2024 Research Annual Report
On behalf of the Texas A&M College of Nursing Research Office, we are pleased to highlight and celebrate the many key milestones achieved during Calendar Year 2024.
Research and scholarship continue to grow and expand within the College of Nursing, driven by the creative and innovative nurse scientists; grant and contract support from many federal, state and private sponsors; and leadership and investment from the college, Texas A&M Health and The Texas A&M University System.
Key metrics in assessing research productivity include the amount of extramural grant funding received each annually, yearly research expenditures and number of peer-reviewed publications and professional presentations. Fiscal Year 2024 sponsored research, outreach and education funding expenditures exceeded $8 million, reflecting the continued upward trajectory in sponsored activities. As shown in Figure 1, sponsored research, service and outreach have continued to increase significantly over the past seven years. Faculty research scholarship included over 100 journal articles, books, chapters and professional presentations.
Notable events include the Texas A&M Health Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing, under the direction of Dr. Stacey Mitchell, celebrating its five-year anniversary with a grand-opening event and completing its five-year center review process. Dr. Rosaleen Bloom was selected as a Texas A&M Montague Scholar, one of just 10 selected for this distinction that recognizes exceptional teaching excellence. Dr. Nancy Downing and team were awarded the Journal of Forensic Nursing Article of the Year Award for their paper, “Forensic Nurses’ Understanding of Emergency Contraception Mechanisms: Implications for Access to Emergency Contraception.”
Faculty members have successfully developed, implemented and launched a variety of new programs and initiatives during the calendar year. A full listing is included in the project section of the report.
Each year, the college recognizes outstanding nurse scientists for their contributions to advancement of nursing research through a number of awards. These awards include the Dean’s Best Paper Award, Dean’s Emerging Researcher Award and Dean’s Seedling Awards.
The Dean’s Best Paper Award recognizes a faculty member for an outstanding peer-reviewed publication on a study or topic that was published in the last year in a highly regarded journal. The selected paper advances knowledge of health, quality of life, nursing science or nursing education and is aligned with the scholarly agenda of the faculty member. The 2024 award recipient was Dr. Muna Bhattarai for her article, “Mindfulness-Based Self-Care for Forensic Nurses: A Professional Lifestyle Approach,” published in the Journal of Forensic Nursing.
The Dean’s Emerging Researcher Award recognizes one faculty member based on overall scholarly productivity and contributions to the field of nursing. The 2024 winner was Dr. Muna Bhattarai.
The Dean’s Seedling Award Program supports up to three individual faculty or faculty teams by providing each with up to a $15,000 seed grant to support innovative research contributing to nursing practice, education and scientific research. The 2024-2025 recipients were:
- Dr. Ya-Ching Amanda Huang: Mediation Roles of Acculturation and Health Literacy on Perceived Discrimination in Healthcare Settings and Diabetes Management among Korean Americans with Type 2 Diabetes
- Dr. Nicole Peters Kroll and Dr. Alison Pittman: Creating a Nurse-led School-based Oral Health Education and Promotion Program
- Dr. Muna Bhattarai: The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Self-care in Predicting Health Outcomes in Adults with Spinal Cord Injury