In Fall 2025, the Center for Social & Behavioral Science Small Grant Program awarded funding for four projects that advance innovative and timely social and behavioral science research. Selected through a competitive review process, these projects employ diverse methods to generate insight into pressing societal issues.
The funded projects focus on the topics of health and environmental co-benefits of climate solutions, human–AI relationships in alcohol-risk communication, post-school outcomes for students with disabilities, and racially restrictive covenants. Together, the grants represent a broad range of disciplines, with principal investigators from the College of Education, the College of Media, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
We are proud to support these four teams and recognize their commitment to rigorous, evidence-based, and cross-disciplinary research that addresses complex societal challenges.
Good for me and the planet: Avenues for communicating health and environmental co-benefits of climate solutions
PI: Cassandra Troy | Assistant Professor, Journalism
Co-Is: Samantha Lindgren | Assistant Professor, Education, Policy, Organization & Leadership
Leona Yi-Fan Su | Associate Professor, Advertising
Kathryn Thier | Assistant Professor, Arts, Communication, and Media, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Summary: This project investigates how framing climate solutions—such as electric vehicles, geothermal energy, and cover cropping—in terms of their health and environmental co-benefits shapes public perceptions, policy support, and behavioral intentions. By combining a two-wave survey experiment with qualitative focus groups in the U.S. Midwest, the study examines how communities disproportionately affected by climate change evaluate risks, benefits, and barriers to engagement. Findings from this research will provide evidence-based guidance for effectively communicating climate and health interventions in ways that advance equity and public engagement.
Building Bonds, Changing Behavior: How Human-AI Relationships Shape Alcohol-Risk Communication
PI: Leona Yi-Fan Su | Associate Professor, Advertising
Co-I: Catharine Fairbairn | Associate Professor, Psychology
Summary: This project addresses the under-communicated health risks of alcohol consumption by developing a scalable intervention using large language model (LLM)–based chatbots. The study investigates how two relational mechanisms—therapeutic relationships grounded in motivational interviewing and social companionship—develop over up to one week of user interaction, and how these bonds influence responsiveness to health advice. It also examines how text- versus voice-based chatbot modalities affect relationship formation and intervention effectiveness. In addition to advancing theory, the research will provide evidence-based guidance for designing scalable, relationship-centered digital health interventions.
Equipping Rural Administrators to Improve Post-School Outcomes for Students with Disabilities
PI: Michele Schutz | Assistant Professor of Special Education
Co-Is: Nicole Birri | Community Research Specialist, Illinois Institute for Rehabilitation and Employment Research
Christina Irland | Community Research Specialist, Illinois Institute for Rehabilitation and Employment Research
Chun-Lung Lee | Research Evaluation Specialist and Biostatistician, Illinois Institute for Rehabilitation and Employment Research
Summary: This project examines how rural school administrators can leverage local assets to promote equitable college and career readiness for students with disabilities. The team is developing, piloting, and evaluating a virtual training program that fosters both individual and collective learning among administrators. In the final phase, the study will assess the training’s impact on students with disabilities’ engagement with college and career readiness coursework, services, and community linkages, as well as administrators’ knowledge, partnerships, and self-efficacy in applying rural cultural assets. Findings and materials from this research will inform strategies to strengthen support for rural students with disabilities and extend resources for addressing barriers to successful transitions to adulthood.
The Influence of Racially Restrictive Covenants in Champaign County
PI: Eleanor Seaton | Professor, Psychology
Co-Is: Aaron Ammons | Champaign County Clerk
Marynia Kolak | Assistant professor, Geography & GIScience
Reuben May | Florian Znaniecki Professor, Sociology
Summary: The impact of institutional racism within the housing industry drives long-term health and economic inequities. While redlining is widely studied, racially restrictive covenants (RCCs) remain largely understudied. This project is the first of its kind to engage residents impacted by RCCs alongside quantitative analyses of contemporary associations. Partnering with the Champaign County Clerk’s Office, the multidisciplinary research team will use a mixed-methods approach to (1) characterize socioeconomic associations of tracts and RCCs through spatial analyses, (2) pilot an oral history collection featuring elder Black residents’ experiences of RCCs, and (3) share preliminary findings through community-based events. The study will contribute to RCC research nationally and establish new methodological and theoretical directions.