Meet the Reves & Drapers' Faculty Fellows

2023

Nicholas Balascio, Associate Professor, Geology 

Project: Evaluating the climate context for the prehistoric human colonization of Peary Land, northernmost Greenland

The first arrival of people into northern Greenland c. 4500 years ago represents a remarkable period in the human history of the Arctic. These pioneering settlements, located in the Wandel Dal valley of Peary Land, mark an important step in the progression of human migration across the North American Arctic. Archaeological data show that human occupation of northern Greenland was not continuous and that there were three settlement phases, each separated by an abandonment period of at least 1000 years. There is no universally accepted hypothesis that explains the timing of human arrival in Peary Land or these periods of abandonment. The goal of this project is to develop environmental reconstructions from lakes in Wandel Dal to investigate the climate context for the prehistoric human colonization of northern Greenland. 

Carrie Dolan, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology & Health Sciences

Project: Implementing a rapid assessment tool to monitor and improve vaccination coverage within Narok County, Kenya

The World Health Organization estimates that an additional 1.5 million deaths could be prevented if the UNICEF goal of vaccinating every child was achieved. Therefore, Ignite and Community Health Partners propose implementing a rapid assessment tool to monitor and improve vaccination coverage within Narok County, Kenya. This research project proposes to answer the following question of importance: Which factors appear to drive immunizations at Community Health Partner clinics? This includes examining which children have defaulted, the characteristics of children and caregivers that complete required immunizations and clinic policies and procedures that relate to immunization rates.

Jeffrey Kaplow, Assistant Professor, Government

Project: The past and future of nuclear proliferation

Our understanding of what drives states to seek nuclear weapons has changed over time. The spread of both civilian and sensitive nuclear technology has made indigenous capabilities and technical resources appear less essential to a successful nuclear effort. At the same time, the global strategic environment has shifted since the beginning of the Cold War, with a corresponding change in the credibility of nuclear alliances and security commitments. A shift in how states actually go about developing nuclear technology may have even deeper implications for designing effective nonproliferation policy. The preferred pathway to proliferation—long thought to be a small, covert nuclear weapons program—may be changing, with the result that future proliferating states seem more likely to repurpose civilian nuclear facilities for weapons purposes. If true, this shift has a number of important implications for policymakers seeking to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. This project will create detailed historical cases of nuclear pursuit, to help scholars and policymakers better understand how the drivers of nuclear weapons programs and the pathways to nuclear acquisition have changed over time.

Ranjan Shrestha, Lecturer, Economics

Project: Studying anemia in adolescent girls in Indonesia

Anemia affects around a quarter of the Indonesian population, with women and children bearing a greater burden of this health condition. Its prevalence in Indonesia has not declined substantially in the last two decades and some surveys suggest that it has increased among some population groups in recent years. This project will evaluate the long-term consequences of adolescent anemia on the health status and educational attainment of Indonesian women. Using the sample of women who were adolescents in the 1997 round of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), this study will track the same individuals through multiple survey rounds to determine whether anemia persisted over their lifecycle and whether being anemic during adolescence affected their educational attainment. The findings of this study will provide insights on the consequences of anemia and provide guidance on policies to reduce its prevalence.

2023 Drapers' Faculty Fellow

Patton Burchett, Associate Professor, Religious Studies

Project: Research for new book tentatively titled, The Authentic Yogi: Yoga and Tantra between Science, Religion, and Magic

The book focuses on the formation and impact of historically specific "modern" notions of (dis)enchantment, scientific rationality, superstition, and authenticity that developed in colonial India and Victorian Britain and that are still playing out in important ways in present-day Hindu religious life as well as present-day Western forms of "spirituality." The study will explore 19th and early 20th century representations of yoga and yogis in different Euro-American and Indian interpretive communities and textual genres. A key aspect of the book will be a study of the way 19th and early 20th century stage magicians regularly invoked the figure of the Indian yogi-fakir in their writings and performances in order to define and advance particular, disenchanted "modern" cognitive modes and ethical sensibilities. At the same time, many in the vibrant subcultures of New Thought and the occult-esoteric invoked the figure of the Indian yogi for altogether different purposes. In order to show this convincingly, this research will explore the archives of literature of conjurers and illusionists, as well as Spiritualists, Mesmerists, paranormal researchers, and Theosophists, to analyze their repeated references to and representations of yogis, fakirs, and other Indian ascetics. 

2022

Leslie W. Grant & James H. Stronge, School of Education, “Qualities of Effective Teachers in East Asian International Schools: A Mixed Methods Study”

Understanding the behaviors, skills, and dispositions of effective teachers is crucial to helping improve schools and student success. Research in the United States provides evidence that teachers have a tremendous impact on student achievement. Such studies do not exist for teachers who work in independent international schools – including research that reflects the importance of understanding both the context of working in intercultural settings and the skills that allow teachers to flourish in these settings.

