Step Up program receives CFHZ mini-grant award

The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area, a local foundation that support high-impact projects and community-level initiatives, awarded a $750 mini-grant in support of the 2024 Summer Step Up College Visit Program. This program introduces Step Up middle school students to different types of college experiences through visits to a community college offering two-year and technical degrees, a regional public university and a private liberal arts college. Parents are encouraged to attend to support parent-led conversations regarding the college bound journey within families and the greater-Holland community.

Hope College’s Step Up program helps middle school students succeed in school and develop their future potential by caring for their social, emotional and academic needs within a mentoring context. The program provides academic support, mentoring relationships, enrichment programming, a summer program, and parent support and involvement. Learn more about Step Up and other educational outreach programming.

Congratulations Kate and the Step Up team on your award!

Hope receives multiple Michigan Space Grant Consortium awards

Congratulations to the 11 Hope College awardees for the 2024 Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) cycle! The awards include four Research Seed grants and seven Faculty-Led Undergraduate Fellowships, totaling $48,000. The awarded projects involve faculty research and collaborative faculty/student research across the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geological & Environmental Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics and Physics. Information about the awards can be found at MSGC and via Hope’s Campus News.

MSGC fosters awareness of, education in, and research on space and Earth-related science and technology in Michigan. MSGC Grant and Fellowship Programs are regionally competitive among 11 universities and colleges in Michigan. Awards supported by MSGC are made possible by funding provided by NASA.

Congratulations to all award recipients, well done!

Mike Philben awarded prestigious NSF CAREER grant

Michael Philben, Assistant Professor in the departments of Chemistry and Geological & Environmental Sciences, was recently awarded a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant with the National Science Foundation for $507,824. The project is titled CAREER: Detecting warming impacts on carbon accumulation across a climate transect of Michigan peatlands.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the NSF to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors in the context of their organizations’ missions. Learn more about Michael’s project to study how warming affects peatlands’ ability to reduce greenhouse gas in the Campus News.

Congratulations on your award and achievement, Mike!

Tom Bultman receives Fulbright Scholar Award

Dr. Tom Bultman, Professor of Biology, has received a Fulbright US Scholar Award that will take him to the University of Turku, Finland for the second half of the 24-25 academic year. The Fulbright-University of Turku Scholar Award, jointly funded by the Fulbright Finland Foundation and the University of Turku, provides US scholars with the opportunity to conduct research and/or teach in fields represented at the University. As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Bultman will conduct research with the aim to enhance sustainability of grazing food production in Finland, as well as other parts of the world.

The Fulbright Finland Foundation is an independent not-for-profit based in Helsinki, Finland. With the purpose of promoting a wider exchange of knowledge and professional talents through educational contacts between Finland and the United States, the Foundation collaborates with a range of government, foundation, university, and corporate partners on both sides of the Atlantic to design and manage study and research scholarships, leadership development programs and internationalization services. The University of Turku is an international academic community in Southwest Finland that builds a sustainable future through multidisciplinary research, education and collaboration, with biodiversity and sustainability as one of its six thematic research areas.

More information on Fulbright Finland can be accessed via the following social media channels: LinkedIn: Fulbright Finland | Instagram: @fulbrightfinland, #FulbrightFinland | Facebook: @fulbright.finland X: @FulbrightFIN, #FulbrightFinland

Congratulations on your award, Tom!

Meagan Elinski named 2024 Cottrell Scholar

Dr. Meagan Elinski, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been named a 2024 Cottrell Scholar and awarded $120,000 by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Dr. Elinski’s proposal, Chemical-Mechanical Control Over Nanoparticle-Hydrogel Sliding Interfaces, which incorporates both research and science education, was one of 19 proposals selected for the esteemed award after a rigorous peer-review process.

Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), founded in 1912, is a private foundation that supports early stage, high-potential basic research in the physical sciences (astronomy, chemistry, physics, and related fields) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.  

RCSA’s Cottrell Scholar Award honors and helps to develop outstanding teacher-scholars who are recognized for the quality and innovation of their research programs and academic leadership skills. The award provides entry into a community of distinguished scholar-educators who produce significant research and meaningful educational outcomes. Learn more about the 2024 Class of Cottrell Scholars.

Meagan, well done on your achievement!

Anita Esquerra-Zwiers receives AIM-AHEAD Traineeship

Anita Esquerra-Zwiers, Associate Professor in Nursing, has been awarded an $8,000 Traineeship in Advanced Data Analytics (a collaborative program between AIM-AHEAD and All of Us Research Program Researcher Academy). The Traineeship is an intensive 8-month program in advanced data analysis developed by Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and utilizes the resources of the All of Us database and AIM-AHEAD’s data science training core. 

The central goal of this training program is to increase researcher diversity in AI/ML by training individuals from diverse backgrounds who are committed to gaining proficiency in AI/ML data analysis, and applying their expertise to benefit communities underrepresented in biomedical research.

Well done on your award and Traineeship, Anita!

Brian Bodenbender receives Council of the Great Lakes Region award

Brian Bodenbender, Professor of Geology & Environmental Science and GES Department Chair, received a new grant from the Council of the Great Lakes Region Foundation for $15,500.

With funding from Dart Container to CGLR’s Circular Great Lakes Initiative, Brian secured a grant to help communities implement innovation stormwater filtration systems. Funding from this grant will support the purchase, installation and monitoring of the stormwater filtration systems over the course of a year.

Congratulations Brian on your award!

Kate Lozon receives Out-of-School Time Grant for CASA and Step Up

Kate Lozon, Director of CASA/Step Up, received a Michigan Department of Education Out-of-School Time Grant of $86,400 for CASA and Step Up summer programming.

Through this grant, CASA/Step Up summer programming will be expanded and allow for an increase in access to summer sessions for underrepresented elementary and middle school students.. Summer lessons will interweave experiences in literacy, mentoring, STEM, fine arts and recreational activities.

Congratulations on your award, Kate! Well done!

Roger Baumann Receives Jack Shand Research Grant from SSSR

Roger Baumann, Assistant Professor of Sociology, recently received the Jack Shand Research Grant from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

The project entitled, “American Evangelicals, Islam & the Competition for Religious Authority” is supported by a $5,000 award. This faculty-led research will involve up to 2 Hope College Undergraduate student researchers.

The project argues “that the legitimate symbolic authority to define others in debates derives from what George Steinmetz (2008) calls “ethnographic capital,” which refers to the authority and standing to define the character of the “other” and to prescribe an effective approach to them.” Dr. Baumann and his team of Hope College undergraduates will focus on the comparative study of three cases where American evangelical Christians publicly debated proper beliefs about and action towards Muslims and Islam.

Congratulations, Roger, on your recent award!

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!