Nelson Christensen (Physics) received a National Science Foundation (NSF) award of $186,504 for a three-year project that continues his work with LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory). With this grant, Nelson and international collaborators will analyze data collected by LIGO, which they hope will detect gravitational radiation signals. Events seen by LIGO produce a wealth of astrophysical information, requiring advanced techniques in data analysis, parameter estimation, and statistics that provide scientists with confidence in the quality of the data and the performance of the detectors. Through the grant, two undergraduate student researchers will work with Nelson, and high school students and teachers will also learn about LIGO’s work. Read more on recent grants.

Laurence Cooper (Political Science) received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop a new freshman seminar, “Cosmos or Chaos: Views of the World, Views of the Good Life,” which addresses the question of what it means to live well. Students in the course will consider some key visions of the character of the world and of how to live a good life. Read more on recent grants.

Jamie Monson (History) received a $145,000 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research program for a project on the history of work and technology transfer during the construction of the TAZARA railway in Tanzania and Zambia. Read more on recent grants.

The German-American Fulbright Commission awarded David Tompkins (History) a Fulbright award to lecture and research at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin in the fall of 2009. Read more on recent grants.

Cameron Davidson (Geology) will serve as the director of a Keck Geology Consortium undergraduate research project. The project, entitled “Exhumation of the Coast Mountains Batholith during the Greenhouse to Icehouse transition in Southeast Alaska,” will also involve two Carleton undergraduate researchers in summer 2009. Read more on recent grants.

Laurence Cooper (Political Science) received a Fulbright Scholar award to teach on “Political Philosophy and the Soul” at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic in the academic year 2009-2010. Read more on recent grants.

Gao Hong Dice (Music) was granted a Meet the Composer Global Connections Award of $2,000 to perform her composed music in Delhi, India, and Beijing, China. Read more on recent grants.

Matt McCright (Music) received funds in support of his CD project “Second Childhood” from the Greenville Symphony Society, and from the American Composers Forum (ACF) with a Subito grant. Additionally Matt was awarded an ACF Encore grant for the performance of Asa Nisa Masa by Drew Baker, and a Gene Gutche Incentive grant from the Schubert Club for recording two piano pieces. Read more on recent grants.

Devashree Gupta (Political Science) received a visiting fellow award of $20,000 from the University of Notre Dame Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. She will reside at the Hesburgh Center in spring 2010 while researching her project, “How Ethnic Minorities Participate in Deeply Divided Societies.” Read more on recent grants.

Gary Wagenbach (Emeritus) was granted $30,000 from the B.K. Kee Foundation for a curriculum improvement project at Lumbini Academy in Yangon, Burma. He will serve as an educational consultant focusing on teaching hands-on science-based investigative learning. Read more on recent grants.

The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) received funding in the fall of 2008 for numerous collaborative projects.

* A $224,132 award from the NSF’s Division of Education for a CCLI Phase 2 two-year project, “Collaborative Research: Improving the Geoscience Major,” will enhance the design and implementation of geoscience curricula and programs through a series of topical workshops, on-line resources, and outreach efforts.

* An NSF DUE subaward from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University for the three-year project “Developing an Economics Pedagogic Portal” provides $177,992 to SERC.

* Two subawards from University of South Florida: a supplement to their NSF DUE “Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum” project which provides $36,428 to SERC for a National Numeracy Network (NNN) workshop promoting quantitative literacy instructional spreadsheet modules; and an NSF CCLI Phase 1 “Geology of National Parks: Spreadsheets, Quantitative Literacy, and Natural Resources” project that awards SERC $16,579.

* A University of Vermont NSF DUE subaward for “The Textbook Reconsidered – Creating the Shortbook of Geomorphology” project, provides $41,379 to SERC.

*An NSF DUE National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Digital Library (NSDL) subaward from the University of Michigan’s “Quantitative Social Science Digital Library Pathway (QSSDL)” project, which will provide a portal to materials that integrate quantitative analysis in the teaching of the social sciences, with SERC’s portion being $231,722 over three years.

* A small NSF SBE subaward from Temple University provides $4,998 to SERC for hosting of a web site for a Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC) workshop in Germany.

Recent grants.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Susan Singer (Biology) $149,967 for a Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) grant. Professor Singer's project "RUI: Scaffolding Conceptually Driven Genomics Education" hypothesizes that a carefully designed, web interface tool can support classroom instruction and facilitate authentic research by moderately scaffolding the student research process. The instructional technique of scaffolding utilizes teacher modeling of a desired learning strategy or task - providing support structures to get to the next level - then gradually shifting responsibility to students.

A genomics education tool "Exploring Genomics in Context Interface" (EGCI) will be developed and tested at two different institutions - one that integrates genomics throughout the curriculum (Carleton) and one with distinct genomics and bioinformatics courses (Vassar). Carleton's Science Education Resource Center (SERC) will do the design, development, and customization of the EGCI tool.

For more, visit Susan's Web site; or SERC's Web site. Read more on recent grants.