Grants Awarded
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Whitman College received the following grants in 2021.
December 2021
- Whitman College received a grant from Washington State Health Care Authority grant (a subaward through Washington State University), to establish a regional network of Collegiate Recovery centers, which help college students thrive after recovery from substance abuse. Thanks to this grant, a new Wellness Interest House opened in fall 2021.
- Whitman College received a grant from the Johnston-Fix Foundation grant to support the College’s DEI efforts. Part of the grant will support the upcoming Third Space Speaker Series, which will feature speakers whose work helps to advance inclusive excellence at Whitman. Another portion will support the Power & Privilege Symposium.
- Whitman College received two grants from the Joseph L. Stubblefield Trust to support local community-engaged initiatives. Funds will support student-led community engagement programs in the Career and Community Engagement Center and will enable local high school students and community partners to participate in the course Hip Hop Culture in spring 2022.
July 2021
- Alissa Cordner, Associate Professor of Sociology, received a grant from the National Science Foundation. This grant continues her long-time research collaboration with her colleagues at Northeastern University on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), one of the most significant contamination crises of the century. This grant will enable the research team to create a PFAS Governance Database, consisting of in-depth interviews, observations, and analysis of governance documents to investigate the variety of regulatory and non-regulatory (monitoring, funding, remediation) approaches at federal, state, and local levels taken across the U.S., including the option of inaction. Professor Cordner will train and supervise student researchers to conduct interviews as part of this project.
June 2021
- William Bares, Associate Professor of Computer Science, received a grant from Teach Access, an organization that works to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility—how to develop new technologies with the needs of people with disabilities in mind. Professor Bares is working with a student this summer to develop and test new course modules for his Fall 2021 Intelligent User Interfaces Course. The modules contain hands-on design and programming activities designed to apply alternative input devices such as motion- and eye-tracking in conjunction with intelligent algorithms. This course will help students understand the importance of engaging with accessible design.
May 2021
- Ben Murphy, College Archivist, and his colleagues in the Whitman College and NW Archives (WNCA) received two grants from the Washington State Library, both focusing on diversifying the voices available within the WNCA. The first grant will support Whitman’s participation in The Listeners Project: Queremos Escucharte, a bilingual community interviewing and story collecting project created in collaboration with the Walla Walla Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and the Walla Walla Public Library. With these funds, the Archives will hire students to help solicit, record, and archive English and Spanish oral history interviews with members of the local community. The second grant will broaden public access of underrepresented voices from the Archives by enabling student research and presentation of oral history and other archival materials.
April 2021
- Adam Kirtley, Interfaith Chaplain, received a grant from the Interfaith Youth Corps to help install a labyrinth on campus and host a day of spiritual renewal. Read more in the Whitman Newsroom.
March 2021
- Arielle Cooley, Associate Professor of Biology, was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to examine the genetic interactions that create color patterns in monkeyflower petals (genus Mimulus). Together with John Stratton, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and colleagues at the College of William and Mary, the team is using mathematical modeling, computational approaches, and molecular genetic techniques to understand how spatially complex patterns evolve and develop. This is Professor Cooley's third NSF grant in five years. It will support research experiences for at least six undergraduates and three high school students.
- Tim Machonkin, Associate Professor of Chemistry, was awarded a research grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The project will investigate the structure and activity of a key enzyme that could be helpful in breaking down organic compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants. Professor Machonkin is Whitman’s first recipient of the Murdock BRIDGE grant, a new program that supports faculty members with established research programs that had previously been federally funded; this grant will serve as a bridge toward future federal funding. The three-year grant will support research experiences for five students.
- Mark Hendricks, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded two grants to support his research into the synthesis of nanocrystalline materials. Both projects are interdisciplinary, introducing students to organic and inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, and materials chemistry. One grant, from the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund, will investigate the factors governing the control of crystalline phases during nanocrystal synthesis. The second grant, from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, will test novel approaches to developing semiconducting nanocrystals. Together, these grants will support eleven student research positions over three years.
January 2021
- Patrick Frierson, Professor of Philosophy, was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to continue his scholarly work on the early 20th-century educational philosopher Maria Montessori. The fellowship will support an eight-month leave in spring 2021 to allow Dr. Frierson to complete a book titled The Moral Philosophy of Maria Montessori: Moral Agency and Ethical Life. The book will be written primarily for professional philosophers working in ethics and the history of philosophy; however, it will also provide a valuable philosophical resource to other humanities scholars, educators, and the general public. Educators, particularly Montessorians, thirst for high quality scholarly work that can illuminate their pedagogical practices.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States, promoting excellence in the humanities through grants to support teaching, learning, scholarship, and cultural resources.