With consideration for the unique opportunities and challenges presented by independent schools located in a range of host countries, this project focuses on the discovery of beliefs and practices (including planning and instructional skills) of effective teachers that can cross the international/cultural contexts that exist in international schools.

Sharan Grewal, Government, "Public Opinion Poll in Tunisia"

Tunisia's young democracy, the only one to emerge from the Arab Spring, has recently been rocked by a power grab by the president, which threatens to undo the country's democratic gains. Surprisingly, the president's coup has been met with considerable public approval. The proposed survey would therefore examine the sources of this public support, and thus contribute more generally to research on the popular foundations of democratic backsliding.  Populist politicians from Hungary to Turkey, the United States to the Philippines, have attempted to draw upon their public support to undermine democracy from within. Yet, scholars have only begun to explore the sources of public support for such actions.

Daniel Maliniak, Government, “Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Conflicts in both the United States and the Republic of Georgia ”

Georgia sent soldiers to support the two U.S.-led conflicts largely in an effort to curry favor with Americans: politicians, policymakers, bureaucrats, the public, and American servicemen and women. The U.S.-Georgian relationship has evolved over the past 20 years. U.S. policymakers have expressed gratitude for Georgian military involvement. Many Georgians have expressed the importance and intentionality of sending troops to support the American military missions as part of a strategy to align politically with the U.S. and the West. There has not been research,  however, into the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers—or their families—who served alongside the Americans, or those of their American counterparts. The research team will address two questions: (1) How do Georgian veterans reflect on their time serving and how do they view current affairs?, and (2) How do American veterans view the soldiers and countries who supported those soldiers' time abroad?

Iyabo Obasanjo, Kinesiology and Health Sciences and the Africa Research Center, “Comparing the Role of Community Health Workers serving in Black Low-Income communities in South Africa and the U.S.”

In both South Africa and the United States, the effect of long-term social barriers on health outcomes is profound, with the Black population having significant negative impact on their health outcomes from both chronic non-communicable diseases and infectious diseases.  South Africa has a history of using Community Health Workers (CHWs) in low-income Black communities for improvement in health outcomes.  While use of CHWs started in low- and middle-income countries around the world, their use in minority populations in the U.S. has increased over the last 20 years as a means of reaching low-income populations with health access and health education that is culturally appropriate and low cost.  The researchers have interviewed Community Health Workers working in low-income housing in the Richmond/Henrico Health district on their perceptions and motivations for the work they do.  The project will enable them to include an international comparison, by interviewing CHWs in the Eastern Cape Region of South Africa.  This is a new collaboration with colleagues at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Jennifer Stevens, Psychological Sciences, "Intercultural Understanding Through Art"

The proposed project, “Intercultural Understanding Through Art”, involves work by a faculty-led student team that seeks to evaluate a six factor model in the experience of art in terms of how we understand others and how we understand ourselves. This cross-cultural examination will include interviews, surveys, and observations at the Louvre (Paris, France) and the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.). The socio-theoretical basis for this work rests on the question of whether art is culturally specific or if it offers a universal language. The outcomes from this work, while based in art, are anticipated to provide a model toward intercultural understanding, broadly defined.

2022 Drapers' Faculty Fellows

Jonathan Glasser, Anthropology, "Judeo-Arabic Sources for Algerian Cultural History at the Bodleian Library, Oxford"

This project seeks to make widely available a trove of Arabic-language poems from seventeenth-century Algeria found in a set of manuscripts at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. The unpublished poems, which were part of the popular music repertoire of early modern North Africa, are found in a multi-volume collection prayerbook associated with the Jewish community of Oran, Algeria. This community was expelled from Oran to Tuscany by the city’s Spanish rulers in 1669, who until then had made a local exception to their 1492 ban on Jews in an effort to maintain the empire’s new strongholds on the North African coast. The roughly one hundred Arabic poems found in these manuscripts are testament to the importance of Arabic literary and musical forms to Jewish liturgical practice in this borderland, as well as to the astonishing range (sacred and profane, classical and colloquial) of Arabic popular poetry in the early modern Maghrib. In a literary field that has left few remains of everyday artistic life for this place and time, the Bodleian manuscripts vastly expand our knowledge of what Arabic-speakers were speaking, writing, singing and hearing. 

Marcus Holmes, Government, "Social Bonding in International Relations"

This project puts forward a novel and highly important claim, namely, that the interpersonal interactions of state leaders can transform adversarial relationships into cooperative ones in world politics. While leaders, diplomats, and decision-makers in international politics have long argued that personal chemistry and social bonding matter for outcomes, such arguments have largely been shunned as either inconsequential or naïve by scholars and analysts alike. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from sociology, psychology, and cognitive science, this project is the first to delineate both the conditions under which social bonding is expected to develop and the causal effects of such bonds in diplomacy. Utilizing qualitative case studies of critical historical cases and elite interviews, this project seeks to demystify interpersonal chemistry at the international level and provide concrete and practical recommendations and advice for policymakers on how to engender it in order to promote new possibilities for conflict resolution.

