Research
From investigating the resiliency of young adults to turning back the clock on memory for older populations, four professors in CMC’s Psychological Sciences department are looking at how we mentally manage our world. And their outstanding work has been rewarded with five large, highly competitive, external grants—virtually unprecedented for professors at small liberal arts colleges, especially in a single year—to fund research and further teaching at CMC.
Every 10 years, CMC’s Rose Institute of State and Local Government hosts a conference that coincides with the U.S. Census, offering valued expertise to government professionals grappling with how to manage the redistricting process, as well as new laws and regulations.
In the modern era of redistricting, all district lines must be reviewed after the Census to meet strict requirements for population equality and voting rights protections.
Just a week after her lab wrapped up with CMC’s Summer Research Program, Jennifer Feitosa was feeling wistful about a routine that combined valuable work with genuine camaraderie amid an isolating pandemic.
The spark: Teaching a cognitive psychology class in graduate school completely changed how Sharda Umanath viewed research. Staying in the lab to study memory was tempting, she said. But exploring both through the liberal arts proved to be the combination she was looking for. “Being at CMC puts a different emphasis on what I do. For my students here, I might be giving them the one research experience they’re ever going to have.
More than 250 works by CMC faculty will be on display at the third annual Faculty Publications and Grants celebration on February 15. Numerous professors will be on hand to discuss their research, published in 2018, at McKenna Auditorium.
Branwen Williams traveled from Claremont to the Arctic Circle in 2015 with a diver to search the frigid waters for coralline algae. Her goal: to examine the age and growth pattern of the algae to measure climate change.
Williams, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at the W.M. Keck Science Department, succeeded in collecting samples from the area—the first researcher to do so—and returned to campus to analyze them.
“A nuclear reactor is like a knife — it is a necessary utensil for cutting bread, but it can also be used to cut a throat.”
Shawn “Mickey” McFall ’18 invokes those chilling words, written by an exiled Iraqi nuclear scientist, in his own research paper on the potential threat of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
Mining operations are growing in sub-Saharan Africa, bringing both prosperity and challenges to the region. A Claremont McKenna College student found himself presenting on the subject alongside some of the world’s leading experts on the mining industry at a conference in London.
Claremont McKenna College will showcase faculty scholarship from the past calendar year at the second-annual Faculty Publications and Grants celebration on Feb. 16. CMC professors authored or co-authored more than 200 works, and most will be displayed inside McKenna Auditorium. Many faculty members will also be on site to discuss their research.
Prof. Zhaohua Irene Tang has been awarded a $412,415 National Institutes of Health grant to study cancer and other disease prevention and expand undergraduate research opportunities at CMC and the W.M. Keck Science Department.
The NIH grant comes through the Academic Research Enhancement Award program, which is offered to institutions that do not traditionally receive NIH funds. The goal is to increase hands-on research opportunities and enhance the research culture on campus.