The Martin Nelson Summer Awards for Research or Advanced Study provide stipends and expenses to faculty so that they may pursue research or scholarly study during the summer months, free from other gainful employment.

Note: Faculty Support Committee (FSC) grants cannot be charged to p-cards, but faculty who receive FSC grants will receive information in their grant award letter about the possibility of an advance.

Deadline: The completed application is due by November 1 of the year preceding the summer in which the research or study is to be undertaken. 

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Description

The Martin Nelson Summer Awards for Research or Advanced Study provide stipends and pay for expenses to faculty so that they may pursue research or scholarly study during the summer months, free from other gainful employment. These awards of up to $4,000 each are intended to replace income (maximum $3,000) and expenses to support faculty in their continued development in teaching and scholarship through further research or study in their disciplines.

These awards have been provided from an endowment established by an anonymous donor, who recognized the central role played by the faculty in developing the excellence of the university. The donor was especially desirous of supporting the summer research or study activities of faculty. In this way there will be a continuing growth of the faculty’s mastery of their teaching fields, thereby contributing directly to excellence in teaching which produces men and women of genuine understanding. Faculty may apply for Martin Nelson Summer Awards to support projects using technology in teaching, assuming the project meets the above expectations.

The awards are to be used by faculty to continue developing their abilities as teachers through further research or study. Applicants, therefore, should have demonstrated unusual skill and enthusiasm as teachers, should show that the proposed projects will strengthen their specific abilities, and should indicate clearly the project’s long-term impact on their respective departments and the university.

The Faculty Support Committee will review applications and select award recipients. Because the FSC consists of faculty from diverse disciplines, non-technical language should be employed by applicants in describing the project and by the chair (in their Chair Support Form) in assessing the project’s significance to the discipline and to the university’s educational program.

Faculty engaged in projects that involve travel outside the United States will need to register their travel at least four weeks prior to departure. Information on how to register travel and request approval for travel to high-risk areas is available on the University’s Travel Advisory site. University funding for projects that involve international travel will not be released until the travel is registered.

Eligibility

Martin Nelson funds are intended for the use of the following: tenure-line faculty; faculty holding ongoing, full-time clinical assistant, associate, or full professor positions; faculty holding full-time three-year assistant professor appointments; visiting assistant professors (VAPs) and instructors with at least three years of full-time employment at the time of application (within the past six years) at the university; and ongoing, full-time artists-in-residence. VAPs and instructors with fewer than three years of employment (within the past six years) at the university, adjuncts, and other non-tenure-line, short term replacements of tenure-line faculty will not be funded. Applicants must be recognized for outstanding teaching and professional growth. Faculty are eligible to receive a Martin Nelson Summer Award no more often than every five years.

Application

Application for the Martin Nelson Award for Summer Research or Study should be made to the Faculty Support Committee through the online form. The application should include:

  1. A one-paragraph summary of the project. The summary of your proposal may be used in publicizing the awards.
  2. A project proposal (1,500 words maximum). Describe a manageable project with clear focus for summer research or study which includes a clear explication of the direct relationship of the project to your teaching, service in the department and the University. Include evidence of teaching excellence. Strong university service is an expectation of persons with five or more years at the university. If you plan to be at another university or research institution as a part of the summer program, a letter of agreement regarding the assignment must be included.
  3. An itemized budget, including brief explanations for expenses.
  4. A Chair Support Form. Please ask your chair to submit their Support Form assessing the value of the proposed activity to you, the department, and the university.
  5. For projects that involve the use of human participants or animals, please be aware that appropriate approval must be obtained before award funds will be released. Please consult IRB or IACUC approval processes information on the university’s website for details.

If there are more applications than awards, faculty without leaves, Nelson, or Lantz awards within the past two years will be given preference.

Deadline

The completed application for the Martin Nelson Award for Summer Research or Study is to be completed using the online form by November 1 of the year preceding the summer in which the research or study is to be undertaken.

Reporting

Recipients of Martin Nelson awards shall submit a written report of the activities undertaken, by August 31 of the year the award is granted. The report should include the following: (1) a detailed description of how the goals and objectives outlined in the original proposal were achieved, including any research reports or other written materials you have produced, and (2) a description of the benefits of the experience in relation to teaching and professional development. The report should be submitted to enrichment@pugetsound.edu.

Special Conditions

Recipients of the Martin Nelson Award for Summer Research or Study agree to return to the university for a period of at least one year after the conclusion of the summer work, or to repay the university all funds received as a part of the award.