2020

Shantá Hinton, Biology, “Continuation of 2019’s Fellowship: “Characterizing MK-STYX domain's role in cellular specialization”

Stress Granules (SG) are large cytoplasmic RNA-protein complexes that form under stress. When SG remain too long, they become toxic, disrupting cellular balance, possibly resulting in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Parkinson's, or dementia--highlighting the importance of understanding how SG are cleared. The 2019 Reves Faculty Fellowship enabled a Student-Faculty team to do research at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI) at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Their research demonstrated that the DSP domain of MK-STYX is the domain that decreases the stress granules. The investigation will continue in 2020 to obtain statistical analysis in exploring the molecular mechanisms by which MK-STYX regulates SG by addressing the following questions: Which domain of MK-STYX elicits the decrease in stress granules? Do MK-STYX, or truncated constructs bind to different proteins within the cell to decrease SG? 

Jennifer Kahn, Anthropology, "Differential cultural responses to social change and ecosystem change in Polynesian chiefdoms"

Ethnographic, linguistic, and archaeological research has established that all Polynesian societies descended from a common Ancestral Polynesian culture. Thus, the varied forms of island socioecosystems of Polynesia reflect differential trajectories of dynamic interactions between island populations and societies with their natural environments, leading to new and at times radically transformed landscapes and emergent sociopolitical formations. This research project seeks to identify those characteristics and processes of island environments and societies which allowed some chiefdoms to develop substantial resilience, while others were transformed into states of high instability and in some cases collapse. The research will apply archaeological and anthropological approaches including zooarchaeology, ethnoarchaeology, GIS mapping, and excavation of rockshelter and ritual site complexes to identify prime movers leading to sociopolitical change on the island of Rurutu (Austral Islands).

Dana Lashley, Chemistry, “Concise Synthesis and Biological Testing of Natural Products with Potential Anticancer Activity -­‐ an International Collaboration”

In the field of anti-­‐cancer research, a wide range of natural products have been reported to have significant inhibitory activity on the growth of cancer cells. Thus, they represent good starting points for the development of effective drugs. One key requirement within the development process of a new drug is the easy access to the chemical substance, which constitutes the natural product. Although these compounds occur in nature, only small amounts of the natural product can be isolated from large amounts of plant material and other natural sources. It is therefore imperative to find effective ways to synthetically generate these compounds in the laboratory. The goal of the proposed project is the design and execution of novel and innovative synthetic methodologies to get access to bioactive molecules in sufficient quantities. In collaboration with Dr. Hamid Nasiri and Prof. Volker Zickermann at the University of  Frankfurt  they will attempt to synthesize quinone based natural products and subsequently test them against  isolated  mitochondrial  complexes and cancer cells.

Ranjan Shrestha, Economics, “The Effect of Weather Shocks on the Incidence of Poverty in Indonesia”

Recent empirical studies have shown that weather shocks have significant effects on socio-economic outcomes such as agricultural output, labor productivity, economic growth, health, and conflict. Few studies, however, have directly estimated the effects of such shocks on the incidence of poverty. This study proposes to estimate such a relationship for Indonesia by evaluating the impact of temperature and precipitation anomalies on the incidence of poverty in Indonesia. They will collect and compile district-level data from multiple sources for the years 2002-2018 and exploit the variation in weather outcomes over time within districts to estimate causal effects. This project is being conducted in collaboration with Sudarno Sumarto, the senior policy advisor at the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) in Indonesia, and Pasita Chaijaroen, a former William & Mary economics faculty member currently affiliated with Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology in Thailand. TNP2K is already assisting with the data collection. Two W&M Summer Fellows will assist with the project.

2020 Drapers' Faculty Fellows

Audrey Horning, Anthropology, "Transforming Narratives: Archives, Archaeology, and Community Engagement in the Drapers’ Company Plantation Village of Moneymore, Northern Ireland"

The archaeology and built heritage of the Plantation is contested heritage in Northern Ireland, where society remains divided into two demographically equivalent communities, broadly drawn as Catholic/Nationalist, and Protestant/Unionist. Today’s divided identities are understood to be rooted in the 17th-century expansion of British power over Ireland, expressed in part through the importation of loyal British settlers as part of the Ulster Plantation scheme in which the Drapers’ Company were notable participants.  In the present, Moneymore survives as a small rural village, but very little archaeological work has focused on it. There is a high likelihood that extant deposits survive and that buildings may mask surviving remains from the early seventeenth century. The research questions underpinning this project include: What can archival and archaeological research reveal about the character of cultural entanglements on the seventeenth-century Drapers’ Company proportion? How can archaeologists best develop practice that contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict societies?

