Grant News

Dani Kohen, Associate Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded a Petroleum Research Fund grant of $65,000 for her project “Atomistic Simulations of Small Molecules’ Behavior within A1 Substituted Zeolites.” Professor Kohen’s research aims to understand and characterize at the molecular level how carbon dioxide and other small gas molecules behave in pores of molecular sieves. The work, which involves undergraduate researchers, is centered on materials that might be used to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and on materials useful to other industrial processes. Learn more about Dani at her web page.

In September 2011 Nidanie Henderson was awarded $200,000 from the National Science Foundation Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Division for her project “RIG: Biochemical and structural studies of the Bcr multienzyme polypeptide.” Her research looks at the role of enzymatic protein kinases as regulators of cell signaling, and involves underrepresented undergraduate researchers.

In late summer 2011, Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC) received a $97,751 subaward from Highline Community College for the project “Collaborative Research: Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education at Two-Year Colleges through Workshops and Web Resources.”

Additionally SERC was awarded $41,388 in funding for a collaborative project with Purdue University “Collaborative Research: Cyber Enabled Data and Modeling Driven Curriculum Modules for Hydrology Education.”

Sarah Titus, Professor of Geology, was awarded a $74,502 grant from National Science Foundation EAR Tectonics division for her project “Differential geometry and statistics of deformation tensors.” With Basil Tikoff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Titus will explore a new conceptual framework for the analysis of naturally occurring rock deformation. The project applies mathematical techniques of Lie groups and Lie algebras to a series of geological examples, with the aid of Josh Davis who is transitioning from pure math towards more applied science applications.

Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, Curator of Library Art & Exhibitions, has recently received two grant awards that will support both her artistic pursuits and her work at Carleton: a Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant and a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Next Step Fund.

Dana Strand, Professor of French, has received funds from FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), to offer The Tournées Festival showing of five films in Carleton’s first-ever French film festival. Carleton’s new Weitz Center for Creativity 250-seat cinema will serve as home for the festival in September and October 2011. More information can be found in the College’s press release on the festival.

Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC) is the recipient of a $10 million, five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to create a national STEP Center that will prepare students to leverage the geosciences in addressing societal challenges including natural hazards, resource issues, and environmental impacts. The center, one of two funded this year through NSF’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP), will conduct the project “InTeGrate: Interdisciplinary Teaching of Geoscience for a Sustainable Future.” The STEP Center at Carleton, focused on geoscience, will be headed by Carleton SERC director Cathy Manduca, with major pieces of the collaborative work done at other locations around the country. For more information, see the College’s press release on the grant.

Diane Nemec Ignashev, Professor of Russian, was awarded a PEN American Center Translation Fund grant. The PEN Translation Fund’s purpose is to promote the publication and reception of translated world literature in English. Professor Nemec Ignashev’s project translates from Russian the Belarusian writer Viktor Martinovich’s dystopian mockumentary Paranoia, a novel banned in the writer’s own country that traces a tragic love affair between a young writer and the mistress of the country’s chief state security officer.

Gao Hong Dice, Lecturer in Chinese Musical Instruments, has been awarded a USArtists International grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support her as a composer and performer of her music at The East China Normal University International Music Festival in Shanghai. For more on Gao’s endeavors, see her home page.

Noah Salomon, Assistant Professor of Religion, is a senior researcher on a team from Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation Economiques, Juridiques et Sociales (CEDEJ), Khartoum Branch, which was recently awarded a grant from the Islam Research Programme (Government of Holland) entitled “Strengthening Knowledge of and Dialogue with the Islamic/Arab World.” Salomon will conduct fieldwork on Muslim minorities in the new state of South Sudan and collaborate with Sudanese and French colleagues on a joint CEDEJ report on the state of religious minorities in North and South Sudan.