sponsored research grants
Vera Eccarius-Kelly, PH.D., Professor of Political Science & International Relations
Received a Amplifying, Disseminating, and Increasing the Public Reach of Research and Practice grant for $2,000. The grant is supported by Bringing Theory to Practice, Dr. Eccarius-Kelly will focus on filling in the gaps in our knowledge about what types of barriers exist in current college admission and administration policies in relation to refugee students. The proposed project involves interviews with resettled refugee students at various levels of experience (applicants, current students, graduates, and those who decided to interrupt their college experience).
CHARLES F. SEIFERT, PH.D. DEAN, SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ERIK R. EDDY, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Seifert & Dr. Eddy received a Mother Cabrini Foundation grant for the 2nd year under the Trauma Informed Leadership Development Program. In year 1 Siena College developed a pastoral leadership development program, based on a trauma informed framework, that focuses on specific topics that participants consider critically important to their ability to serve the broader community. For year 2 a total of 45 parish leaders will continue to participate in academic and practical formation and development, the goal is continue to contact 1,500 individuals by program participants throughout the program year.
Dr. Mary Beth Kolozsvary, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences
She is a Co-Principal Investigator on a five-year grant for the “Macrosystems Ecology For All (MEFA) Research Coordination Network” a $499,750 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will be administered through Ohio Wesleyan University. The grant will support faculty as they create projects that focus on linking macrosystems ecology concepts, large environmental datasets, and DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice) principles. MEFA will provide faculty training which will allow for more undergrads to be exposed to emerging data science and macrosystems concepts. The MEFA Research Coordination Network RCN made up of teams at nine participating colleges and universities will build a diverse and welcoming community for faculty from teaching-oriented positions to gain the training necessary to become full participants in macrosystems science.
Dr. Anna McLoon, Assistant Professor of Biology
She received her first National Institutes of Health grant for 3 years with $309,172 total funding. This grant will focus on bacteria that carry out a variety of multicellular processes that influence their pathogenesis and environmental roles in the natural environment. Organisms studied in the laboratory undergo significant genetic modification over time. The long-term goal of this project is to understand how the laboratory environment itself selects against and/or changes the fitness effects of multicellular bacterial behaviors including biofilm formation, motility, and the secretion of pigmented secondary metabolites. Also Dr. McLoon’s goal is to enhance the research environment at Siena significantly by providing support to involve more undergraduate students in research, increasing research capacity, and aiding in the larger goal of increasing diversity in STEM.
Dr. Dan Bogan, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences
Received a three-year, $184,511 grant from the Northeastern States Research Cooperative. The funding will be used to support an interdisciplinary study that aims to develop a methodology to inform land use policies and practices, identify opportunities to conserve wildlife diversity, and anticipate human-wildlife interactions. This study aims to understand the state of the forests and measure impacts from housing development on native biological diversity.
Foundation Grants
SUmmer of service ALBANY MEDICAL COLLEGE program
$20,000 from the Dominic Ferraioli Foundation for the AMC Summer of Service program. Students are required to perform two summers of service, one while at Siena and another while at Albany Medical College. These service activities will largely be done in areas where the population is underserved. The students may travel abroad or remain in the United States depending on their interests. This unique part of the program, combined with Siena's strong emphasis on a broad based scientific and liberal arts curriculum, gives our students a profound depth of knowledge, understanding, and compassion when they enter their medical careers. The Summer of Service typically lasts four to six weeks.
DR. MICHAEL JARCHO, Associate professor of psychology
Received another grant for $12,500 from the Bender Scientific Fund of the Community Foundation of the Greater Capital Region. Dr. Jarcho has been studying the impact of chronic stress for the last decade and specifically focusing on the effects of various social stressors on behavior, stress physiology, and immune function. The grant will support research projects using a rodent treadmill apparatus. Dr. Jarcho and his students will calibrate and record running speed and distance on female mice since the vast majority of research in this area that has utilized rodent models has used exclusively male rodents (Zucker 2011) . The ultimate goal is to provide information to aid in the development of new strategies and treatments for individuals suffering from mood disorders like clinical anxiety, major depression, and others.
ACE
$30,000 from the Willits Foundation. The Willits Foundation grant provides funding to help with the costs associated with transporting Siena’s Student Bonner Leaders to their nonprofit partner sites which are located in the most underserved areas of the Capital Region.
Dr Ruth Kassel, Associate Director of Academic Integration, received a Civic Imagination Partnership Grant for $2,500 to sponsor 'The Role of Higher Ed in Multisector Collaboration' event co-hosted by Siena College and United Way. This annual conference focuses on campus-community engagement and this year will cover challenges faced by Capital Region communities. These include university-assisted community schools, regional food policy work, and racial disparities in health. With this award the conference can be expanded to new audiences including private and government sectors and also supports pre-conference gatherings.
School of Science - Computer Science and Physics
Received a Clare Boothe Luce Undergraduate Scholarship award for $300,000. This grant supports four women in science majors for career success in their fields of chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics. With recent significant developments on campus that are enriching engagement and pursuit of STEM fields, the college is poised to provide meaningful undergraduate student experiences and scientific preparation for women majoring in computer science and physics, the two fields in which they are least well represented in the academy and STEM workplaces