The Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication will send six professors to Washington D.C. in April to discuss the future of liberal arts and sciences research.

Linus Abraham, Osei Appiah, Scott Chadwick, Cindy Christen, Spiro Kiousis and Tracy Owens Patton, all assistant professors in the Greenlee School, will collaborate with the National Science Foundation on April 13 about their potential research ideas.

The exchange of ideas will help the professors submit research proposals in the future which will be more likely to obtain funding.

“I think it will be a unique opportunity to network with other researchers,” Kiousis said.

The opportunity to get feedback and share ideas is a direct and unique result of the relatively new research office for the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which opened early last year.

“The trip demonstrates that the administration within the college, both at the department level and the college level, are serious about supporting research across a variety of fronts,” Chadwick said. “I think it’s a very positive thing.”

The professors’ individual research ideas vary within the communication spectrum.

Wolfgang Kliemann, LAS associate dean of research, said he believes these types of research opportunities keep both faculty and students on the leading edge. He has made connecting faculty with research funding opportunities a standard of the new office.

“The main goal is to promote research in the college and across colleges,” Kliemann said.

The research office tries to accomplish their goals by helping new and existing faculty find their way through the complicated funding maze, he said. But, Kliemann said obtaining funding is a very elaborate and lengthy process. “It’s just like giving birth,” he said. “It’s nine months.”

While NSF is not generally known for doing research in liberal arts and sciences fields, professors want to change the tradition.

“We hope to demonstrate to NSF that there is a connection between the work we’re doing and the kind of research they are looking for now and in the future,” Appiah said.