Philip Roessler, Government, "The Cash Crop Revolution, Colonialism and the Making of Modern Africa"

The structure of the modern African state and its severe spatial inequality can only be explained by understanding the interactive effects of geography and institutions—in particular how soil suitability for cash crops, such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, groundnuts and palm, determined the spread of commercial export agriculture with the end of the slave trade in the early 19th century and, in turn, shaped and was shaped by imperial conquest and colonial state-building. Roessler and his team of William & Mary students have been the first to systematically point to colonial extraction and its effects on inequality and on gender and ethnic inequality and politicization of ethnicity. High-levels of spatial inequality are found to hinder a country’s economic growth and increase the risk of civil war—and thus may represent the root cause of the vicious poverty-conflict trap that affects many low-income countries, especially in Africa. The fellowship will enable extensive research into the colonial archival material at the London School of Economics’ British Library of Political and Economic Science, including migration data, ethnic censuses and first-hand accounts.

2019

Mary Fabrizio, VIMS Fisheries Science, “Do National Parks in Nepal Effectively Conserve Biodiversity of Fishes?”

Many nations have established national parks and protected areas to aid in the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and the species that rely on them, but it is not clear if protected areas contribute to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems and their freshwater fish fauna. Together with colleagues and students from the US and Nepal, I propose to study the impact of protected areas and the effect of the proximity to population centers on fish taxonomic and functional diversity in major rivers in western Nepal. In addition to studying taxonomic and functional diversity, we propose to examine fish population size structure as an indicator of potential harvesting pressure, as well as the overall health of individual fish using fish condition indices. 

Shantá Hinton, Biology, “Characterizing MK-STYX domain's role in cellular specialization”

There are external and environmental factors such as extreme heat, UV irradiation or hypoxia that stress cells. Fortunately, cells have protective mechanisms such as the formation of stress granules (SG), large cytoplasmic RNA-protein complexes. They are transient and disassemble when cells are no longer stressed, but if they remain too long, they become toxic, possibly resulting in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.  A student-faculty team with examine SG  through an international research collaboration at the Lunenfeld-Tatenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, ON.  

Philip Roessler, Government, “Mobile Agricultural Insurance and Resiliency to Climate Change: A Pilot Study and New Research Program”

This project—in close collaboration with a team of W&M students who won the Global Research Institute’s Shark Tank competition in fall of 2018—seeks to better understand how, if at all, mobile agricultural insurance can strengthen farmers’ resiliency from climate change and reduce their vulnerability. This project builds on ongoing research on mobile technology and digital equality. A Reves Faculty Fellowship will support travel to Kenya in summer 2018 to work with the W&M Shark Team to undertake a pilot study of mobile agricultural insurance and show proof of concept; and support grant-writing to scale the mobile agricultural insurance program and directly test its impact on climate change resiliency.

Andrew Ward, Classical Studies, “William and Mary at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace”

The Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the north shore of the Aegean island of Samothrace was famous in antiquity for its mystery cult. The meteoric rise of the Sanctuary in the late 4th to 2nd centuries BCE saw the construction of some of the most architectural adventurous buildings of the Hellenistic period, and the dedication of the famed Winged Victory now in the Louvre. A new five-year research initiative seeks to understand key issues of phenomenology and access long overlooked. William & Mary students will participate in the 2019 excavation season and learn fundamentals of archaeological investigation, following up in Williamsburg with data processing and synthesis. 

2018

Nicholas Balascio, Assistant Professor of Geology, “Reassessing Human, Climate and Environmental Interactions on Easter Island”

The demise of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island has been regarded as an iconic example of how poor environmental stewardship can lead to societal decline. However, recent paleoecological and archaeological data challenge the environmental and human history of the island, which has implications for the local culture and our understanding of human-environment interactions. This project (part of a collaboration with scientists at Columbia University and the Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano in Santiago, Chile) will gather new data on this intriguing controversy and engage William & Mary students in collaborative and international research. 

Michelle Lelievre, Assistant Professor of Anthropology/American Studies, “Reanimating the Mi’kmaw Cultural Landscape along the Minas Basin’s Northern Shore: Phase 4”

This is a continuation of a project funded by Reves in 2017. The proposed research would be the fourth of a multi-phase, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project to document Mi'kmaw presence on the north shore of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia, making visible a long-term indigenous history that has often been rendered invisible (or ignored) by the settler population. This phase has three objectives: sub-surface archaeological testing at Newville Lake; gathering oral historical and archival data; and building support for the project with the Mi'kmaw nation.   

Patrick Mullen, Assistant Professor of Education, “Exploring the Implementation of Comprehensive School Counseling Programs in International Department of Defense Education Activity K-12 Settings” 

This project will study school counselors in international Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) K-12 schools to learn more about the experiences of school counselors in international DoDEA K-12 schools with:  implementing counseling services with students and their families; and with assessing, intervening, and supporting students’ academic, social/emotional, and career development. The goal is to study the unique needs of students and families in international DoDEA K-12 schools and to have students engage in qualitative research on an international level. The findings and experiences gained from this project will result in enhanced training opportunities for counseling students.

