Faculty Grants 2010-2011

During the 2010-2011 fiscal year,  Middlebury College and individual faculty members were awarded over $2.2 million, for a total of 33 grants and fellowships supporting research and other scholarly activities of 28 faculty members. These totals represent a significant decline in faculty awards, which is probably due in large part to the recession and consequent  reduced funding rates (and grant opportunities) – and the fact that the National Science Foundation used federal stimulus funds in FY10 to fund seven research grants (some of which might have otherwise  been declined and not funded until this year). Faculty efforts also led to two major institutional grants awarded in FY11. A grant from the National Science Foundation will enable replacement of the College’s aging research vessel, and the College received its second grant from the Beckman Foundation to continue funding a fellowship program for highly qualified science students.

 It is impossible to know exactly how many grant proposals are submitted each year by Middlebury faculty members because the College tracks only those proposals submitted through the Sponsored Research Office to sources requiring college grant administration and those submitted to support faculty academic leaves. From the available data, it is possible to say that during the past year at least 61 faculty members submitted 127 or more grant proposals (which means that nearly 20% of all faculty were involved in this type of scholarship during 2010-2011).   Forty-five of those proposals were submitted through the Sponsored Research Office.  

 Faculty receiving grants during 2010-2011 represent 16 departments and programs. These grants provide funding for 27 student/faculty collaborations over the next few years as well as travel to research sites and conferences, research supplies, equipment, publication costs, and other project expenses. Fourteen of the grants provide some support for faculty leave projects, and one faculty research grant included scientific equipment. 

In addition to research at Middlebury and at research centers elsewhere, faculty grants received during 2010-2011 provide funding for conferences at Middlebury, curriculum development, professional development,  scientific equipment, field research in Vermont, and research projects around the United States and in 11 foreign countries.  Seventeen  faculty members on leave in 2010-2011 had funding from grants. And 14 grants received during 2010-2011 provide funding for 13 faculty members on leave in 2010-2011 or future years, doing research at Middlebury and around the world.

Copies of the full report are available to Middlebury faculty and staff from the Sponsored Research Office by email.  Contact Franci Farnsworth (x5889) for more information.