Grant News

In early September Dan Hernandez (Biology) was awarded $184,021 for a Research Initiation Grant to Broaden Participation in Biology (RIG BP) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). His project, “RIG: Aboveground and belowground effects of multi-species herbivory across a successional gradient in tallgrass prairie” will mentor undergraduate researchers and develop a new lab exercise in his Ecosystem Ecology course. The field and laboratory research in the Carleton Arboretum involves studying the effects of mammalian herbivory on insect communities in tallgrass prairie. The project will also develop K-12 outreach activities in collaboration with arboretum staff. 

Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC) received $17,000 toward contracted services for an NSF NSDL-funded program at University of Wisconsin “Expanding the ChemEd DL to Enhance Pedagogic Impact.” 

Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC) received a $27,615 subaward to provide website support for University of Massachusetts’ NASA Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) project “Climate Change Education: Science, Solutions, and Education in an Age of Media.”  

Jennifer Wolff (Biology) was awarded $517,912 for a Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her three-year project “Identifying new regulators of sex-specific neurogenesis.” This project involves undergraduate researchers, high school students participating in Carleton’s Summer Science Institute, and a postdoctoral fellow. 

In July 2010, Deborah Gross (Chemistry) received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Opportunity Award (ROA) as a subaward from St. Louis University for her project “Inclusion of the ATOFMS in Measurements and Models in Summer 2010.” The project entails the measurement of air pollution in Milwaukee by Deborah and two Carleton undergraduate research students. 

In summer 2010, Dave Musicant (Computer Science) received a National Science Foundation Research Opportunity Award for the proposal “Mentoring in Wikipedia: Improving the Experience for Newcomers.” This funding supports the summer portion of a sabbatical with the GroupLens project at the University of Minnesota. 

Alex Freeman, Assistant Professor of Music, in conjunction with American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), a New York-based ensemble, received an Encore grant from the American Composers Forum for his composition, Blueshift. Read more on recent grants.

A travel research grant was awarded to George Vrtis, Assistant Professor of History and Environmental Studies, from the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming to support research on his book project, “Gold Rush Colorado: An Environmental History.” Read more on recent grants.

The Research Corporation granted $35,000 to Dwight Luhman, Assistant Professor of Physics, for his research “The Effect of Disorder on the Superfluid Transition in Two-Dimensional Liquid Helium Films.” This Cottrell College Science Award supports two undergraduate student researchers along with needed lab supplies and equipment. Read more on recent grants.

Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, Professor of Anthropology, received a $25,000 Post-Ph.D. Research Grant and Osmundsen Initiative Supplement from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, funding her research project, “Birth and Belonging: Global Webs and Local Exclusion from Cameroon to Berlin.” The Osmundsen Initiative supports projects that use anthropology to “make a significant contribution to the modern world,” in this case regarding immigration and health care reform. Read more on recent grants.