Oludamini Ogunnaike, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, “Islamic Philosophy in Indonesia: A Contemporary Case Study”

The project will explore the vibrant, but grossly understudied, formal traditions of Islamic learning that take place outside of Western-style educational institutions. The project aims to contribute to the broadening of academic discourse and building of bridges between different intellectual and philosophical traditions through its exploration of the work and learning communities headed by Muhammad Baqir, a popular, contemporary Indonesian Islamic Philosopher and Sufi scholar. Students will learn about the methods and challenges of cross-cultural philosophy, as well as research and interview methods, theories, and techniques.

2017

Marcus Holmes, Assistant Professor, Government, “Analyzing Dyadic Diplomatic Interactions: The Case of U.S.-Russia over Iran”

The research question of this project is under what conditions leaders and diplomats are able to cultivate personal chemistry that can translate into better understanding and cooperation with one another. The goal is to write a leading book on the topic that integrates psychology, neuroscience, and political science on the theory side with studies of cases that have yet to be systematically examined, notably US and Russian official interpersonal interactions in the lead-up to the Iran Nuclear Deal, which is the focus of this Fellowship.

Neil Norman, Coordinator of Concentration in African Studies & Assistant Professor of Anthropology “Archaeological Explorations along the East African Coast”

The fellowship will support a three-week excavation season on Zanzibar and three-week excavation season in Djibouti.  The Zanzibar sites contain tobacco remains and represent early Portuguese colonial efforts, and are ideally situated for comparisons with similar British efforts at Jamestown, North Carolina, and the Caribbean.  The organizing questions relate to 1) how widespread was tobacco cultivation across the island 2) how the organization of Portuguese fortified tobacco fields might relate to English ones and 3) how did local Swahili people relate socially, politically, and economically to Portuguese colonists/farmers.  Project members will also partner with the House of Wonders Museum (National Museum of Zanzibar) and director of antiquities to realize local exhibits and engagement. 

Michelle Lelievre, Assistant Professor of Anthropology/American Studies, “Reanimating the Mi’kmaw Cultural Landscape along the Minas Basin’s Northern Shore: Phase 3”

The proposed research would be the third of a multi-phase, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project to document Mi'kmaw presence on the north shore of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia, thus making visible a long-term indigenous history that has often been rendered invisible (or ignored) by the settler population. The project asks: Can oral historical, geological, and archival evidence be used to guide the identification of archaeological remains of Mi'kmaw activity - including settlement, subsistence practices, and resource harvesting - in the pre- and post-contact periods? The proposed project challenges assumptions that impermanent occupation is not conducive to common law traditions of proper land use and ownership. Research that explains the centrality of ancestral landscapes to processes of indigenous cultural survival and uplift - and especially research conducted in collaboration with indigenous communities - has the potential to shift conceptions of protests like those occurring at Standing Rock - from false dichotomies of "us" vs. "them" to understandings of the mutual benefit that can derive from responsibly managing resources for all.

Joseph Zhang, Research Associate Professor at VIMS Center for Coastal Resources Management, “Understanding Long-term Ice Dynamics in European Seas through International Collaboration in Research and Education” 

The fellowship will be used to study the long-term ice dynamics in the European seas in collaboration with scholars in Germany. The main research topic is to understand the inter-annual variability of the ice extent in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, as a first step toward forecasting and predicting their future conditions in a warming climate. SCHISM (Semi-implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model), is an innovative, open-source community-supported modeling System with approximately 35 developers in the U.S., Germany, Portugal, UK, France, New Zealand, China and Taiwan, and 190+ and rapidly growing user groups. SCHISM is designed for the effective simulation of 3D baroclinic circulation across creek-to-ocean scales. SCHISM does not have an ice component, however, which limits its application to long-term studies of high-latitude oceans such as European seas. The funding will support working on implementation of a new ice model inside the SCHISM modeling system.

2016

Jonathan Glasser, Assistant Professor, Anthropology “North African Andalusi Musical Exchanges”

This project will feature a two-week, on-campus residency in Williamsburg by a group of Moroccan performers of traditional North African music from the eastern Moroccan city of Oujda. The performers will work closely with members of the William & Mary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble in preparing two concerts. The Moroccan performers will also meet with undergraduates in a variety of courses, including “Worlds of Music,” “Where is the Middle East,” and “Anthropology of Islam,” with the aim of preparing student listeners for the concert experience. This project builds on a collaboration begun in 2004 in Oujda.

Neil Norman, Assistant Professor, Anthropology “Later Zanzibar Archaeological Project”

This project addresses two watersheds in the human condition: 1) human ancestors’ first use of stone tools and 2) the impact of “Atlantic World” trade on East African cities. A one-month long excavation season on Zanzibar will include W&M graduate students and focus on 16th century Portuguese deposits. These sites contained tobacco remains and represent early Portuguese colonial efforts, so are ideally situated for comparisons with similar British efforts at Jamestown, North Carolina, and the Caribbean. The organizing questions relate to 1) how widespread was tobacco cultivation across the island 2) how the organization of Portuguese fortified tobacco fields might relate to English ones and 3) how did local Swahili people relate socially, politically, and economically to Portuguese colonists/farmers.

