An interdisciplinary research team from communications, anthropology, and political science will study Russian disinformation campaigns in three former Soviet republics as part of a $1.6 million Minerva research grant awarded through the United States Department of Defense.

UT researchers were one of only 12 academic groups nationwide selected for the prestigious Minerva Research Initiative awards this year.

The research team for the project consists of faculty members from five departments: Maureen Taylor (advertising and public relations), Catherine Luther (journalism and electronic media), Suzie Allard (information sciences), Michael Fitzgerald and Brandon Prins (political science), and Alex Bentley (anthropology). Also closely involved in the project are Natalie Rice, research associate for the College of Communication and Information’s Center for Information and Communication Studies, and Oleg Manaev, global security fellow at the UT Institute of Nuclear Security.

“The study will monitor and analyze the content of Russian information warfare and measure the effectiveness the tactics have in shaping opinion in Eastern European nations Georgia, Ukraine, and Belarus,” said Taylor, director of the School of Advertising and Public relations and principal investigator for the study.

This year, 63 Tennessee undergraduates will present their research posters to legislators at the annual Tennessee Posters at the Capitol on Tuesday, February 26. Seven UT students are traveling to Nashville for the event.

The Posters at the Capitol project started in 2006 as a way for legislators to meet with students from their districts and to see the quality and value of research being done by undergraduate students across the state of Tennessee.

Tim Ezzell, research scientist in the Department of Political Science, and Rachel Chen, professor in the Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management, have received a $200,000 competitive grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission—a federal economic development agency—to conduct the one-year study to better understand Appalachian tourism and identify opportunities to grow tourism activities and encourage business development.

It is the largest and most comprehensive study of tourism ever conducted by the commission, which covers 205,000 square miles across 420 counties in 13 states.

Lucille “Lucy” Greer, who just completed her junior year at UT, has received a prestigious Boren Scholarship that will allow her to spend next year studying Arabic and international politics in Jordan.

Greer, of Knoxville, is majoring in political science with a concentration in international affairs and Middle Eastern studies. She aspires to a career in diplomacy with a focus on the Arab world.

Philip Baites, who also just completed his junior year, was named an alternate for the Boren Scholarship and, if awarded, will study in Morocco.

David L. Boren scholarships and fellowships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program, a federal initiative designed to build a pool of US citizens with foreign language and international skills. In exchange for funding, Boren award recipients agree to work in the federal government for at least a year.