Recent Grant Awardees
Fiscal Year 2026
Norma Stary, State University of New York – Title II EIT Accessibility Grant, “Web Accessibility Audit.”
Tanya Melendez, Tamsen Young, Association of Art Museum Directors – AAMD Internship, “MFIT Internship 2026.”
Tanya Melendez, Valerie Steele, Boris Lurie Foundation, “Art x Fashion Publication.”
Brenda Cowan, State University of New York – Mental Health, “SUNY Mental Health First Aid Training Grant.”
Alison Castaneda, Decorative Arts Trust – Dean Failey Grant, “Exhibition: Behind the Seams: Conserving Fashionable Dress.”
Junghyun Ahn, National Science Foundation – Computer Science for All, “Embedding computational thinking into school culture: collaborating with teachers to assess and build upon computational thinking among pre-k to 5th grade children.”
Imran Islam (PI), Whitney Crutchfield, Cotton Incorporated - Cotton in the Curriculum, “YEAR TWO: Further Understanding and Knowledge about Cotton among Students Preparing for Careers in the Apparel and Textiles Industry.”
Huipu Gao (PI), Eunyoung Kim, Cotton Incorporated - Cotton in the Curriculum, “Cotton's Innovative Journey: A Sustainable Curriculum for Future Textile and Fashion Leaders.”
Fiscal Year 2025
Kyunghee Pyun, Academy of Korean Studies – Scholarly Publications, “Rituals and Representations in East Asian and Korean Buddhist Art.”
Lucia DeRespinis (PI), New York State Department of Education - Perkins Grant, “Projects Supporting AAS CTE Students.”
Imran Islam (PI), Whitney Crutchfield, Cotton Incorporated - Cotton in the Curriculum, “Further Understanding and Knowledge about Cotton among Students Preparing for Careers in the Apparel and Textiles Industry.”
Jacqueline Jenkins, State University of New York - Adult Learners Program, “Marketing Research on Potential Adult-learner Students.”
Tanya Melendez, New York State Council on the Arts, “Diverse Programming.”
Kyunghee Pyun, State University of New York – Conversations in the Disciplines, “Human-Centered AI: Knowledge, Authority, and Creativity.”
Calvin Williamson (PI), Shelley Kohan, State University of New York – Innovative Instructional Technology Grant/Open Educational Resources, “Business Management Course Development Phase 2.”
Valerie Steele, The Coby Foundation, “Fashion and Psychoanalysis.”
Tardis Johnson, Bonnie Duke, The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, “FIT Student Emergency Fund.”
Kyunghee Pyun, State University of New York – Innovative Instructional Technology Grant/Open Educational Resources, “Instructional Technology for Human-Centered AI: A Multidisciplinary Collaboration.”
Fiscal Year 2024
Shelley Kohan, State University of New York - Open Educational Resources, "Business Management Course Development."
Taur Orange, National Education Association Foundation, "Master Class Workshops."
Julian Silverman, FIT Sustainability Council, "Creating, Evaluating and Exploring Packaging Materials from Upcycled Corn Husks."
Huipu Gao, Ajoy Sarkar, Imran Islam, Environmental Protection Agency, "Developing Reusable and Antiviral Face Masks from Plastic Waste."
Elizabeth Way, Tanya Melendez, National Endowment for the Arts, "Africa's Fashion Diaspora."
Lucia DeRespinis (PI), Deborah Stein, New York State Department of Education - Perkins Grant, “Projects Supporting AAS CTE Students.”
Theanne Schiros, National Geographic Wayfinder, "Biometric, Microbial Textiles for a Circular Materials Economy."
Erica Moretti, National Endowment for the Humanities, "Reuniting Families, Humanitarianism, Vatican Internationalism and the End of the Empire (1943-1950)."
Theanne Schiros, Asta Skocir, New York State Empire State Development Corporation, “Fashion Innovation Center.”
Helen Gaudette, Association of International Education Administrators – Forum Grants, “Hosting of Fall 2023 International Educators Conference.”
Ajoy Sarkar, Huipu Gao, Moore Family Charitable Foundation, "Sustainable Diaper Materials."
Bonnie Recca, The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, "Basic Needs: Student Emergency Grants & Food Access."
Rebecca Bauman, Daniel Levinson-Wilk, Amy Werbel, National Endowment for the Humanities, "Creative Spaces/Contested Spaces: Reinterpreting Italian American Public Art in New York City."
Todd Brown, National Institutes of Health, "Health Equity among Trans Patients."
Fiscal Year 2023
Jennifer Lee, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “The Loop for Good - Interdisciplinary Student Learning Lab for Sustainability and Technology of Fashion.”
Zaida Godoy Navarro, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “Sustainability and Theater: Interdisciplinary Lab for Students of FIT.”
Keith Ellenbogen, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “Climate Change Awareness Photography Exhibit.”
Preeti Ayra, Gary Chwatuk, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “Green Textile Composite: Innovation and Application for Shoe Development."
Lisa Kesselman, Garment District Alliance, "Business Development Collaborative."
Elizabeth Way, Elena Romero, The Coby Foundation, "Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous" Exhibition.
Tanya Melendez, New York State Council on the Arts, "Diverse Programming."
