Susan McNicholl, Iowa State University Office of the Vice President for Research
Posted May 12, 2025
Two Iowa State University research teams have been selected to receive 2025 Bridging the Divide seed grants, an initiative from the Office of the Vice President for Research designed to spark innovative, interdisciplinary collaborations that address complex societal challenges. Each project will receive a two-year grant to develop new approaches that cross disciplinary boundaries and aim for long-term societal impact.
This year’s funded projects tackle timely issues in public health and human physiology. One team could enhance future pandemic response through more realistic disease modeling rooted in human behavior, while another will co-develop a wearable technology to help assess walking gait abnormalities in real time.
Principal Investigators: Claus Kadelka, associate professor of mathematics, Filip Viskupič, assistant professor of political science
Grant Amount: $50,000 over two years
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for better tools to guide public health decision-making—and exposed critical flaws in existing disease modeling methods. In particular, current models often fall short because they fail to fully incorporate the complex social and political factors that shape how people behave during a public health crisis.
To address this gap, an Iowa State research duo will combine insights from mathematics and social sciences, respectively, to build next-generation epidemiological models. By focusing on how behaviors like mask-wearing and vaccination correlate with demographic and political traits such as age, race, or party affiliation, the researchers aim to account for homophily, the tendency of individuals to associate with others similar to themselves.
“I’m very interested in the politics of health,” explained co-PI Filip Viskupič. “I’ve done a lot of work trying to understand people’s attitudes toward vaccination. Why they do or don’t want to vaccinate.”
The project will begin with a nationally representative survey, designed to estimate behavioral patterns and their social clustering. These findings will then feed into new mathematical models that more accurately simulate how diseases might spread in a socially divided population.
“Our goal is to equip public health authorities with models that better reflect how people actually behave in a crisis,” said co-PI Claus Kadelka. “That means grounding the math in the social realities of how people interact—and sometimes don’t.”
The project lays the foundation for future external funding from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and aims to inform public health strategies that are both scientifically rigorous and socially informed.
Principal Investigator: Bruno Oro, assistant professor of industrial design
Research Team: Merate Barakat, associate professor of architecture
Subinay Malhotra, assistant professor of industrial design
Greg Welk, distinguished professor of kinesiology
Jason Cornaro, assistant professor of practice of industrial design
Grant Amount: $25,000 over two years
Walking is something most take for granted—but for millions of people, it’s a daily challenge. Children with cerebral palsy, older adults, athletes, and even people who wear high heels face risks tied to abnormal walking patterns, known as gait abnormalities. These issues can lead to fatigue, falls, joint damage, and loss of independence.
The SmartStep project aims to change that. This research team hopes to develop a low-cost, wearable device that tracks how a person walks and provides real-time feedback to help them move more safely and efficiently. Using flexible pressure sensors, AI-powered analysis, and even light-based cues, the device can detect and correct abnormal movements as they happen, offering a smarter, more accessible way to improve mobility.
“As humans, we may have bad habits or mobility challenges that can add up over time to cause impacts later in life,” said principal investigator Bruno Oro. “By identifying gait abnormalities early, we can identify solutions and prevent larger problems from occurring.”
What makes SmartStep stand out is its interdisciplinary approach. The team includes experts in disability research, aging, biomechanics, and sensor technology, working together to create a device that’s useful for everyone from pre-verbal pediatric patients to professional athletes. Their ultimate goal is to offer an affordable, practical tool that improves quality of life, whether by reducing fall risks for seniors or helping young people move more freely.
Through partnerships with healthcare providers and rehabilitation centers, the team will test and refine SmartStep in real-world settings. One such collaboration will be with Stephen Sengbusch, a prosthetist orthotist at Limb Lab Des Moines. Along the way, they aim to publish their findings, pursue commercialization, and build a foundation for future innovation in wearable health tech.
“The Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities and the Office of the Vice President for Research are delighted to support two innovative research teams through the 2025 Bridging the Divide program,” said CEAH director, Matthew Sivils. “The projects led by Doctors Kadelka, Viskupič, and Oro truly embody the spirit of Bridging the Divide – bringing the varied perspectives and approaches of STEM, design, and social sciences together to explore ideas and create solutions that better people’s lives.”
The Bridging the Divide seed grant program, offered in partnership with the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities (CEAH), is open to all Iowa State University full-time tenured or tenure‐eligible faculty. More information about the application, review, and award process can be found here.
