Aug 24, 2006 - Claremont, Calif. -

Professor of Chemistry Kerry Karukstis and a team of scientists were recently awarded two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to support student-faculty research and the advancement of women in the sciences. Together, the grants total $998,930.

The first grant, part of the NSF's ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Awards (PAID), will fund the project "Collaborative Research for Horizontal Mentoring Alliances." Karukstis will serve as lead principal investigator and HMC is the lead institution on the grant, which totals $499,864.

Three women scientists will join Karukstis in leading the initiative: Laura Wright of Furman University, Bridget Gourley of DePauw University, and Miriam Rossi of Vassar College. One major objective of this project is to facilitate the advancement of senior women science faculty members at liberal arts colleges to the highest ranks of academic leadership.

Additionally, the project will evaluate effective mentoring mechanisms including cyber connections for women faculty at liberal arts colleges as compared to other types of institutions. Members of the mentoring alliances will also offer programming on their home campus to expand the reach of this award.

Each alliance consists of five senior women faculty members at different liberal arts institutions. Three of the alliances will be composed of chemists and a fourth of physicists, all of whom are full professors. This is the first year that PAID awards have been made. They are designed to support the analysis, adaptation, dissemination and use of existing innovative materials and practices that have been demonstrated to be effective in increasing representation and participation of women in academic science and engineering careers.

Until now, this collaborative PAID grant is the only one awarded to primarily undergraduate institutions. The newly-funded project developed from an inter-institutional award that Karukstis received from the Harvey Mudd College's Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant for Faculty Career Enhancement.

According to Karukstis: "In this ADVANCE-funded project the National Science Foundation is interested in our exploration of how initiatives such as our horizontal peer mentoring strategy operate differently in liberal arts institutions versus research-intensive institutions where funding for these activities has previously been focused.

"In our view, an important outcome of this project will be the development of a cohort of women faculty who will be leaders of institutional change in support of the advancement of women in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] fields. In the final year of the project, Harvey Mudd will host a summit meeting involving alliance participants and other stakeholders to develop recommendations and best practices for forming, maintaining and nurturing horizontal peer mentoring groups for academic women. This concluding summit meeting, together with career development resources generated by each alliance, will make an important contribution to the national knowledge base on practices that can enhance the academic career advancement of women in science and engineering."

The second project is a three-year Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) award by the NSF to the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). The project will disseminate successful models of collaborative student-faculty undergraduate research through a series of regional workshops at host institutions throughout the country. The grant amount is $499,066.

"I am particularly excited to be involved in this new initiative that builds on CUR’s multidisciplinary membership and infrastructure and the organization’s well-established programs and publications," Karukstis said. "Undergraduate research is a proven and powerful pedagogy, and the Council on Undergraduate Research is well-positioned to share successful best-practice models and strategies for establishing, enhancing, and institutionalizing undergraduate research."

This project is an expansion of CUR's Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Institute, an annual, national-level workshop that was held at Harvey Mudd College (HMC) in 2005, and will be held again at HMC this October, with a regional focus. The regional model focuses on developing communities of scholars at each participating campus

Selected as CUR President-elect

In addition to her responsibilities on the project, at the annual business meeting of the Council on Undergraduate Research held in June at DePauw University, Karukstis was elected to a three-year term as president-elect, president, and Immediate past president of the organization.

"I am delighted to serve as CUR president during a time of numerous exciting new ventures within the organization to promote the integration of research and education," Karukstis said. "The changing demographics of our students, the expanding scope of institutions providing undergraduate education and the enhanced appreciation for active learning strategies have propelled undergraduate research to national prominence as an effective educational strategy.

"During the next few years with CUR’s growing multidisciplinary membership and the nation’s interest in developing a diverse and globally-engaged workforce, CUR will be expanding its programs and services focused on faculty development and developing new collaborations with other professional societies interested in undergraduate research. I look forward to working with CUR’s dedicated members to accomplish these goals."

Karukstis has served CUR as a councilor for the Chemistry Division since 1993, Chemistry Division chair (2001-2003), secretary (2005-2006), Executive Board member (2001-2003, 2005-2009), chair of the Outreach Committee (2004-2005), co-chair of the CUR 2006 national conference, and president-elect (2006-2007). She wrote two CUR resources - "Councilors’ Handbook: A Guide to Leadership in CUR," and "A Brief Guide for CUR Division Chairs." She is also a Journal of Chemical Education feature editor in the role of undergraduate research in chemical education.

She is co-editor of CUR’s newest book: "Designing, Implementing, and Sustaining a Research-Supportive Undergraduate Curriculum: A Compendium of Successful Curricular Practices from Faculty and Institutions Engaged in Undergraduate Research," due out later this year. She received the CUR Volunteer of the Year Award in 2004.

The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) is a national professional organization focused on faculty development to improve undergraduate student learning through collaborative student-faculty research. CUR’s programs and services are designed to share successful models and strategies for establishing, institutionalizing and sustaining undergraduate research programs.

The membership of CUR includes 450 institutional members and 3,000 individual members representing over 900 colleges and universities. CUR welcomes faculty and administrators from all institutions in all disciplines with a primary advocacy in support of faculty and students in the sciences and social sciences at predominantly undergraduate institutions.

CUR’s membership is organized in a divisional structure that includes the disciplines of biology, chemistry, geosciences, mathematics and computer science, physics and astronomy, psychology, and the social sciences, as well as a division of undergraduate research program directors and an at-large division that serves administrators and other fields.