Lucia DeRespinis, New York State Education Department - Perkins Grant, “Support for AAS CTE Program.”
Natalie Nudell, Karen Trivette, Harnisch Foundation – Project Grants, “Archiving Fashion Conference: Mapping Fashion Collections.”
Natalie Nudell, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, "Archiving Fashion: Mapping Fashion and Textile Collections Conference."
Lawrence Langham, National Education Association Foundation, "How do Colleges Teach Design ..."
Tanya Melendez, The Coby Foundation, Grants for the Arts, "Food and Fashion."
Ajoy Sarkar, Cotton Inc., Cotton in the Curriculum, "Farm-2-Fashion: An Integrated Study of Cotton from the Farm to the Retail Shelf."
Fiscal Year 2022
Jennifer Lee, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “The Sustainable Pop-Up Shop.”
Angela Brown, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “An Urban, Edible Garden at FIT.”
Muhammed Shahadat, Steven Ceraso, FIT Sustainability Council Grant, “Building a Sustainable Plastic Recycling Factory.”
Erica Moretti, Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies - Community College Faculty Fellowship, "Reuniting Families at the End of the Empire."
Lisa Kesselman, State University of New York - Workforce Development Grant, "Restoring Manufacturing in New York."
Elizabeth Way, New York State Council on the Arts, "Africa's Fashion Diaspora."
Ajoy Sakar, Cotton Incorporated – Cotton in the Curriculum, “Enhancing student understanding of cotton through dual lenses of sustainability and performance.”
Jennifer Lee, National Education Association Foundation – Learning & Leadership Grants, “3D Garment Visualization Technology.”
Fiscal Year 2021 and Prior
Ann Coppinger, Foundation for Advancement in Conservation and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, "The Samuel H. Kress Conservation Fellowship," 2021.
Natalie Nudell, Karen Trivette, Council on Library and Information Services, "Ruth Finley Fashion Calendar Archive," 2021.
Colleen Hill, New York State Council on the Arts, "Reinvention & Restlessness: 1990s Fashion," 2021.
Tanya Melendez, New York State Council on the Arts, "Why Shoes Matter," 2021.
Karen Pearson, et al., State University of New York, SUNY Prepare Innovation and Internship Seed Grant, "PPE for Diverse Body Types," 2021.
Kyunghee Pyun, Academy of Korean Studies, "Korean Dress History," 2021.
Maria Hwang, National Science Foundation, A Crowd-Sourced Social Computing Platform with Gamification Mechanisms for Healthy Eating," 2021.
Kyunghee Pyun, Daniel Levinson-Wilk, Vincent Quan, National Endowment for the Humanities, "Shop Girls to Show Girls: Teaching Resources on New York’s Working Class for Community College Students," 2020.
Karen Pearson, National Endowment for the Arts, "Sustainability Conference: An Initiative Focused on Sustainable Materials and Ethical Design in Fashion," 2020.
Karen Trivette, National Park Service (in collaboration with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities), "Save America's Treasures, Seventh Heaven: Preserving FIT Records from the Garment District," 2020.
Theanne Schiros, Amy Sperber, The Hearst Foundations, "A Wearable Optical-Sensing Garment: Design, Engineering and Education for a Healthy Humanity," 2020.
Susanne Goetz, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, MicroAward, "Embroidery of Advanced Microfilaments," 2020.
Theanne Schiros, National Education Association Foundation, Learning and Leadership Grant, "There is No Limit - Building Inclusive Sustainable Development Models through Textiles, Transparency, and Circularity in a Materials Economy," 2019.
Ann Coppinger, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Museums for America, "Material Evidence: Assessing Risk in the Collection of The Museum at FIT," 2019.
Patricia Mears, New York State Council on the Arts, Architecture + Design, "Ballerina: Fashion's Modern Muse," 2019.
Amy Sperber, New York State Council on the Arts, Architecture + Design Independent Projects, "Open Source Fashion Avatars: A Digital Dress Form," 2019.
Deborah Berhanu, Karen Pearson, National Science Foundation, MRI (Major Research Instrumentation Program), "Acquisition of a Benchtop Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope," 2019.
Michelle Handelman, Creative Capital, Creative Capital Award, "DELIRIUM," 2019.
Kyunghee Pyun, Elaine Maldonado, SUNY IITG, Fashion Institute of Technology, Stony Brook University, SUNY Old Westbury, and Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership, "Beyond the Bamboo Canvas: Instructional Innovation for a Globalized Classroom," 2018.
Meira Goldberg, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and Humanities NY-Action Grant, "The Body Questions: Celebrating Flamenco’s Tangled Roots," 2018.
Daniel Levinson-Wilk, Kyunghee Pyun, National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities Connections, "Teaching Business and Labor History to Art & Design Students," 2018.
Karen Pearson, Joanne Arbuckle, National Endowment for the Arts, ArtWorks, "Sustainability Conference: New Sustainable Design," 2018.
Justine DeYoung, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, "Fashion History Timeline," 2018.
Kyunghee Pyun, Daniel Levinson-Wilk, SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines, "Teaching Business and Labor History Across SUNY Campuses," 2018.