Category: Recent Grants

Dan Maxbauer, Assistant Professor of Geology, will receive funding from the Keck Geology Consortium, supported by National Science Foundation EAR, to host a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) project in summer 2021 at the Carleton campus. His project, “Carbon sequestration by enhanced silicate weathering in agricultural soils,” enables Prof. Maxbauer to mentor four students in conducting an agricultural field trial to test the efficacy of rock dust amendments, with a focus on evaluating carbon sequestration, crop yields, and soil health.

Cecilia Cornejo, Instructor in Cinema and Media Studies, received a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. The funds will allow her to expand her ongoing The Wandering House project over the course of the next several months. Through virtual visits to The Wandering House, Cecilia will reconnect with Lanesboro and Northfield residents to explore how notions of “home” have transformed in light of the global pandemic and the uprising that followed the killing of George Floyd.

Gao Hong, Director of the Chinese Music Ensemble and Senior Lecturer in Chinese Musical Instruments, received a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Gao will compose a pipa concerto that she will premier in her debut performance with the Minnesota Orchestra and present lecture demonstrations remotely for Minnesotans.

Andrea Mazzariello, Assistant Professor of Music, received a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, in support of his project, “War Footing.” This large-scale work facilitates collaboration and co-creation between local musicians, in response to a framework of original songs and pieces.

On October 26, together with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) awarded a new continuation grant to the college’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program. Now in its 32nd year at Carleton, the MMUF program supports talented students from underrepresented backgrounds who plan to pursue a PhD in humanistic fields. Participants are selected at the end of their sophomore year or during their junior year through a competitive application process. Directed this year by Cathy Yandell,  W. I. and Hulda F. Daniell Professor of French Literature, Language, & Culture, and Sindy Fleming, Assistant Dean of Students, Carleton’s program supports up to ten fellows through two years of intensive work in the humanities, which includes independent research, participation in regional and national activities with other Mellon Mays fellows, and preparation for graduate school.

Carleton recently received a $249,372 Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) grant, made possible by the federal CARES Act, from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE). The GEER grant enables Carleton’s Information Technology Services to provide assistance to underserved students (defined by the grant as lower-income students, students of color, indigenous students, and students with disabilities) in the form of high-quality laptops, software applications, and captioning services for courses that have shifted to online instruction because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project, which aims to ensure that all students have equal access to the technological tools necessary to succeed in their courses, is being spearheaded by the college’s Chief Technology Officer, Janet Scannell, and the Director of Technology Support, Austin Robinson-Coolidge.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a five-year, $1.4 million TRIO/Student Support Services (SSS) grant to Carleton College. The new award will help Carleton support 140 students who come from low-income backgrounds (as defined by federal guidelines), who are the first in their family to attend college, or who have a documented disability. The grant will enable Carleton’s TRIO staff to continue providing individualized advising and other proven tools of success to program participants. It will also guide efforts to increase retention, persistence, and graduation rates through innovative collaborative efforts with campus partners, including the Career Center and the Quantitative Resource Center. The renewal of Carleton’s TRIO/SSS program—which has been continuously funded by the Department of Education since 1981—ensures a new generation of Carls have the support necessary to achieve their academic, personal, and career goals.

Amna Khalid, Associate Professor of History, has been awarded the inaugural John Stuart Mill Faculty Fellowship from the Heterodox Academy (HxA). Prof. Khalid’s year-long fellowship will enable her to give her undivided attention to issues that she is passionate about and that align with the mission of HxA: increasing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in higher education.

Melanie Freeze, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, was awarded a Project Pericles “Up to Us Voting Modules” mini-grant to incorporate “How to Vote” civic engagement in her fall 2020 ACE course Polarization, Parties, and Power. Students completed voting plans and participated in voting outreach to elementary students and others in the community. The grant will also fund a political psychology class research project during the Spring 2021 term that examines people’s response to public health messaging from Republican and Democrat governors, with a focus on vaccinations.

Ryan Terrien, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, is the recipient of an NSF award for his project “Collaborative Research: An Agile Electro-Optic Frequency Comb for Precision Near-Infrared Radial Velocity Spectroscopy with the Habitable Zone Planet Finder.” As part of collaborative research with partners at UC Boulder, U Arizona, Pennsylvania State U, the team will upgrade the Habitable Zone Planet Finder spectrograph with new functionality and improved performance that will accelerate US exoplanet science and astrophysics and demonstrate technology for the future generation of astronomical instruments.