The Graduate College has announced eight projects that will receive funding for 2009-2010 through its new initiative, Focal Point.
The goal of the initiative is to advance knowledge in areas of critical national and human need. Of particular interest are new collaborations that explore what disparate fields of scholarship have in common.
The projects:
- “Global Patterns of Sustainable Consumption,” co-organizers: Sasha Cuerda, a graduate student in geography; Zsuzsa Gille, a professor of sociology; Diana Mincyte, a visiting professor of advertising; and Grant Shoffstall, a graduate student in sociology.
- “InfoStructure: Intersections Between Social and Technological Systems,” co-organizers: Matthew Crain, a graduate student in the Institute of Communications Research; Karrie Karahalios, a professor of computer science; Aimee Rickman, a graduate student in human and community development; Christian Sandvig, a professor of communication and Coordinated Science Laboratory faculty member; and Shinjoung Yeo, a graduate student in library and information science.
- “Incarceration in America: Exploring Carceral Landscapes,” co-organizers: Patrick Berry, a graduate student in English; Rebecca Ginsburg, a professor of landscape architecture; Rob Scott, a graduate student in landscape architecture; and William Sullivan, a professor of landscape architecture.
- “Investigating Civic Entrepreneurship for Global Sustainability,” co-organizers: Ingbert Floyd, a graduate student in library and information science; Susan Frankenberg, museum studies program coordinator; Eric Green, a graduate student in natural resources and environmental sciences; Glenn Hoetker, a professor of business administration; Poonam Jusrut, a graduate student in geography; Cindy Kehoe, director for information and research services in the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the College of Business; Gil Mendoza, a professor of natural resources and environmental sciences; and Madhu Viswanathan, a professor of business administration.
- “Law and Society in China (1800s-present),” co-organizers: Shao Dan, a professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures; Jin Gong, a graduate student in EALC; Andrew Morriss, a professor of law; and Xue Ying, law student.
- “Social Interaction and Communicative Competence: Integrating Theory and Clinical Practice,” co-organizers: Laura DeThorne a professor of speech and hearing science; Joshua Hailpern, a graduate student in computer science; Julie A. Hengst, a professor of speech and hearing science; and Dalphne Ray, a graduate student in special education.
- “Science, Technology and Security: New Institutions to Manage Global Security in the 21st Century,” co-organizers: Colin Flint, a professor of geography and the director of the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security; Matthew Rosenstein, associate director of ACDIS; and Richell Bernazzoli, Steven Radil and Sang-Hyun Chi, graduate students in geography; Todd Robinson and Shweta Moorhy, graduate students in political science.
- “Race and Campus Climate at the University of Illinois Research Seminar,” co-organizers: Stacy Harwood, a professor of urban and regional planning; Ruby Mendenhall, a professor of sociology and of Afro-American studies; and Jioni Lewis and Melvin Armstrong, graduate students in educational psychology.
