GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Research advances when ideas attract partners willing to invest in them. The grants, contracts, awards, and sponsored initiatives presented in this section reflect confidence in a scholarly agenda that positions sound as a tool for learning, health, cultural preservation, public engagement, and technological innovation. Through competitive grants, commissioned projects, industry partnerships, and institutional collaborations, I have expanded opportunities for interdisciplinary research, student engagement, creative production, and community impact while strengthening Howard University's research enterprise.

Collectively, these externally supported initiatives document the evolution of Social Sonic Design from an emerging framework to a sustained program of scholarship, creative practice, and institutional leadership. They demonstrate an ability not only to secure competitive support, but also to translate scholarly vision into partnerships that generate new knowledge, creative works, educational opportunities, and lasting public value.

Grants

The following is a list of grants awarded to support my original scholarly inquiry, community preservation, or social impact research.

 

  • Baltimore BASE Grant - 2023
    • Direct Grant
    • Sponsor: Baltimore Development Corporation 
    • Project: Municipal economic/creative recovery award
  • The Interleder Foundation HBCU Grant - 2023
    • Direct grant
    • Sponsor: The Interledger Foundation
    • Project: Multimedia Audio Production student experience 
  • CWGGL Summer Research Grant  - 2022
    • Sponsor: Howard University Center for Women, Gender, and Global Leadership 
    • Project: Call & Response Oral History Project
  • The Interledger Foundation Grant for the Web  - 2021 

 

I have submitted application materials for the following federal grant. 

 

  • NEH HBCU Faculty Award - Applied April 2025 
    • National Endowment for the Humanities
    • Notification expected January 2027.

 

 

Contracts

These agreements represent professional engagements where I was retained to produce, engineer, compose, or author specific commercial deliverables.

 

  • Universal Music Group - 2026
    • Client: Verve Records 
    • Immersive Mixing for The Messthetics' Deface the Currency album
  • Course Author - 2024
    • Client: The Recording Academy / GRAMMY Global Ventures 
    • Educational curriculum design service
  • Spotify NextGen (Counter Narratives: Oral History Project) - 2022
    • Client: Spotify 
    • Corporate foundation creative research award
  • Unerased: Black Women Speak - 2022
    • Client: NEO Philanthropy, Inc.
    • Contracted through the podcast's nonprofit philanthropic foundation partner
  • Supervising Sound Editor/Re-Recording Mixer, Music Producer, Arranger, Composer - One Town at a Time Documentary - 2022
    • Client: Akosua Productions
    • Post-production engineering service, Creative production service
  • This is Her Story - 2021
    • Client: Congressional Chorus
    • Commissioned engineering/performance service
 

 

Awards & Recognition

Best of Competition Winner - 2026

  • Sound Engineering and Design Category - 2026 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts.

Fulbright-Hays Scholar Designation - 2019

  • U.S. Department of State cultural diplomacy efforts in Barbados, St. Lucia, and Grenada entered into U.S. Congressional Record 

GRAMMY Award Nominations - Multiple

  • My single Orion received a nomination in the Best Urban Alternative Performance category - 2011
  • Queen Sheba’s album Civil Writes: The South Got Something to Say nominated in Best Spoken Word Poetry Album category. I contributed production, engineering, and vocal performance to the project - 2024