Culture, Brain, and Development Program Awards Students Over $10,000 in Grants
This fall, Hampshire College’s Culture, Brain, and Development (CBD) program awarded over $10,000 to seven students in a highly competitive grant process. These students will pursue research projects and internships at the intersections of culture, mind/brain and human growth and development in areas ranging from food culture to music therapy.
Fall 2017 CBD Student Grant Awards
Hannah Davidson, Division III Research Placement
UMass School of Public Health/Square One, Springfield, MA
Hannah will examine whether digital storytelling in the prenatal period of pregnancy is able to affect physiological markers for stress, and minimize postpartum depression risk in adolescents.
Amye Gulezian, Division III Research Project
Cheese Culture in the US vs France
As part of her study of sustainable dairy agriculture and education, Amye will travel to France to compare their agricultural systems and cultural conceptions around food with those in the US.
Julia Kersten, Division III Research Project
Sign-Based Phononological 100P: A Look at Deaf Signers’ Memory
Julia’s goal is to provide evidence that performance differences between hearing and Deaf individuals are a result of formational features of a visual language, and not a reflection of deafness or the Deaf community.
Isabella Coffey-Moore, Division III Research Project
Black Femme Survival
Isabella (Noa) will develop a social justice on-line platform and a community organization to provide a variety of educational resources to help black and brown queer femmes and women to learn, heal and thrive.
Tess O’Day, Division III Research Project
Somatic Geography: Exploring Embodied Displacement in Urban Environments
Tess will research the embodied experience of displacement, in order to explore the role the body plays in cultural sustainability, urban theory and planning.
Nashua Malko, Division III Research Project
Binaural Beats: Sound Meditation & Its Implications for Music Therapy
Nash will conduct ethnographic research on sound meditation, and look at its potential as a form of psycho-emotional healing and as a tool in music therapy.
Isabella Witty, Division III Research Project
The Birther’s Story
Isa will create an educational installation that uses birth stories to engage learners through empathy and resonance, and to ease the discomfort some have around the pain and discomfort associated with childbirth.
Summer 2017 Grantees
CBD also awarded grants to 10 Hampshire students last summer to pursue research placements and internships. Three students also received additional funding through the new Sherman Fairchild Summer Stipend Program in the Sciences.
The Sherman Fairchild Foundation has awarded Hampshire College a multi-year grant to increase student interest in and access to the STEM fields. As Sherman Fairchild Fellows, participating students receive a $3500 stipend, with a $2200 housing and conference expense budget. Students from communities underrepresented in STEM fields are strongly encouraged to apply.
Adelle Pitsas, Julia Kersten,* and Natalie Strohm Division II internship
Infant Cognition Lab, Hampshire College
Jiahui (Marshall)Cao, Division II project
Kyudo, Japanese Archery, Standing Meditation & Mind Development
Cindy Fang* and Tapu Debnath,* Division II internship
Center for Brains, Minds & Machines, MIT, Cambridge, MA
Emily Gear, Division II internship
Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Burbank, California
Margaret Tyer, Division II internship
Hoover Lab, Colorado State University Prion Research Center
Anya Uzo, Division II internship
Nuestra Raices, Holyoke, MA
Alexa Wolf, Division II internship
Adalante Abroad, Madrid, Spain
* Sherman Fairchild Award recipient
About the CBD Endowment
Supporters of CBD help fund original, innovative student research through the Student Research Endowment, which ensures that students continue to receive the funding, support and guidance they need to pursue their work at Hampshire and beyond. For more information, contact CBD at cbd@hampshire.edu, or 413.559.5730.