THIRD ROUND OF STRATEGIC VISION FUNDING AWARDED

A third round of Strategic Vision funds—made possible by the generosity of the HMC trustees—was recently awarded during the fall 2008 semester.

The President's Cabinet received 31 submissions from HMC students, faculty and staff, and identified and funded 16 of those that would best advance one or more of HMC's six Strategic Vision goals. Various departments and grants funded four other proposals.

The following is a list and short summary of the proposals that received funding, the maximum award being $5,000.

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Awardee: Dagan Karp, assistant professor of mathematics

Awarded $3,000 for a seminar addressing gender inequity and underrepresentation amongst HMC students. The Seminar in Underrepresentation and the Mathematical Sciences will bring leaders and experts with proven experience working on diversity issues in mathematics to the college to offer guidance, insight and perspective. The seminar will also feature local speakers, and will most importantly encourage dialogue.

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Awardee: Kathy Morrison, administrative assistant, Department of Physics

Awarded $500 to cover the expense of drawing prizes for those who participate in the 10th annual City of Hope blood and bone marrow drive, to be held on campus April 3, 2009. Those who donate blood and sign up to participate in the National Marrow Donor Program registry will be entered into a drawing in which they can win prizes such as restaurant gift certificates, iPod Shuffles and a digital camera.

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Awardee: Holly Hauck, assistant to the dean of faculty (on behalf of the Staff Outreach Committee)

Awarded $650 to put toward hosting an all-staff luncheon in Hoch-Shanahan designed to give new HMC staff members an opportunity to meet other staff and enjoy the Dining Commons experience. Funds will also go toward informational sessions for staff members.

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Awardee: Laura Poindexter ’11

Awarded $500 to enlarge and improve the “Mudd Garden,” located between South Dorm and Platt Campus Center, giving students the chance to grow things and work in the soil here on campus.

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Awardee: David Money Harris, associate professor of engineering and director of HMC’s Engineering Computer Facility (along with John Molinder, James Howard Kindelberger Professor of Engineering; Anthony Bright, professor of engineering; Andrew Macrae ’11; and Trevor Ashley ’09)  

Awarded $2,000 toward the purchase of 30 LEGO robot kits for students in the E102: Advanced Systems Engineering course. Control algorithms developed and simulated by the students in various labs will operate the robots, which will balance and drive around on two wheels like a Segway.

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Awardees: Arthur Benjamin, professor of mathematics, and Thyra Briggs, vice president for admission and financial aid

Awarded $2,000 to go toward the costs of travel, accommodations and venue rentals in new areas where HMC’s Office of Admission, in collaboration with Professor Benjamin, plan to reach out to the most talented and diverse pool of prospective students.

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Awardees: Jessica Wen ’10 and Becky Glick ’11

Awarded $1,000 to aid in the planning of the HMC chapter of Society of Women Engineer’s annual spring conference, which targets hundreds of Southern California female high school students who may or may not be interested in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines. Funds will also be used to bring in an outstanding woman keynote speaker and to assist those high school students who cannot afford to attend the conference.

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Awardee: Neal Pisenti ’11

Awarded $700 to help continue HMC’s Science Bus program, in which students from The Claremont Colleges teach weekly science lessons to local elementary and middle school students in Claremont and Pomona. The group also hosts an annual Science Olympics, a one-day event in which all of the local students they have worked with get a chance to visit HMC to participate in friendly, science-related competitions and see demonstrations by HMC professors.

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Awardee: Michael Orrison, assistant professor of mathematics

Awarded $2,000 in support of a proposed partnership between Pathways, a Los Angeles area mathematics outreach program based in HMC’s Department of Mathematics, and the Advancing Interest in the Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Project, an outreach program designed to bring young students to The Claremont Colleges and introduce them to the richness and diversity of the mathematical sciences as well as to students and faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.

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Awardee: Jonny Simkin ’10

Awarded $1,000 to help grow HMC’s Roller Hockey Club. Funds will be used toward the cost of club skates, hockey sticks and league fees. Currently, the club has six active members, with at least 10 other HMC students expressing interest.

