Fourteen teams of faculty and community partners have received from the Office of Engagement Initiatives to increase undergraduate involvement in research that strengthens the well-being of communities.
鈥淏y combining two of our previous funding opportunities (Engaged Undergraduate Research Grants; Grants for Faculty Research on Engagement) we are able to support teams that are exploring the public purpose of their research, whether they鈥檙e just getting involved in community-engaged research or have longstanding programs that are poised for deeper evaluation,鈥 said Amanda Barrett Wittman, associate director for community-engaged curriculum and strategy in the Office of Engagement Initiatives.
There are two types of Engaged Research Grants:
鈥 鈥淧ublic purpose research grants,鈥 meant to introduce community partner participation into scholarship and expand opportunities for undergraduates to play a meaningful role in the research; and
鈥 鈥淚mpact grants,鈥 which support scholars with an existing community-engaged research agenda that are ready to scale student and community partner participation and evaluate the long-term impact of their programs.
Seven newly funded projects include 10 faculty from eight academic departments working with 13 community partners. Seven existing projects received renewed funding, as well.
鈥淭his mix of projects shows how diverse community-engaged research can be 鈥 that it can happen across the university,鈥 said Wittman. 鈥淭here are teams focused on the arts, natural sciences, public health and community development, with community partners from government, nonprofits, Cornell Cooperative Extension and more.鈥
New public purpose research grant projects:
鈥 : Introducing K-12 students to animal-behavior research and how it is relevant to their own lives;
鈥 : Partnering with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wayne County to better understand nutritional security in upstate New York;
鈥 : Creating a theater piece rooted in the lived experiences of students and Civic Ensemble鈥檚 ReEntry Theatre members;
鈥 : Partnering with the city鈥檚 water treatment plant to understand sources of elevated manganese in the Ithaca Reservoir; and
鈥 : A website offering insight into the rate of coronavirus infections across New York state.
New impact grant projects are:
鈥 : Assessing impacts and public attitudes about deer populations in Tompkins County municipalities; and
鈥 Promoting a multigenerational approach through engagement with critical community partners at the local, state and national levels.
The seven projects receiving renewed funding are:
鈥 : Building culinary and stress-management skills through a culturally inclusive after-school club;
鈥 : Strengthening the state鈥檚 dairy industry by implementing and assessing key community partnerships, workforce development and producer-through-consumer education;
鈥 : Using surveys to understand future opportunities for a program that promotes the conservation of birds of prey;
鈥 : Measuring and analyzing Cornell鈥檚 socioeconomic impact on Tompkins County;
鈥 : Collaborating on a citizen-science effort to examine the health of sugar maples in New Hampshire forests;
鈥 : Understanding and documenting what is needed to achieve more equitable collaborations between science institutions and underserved communities; and
鈥 : Do mobile research laboratories effectively engage underrepresented populations in social science research?
to learn more about each project.
Ashlee McGandy is the content strategist in the Office of Engagement Initiatives.
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