Professor Steven A. Kuehl, Professor of Marine Science, VIMS

“International  Exchange  Program  and Undergraduate  Research  in Marine  Science and  Geology in Collaboration  with Xiamen University,  China”

W&M undergraduate students will pursue research projects related to the impact of human modifi cations to Asian rivers on the coastal environment (“Source-to-Sink” research). Students will travel to China for a 1-month field research experience as part of the course Coastal Environments of China (MSCI 335), which has also been approved for the Coll 300 curriculum. The long-term goals are to establish a robust educational and research partnership between W&M and Xiamen.

John Swaddle, Professor of Biology "International Collaborative Ecological Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Australia"

W&M will be part of a consortium of researchers from Tulane University, Cornell University and Gri th University (in Australia), with funding from the International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program at the National Science Foundation (NSF). W&M students will collaborate with each other and with PIs from all these institutions. A cohort of students will travel to Australia each summer for the next three years (2016-18) to perform research on avian behavioral ecology in temperate woodlands surrounding Brisbane, Queensland—an established research site at the Samsonvale reservoir.

2015

Jennifer Kahn, Department of Anthropology

“Investigating Human-Environment Interactions and Food Webs in French Polynesia.” Kahn will continue an international research project focused on a comparative approach to investigate different cultural responses to ecosystem changes within two Polynesian societies. Her project will involve natural science and archaeological field work with William & Mary students in French Polynesia.

Christopher Hein, VIMS - Physical Sciences

“Brazilian Beach Ridges as Recorders of Coastal Response to Holocene Climate Change.” This research seeks to investigate the link between sediment-supply-driven coastal evolution and past climatic variability in diverse coastal setting, with a goal of using this link to forecast future responses to regionally specific climate changes.

Philip Roessler, Government

“Mobile Phone Ownership and Women’s Empowerment: A Field Experiment in Tanzania.”  Few randomized control trials have tested the impact of mobile phone ownership on an individual’s life and livelihood. This study has the potential to advance our understanding of the impact of the mobile phone technology on women’s empowerment and our understanding of the behavioral effects of mobile phone ownership.

M. Ann Shillingford-Butler, School of Education - Counselor Education

“Enhancing Multicultural Competencies for Today’s Diverse Educational System.” Cross-cultural research between William & Mary and the University of the West Indies: Cavehill, Barbados (UWI), to expose students to the challenges and successes of counseling and teaching a diverse group of K-12 students. They will engage with students from minority populations, their families, and counselors, some of whom may be multilingual.

2014

Paul Bhasin, Department of Music

Bhasin will produce a musical performance tour of China with the William & Mary Wind Ensemble. This project will provide W&M Wind Ensemble students an opportunity to collaborate with faculty on original music compositions and performances, culminating in three traditional concerts in Beijing and Shanghai. Students will also participate in service-learning projects in an urban and a rural school in China to teach instrumental music to young students with little or no access to western-style music instruction.

Jennifer Kahn, Department of Anthropology

Kahn will commence an international research project focused on a comparative approach to investigate different cultural responses to ecosystem changes within two Polynesian societies. Her project will involve natural science and archaeological field work with William & Mary students on the Society Islands of Maupiti and Mo’orea in French Polynesia.

Scott McCoy, Mason School of Business

Mccoy’s project will include community-based research to understand the socioeconomic facets of the coffee-production community in Peralata, Dominican Republic, as well as explore other viable economic activities available in the community to diversify its income. McCoy and William & Mary students will work with local community members, the San Rafael Cooperative, and a non-governmental organization, Red Oasis, to develop economic opportunities as a part of this research engagement project. 

Jeremy Stoddard, School of Education

Stoddard’s project will focus on researching the best practices of teaching with a field-based inquiry approach and effective training and support for history teachers to adopt and utilize this method. The project will provide opportunities to study training programs at Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestown, along with training conducted by the National Institute of Education in Singapore. He will lead a student research team in data collection focusing on the observation of teachers and teacher training in Virginia and Singapore. 

2013

Christopher Bailey, Department of Geology

Bailey will commence an international research project in Oman focused on faulting and the mechanism by which the Oman ophiolite, a vast slab of oceanic crust and deep mantle, was emplaced at the Earth’s surface. Data will be collected at four field sites across the Semail thrust zone in northeastern Oman. Fieldwork in Oman will be conducted with the W&M Geology fellow, a recently graduated geology student who conducts research prior to advancing to graduate school.

Jonathan Glasser, Department of Anthropology

Glaser will facilitate a musical collaboration between William & Mary students and Moroccan performers in the Andalusi classical music tradition in North Africa. Up to twelve students will travel to Morocco and work closely with members and directors of the Association Ahbab Cheikh Salah, including giving public performances in several cities. A public performance in Williamsburg will follow in the Fall 2014 semester.

