2015-16 Funded Projects

Pilot Projects

Sustaining "Rootstalk: A Prairie Journal of Culture, Science, and the Arts"

Contacts: Jonathan Andelson, Rosenfield Professor in Social Science, Anthropology, director of the Center for Prairie Studies, professor of anthropology; Mark Baechtel, director of Forensic Activities

This project will focus on supporting the online journal “Rootstalk” under the guidance of the Center for Prairie Studies and as part of Digital Grinnell. The project will create a high quality, sustainable, interdisciplinary multi-media publication which supports the College’s strategic aims, provides educational and vocational opportunities for students and outreach to Grinnell alumni, and enhances the distinctiveness of Grinnell College and the offerings of the Center for Prairie Studies. Please see Rootstalk.

Foreign Languages Orientation and Placement/Languages for Life 

Contacts: Todd Armstrong, professor of Russian; Claire Moisan, senior lecturer in French, director of the ALSO Program

This project will develop Foreign Languages Orientation and Placement programming during New Student Orientation. This programming is designed to help students recognize how languages are valued as an integral component of a Grinnell College liberal arts education. It also seeks to foster a community of language learning and improve enrollments in beginning language classes.

New Narratives: Creative Collaborations in Film & Television

Contact: Dean Bakopoulos, writer-in-residence

This project will build a series of innovative courses, programs, and hands-on learning experiences that will guide student writers and filmmakers through the process of writing, editing, shooting, and producing an independent film and/or a self-produced television pilot. The project goal is to offer an immersive, practical, and challenging introduction to writing for TV & film that is also deeply rooted in the liberal arts tradition.

Popularizing Mathematics with YouTube

Contact:  Marc Chamberland, Myra Steele Professor of Natural Science and Mathematics, professor of mathematics and statistics

This project will support a team of students to join with the lead in producing videos that popularize mathematics on the YouTube channel Tipping Point Math.  Students involved in the productions will develop many skills: shaping a compelling narrative with tight writing in conjunction with attractive visuals, communicating mathematics effectively to inform a diverse audience, and developing technical skills to package the final result.

Converting the Motion-Capture Laboratory into a Liberal Arts Classroom

Contact:  Damian Kelty-Stephen, assistant professor of psychology

This project will develop a motion-capture lab as a liberal-arts classroom for an interdisciplinary curriculum on perception, action, and cognition.  Magnetic motion-capture technology will serve as a centerpiece for student-led group projects using motion-capture data collection to inform solutions to problems in motor, social, perceptual, human-factors, and artistic domains.

Co-Enrollment and Research in the Liberal Arts in Prison Program (LAPP)

Contacts: Clark Lindgren, Patricia A. Johnson Professor of Neuroscience, professor of biology; Emily Guenther, director of the Prison Program

Each semester, a faculty member will have the opportunity to teach in the prison program in one of two ways, either with student research mentors, advanced students who work with incarcerated students to help them design a research project, or with co-enrolled students who take the course along with incarcerated students.  This project will create opportunities for faculty and students to engage with incarcerated students, increase the diversity of learning experiences for on-campus students, and expand and enrich curricular offerings in the prison.

Coding for Social Good and Beyond

Contacts: Samuel A. Rebelsky, professor of computer science; Narren Brown, associate director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

This project will support the development of one-week computer coding summer programs for Iowa middle-school and high-school students recruited from underrepresented groups in the area of computer science.  Program ideas include coding for social good, coding for the arts, and coding for digital liberal arts. The curriculum will be developed by a unique collaboration of Grinnell faculty and staff, Grinnell students, and area community college students. More information is available on the Code Camp project website.

Planning Project

Proposal to Create a College Farm

Contact: Jonathan Andelson, Rosenfield Professor in Social Science, Anthropology, director of the Center for Prairie Studies, professor of anthropology

This planning project will support in-depth exploration of establishing a college farm. The proposers will be examining options for location and fresh produce production to develop a working farm as a teaching and learning resource, for extra-curricular activities and research, and for the use of sustainable practices.

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