Overman's third grant from NIH supports continued investigation of age-related cognitive changes
Amy Overman, a professor in the Psychology Department and Neuroscience Program, and Assistant Dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, was recently awarded additional research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The new grant, titled “Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the benefits of unitization on associative memory in young and older adults” is a collaborative project with Professor Nancy Dennis of Penn State University. Elon’s portion of the research funding is $50,309 and the total award amount is $508,243.
Overman has an extensive track record of obtaining external funding. In addition to this recent award, she is currently the principal investigator on a $413,993 grant from NIH and a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and has previously been principal investigator or project director on grants from Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Colonial Academic Alliance. Additionally, Overman was principal investigator on Elon’s first-ever research grant from NIH in 2016, and she has served as a grant reviewer for both NIH and NSF, evaluating the scientific merit of other researchers’ funding proposals. To date, she is the only Elon faculty member ever to have served on a scientific review panel for NIH. Altogether, Overman has secured nearly $1 milllion in grant funding from federal agencies and foundations while a faculty member at Elon.
In her current role as assistant dean, Overman uses her grants experience to provide research development assistance to the institution, with the goal of enhancing the student experience. She partners with faculty and staff across the University in seeking and securing external funding to support cross-disciplinary projects, particularly those focused on equity, inclusion, and diversity, in alignment with Elon’s strategic plan.