Gail McEachron, School of Education

McEachron will initiate a comparative study of language support for ethnic minorities in Southern England (UK) and Eastern Virginia (USA). The project will provide comparative research and teaching opportunities for undergraduate students and faculty members at William & Mary and Bath Spa University (Bath, England). The research and teaching will focus on educational programs for English Language Learners (ELLs) in K-12 settings.

John Nezlek and Joanna Schug, Department of Psychology

Nezlek and Schug will conduct cross-cultural research on perceptions of economics and social inequality, and on the consequences of such perceptions. They will study income inequality in Poland, Japan, and the United States. W&M undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in the research, and students in a cross-cultural psychology class will interact with students in Poland and Japan via virtual forum.

2012

David Aday, Department of Sociology and American Studies Program

For seven years Aday has investigated the capacity of undergraduate students to participate in scholarly efforts to understand the structural consequences of international marginalization, undertake field research to describe local and regional infrastructure, and engage issues of theory and practice to enact sustainable programs to improve health and health care. These explorations have resulted in an effort to build and test a model of community efficacy and intentional social change that he will further throughout 2012 with students conducting fieldwork on healthcare in marginalized communities in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Scott Ickes, Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences

Ickes will develop the East and Southern African Nutrition Initiative (ESANI), in partnership between The College of William & Mary, the Medical College of Malawi, and Makerere University School of Public Health to conduct research and develop an education program in the area of child nutrition and global health. The partnership is expected to create regular opportunities for W&M students to conduct independent and collaborative research in Malawi and Uganda, and to expand William & Mary’s engagement in research and teaching in the Eastern and Southern Africa region.

Paula Pickering, Department of Government

The Bosnia Project is a long-running collaboration between Wiliam & Mary and non-governmental organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the oldest student-run international service trip at the university. Pickering’s proposal allows W&M students to work with the NGO Creativus to teach English and video production skills to children and teenagers in partnership with University of Sarajevo students. Through writing, producing, and acting in short videos featuring strictly English dialogue the Bosnian students’ written and oral language, teamwork, and cross-cultural communication skills grow significantly. At the same time, W&M students practice lesson planning and working with children.

John Swaddle, Department of Biology 

Under the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program, Swaddle will work with a consortium of researchers from Tulane University, Cornell University, and Australia’s Charles Darwin University. The program will provide international experience for six W&M undergraduate students to study the biological and cultural diversity of Australia’s tropical savannah and coast in an eight-week program involving behavioral ecology field research on birds, site visits to leading Australian scientific research institutions, field trips to notable biotic regions in the area, and cultural enrichment programs concerning contemporary socio-environmental issues in northern Australia.

Francis Tanglao-Aguas, Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance

Tanglao-Aguas will develop the first U.S. production of the Sitayana (Sita’s Journey), an original dance theatre epic inspired by the story of Sita, Rama’s wife, of Hinduism’s most revered poem Ramayana (Rama’s Journey). This production will dramatize the struggles of Sita as she strategizes her path to freedom from her abductor Ravana. This female perspective of the classic tale will showcase the unique voice of Muslim South East Asians who continue to revere the Ramayana despite their conversion from Hinduism to Islam. In addition to observing Hindu based performances of the epic in Bali, Indonesia, Tanglao-Aguas’ creative team will do research and field work in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, where Muslims continue to propagate the epic through dance drama. 

2011

Paula Pickering, Department of Government

The Bosnia Project is a long-running collaboration between William & Mary and non-governmental organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the oldest student-run international service trip at the university. Pickering’s proposal allows W&M students to work in Zenica, Bosnia to teach English language courses, nonviolent communication, and media production skills, as well as promote intercultural understanding and goodwill as citizen diplomats. Students will work with local organizations Sezam and Creativus as well as in partnership with University of Sarajevo students.

Alexander Prokhorov, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Jes Therkelsen, Teaching Filmmaker-in-Residence

Prokhorov and Therkelsen's proposal will create a collaborative undergraduate research initiative to reevaluate the history and environment of St. Petersburg, Russia through a multimedia project. Several sites relevant to the city’s urban environment will be examined, and undergraduate student research will focus on environmental issues such as development, its effect on representations of the past, and governing fragile eco-systems. Through the interdisciplinary research team, this project creates a collaboration between the Russian, Literary and Cultural Studies, Environmental Science and Policy, and Film Studies programs at William & Mary.

Silvia Tandeciarz, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Betsy Konefal, Department of History

Tandeciarz and Konefal's proposal will allow William & Mary students to research the history and representation of Cold War-era dictatorships in the Southern Cone, with an emphasis on the Argentine case. Students will work with U.S. government declassified documents, with documents from Paraguayan intelligence archives, and with official Argentine documents housed in the intelligence police archives at the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria in La Plata, Argentina and in the Historical Archive of the Argentine Foreign Ministry in Bueno Aires, Argentina. This project will create and disseminate a document-based historical narrative of repression and resistance covering the full span of Argentina’s military dictatorship, 1976 to 1983.