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Awardees: Alex Randall ’10 and Alicyn Henkaus ’09

Awarded $3,000 to help fund this year’s GoalFive Conference, a one-day event that will focus primarily on climate change engineering. The conference will have speakers focusing on particular methods of engineering climate change and on the risks and unknowns of embarking on unprecedented engineering projects with global impacts and unpredictable outcomes, all with the aim of improving students’ general understanding of climatology and of society’s footprint on the environment.

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Awardee: Bonny Guang ’12

Awarded $700 to help fund a proposed campaign in which PRISM (People Respecting Individuals' Sexualities at Mudd), HMC’s gay-straight alliance, would purchase and distribute to HMC students, faculty and staff free T-shirts that read “Gay? Fine by me.” Similar to a 2003 campaign carried out at Duke University, the shirts would be distributed in an effort to allow people to express their anti-homophobic sentiment in a public way and provoke discussion about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights and the LGBT community.

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Awardee: Benyue Liu ’10

Awarded $500 to host a photo exhibition featuring the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the Sichuan Province in China, killing 69,016, injuring 368,545 and leaving 18,830 people missing. The award would also cover the cost of speakers brought in to talk about their volunteering experience in order to raise awareness of the catastrophic effect of the Chinese earthquake and the fact that many people affected by disaster are still awaiting physical and mental help.

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Awardee: Patrick Foley ’09

Awarded $500 to purchase core textbooks for the shelves in HMC’s Platt Living Room, thus reducing the expense students must incur for their books. While these books are also available in the libraries, it is thought that having them in Platt fills a different niche for studying and provides great benefits to the student body. Platt is a unique space at Mudd that students use around the clock. The couches, tables, whiteboards, and wide-open space make the area an ideal location for group work as well as private reading. 

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Awardee: Catherine Bradshaw ’09

Awarded $1,500 in support of a series of events—including a dinner with a panel of speakers, fashion show, poster session and film screening—designed to raise awareness in the community about HIV and AIDS. The events will educate participants about the aspects of science, history, policy, culture and social context of the epidemic, providing them with the tools and motivation to make informed contributions to this interdisciplinary problem.

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Awardee: Raffi Attarian ’10

Awarded $2,750 of Strategic Vision funds to cover the cost of summer housing for two of three HMC students working with Principal Stephen Hamilton of Danbury School in Claremont on the development of an arm support device for children with cerebral palsy (the third student commuted from home). Danbury School specializes in the education of students with disabilities and medical concerns. A large number of its students have cerebral palsy, a physical disorder that renders individuals unable to perform basic daily activities like writing and eating.

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Other proposals submitted and funded by various departments and grants

Awardee: Darryl Yong, assistant professor of mathematics

Awarded $1,500 from the Office of the Dean of Faculty to put on the service-learning Integrative Experience 142: Seminar in Math and Science Education course, which will bring HMC students to Pomona High School every week during the spring semester to lead hands-on science, math and engineering projects.   

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Awardee: Nancy Lape, assistant professor of engineering, on behalf of HMC’s Teaching and Learning Committee

Awarded $5,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Dean's Career Enhancement Fund to bring in Dr. Laurie Richlin to run her “Academic Boot Camp” workshop, an intensive faculty seminar on principles and practices for designing and conducting effective college courses. Topics and activities include the design of learning objectives, assignments, rubrics, tests, and grading schemes; student learning and diversity; designing a variety of learning experiences; and continuing instructional improvement strategies through scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

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Awardees: Anna Lei ’09 and Jinsun Yoo ’09

Awarded $4,500 from the Jacobs Entrepreneurial Studies Center to cover expenses for travel, accommodations and registration fees for six members of the Society of Women Engineers at HMC to attend the National Conference for Women Engineers, held in Baltimore, Md., last November. Workshops there focused on innovation in technology and business, leadership skills, cultural awareness and community outreach. In addition, many female professionals spoke to collegiate members about the difficulty of working in certain male-dominated technical fields and provided insightful recommendations on how to handle such situations.

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Awardee: Debra Mashek, assistant professor of psychology

Awarded $1,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Dean's Career Enhancement Fund for yoga teacher training. Once trained, Mashek will offer yoga classes on HMC’s campus. These classes will be structured to promote both physical and mental relaxation, thus helping people cope with stress, and will support efforts to build community by inviting participants to interact across constituencies in a setting intentionally devoid of power hierarchies and competition.