Grants-in-Aid Fund Research for 8 Faculty Members By Sue Kropp
			FEBRUARY 1, 2000--Last semester the College's Committee on Research and Development distributed among eight members of the faculty $19,577 in grants-in-aid. Four awards fund travel for projects across the U.S. and Canada, and the remaining awards fund research projects in Ohio. Johnny Coleman, associate professor of art, designed a temporary environment exploring the relationships between black men--specifically fathers and sons--at the College of Wooster Art Museum. Coleman worked with Oberlin College students and members of the Cleveland community to create a performance in which "the multigenerational voices of black men . . . emerge speaking in support of a young man facing a personal crossroads." Patricia deWinstanley, associate professor of psychology, is conducting an early-intervention project with several students from her Practicum in Educational Psychology. The students are working with kindergartners and teachers at Eastwood Elementary to help increase social skills and interpersonal competence among the kindergartners. Tom Lopez, visiting instructor of computer music and new media, spent the month of January in Austin, Texas, composing elctro-acoustic computer music for a performance by the Utah Ballet. Lopez worked with Yacov Sharir, professor of dance at the University of Texas at Austin and choreographer for the ballet's upcoming performance. While in Austin, Lopez used the university's equipment to create a musical score that can be controlled by the movement of the dancers. Tim Scholl, associate professor of Russian, will travel to Massachusetts to study Russian ballet notations housed in the Sergejev Collection at Harvard University. Two years ago Scholl examined choreographic notations of early 20th-century performances by the Russian Imperial Ballet and discovered that the notations could be used to recreate a performance of 1890's Sleeping Beauty. (See story, "A Sleeping Beauty Revives," on page 4 in the 233K PDF (Acrobat) file of the Observer of November 7, 1997.) The discovery resulted in a reconstruction of the original ballet, which premiered last April in St. Petersburg. Scholl is writing an article describing the reconstruction of the ballet. Bruce Simonson, professor of geology, will travel to Canada in search of layers of sedimentary strata filled with distinctive millimeter-sized spherules. (See story, "Day by Day, Centimeter by Centimeter: My Search for South African Spherules," on page 4 in the 325K PDF (Acrobat) file of the Observer of November 8, 1996.) Simonson says the spherules can answer many questions about earth's history, including the role impacts played and what effect an impact could have on the earth's future. Simonson will consult experts in Canada who will help him pinpoint the sites that contain spherule layers. James Tanaka, associate professor of psychology, is using his grant-in-aid to purchase computer equipment for ongoing research of the Visual Cognition Research Group and Lab. The new equipment will help the group investigate the role experience plays in visual perception and visual-object recognition. "By studying the effects of expertise on object and face recognition," Tanaka says, "we hope to better understand how experience shapes the way we perceive and recognize objects in the world." Robert Thompson, professor of chemistry, will continue examining an analysis of explosives and their residue. Thompson hopes to refine his existing method of analysis by using a recently purchased photoreactor that includes a new catalytic reactor. The grant-in-aid helps pay for the instrument. Steven Wojtal, professor of geology, will travel to the Painted Canyon in California with a student assistant to map the orientations of previously small-scale faults, mineral-filled veins, and fractures. The project will allow Wojtal's assistant to acquire experience as a field apprentice, and will provide scientists with important data about rocks near the San Andreas fault. Wojtal's research also will reveal information about the intensity of the deformation of the crust adjacent to the fault. Members of the committee at the time of the awards were: Stephen Sheppard, professor of economics Pat Day, associate professor of English Norman Craig, Biggs Professor in the Natural Sciences Sharon Patton, director of the Allen Memorial Art Museum Michael Fisher, professor of history David Love, associate vice president of research and development Claudia Macdonald, associate professor of musicology Bruce Richards, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Lynne Rogers, assistant professor of music theory Laura Kuennen-Poper, associate dean of the Conservatory of Music, and Denny Smith, professor of neuroscience and psychology.
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