on their own experiences as math learners and deepen their understanding of the various challenges and approaches.

“I want to leave them with tools and a new perspective of what math learning can be for all children,” she says.

Morton was a member of the 2022 cohort of the UNT D.C. Faculty Research Fellows Program, which provides tenure-track assistant professors with connections to national agencies and mentorship in how to secure funding for research.

“My focus is the students in front of me,” she says,“and the students in front of them.”

Additionally, Nandika D’Souza, Regents Professor and associate dean in the College of Engineering, is serving as lead principal investigator on a new $800,000 NSF grant awarded to UNT and the North Central Texas College to create more opportunities for Latino/a students and communities in engineering. The program will incorporate community-building, networking, academic assistance and career coaching to create research-informed institutional change.

In addition to receiving the 2022 Distinguished Service Award from the Women in Engineering ProActive Network, D’Souza also earned the 2022 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award from the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering for her commitment to incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion in her research and teaching.

“It’s meaningful to have diversity and equity work recognized by industry,” D’Souza says. “That’s how you grow opportunity for students. We can do so much more together.”

Building on efforts that began long before UNT first achieved HSI designation in 2020, faculty researchers are making strategic moves to increase Hispanic student participation and diversity in research across disciplines through new federal grant opportunities. 

For example, Elinor Lichtenberg, assistant professor of biological sciences, was named a 2022 E. Kika De La Garza Fellow by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — one of 20 faculty chosen from HSIs across the country. A two-week event during summer 2022 gave Lichtenberg’s students unique professional development experience and exposure to USDA services, resources and research and employment opportunities. 

Additionally, Nandika D’Souza, Regents Professor and associate dean in the College of Engineering, has created a Diversity and Excellence in Engineering Network (DEEN) to bring faculty, students, alumni and industry together to ensure student belonging and intentionally serving systems.

D’Souza will serve as lead principal investigator on a $800,000 NSF grant awarded to UNT and North Central Texas College (NCTC) to create more opportunities for Latino/a students and communities in engineering. 

The program will incorporate community-building, networking, academic assistance and career coaching to create research-informed institutional change. In the project-based freshman and sophomore cohorts, students will work on a project incorporating manufacturing, hardware and programming aspects of the venture based on harnessing student strengths.  

“The goal is to pair STEM principles and enabling the students to build relationships within their cohort. 

The third cohort gives students the chance to visit laboratories, engage in undergraduate research and complete industry internships. Eight faculty have signed on to be DEEN faculty fellows. The fourth cohort includes a partnership with NCTC and is geared toward eliminating unintended barriers between community colleges and the university. 

The grant is one of many highlights from what has been a remarkable year for D’Souza. In addition to receiving the 2022 Distinguished Service Award from the Women in Engineering ProActive Network, she also earned the 2022 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award from the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering. The award recognizes her commitment to incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion in her professional and personal life for more than 25 years. 

“It’s meaningful to have diversity and equity work recognized by industry,” D’Souza says. “That’s how you grow opportunity for students. We can do so much more together.”