Belen Monteagudo Godoy and Paul DeYoung receive new National Science Foundation award

Belén Monteagudo Godoy, Assistant Professor in Physics, and Paul DeYoung, the Kenneth G. Herrick Professor of Physics and Physics Department Chair, received a new National Science Foundation award for $382,213. The project is titled Collaborative Research: Equipment: MRI Consortium: Track 2 Development of a Next Generation Fast Neutron Detector.

The objective of this collaborative proposal is to develop a new detector array for fast neutrons that strives to overcome the limitations of current designs and will yield superior position resolution for neutrons.  The proposed new detector array will be jointly developed at eight participating institutions – Hope College, Augustana College, Davidson College, Indiana Wesleyan University, James Madison University, Michigan State University, Wabash College and Virginia State University.

The project will build capacities for detector development at each of the participating institutions and expose undergraduate students to the design of scintillation detectors and the use of SiPMs. This project will provide training in mechanical design skills, electronics design, building skills, working with detectors, advanced electronics, data acquisition, and data analysis. All of these skills are critically relevant for the development of the future workforce in nuclear physics.

Congratulations on your latest award, Belén and Paul!

Phillip Rivera receives International Brain Research Organization Rising Star Award

Phillip Rivera, Assistant Professor of Biology, recently received the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) Rising Star Award for his research on biological factors which impact memory.

This award includes a grant for approximately $33,000 to use towards this research.

Congratulations on your award, Phil!

Susan Ipri Brown receives new Army Educational Outreach Program award

Susan Ipri Brown, Director of ExploreHope and Assistant Professor of Engineering Instruction, received a $16,000 award from the Army Educational Outreach Program via the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

This project will support the participation of four high school students in faculty-led research projects at Hope College during the summer of 2023.  Students receive a stipend for working up to six weeks on a Hope faculty member’s research project, gaining valuable, real-world STEM experience while in high school.

Congratulations, Susan, on your recent award!

Lindsey Hanson receives new Michigan Arts and Culture Council Award

Lindsey Hanson, Assistant Professor of Dance, recently received a Michigan Arts and Culture Council award for $16,740. The project is titled Untold Stories of Holland: A Cross-Cultural Exchange.

Hope College, Third Rail Projects, project partner Latin Americans United for Progress (LAUP), and local Holland residents will create a community-based dance performance based on the real-life stories of Holland, MI residents. The project will focus on collaborating with musicians from Holland’s Latino/a/x community, as well as other residents whose stories are often overshadowed, particularly members of Holland’s Latino/a/x communities. The project will culminate in a free public showing of an original site-specific performance piece at the Midtown Center in Holland, MI.

Congratulations on your award, Lindsey!

Susan Ipri Brown receives new awards from the Perrigo Company Charitable Foundation

Susan Ipri Brown, Director of ExploreHope and Associate Professor of Engineering Instruction, received a $4,000 award from the Perrigo Company Charitable Foundation Grants Program.  The project is titled ExploreHope College Preview.

Through this award, ExploreHope will provide the transportation and tuition for low-income high school students from Allegan County to attend a week-long summer program at Hope College to explore health professions, including neuroscience, kinesiology, and nursing. 

In addition, Susan received a Perrigo production donation, which will provide medical and personal care products to families of students in ExploreHope, CASA, Step Up, Upward Bound, and PATH. 

Congratulations, Susan, on your new awards!

Kenneth Brown receives new National Institutes of Health award

Kenneth Brown, Professor of Chemistry, recently received a National Institutes of Health award via Purdue University for $137,225. The project is titled Community-academic partnership to address environmental contamination and health.

Dr. Brown, along with two undergraduate researchers, will gather data on the contaminant levels of metals and volitle organic compounds in soil and water samples in Northern Lake County, Indiana. The project team will also gather input from community stakeholders on how to seek environmental justice to best serve the community.

Congratulations on your recent award, Kenneth!

Jennifer Blake-Mahmud receives new National Science Foundation award

Jennifer Blake-Mahmud, Assistant Professor of Biology, recently received a National Science Foundation award for $501,356. The project is titled BRC-BIO: The transcriptomics of environmentally-controlled differentiation into male or female in plants.

This project will research a special group of plants that exhibit separate males and females – those for which the environment controls the expression of male or female function. Chromosomes that determine male or female flower types are rare in plants and species where the environment plays a strong role have the ability to express either male or female flowers, and change from one to the other, during their lives. Changes in gene expression is the most likely mechanism controlling this phenotype in these species; thus, this study examines the relationship between gene expression and floral development in maples and makes comparisons to other plant species with different plant mating systems.

Congratulations on your award, Jennifer!

Erika Calvo-Ochoa and Nathaniel Vorhees receive new award from the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience

Erika Calvo-Ochoa, Assistant Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, and Nathaniel Vorhees, undergraduate, recently received a $1,000 grant from the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Student Travel Award Program.

This award funds Nathaniel Vorhees’ participation in the 2022 Society for Neuroscience meeting, which includes a poster presentation titled “Characterization of the microglial response dynamics in the zebrafish olfactory system following injury.”

Congratulations on your new award, Erika and Nathaniel!

Paul DeYoung and Belen Monteagudo Godoy receive new National Science Foundation award

Paul DeYoung, the Kenneth G. Herrick Professor of Physics and Physics Department Chair, and Belén Monteagudo Gody, HFF Teaching Fellow in Physics, received a new National Science Foundation award for $374,577. The project is titled RUI: Nuclear Science with Undergraduate Researchers: Studies of Nuclei at the Extremes and New Applications of Nuclear Techniques.

Through this project, the Hope College Nuclear Group will continue to study the structure of neutron-rich unstable nuclei with invariant-mass spectrometry at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and RIKEN. Work with the Summing NaI(Tl) (SuN) group at FRIB and Argonne National Laboratories will also continue with a focus on nuclei involved in astrophysical heavy element production. Finally, the PIs and students will continue to apply a variety of nuclear techniques to a range of interdisciplinary questions with the local tandem accelerator at Hope College.

Congratulations on your latest award, Paul and Belén!

Erika Calvo-Ochoa receives International Brain Research Organization Rising Star Award

Erika Calvo-Ochoa, Assistant Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, recently received the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) Rising Star Award for her research on the neurodegeneration and regeneration of the zebrafish nervous system. This award includes a grant for approximately $28,000.

In celebration of this achievement, our colleagues in Public Affairs and Marketing issued a press release to highlight Erika’s accomplishments.

Congratulations on your award, Erika!