Kevin Vose, Department of Religious Studies

Vose's proposal will allow William & Mary undergraduate students to travel to Nepal to investigate the impediments to and cultural resources for promoting long-term maternal and child health in Achham, one of the poorest districts in Nepal.  The research team will take a multidisciplinary look at the community’s attitudes toward maternal and child health, and analyze the region’s worldviews to identify traditional practices that can be better utilized to promote health, thereby bridging the scientific and religious perspectives on health, well-being, and illness. It will also assess the needs of the area, including nutrition, sanitation, drinking water quality, and HIV/AIDS education.  A plan for health promotion will be developed.

2010

Tim Barnard, American Studies Program

Barnard's proposal will create a collaborative research project on a transnational, Franco-American “gangster style” generated through film. Working in conjunction with students in Paris and Montpellier, France, William & Mary students will research the distribution, promotion, exhibition, and signs of reception of specific French and Hollywood gangster films in each country, and contribute their findings to a website and online database. W&M students will then synthesize their findings from both countries for presentations at a public film event held in Williamsburg, Virginia. A W&M undergraduate student will also conduct archival research and oral history interviews in Paris and Montpellier, France

Pamela Eddy, School of Education

Eddy's proposal will allow for the creation of  a faculty, graduate student, and undergraduate student research team to explore the internationalization of the curriculum at William & Mary, and international collaborations and partnerships.  The team will investigate how W&M faculty define and internationalize educational efforts at home, how faculty and student experiences abroad impact global competency, how faculty are involved in international collaborations, and what structures form from these burgeoning partnerships. The proposal's long-term goal is to create a graduate course on global studies that includes travel abroad to study other systems of higher education.

Hiroshi Kitamura, Department of History

Kitamura's proposed project seeks to promote the understanding of food culture and foodways in the United States by situating them in an international context. More specifically, Kitamura and a team of undergraduate students will re-evaluate the culinary and everyday habits of American “fast food culture” by comparing and contrasting them with the international “slow food culture” stemming from Europe.  Fieldwork will take place in Williamsburg, Virginia and Parma, Italy.

Kimberley Phillips, Department of History

Phillips' proposal builds upon an on-going collaboration with undergraduate students to identify research topics in non-Western sources and official documents that provide insight into the variety of relationships between Americans and Vietnamese, especially non-military and non-adversarial relationships that pre-dated the U.S. war.  A specific focus of this research is Philippa Schuyler, an African American journalist who traveled to Vietnam in the mid-1960s and then wrote about the American anti-communist efforts. This proposal will allow students to conduct research at the Combined Document Exploitation Center (CDEC) and Vietnam National Archives in Vietnam.

Paula Pickering, Department of Government

The Bosnia Project is a long-running collaboration between William &  Mary and non-governmental organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the oldest student-run international service trip at the university. Pickering’s proposal allows W&M students to work in Zenica, Bosnia to teach English language courses and nonviolent communication, as well as promote intercultural understanding and goodwill as citizen diplomats. Students will conduct research on nonviolent communication in youth educational programming and curriculum, a photographic study of the divisions and commonalities in Bosnian society, and the relationship between communication and violence in the region.

Sophia Serghi, Department of Music

Serghi's proposal will support the creation of a Touring Choir at the Drug Fighter's School, a public K-12 school/orphanage situated in Kibera, Kenya, adjacent to Nairobi. It is hoped that the choir will be able to perform at Kenyatta University’s Department of University for an audience of diplomats, academics, and state dignitaries. William & Mary undergraduate students will have the opportunity to participate in the re-building of the Drug Fighters’ School and the creation of the Touring Choir, as well as filming the efforts to create a documentary.

Sharon Zuber, Department of English and Film Studies Program

Zuber's proposal supports the implementation of a new multimedia initiative allowing William & Mary’s long-running Bosnia Project to include teaching media production skills to children and teenagers, and video production workshops resulting in short documentaries about identity and life in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  A William &  Mary undergraduate team, and graduate student Media Supervisor, will carry out this implementation.

2009 

David Aday, Department of Sociology and American Studies Program

Aday's proposal allows William &  Mary undergraduate students to assist him in investigating how communities organize – or don’t – to pursue collectively defined interests and outcomes, with an emphasis on understanding “community capacity building.” Research will take place in collaboration with medical professionals and with the goal of improving health in the community of Paraiso, Dominican Republic. 

Ann Marie Stock, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Stock's proposal will create a film documentary exploring and recording the accelerated transformation in Cuba as a result of expression through new media – digital video, computer-generated animation, and video art. William & Mary undergraduates will be engaged in creating and occupying an interactive online site where Cuban and U.S. culture agents (artists and students principal among them) meet, communicate, and collaborate.