Grant News

Matt Whited, Associate Professor of Chemistry, received a Research Opportunity Award (ROA) award from the National Science Foundation to support sabbatical research at University of North Carolina in the laboratory of Prof. Alex Miller, exploring new electrochemical approaches to catalysis and building a repertoire of skills to support his ongoing NSF-funded research with Carleton students.

Alex Knodell, Associate Professor of Classics and Director of Archaeology, is the recipient of a fellowship from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation for his work on the Small Cycladic Islands Project. This grant will support sabbatical time for Prof. Knodell to work on the analysis and publication of archaeological fieldwork and lidar-based remote sensing, focused on the history of occupation and use across about 50 small, currently uninhabited islands in the Cycladic Archipelago of Greece. The project will produce a series of multidisciplinary studies of island landscapes and new insights into human and natural history.

Sarah Kennedy, Robert A. Oden, Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Humanities and Archaeology, has been awarded an Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) grant from the Julie Herzig Desnick Endowment Fund for Archaeological Field Surveys. This funding for her project, Out of the Mine and Into the Furnace: the Ongoing Environmental Impacts of Silver Refining in Peru, supports geophysical surveys at colonial silver refineries in Puno, Peru during the July 2022 fieldwork season, subsequent laboratory analysis of samples by an Australian collaborator, and dissemination of results via journal articles and book manuscript.

Alex Knodell, Associate Professor of Classics and Director of Archaeology, is the recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF #2150873) Research for Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant, “RUI: Relationship between Area Size and Population History.” Over two years, Prof. Knodell and colleagues will carry out archaeological fieldwork and lidar-based remote sensing research in order to understand the history of occupation and use across 30 small, currently uninhabited islands in the Cycladic Archipelago of Greece. The project builds upon and expands Knodell’s previous work with the Small Cycladic Islands Project and will create opportunities for undergraduate researchers to join an international team of scholars. The project will produce a series of interdisciplinary analyses of island landscapes and new insights into human and natural history.

Nancy Braker, the Puzak Family Director of Carleton’s 800-acre Cowling Arboretum, has received a grant from the Conservation Partners Legacy program to restore and enhance McKnight Prairie, a 33.5-acre prairie remnant located about seven miles east of campus. McKnight is home to a variety of native prairie plants and animals, including a number of rare species. The CPL grant will fund brush-control efforts, led by Braker and arboretum manager Matt Elbert, to improve habitat for prairie plants and animals by reducing the cover of invasive trees and shrubs.

Funded by the Outdoor Heritage Fund and administered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the CPL grant program funds conservation projects that “restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife” in Minnesota.

Cecilia Cornejo, Instructor in Cinema and Media Studies, is the recipient of two grants.

1) a Forecast 2022 Mid-Career Project Grant in support of Sonic Landscapes of Southern Minnesota, a sound mapping website and web archive that examines notions of home in collaboration with community members in Northfield and Lanesboro. The site will feature audio testimonies recorded in 2019, and more recent testimonies focusing on how notions of home have changed in light of the events of 2020 and 2021 (recorded virtually via The Wandering House), along with ambient sounds of significance for the residents of each town.

2) a 2022 Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board that expands on her ongoing exploration of home and belonging, and enables her to continue to develop Sonic Landscapes of Rural Minnesota.

Ryan Terrien, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, will be working with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on an NASA-funded NEID  spectrometer Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) Survey program. Prof. Terrien will support the execution and analysis of the instrument precision and performance – in particular, the wavelength calibration methods – in order to optimize the GTO survey sensitivity.

Gao Hong, Director of the Chinese Music Ensemble and Senior Lecturer in Chinese Musical Instruments, was awarded a 2022 Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She will compose a pipa concerto that she will premiere with the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis during the orchestra’s seventieth season, and present outreach for Minnesotans young and old.

Marty Baylor, Associate Professor of Physics, is the recipient of an American Physical Society (APS) Innovative Fund (IF) award for her national EDI Fellows Program. This project will improve physics teachers’ ability to address equity, diversity, and inclusion topics in the classroom. Many physics educators are hesitant to engage in critical conversations due to a lack of facilitation skills, fear of burdening minoritized students, and/or fear of causing harm due to lack of expertise. Baylor’s EDI Fellows Program will train a cohort of physicists to work with critical conversation specialists in presenting interactive workshops for physics educators that address fear and build capacity to engage in EDI conversations at the high school, college, and graduate levels.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has awarded a new grant to Carleton’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program for the 2021-2022 academic year. Carleton’s MMUF program has been continuously funded since it was established as one of the eight founding programs in 1988. Described as “the centerpiece of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s initiatives to increase diversity in the faculty ranks of institutions of higher education,” MMUF supports students from underrepresented backgrounds and others committed to diversification of the academy who plan to pursue a PhD in humanistic fields. At Carleton, MMUF participants are selected at the end of their sophomore year or during their junior year through a competitive application process. Directed by Associate Professor and Chair of Linguistics, Cherlon Ussery, PhD, and Associate Dean of Students, Sindy Fleming, EdD, Carleton’s program supports up to 10 fellows through two years of independent research, participation in regional and national activities with other Mellon Mays fellows, and preparation for graduate school.