2017-18 Faculty Research Grant Recipients

Faculty from across the College Arts and Architecture have begun work this semester on the latest round of projects supported by the College's long-standing Faculty Research Grant program. In this round of funding (which runs from January 2018 to June 2019), a total of $100,000 was distributed to sixteen projects submitted by faculty, or teams of faculty, from all six academic units.

"The Arts and Architecture Faculty Research Grant program is a crucial mechanism for faculty in the College to realize their ambitions in research and creative inquiry," said Andy Schulz, associate dean for research and faculty development. "The incredible range of the funded projects‚ from commissioning and performing a major new choral piece commemorating the World War I Armistice, to developing tools that can be used to evaluate community engagement in the arts and beyond‚ indicates the breadth, richness, and impact of the cutting-edge work being done by our faculty. In many cases, the relatively small amount of money that we are able to allocate provides seed funding that can be used to leverage additional funds from other University or external sources."

Recipients

Andy Cole, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, and Stephen Mainzer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture
Project Title: Deep Decarbonization and Renewable Energy in the Appalachian Mountains (DDREAM): A Pennsylvania Assessment

Bonnie Collura, Associate Professor of Art
Project Title: Prince

Jonathan Gangi, Assistant Professor of Music and Arts Entrepreneurship
Project Title: Guitar Support Intervention

Lonnie Graham, Professor of Art
Project Title: The Evolution of Obscurity

Andrew Hieronymi, Assistant Professor of Art
Project Title: Gestures

Jeanmarie Higgins, Associate Professor of Theatre
Project Title: Performance in/and Domestic Mise-en-Scene

Christopher Kiver, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies
Project Title: MEMORIA: A Cantata for the Centenary of the Armistice

Marc Miller, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture
Project Title: Serial Landscapes

Cristin Millett, Professor of Art
Project Title: Ex Utero: The Future of Human Reproduction, A Sculptural Exploration of Ectogenesis

Katsu Muramoto, Associate Professor of Architecture
Project Title: Keisuke Oka's "Arimasuton-Biru" and Subsequent Publication

DK Osseo-Asare, Assistant Professor of Architecture, and Yasmine Abbas, Assistant Teaching Professor of Architecture
Project Title: SPACECRAFT: Community-Engaged Materials Design Research

Frans Padt, Associate Teaching Professor of Landscape Architecture
Project Title: An Engagement Tool for Community, Science, Planning and Design

Marcus Shaffer, Associate Professor of Architecture
Project Title: Developing Robotic Formwork: Enhancing Plastic Materials Construction Systems through Digimechanical Mobility and Variability

Amara Solari, Associate Professor of Art History and Anthropology
Project Title: Maya Christian Murals of Colonial Yucatan

Marica Tacconi, Professor of Musicology and Associate Director of the School of Music
Project Title: The Choirbooks of the Cathedral of Florence and Echo Music in Venice: Two Sabbatical Projects

Daniel Zolli, Assistant Professor of Art History
Project Title: Donatello's Promiscuous Technique

In coming weeks, the abstracts for these projects will be posted on the College Research Office website.

MORE ABOUT THE FACULTY RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM: Faculty Research Grants provide internal support for the research, scholarship, and creative activity of faculty with continuing appointments in the College. Proposals are evaluated by the Faculty Council Committee on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, which makes funding recommendations to Andy Schulz. Evaluation criteria include the potential of the proposed project to make a significant contribution to the applicant's field; to advance the applicant's professional career; and to increase the national and international visibility for the applicant, thereby increasing the reputation of the unit and the College. This year, for the first time, funds were awarded in one of three categories:

1. "Seed Funding": Work in the exploratory stage‚ up to $5,000
2. "Project Funding": Work that is underway and requires additional investment‚ up to $10,000
3. "Dissemination Funding": Work in the later stages of development‚ up to $5,000

The next call for proposals‚ for work to be undertaken from January 2019 to June 2020‚ will be issued early in fall 2018.

Questions about the Faculty Research Grant program can be addressed to Cynthia MannellaNickell in the Arts and Architecture Research Office.

Image: Cristin Millett created the marble sculpture Visible Phantom, part of her series of "obstetrical phantoms," or birthing models, while a resident with the Digital Stone Project at the Garfagnana Innovazione in Tuscany, Italy, in summer 2016.