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Connecticut College awarded more than $1 million in National Science Foundation grants
October 18, 2007
The National Science Foundation has awarded Connecticut College more than $1 million in four separate grants to help the college advance its dynamic science program and engage next generation scientists.
"Connecticut College´s science majors acquire a powerful formula for success that prepares them to enter graduate or medical degree programs or careers in science," President Leo I. Higdon Jr. said. "These generous grants will support important hands-on research and learning opportunities and will help the college make those opportunities available to a broad array of potential future scientists."
- Marc Zimmer, Barbara Zaccheo Kohn ´72 Professor of Chemistry, Chemistry Department Chair, $513,900
This National Science Foundation S-STEM grant of $513,900 will support the college´s efforts to increase the number of students graduating from Connecticut College with a degree and research experience in chemistry, physics, environmental science, neuroscience and laboratory-based biological sciences. The four primary objectives of the S-STEM grant are:
• To cultivate a new generation of scientists at Connecticut College by enhancing the quality and quantity of students entering these fields, especially those from underrepresented groups in the sciences.
• To foster a passion for science in these students through applied research and close association with faculty and other science students.
• To help students turn their passion for science into a career in the sciences through close faculty mentoring, hands-on research and internship opportunities, and participation in meetings, conferences and other off-campus resources.
• To increase interest in science among high school students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, by sending faculty and students to team teach at partnership schools, to present at science summer camps and to volunteer through new and existing community outreach programs at local schools.
In addition to cultivating new science students, the NSF grant enables Connecticut College to award more need-based financial aid to those students, supplementing the college´s generous financial aid packages.
- Peter A. Siver, Charles & Sarah P. Becker ´27 Professor of Botany and Director of Environmental Studies Program, $300,000
This National Science Foundation grant for $300,000 will enable Peter A. Siver, Charles & Sarah P. Becker ´27 Professor of Botany and Director of Environmental Studies Program, and six undergraduate students to study the effects of an ancient global warming event on freshwater lakes. In addition, Anne Lizarralde, a research associate at Connecticut College, and Alex P. Wolfe from the University of Alberta, Canada, will be active participants on the project. Siver´s three-year study will examine and document the siliceous microscopic organisms from an ancient middle Eocene lacustrine waterbody that existed within a kimberlite crater known as Giraffe Pipe near the Arctic Circle during one of the warmest time periods in the modern geologic record, the Cenozoic hot house.
"The ability to document successional changes in an Eocene waterbody over its entire existence is a rare opportunity," said Siver. "Being able to also examine a freshwater environment at the Arctic Circle under tropical conditions makes it a truly unique opportunity for understanding the future impacts of global warming," he added.
Siver´s findings will be widely disseminated to the greater scientific community, students and the general public mainly through peer-reviewed literature, an extensive Web site and by depositing sets of samples and prepared slides at three internationally recognized museums.
Additionally, Siver plans to integrate the project into a suite of undergraduate courses at Connecticut College to educate a broader group of students on issues ranging from global warming to life in the Eocene.
- David K. Lewis, Margaret W. Kelly Professor of Chemistry, former Dean of the Faculty/Provost and former Interim President of the College, $185,500
This National Science Foundation grant for $185,500 supports efforts by David K. Lewis, Margaret W. Kelly Professor of Chemistry, former Dean of the Faculty/Provost and former Interim President of the College, to further study and understand the energetic and dynamic details of chemical reactions. The fundamental reaction mechanisms under study include isomerizations of cyclopropanes, dehydration of alcohols and dissociations of cyclic alkenes.
Lewis´ ultimate goal with this project, he said, is to collect experimental data that will enable scientists to develop the ability to predict the speed and outcome of any chemical reaction through computer modeling. The project also assists with the education of the next generation of laboratory scientists; over three years, 10 to 15 undergraduate students will have had their first direct hands-on experience with scientific investigation as research assistants on this study.
The three-year project will be co-directed by Bansi L. Kalra, professor of chemistry at Hollins University.
- Gary Parker, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Director of Computer Science Program, and Ozgur Izmirli, Jean C. Tempel ´65 Associate Professor of Computer Science, $70,421
Through an NSF grant totaling $496,429 ($70,421 to Connecticut College), Connecticut College is collaborating with Trinity College and Wesleyan University to study the impact of humanitarian open-source software development in revitalizing undergraduate computing education.
The two-year grant will focus on summer software development internships that will engage students, faculty, industry professionals and community service organizations in the development of free, open-source software for use by humanitarian and social service organizations.
The project will help attract bright, energetic, public-service minded students to the computing discipline by providing opportunities for them to learn computing and contribute to society.
All of the grants listed above are 100-percent federally funded.
For more information contact: Amy Sullivan (860) 439-2526; amy.sullivan@conncoll.edu