NCUR/LANCY INITIATIVE
AWARDEES FROM THE 2003 ROUND
The NCUR Board of Governors and the Alice and Leslie E. Lancy Foundation are pleased to announce the awardees from the fifth round of the NCUR/Lancy initiative. The award coordinator is listed for each institution.
Boom, Bust, Recovery: Explorations of Albion, Michigan – the Last Half Century
Albion CollegeScientific, Social, Economic, and Cultural Aspects of Watershed Restoration
St Vincent CollegeAwardee Abstracts:
Boom, Bust, Recovery: Explorations of Albion, Michigan – the Last Half Century
Albion CollegeAlbion, Michigan, located at the forks of the Kalamazoo River and home to Albion College, was first settled in the 1830s. Area farms and mills were soon supplemented by factories which were magnets for immigrants from Europe, African American migration from the South, white Southern migration from Appalachia, and Mexican American migration from Texas. That tradition continued even recently with a sizeable contingent of immigrants from Yemen. It could be said that “all roads led to Albion,” and Albion's industrial history is, in many respects, the story of the American Dream.
However, Albion has lately suffered from low civic self-esteem as factories, businesses, and services have closed. Albion is undergoing a difficult process of redefining itself in a post-industrial age. In this, Albion is emblematic of America's changes and struggles. A close examination of Albion's story has potential to illuminate America's story, replicating many national and regional historical trends. Albion has been referred to as a “Little Detroit” because of its reliance on heavy industry and its diverse ethnic and racial population. At the same time, because Albion is a small town (population of approximately 9,000), it offers a personal, human-scale look at trends and forces in American life.
This aspect of Albion provides unique and interdisciplinary opportunities for research and scholarship for Albion College students: to examine Albion's history from the industrial boom times of the 1950s and 1960s to the present, focusing on the economic, sociological and environmental dimensions of the boom, the bust, the recovery, the current scene, and projections for the future. Research into the past and exploration of present conditions will provide perspective as Albion considers new directions for a post-industrial era.
Eight Lancy Scholars will engage in this interdisciplinary project at Albion College in the Summer of 2003. They will be chosen based on several criteria, including the significance and relevance of their individual proposed project to the overall project theme, and the financial need of the students (with preference given to students eligible for financial aid), ensuring that students are chosen from each of the four discipline areas: sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts. This project and these students will be housed by Albion College's Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (FURSCA). FURSCA exists to create and support opportunities for students and faculty to interact with one another, to collaborate on special projects, and to develop innovative learning experiences within and outside the classroom.
Project Director:
Dr. Wesley Arden Dick
Professor of History
Albion College
wdick@albion.eduScientific, Social, Economic, and Cultural Aspects of Watershed Restoration
Saint Vincent College
The coal deposits in southwestern Pennsylvania represent one of the most significant geological resources on earth, fueling the steel mills of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and electrical power generation plants of today. Unfortunately, past mining practices have resulted in the degradation of regional streams and watersheds with abandoned mine drainage discharges. Restoration of the watersheds in an economically and ecologically sound manner requires cooperation among public, private, and academic sectors and an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving.To assist in this effort, the Saint Vincent College-Lancy Scholars Program will engage 8 exceptional undergraduate students and 6 faculty from several academic disciplines in collaborative, interdisciplinary research on the “Scientific, Social, Economic, and Cultural Aspects of Watershed Restoration.” Faculty and students will be grouped in teams during a 10-week summer research experience on the watershed restoration theme. Specific research topics will be coordinated with efforts of the Monastery Run Improvement Project, a community-based watershed restoration program led by Saint Vincent College. In Summer 2003, the Lancy Scholars' research will focus on developing methods and techniques for speeding the sedimentation of metals within passive treatment wetlands. Research activities will include, for example, measurement of sedimentation rates, examinations of the effects of bacteria and other organic materials on field and laboratory sedimentation rates, a cost-benefit analysis, examination of environmental policy and regulatory issues, and development of educational materials.
The Lancy Scholars Program will foster a community of learners. Students and faculty mentors will participate in weekly seminars, field trips, and special events throughout the summer. Students will maintain journals, read and discuss significant texts on the environment and ecology, prepare final reports, and collaborate in presentations of research findings and recommendations. The Lancy Scholars will present their work at the annual Monastery Run Symposium and at the 2004 NCUR.
Principal Investigator:
John J Smetanka, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
Saint Vincent College
john.smetanka@email.stvincent.edu