Submit Application Here

 

Previous Recipients of Martin Nelson Awards for Summer Research and Study
  • Heather White (Gender and Queer Studies), The Architecture of Pride: City Churches and Queer Organizing After Stonewall.
  • Jess Smith (Theatre Arts), Art Party Party.
  • Mare Hirsch (Art and Art History), Modeling Interdisciplinarity: An Interactive Art Installation Visualizing Ocean Color Evolution.
  • Pepa Lago Graña (Hispanic Studies), Food Studies in Critical Pedagogy and Interdisciplinary Research.
  • Katherine Smith (History), Material Culture and Monastic Life in Anglo-Norman England.
  • Emily Tollefson (Chemistry and Biochemistry), A Biochemistry Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE): Development of a Novel EGFR Nanosensor.
  • Wind Woods (Theatre Arts), Santiago and the Mixtape Commission and Production with Bocón Theater.
  • Joel Elliott (Biology), Morphological, Physiological, Genetic, and Ecological Differences between the Pathogens Infecting Zostera Marina and Zostera Japonica in Puget Sound.
  • Ania Kapalczynski (Business and Leadership), Interest Rates and Stock Market Seasonality.
  • Yvonne Swinth (Occupational Therapy), Dissemination and Integration of the Quality Indicators for School Based Practice (QISBP) into School Settings.
  • LaToya Brackett (African American Studies), Natural African Crowns: Cultivating the Untold Hair Stories of Ghanaian and Kenyan Women and Girls.
  • Nick Brody (Communication Studies), Bystander Intervention in Cyberbullying: A Typology of Witness Responses.
  • Benjamin Tromly (History), Cold War Exiles and the CIA: Plotting to Free Russia.
  • Wind Woods (Theatre Arts), Title Unknown.
  • Rachel DeMotts (Environmental Policy and Decision Making), Eighty-Seven Dead Elephants?
  • Grace Livingston (African American Studies), Political Knowledge, Nation Formation, and the Trans-American Routes of Racialized Show-Windows.
  • Regina Duthely-Barbee (English), Black Women’s Digital Lives.
  • Samuel Kigar (Religion), The Berm and Moroccan Political Theology.
  • Aaron Lawry (Business and Leadership), Glassmaking and Minimalism in High Society.
  • Jennifer Pitonyak (Occupational Therapy), Contextual Barriers to Family Engagement in Community Social Participation: A Pilot Study.
  • Isha Rajbhandari (Economics), Impact of Natural Disasters on Local Economies in Nepal.
  • David Sousa (Politics and Government), Shaky Ground: The Miner’s Law in the Green State.
  • Bryan Thines (Biology), Identification of F-box Protein Interactors in the Plant Arabidopsis under Environmental Stress.
  • Anna Wittstruck (Music), Music–Dance Relations and Introductory Pedagogy.
  • David Andresen (Psychology), Multi-Spectral Analysis of Electroencephalographic Data.
  • Monica DeHart (Sociology and Anthropology), Transpacific Development Encounters: Mapping a New Era of China-Central America Relations.
  • James Jasinski (Communication Studies), Specification, Dissociation, and African American Voting Rights in the United States.
  • Pepa Lago Graña (Hispanic Studies), Documenting Migration.
  • Jennifer Pitonyak (Occupational Therapy), Family Occupations and Life Course Health Development.
  • Courtney Thatcher (Mathematics and Computer Science), Homotopy Theory and Classification of Non-Effective Orbifolds.
  • Stacey Weiss (Biology), Maternal Protection of Eggs via Anti-fungal Microbes in Oviparous Lizards.
  • Roger Allen (Physical Therapy), Investigating the Relationship Between Psychogenic Stress and Latent Flares in Episodic Phantom Limb Pain.
  • Nancy Bristow (History), The Jackson State Shootings of May 1970: Race, Law and Order, and the Problem of Memory.
  • Alyce DeMarais (Biology), Refining RT-PCR Techniques to Study Hormonal and Contaminant Effects on Zebrafish Egg Development.
  • Sara Freeman (Theatre Arts), Dramaturgies of Space/Staging New Writing: The Les Waters and Annie Smart Manuscript Reaches Completion.
  • Andrew Gardner (Sociology and Anthropology), The Segregated City: Migration, Modernity, and the Urban Landscape in Doha, Qatar.
  • Stuart Smithers (Religion), Profane Illumination: Modern Cinema and Critical Theory.