F&M Stories

As Franklin & Marshall students catch a breath during summer break, it’s important to celebrate members of the faculty and professional staff who create an enriching academic environment all year long. 

This semester, more than $2,630,627 in grant and fellowship opportunities was awarded to faculty across various departments, with many award announcements still pending. Faculty and staff have been recognized both nationally and globally for their contributions to a range of academic fields. 

Grants and fellowships awarded “are a testament to the quality of the College faculty and the caliber of the research they do,” said Rene Munoz, director of the office of sponsored research. 

The list below features grant activity beginning in 2024. For a comprehensive list of faculty and staff publications, visit the Celebrating Scholarship archive. The compilation features works from 61 members of faculty and staff across 26 departments, programs and units. 

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Annalisa Crannell, Carmie L. and Beatrice J. Creitz Professor of Mathematics, was selected as a Fulbright U.S. scholar in Panama for the academic year 2024-2025. In addition to pursuing two research topics, Crannell will work with the Panamanian Foundation for the Promotion of Mathematics (FUNDAPROMAT), a nonprofit foundation affiliated with Panama's Ciudad del Saber (Spanish for City of Knowledge) foundation. 

Biko Koenig, assistant professor of government & public policy, was named a research fellow at the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. Koenig was also awarded a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for research of comparative success rates of entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) in small business development.

Nick Kroll, associate professor and department chair of philosophy, has been named a 2024 Media Fellow by the Marc Sanders Foundation.

Scott Lerner, Arthur and Katherine Shadek Professor of Humanities and French and Italian, received a $21,551 grant from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support teaching the Italian language.

John Modern, Arthur & Katherine Shadek Professor of Religious Studies, received a $60,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Modern will use funds to complete "The Book of Akron," a book focused on the transition between two technological eras in American history.

Kroll and Modern received a grant from the Luce Foundation to establish the “Institute of the Mechanical Surround,” physical home to Machines in Between  and related projects that involve a mixture of public humanities, music and art.

Amelia Rauser, senior associate dean of the faculty and Charles A. Dana Professor of Art History, has been awarded a month-long American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) fellowship at the Library Company of Philadelphia. She was also awarded a month-long fellowship at the Lewis Walpole Library, a research center for 18th century studies affiliated with Yale. 

Adeem Suhail, assistant professor of anthropology, has been awarded a $20,000 fellowship from the American Institute of Pakistan (AIP) / Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) to conduct research among the Baloch people of Pakistan.

SherAli Tareen, associate professor and department chair of religious studies, has been awarded a fellowship to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Tareen is the third active faculty member to receive this nationally recognized fellowship. 

Sarah Tasker, assistant professor of chemistry, received a $514,388 National Sciences Foundation CAREER grant to support ongoing development of new gas-releasing molecules to improve safety and access to reactive gasses in the lab. See full story. 

Ryan Trainor, associate professor of physics, was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Chile. to conduct research aimed at characterizing the chemical evolution of the universe. As part of the fellowship, he will teach a class in astroinformatics at the University of Chile.

Christina Weaver, professor of mathematics, received the James P. Crawford Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Jason “Willie” Wilson, assistant professor of computer science, received a $505,358 National Science Foundation CAREER grant to support his project, “Transparent Theory of Mind Algorithms for Social Robots Assisting Young Children.” Wilson also received support from the Evans-Cogan Fund to develop a workshop on how to embed machine ethics materials in classes across the curriculum. 

Wei-Ting Yen, assistant professor of government, has been selected into the Public Intellectual Program at The National Committee on United States-China Relations.

The F&M Department of Theatre & Dance received the Community Partner Award from the Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster for their weekly drama club work.

F&M received a $39,330 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to combat sexual assault and violence. Sam Thiry, director of care coordination and violence prevention, will lead this project. See full story. 

F&M is one of just 10 liberal arts colleges to be named a new recipient of a $1.4 million Humanities for All Times grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Eric Hirsch, assistant professor of environmental studies, and Mary Ann Levine, professor and chair of anthropology, are the first faculty leaders of this project. See full story. 

The following faculty members received funding awards from the Evans-Cogan Endowed Academic Affairs Fund for Strategic Initiatives:

• Alexis Castor, assistant professor of classics
• Elizabeth De Santo, associate professor and program chair of environmental studies
• Marco Di Giulio, associate professor of Hebrew language and literature
• Pablo Jenik, associate professor and associate department chair of biology
• Nancy Kurland, professor of organization studies, department chair of business, organizations and society

The following faculty members received funding awards from the Humanities Research Fund: 

• Rachel Anderson-Rabern, associate professor of theatre, theatre program co-director, and department chair of theatre & dance
• Marco Di Giulio, associate professor of Hebrew language and literature
• Gretchen Meyers, assistant dean for strategic initiatives & professor of classics
• Anne Stachura, teaching professor of Spanish and coordinator of community-based learning at F&M
• Mark Villegas, associate professor of American studies

The following faculty members received a $10,000 Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grant to purchase chemistry laboratory equipment available for use by students as well as faculty:

• Ken Krebs, associate professor of physics
• Davide Lionetti, assistant professor of chemistry
• Kate Plass, professor and department chair of chemistry 

The following faculty members received funding from the Steinman Foundation to purchase equipment for research related to the Chesapeake Watershed Initiative:

• Patrick Fleming, associate professor of economics and public policy
• Dorothy Merritts, Harry W. & Mary B. Huffnagle Professor of Geosciences
• Robert “Bob” Walter, Dr. Earl D. Stage & Mary E. Stage Professor of Geosciences, department chair of earth & environment
• Christopher Williams, professor of environmental science

The following faculty members received a $60,000 grant from Supporting Higher Education in Refugee Resettlement (SHERR):

• Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, professor of government 
• Giovanna  Faleschini Lerner, professor of Italian, program chair of comparative literary studies
• Zeshan Ismat, professor of geosciences, program chair of international studies
• Sue Mennicke, associate dean of international initiatives 
• Lisa Wolfe, director of The Ware Institute for Civic Engagement

 

Ten Faculty Earn Tenure, Promotion

The Board of Trustees unanimously endorsed the recommendations of the Professional Standards Committee and the Provost, granting four F&M faculty tenure and promotion to associate professor, while six others were promoted to full professor.

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Faculty Awarded $1 Million in Fall Grants

This fall, a total of $1,145,060 in grant opportunities was awarded to faculty across various departments. Faculty and staff have been recognized both nationally and globally for their contributions to a range of academic fields.

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F&M Receives $1.4 Million Humanities Grant from Mellon Foundation

F&M is one of just 10 liberal arts colleges to be named a new recipient of a Humanities for All Times grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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Sarah Tasker Awarded NSF CAREER Grant for Chemistry

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program offers the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty.

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