Past Awards

SPRING 2006

Kay Etheridge - Funds for sabbatical research focusing on the work and influence of three artist-naturalists; Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647-1717), Mark Catesby (English, 1682-1749), and William Bartram (American, 1739-1823).

Steve Gimbel - Funds for completing a draft of the Parallel Circles, a social and intellectual history of the Logical Postivist movement that is accessible to the popular reader.

SPRING 2005

Christopher Fee - Funds to support work on a monograph that is under contract for Praeger Series on the Middle Ages, Mythology in the Middle Ages.

John Winkelmann - Funds to support a project (which includes students) on bat foraging behavior in Kruger National Park in South Africa.

Awarded Spring 2004

Dan Drury and Kristin Stuempfle, Department of Health and Exercises, proposed to initiate a research project on Exercise Induced Hypoalgesia, the desensitization of pain perception following a bout of physical exertion. The project involves collaborations with Gettysburg College students and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin.

Eileen Stillwaggon, Department of Economics, proposed to continue her research on the impact of parasitic diseases on population health in poor countries. Her plan is to work with scientists who specialize in schistosomiasis and malaria at L'Institut Pasteur de Lille in France and other areas in Europe.

Awarded Spring 2003

Robert Bornstein, Department of Psychology, proposed to conduct a series of experiments on the mere exposure effect. His work will explore the possible role cognitive processes play in this effect in collaboration with Catherine Craver-Lemley of Elizabethtown College. This work will serve as preliminary data for a larger grant proposal to be submitted to the National Science Foundation.

Caroline Hartzell, Department of Political Science, proposed to study the impact that civil conflict has had on governance and development in the region. She plans to explore this topic by comparing 13 civil wars and how they were resolved in Latin America since World War II in order to address how these conflicts have shaped institutional choice in the countries that have experienced these conflicts.

Stephen Siviy, Department of Psychology, proposed to conduct an observational study of the platypuses at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia to identify any behaviors that might be indicative of play. This study will enhance Siviy's theoretical understanding of the neural basis and evolutionary origins of play.

Awarded Spring 2002

Julia Hendon, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, proposed to conduct excavations and specialized analyses of selected archaeological materials from the site of Cerro Palenque, in the Lower Ulua valley, Department of Cortes, Honduras. Through these analyses she planned to test the effectiveness of "three models to explain the emergence and formalization of differences in status, wealth, and power in developing Mesoamerican complex societies."

John Commito, Thomas Crawford, and Randall Wilson, Department of Environmental Studies, proposed a collaborative project, using a combination of geographic information systems (GIS), field sampling, satellite imagery, computer modeling, and interviews with clam diggers, mussel dredgers, and Maine Department of Marine Resources personnel, to investigate the viability of commercial mussel beds in Washington County, Maine. The fellowship supported preliminary research which would serve as a foundation for a larger multi-year grant application to the National Science Foundation.

Deborah Barnes, Department of English, proposed to "define and discuss the rhetorical, thematic, and generic particulars of lynching narratives in order to demonstrate that narratives of lynching shaped - and were shaped by - the culture of their day." Funds will support travel to archives containing lynching narratives and other relevant materials to support the book-length manuscript Barnes proposes to complete.

Awarded Spring 2001

Magdalena Sanchez, Department of History, proposed to consider how Isabel Clara Eugenia, ruler of the Netherlands from 1599 to 1633, "fits models of female rulership in the early modern period (1500-1789)." Sanchez also proposed to examine Isabel as an "agent for disseminating Spanish culture in the Netherlands¿.[and the ways in which] she used patronage to strengthen Spanish influence in the low countries." During her sabbatical in 2001-2002, this fellowship will make possible trips to archives in Spain, Belgium, and England while she drafts chapters for the book-length manuscript.

Sharon Stephenson, Department of Physics, proposed to complete the installation of the recently acquired proton accelerator and to design tests to determine the "viability of a direct measurement of the n-n scattering length which is a quantity that describes the strength of one of the four fundamental forces in nature (the strong nuclear force)." With the help of two student assistants, Stephenson also planned to test the accelerator by repeating the Rutherford Scattering Experiment, which proved the existence of the nucleus of the atom.