Joel Weisberg (Physics) was awarded $332,335 for a four-year continuing grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue his astronomical investigations. His RUI (Research in Undergraduate Institutions) project “Radio Astronomical Investigations of the Interstellar Medium, Relativistic Gravitation, and Pulsars” uses pulsars as tools for the study of the interstellar medium and relativistic gravitation and focuses on the study of the emissions and evolution of pulsars. The grant will provide opportunities for students to do data acquisition and analysis, and travel to the Australian Telescope National Facility. (August 4, 2008)

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 instruction 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. (September 9, 2008)

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. (December 9, 2008)

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.” (December 23, 2008)

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. (January 19, 2009)

Gao Hong Dice (Music) was granted a Meet the Composer, Inc. Global Connections Award of $2,000 to perform her composed work in Delhi, India, and Beijing, China. (February 13, 2009)

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.  (March 21, 2009)

Cam 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. (March 27, 2009)

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.  (April 29, 2009)

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. (June 2, 2009)