Funding
Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grants
ADVANCE at the University of Michigan announces the Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grant to help meet career-relevant needs of individual faculty in science and engineering.
The Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grants fund a range of activities aimed at improving the environment for career satisfaction and success of a diverse faculty. In particular, ADVANCE seeks to identify needs outside of regularly funded channels that will have a high impact on the career success of individual faculty or diverse groups of faculty. Several grants of up to $20,000 will be awarded.
The ADVANCE Program reports each year on the Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grant recipients and how the funds were utilized by awardees.
The 2022-23 Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grant cycle is now closed. Next year’s grant cycle will open in September 2023.

ABOUT ELIZABETH CAROLINE CROSBY (1888-1983)
World-renowned Neuroanatomist, Elizabeth Caroline Crosby (1888-1983), began her long and distinguished career at the University of Michigan in 1920. Starting as an Anatomy instructor, she rose through the ranks to become the first woman full professor of the medical school. A dedicated researcher and teacher, Dr. Crosby published extensively in comparative anatomy and received several prestigious awards. She was the first woman to be awarded the Henry Russel Lectureship at the University of Michigan (1946); she earned the Henry Gray Award in Neuroanatomy in 1972, and the National Medal of Science in 1979.
After her retirement in 1958, at age sixty-nine, Dr. Crosby served as a clinical consultant at both the University of Michigan and University of Alabama, where a former student held a faculty position. Although she never married, she adopted an 11-year-old girl in 1940 and another girl in 1944. She remained active in scientific work until the end of her life in 1983, at the age of ninety-four.
Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grant Recipients
2022-23 Crosby Recipients
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Arash Adel College of Architecture |
Aline Cotel College of Engineering |
Anouck Girard College of Engineering |
Aubree Gordon School of Public Health |
Nakhiah Goulbourne College of Engineering |
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Dominique Kinnett-Hopkins School of Kinesiology |
Annalise Rahman-Filipiak School of Medicine |
Corinna Schindler College of LSA |
Kendrin Sonneville School of Public Health |
Joanna Spencer-Segal School of Medicine |
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Serife Tol College of Engineering |
Marjorie Weber College of LSA |
Jun Wu School of Medicine |
2021-22 Crosby Recipients
- Laura Balzano (College of Engineering)
- Ashley Bucsek (College of Engineering)
- Jade Burns (School of Nursing)
- Rhima Coleman (College of Engineering)
- Anouck Girard (College of Engineering)
- Jenan Kharbush (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Kelley Kidwell (School of Public Health)
- Samuel Kwon (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Nancy Love (College of Engineering)
- Jean Morrison (School of Public Health)
- Massy Mutumba (School of Nursing)
- Sarah Peitzmeier (School of Nursing)
- Kerri Pratt (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Michaelanne Thomas (School of Information)
- Justine Wu (Medical School)
2020-21 Crosby Recipients
- Jacinta Beehner (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Tawanna Dillahunt (School of Information)
- Annette Ostling (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Maria Papaleontiou (Medical School)
- Sara Pasquali (Medical School)
- Allison Steiner (College of Engineering)
2019-20 Crosby Recipients
- Laura Balzano (College of Engineering)
- Marin Clark (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Alison Davis Rabosky (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Anouck Girard (College of Engineering)
- Yihe Huang (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Ines Ibanez (School for the Environment and Sustainability)
- Naomi Levin (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Elisa Maria Maffioli (School of Public Health)
- Okeoma Mmeje (Medical School)
- Alison Mondul (School of Public Health)
- Michelle Munro-Kramer (School of Nursing)
- Jillian Pearring (Medical School)
- Megan Pesch (Medical School)
- Sheria Robinson-Lane (School of Nursing)
- Qiong Yang (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
2018-19 Crosby Recipients
- Ana Baylin (School of Public Health)
- Jennifer Blesh (School for Environment and Sustainability)
- Gyorgyi Csankovszki (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Shanna Daly (College of Engineering)
- Hui Deng (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Aubree Gordon (School of Public Health)
- Anna Mathew (Medical School)
- Sierra Petersen (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Emily Provost (College of Engineering)
- Elizabeth Roberts (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
- Patricia Wittkopp (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts)
Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grant Spotlight
Green Life Sciences Symposium: Plant-environment interactions across scales (September, 2018)
A Protective Role for Interleukin-1 Signaling during Mouse Adenovirus Type 1-Induced Encephalitis
Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity in Infections by an Encephalitic Virus, Mouse Adenovirus Type 1
The Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Research Award supported novel investigation into the advancement and leadership opportunities for women surgeons. A qualitative study provided rich insights into barriers and facilitators experienced by women surgeons. We also learned about individual and institutional factors that affect advancement and leadership opportunities. The funding was essential to support collaboration with an executive coach to facilitate confidential research interviews, and to offset costs for a research assistant and administrative personnel.
Coming together around this research sparked stronger synergy among team members and mobilized development of the Michigan Women’s Surgical Collaborative (MWSC). In 2017, MWSC launched the inaugural Women in Surgery Leadership Development Conference. The high demand and incredibly positive feedback from participants encouraged us to make this an annual event.
As of 2020, 209 Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Faculty Grants have been awarded.
27% of recipients have used a portion of their funding to assist with child or other dependent care needs.
