Wes Markofski, Assistant Professor of Sociology, has been awarded a Curriculum Development Grant from the Global Religion Research Initiative at the University of Notre Dame.

Christopher Calderone, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant for his project, “RUI: Condensation Domain-Catalyzed Dehydration.”

His research identifies new pathways by which bacteria and fungi produce non-ribosomal peptides, examples of which include cyclosporin and penicillin.

In addition, this project aims to develop modules for undergraduate teaching as well as a curriculum for the LearningWorks partnership program in downtown Minneapolis which teaches underserved middle school students molecular biology.

Susannah Ottaway, Professor of History, will serve as the co-director of a $100,000 NEH grant on “Dialogues on the Experience of War” with Trista Mastacastillo for the Minnesota Humanities Center.  As part of the grant, the Carleton Humanities Center and Arts Director will co-host a community discussion group during 2016-2017.

Alex Knodell, Assistant Professor of Classics and Co-Director of Archaeology, has been awarded two grants in support of the Mazi Archaeological Project, which he co-directs with colleagues from Switzerland and Greece. The Loeb Classical Library Foundation and the Institute for Agean Prehistory have provided funds to support mapping, geophysical survey, and aerial thermography at newly discovered and previously known prehistoric, Classical, and Byzantine-period sites in northwest Attica, Greece. Located in the Kithairon mountain range and on the borders of the historical polities of Athens and Thebes, the Mazi Plain was a critical crossroads between the regions of Attica and Boeotia, as well as central and southern Greece. This funding furthers two previous years’ field work; four Carleton students joined the team last year and three to four will participate in summer 2016. For more information, click here.

Matt Whited, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER grant for a five-year project entitled “Cooperative Small-Molecule Activation by Ambiphilic Pincer-Type Complexes Featuring Metal/Main-Group Bonds.” His project, involving as many as 23 undergraduate researchers, seeks to develop new approaches to difficult chemical transformations such as selective oxidation of hydrocarbons and reduction of carbon dioxide to chemical feedstocks, with the goal of extending these reactions to earth-abundant and sustainable metal catalysts. Professor Whited will meet the CAREER program’s mandate that his research have a broad social impact by continuing development and assessment of course-based undergraduate research experiences. He will also be expanding an outreach effort to bring Northfield and Faribault high-school students, including many who belong to groups that are underrepresented in post-secondary education, into Carleton chemistry laboratories.

David Musicant, Professor of Computer Science, was awarded an ACM-SIGCSE (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) Special Projects Grant to fund student research on his project “Git for People Who Actually Want to Learn Git.”

Cecilia Cornejo, Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to complete pre-production on her new film. The project explores issues of displacement and belonging as experienced by the Latino community of Northfield, Minnesota. The finished work will combine elements of fiction with documentary techniques to present a nuanced vision of reality from a Latino perspective.

Lori Pearson, Carleton College professor of religion, has been awarded a New Directions Fellowship from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for her project “Gender, Religion, and Social Theory: Marianne Weber…

This winter Carleton College Cowling Arboretum staff will take the first steps in a new forest and grassland restoration project, funded through the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. A $64,593 grant, administered through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, will help restore 38 acres, about 4% of the Carleton Arboretum. “While 4% seems like a small portion, Arboretum users will notice some big changes, so we wanted to make sure our users were aware of what this project entails,” reports Nancy Braker, Arboretum Director.

Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges will use a new grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to explore how increased institutional collaboration could enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of services provided to students, faculty, and staff. The $50,000 grant will support a number of planning activities beginning this summer, and will enable the two colleges to examine the opportunities and challenges related to expanded collaboration.