Harry Williams, Laird Bell Professor of History, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar for the 2011-2012 academic year. Professor Williams has been placed at the Northeast Normal University in Changchun, where he will offer courses in African American social, cultural, and intellectual history and pursue a research project on China’s relations with black America.

Ross Elfline, Assistant Professor of Art History, has recently received two grants to advance his book project on the Italian radical architecture collective Superstudio:

• a $6,000 Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities and
• a $5,000 Research and Development grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies.

Professor Elfline will use the NEH grant in summer 2011 to conduct archival research in Florence and Paris for his project “Toward an Architecture of Distribution: Superstudio’s Magazine Works.” He plans to use the Graham Foundation grant to finish that archival research in December 2011 and summer 2012.

Through the Faculty Career Enhancement (FaCE) project, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) have awarded a $6,000 grant to Assistant Professor of Religion Asuka Sango and colleagues at Luther College for a joint "Zen Stories for Today" project. Working with colleagues and undergraduate student researchers, Sango will create interactive digital applications that allow students to explore Zen Buddhist religious texts. The team will develop interactive animations of key Zen “encounter dialogues” between masters and disciples, make audio recordings of interviews with Zen Buddhist practitioners and scholars on the dialogues, and build a set of resources which students and faculty can use to teach the dialogues. The project combines cutting-edge research and digital/interactive technology to facilitate learning across the liberal arts and to explore the intersections of faith and learning. More information is available on the ACM FaCE website.

Mark Kanazawa, Ada M. Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of the Social Sciences and Director of Environmental Studies, was awarded an appointment as a Wilbur R. Jacobs Fellow at The Huntington Library in San Marino, California. The $2,500 stipend will support a summer month in residence doing research for his book-length manuscript on the California Gold Rush.

Gao Hong Dice, Lecturer in Chinese Musical Instruments, received the Arts Learning grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Funds of $16,750 will support her in promoting Chinese music and culture in the Northfield, Minnesota community. Gao's personal website can be found at http://www.chinesepipa.com.

Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC) received $240,605 in subaward funding from an NSF renewal grant to Temple University, for participation in The Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC). Various collaborators in university and secondary education pursue goals of understanding spatial learning and using that knowledge to develop programs and technologies to transform educational practice and support the capability of all children and adolescents to develop the skills required to compete in a global economy. SERC’s role in the project is to collaborate, develop, and evaluate performance measures and evolution of spatial skills. Read about more of SERC’s projects, or more on SILC.

Neil Lutsky, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, was named as the 2011 recipient of the American Psychological Foundation's Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award. This award recognizes "a significant career of contributions as an exceptional teacher of psychology." The awardee receives a plaque, $2000, and an all-expense paid trip to the American Psychological Association annual convention, where the award is presented and the winner is invited to give a special address. Read more at Carleton News.

Hong Zeng, Assistant Professor of Chinese, and five students are the recipients of a 2011 fellowship grant from the ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Program. The travel funds will support their summer 2011 research into the influence of Taoism and Buddhism on literature and film arts in Chengdu and Yunnan.

In November 2010, Cameron Davidson, Associate Professor of Geology, received a $20,000 grant from the Keck Geology Consortium to undertake field research in Alaska. Working with a collaborator at Union College (Schenectady, NY) and six undergraduate researchers, Davidson will seek to understand the tectonic evolution of unusual geological features on Kodiak Island and western Prince William Sound. The fieldwork will take place in summer 2011.

In fall 2010, Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC) received subaward funding for services provided collaboratively:

• Through the National Science Foundation (NSF) via subawards from: Montana State University, Columbia University, North Carolina State University, TERC, Glendale Community College;
• Through the United States Department of Education (USDE) FIPSE program via subaward from Evergreen State College;
• Through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) via subaward from University of Utah. 

The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton was awarded $2,096,215 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a five-year collaborative undergraduate geosciences education project, “Collaborative Research: On the Cutting Edge: A Community Resource Transforming Geoscience Education” with Hamilton College, Montana State University, and the College of William and Mary. 

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.