Krista Comer - Faculty - Department of English

The course allowed student researchers to venture together into Houston’s literary and art scenes in order to think about the economic marketplaces of American cultural institutions as well as their celebrated figures. To answer the question "What does a city’s literature tell us about the place, its history, its culture, or what is imagined as possible?" The grant supported class visits to arts venues in the city of Houston and two Rice undergraduates to prepare material for posting, conducting additional research, writing short essays, and offering their talents as readers and thinkers for the Literary Houston at Rice University Website.

Amanda Perkins Ball - Faculty - Department of Kinesiology

This course makes a significant contribution to the Sports Medicine Program curriculum because it examines the sports injury process from a psychological perspective. The grant funded a student-led symposium where students presented their theoretically-derived, psychological-based interventions for injured athletes to a small diverse panel of professionals from the Houston Community.

Jayoung Song - Lecturer - Center for Languages and Intercultural Communications

The purpose of this course was to implement 360 virtual reality (VR) videos for the teaching and assessment of intercultural competence. After students developed the academic and cultural expertise to understand how language works and how much communication and understanding is both constrained and enabled by the linguistic resources we put to use in our everyday interactions through VR videos, students reached out to the Korean communities in Houston in order to volunteer with seniors and immigrants. The grant supported site visits intended to provide students with opportunities to bridge the gap between the study of language through data samples and real experiences in the local community.

Chase L. Lesane-Brown - Faculty - Department of Psychology

This course provided a review of psychological research and theories that address important issues of diverse individuals and families. The grant funded a former student of the course to serve as teaching assistant and organize current students in group service projects for children and families at service learning sites in the Houston community. Links to examples of the work done by students in the community below:

College application pamphlet (Class project)

Well being 101 presentation (Class project)

Student letter about the impact of the class

Elena V. Valdez - Graduate Student - English Department

This course examined Chicana feminism as theory and praxis that seeks liberation from the hierarchies of power that have structured the uneven relationships between race, class, gender, and sexuality and governed the politics of knowledge production. The course culminated with an oral history assignment that students conducted in small groups and in collaboration with the Chicana por mi Raza public humanities project. The grant funded a visit to Rice for Dr. Maria Cotera, Department of American Cultures, University of Michigan to  conduct workshops with students.

Daniel Cohan - Faculty - Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

This course explored the chemical and physical processes that govern the formation, transformation, and transport of gases and particles in the atmosphere. The civic learning goal of the course is to enable students to reach a broader audience with their work. The grant funded a student assistant dedicated to creating websites to share course work.

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Course Websites:  411/511: Atmospheric Processes  |  307/507: Energy and the Environment

Ozge Gurcanli - Faculty - Department of Psychology

Language Acquisition is comprised of a number of facts that explain the underlying mechanisms of a skill that is unique to humans: language. This course was reorganized to feature three goals for the students: re-producing what is learned in class by using a different medium, improving communication skills through collaborative work with each other and outside experts, and engaging with the community surrounding them. The grant funded books, visiting lecturers and printing for final project to be shared with the community.

Carly Thomsen - Postdoctoral Fellow - CSWGS

This course examines food studies, food justice movements, and food politics, through the lenses of feminist, queer and critical theory (including that scholarship that centralizes class, race, disability, sexuality, and geography).  The grant connected students to local food production by funding several field trips to farms in the area as well as the final course symposium where students presented their course projects and served a dinner they prepared with local grown ingredients.

Kristin Osiecki - Postdoctoral Fellow - Department of Sociology

This course explored the intersection between geographic Information systems (GIS) and the social sciences while giving students an opportunity to explore relationships applicable in a large urban environment. The grant provided instructional materials and equipment to facilitate recording of student presentations.

Emilie Ringe - Faculty - Materials Science and NanoEngineering

This introductory course will cover the properties of nanomaterial and their applications in engineering, technology, chemistry, energy, biology, and medicine. The grant will help establish a new campus- and community-wide, student-led event to show student's research and projects on nanotechnology to educate a wider audience.

Juyoung Jang - Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Asian Studies Program

Students in this course explore various social issues impacting families in East Asia. They are encouraged to realize their own presumptions and think critically and view cultural family issues through various cultural lenses. The grant will fund class materials, printing student created posters and an end of semester event for students to present their work.

Ozge Gurcanli - Faculty - Department of Psychology

Developmental psychology is comprised of a number of facts that explain the underlying mechanisms of human development. In this course not only will students learn the core concepts of human development, they will also engage in a broader community of researchers and experts as they develop new intellectual skills. The grant funded equipment for students to make a documentary on the importance of nutrition throughout development.

Christopher Driscoll - Graduate Student, Department of Religion

This survey course examines key theological texts produced within the United States from the 19th century to the present and focuses on the influence of social contect--particularly race, class and gender-- for the development of these theologies, and for the ability to reflect critically on the social and theological motivations that play out in a variety of political and professional arenas. Class time will be spent discussing how theology informs the larger U.S. Social climate, and how such interrogations of U.S. theology offers tools for critical engagement, public leadership endeavors, and professional development. The grant funded materials for class.

Christopher Driscoll - Graduate Student, Department of Religion

This survey course examines key theological texts produced within the United States from the 19th century to the present and focuses on the influence of social contect--particularly race, class and gender-- for the development of these theologies, and for the ability to reflect critically on the social and theological motivations that play out in a variety of political and professional arenas. Class time will be spent discussing how theology informs the larger U.S. Social climate, and how such interrogations of U.S. theology offers tools for critical engagement, public leadership endeavors, and professional development. The grant funded materials for class.

Gokce Gunel - Research Associate - Department of Anthropology

The interdisplinary course will trace ideas of energy in anthropology, science and technology studies, literary studies and environmental history, and investigate how energy production and consumption affects social life. The grant funded a new look on the energy industry, by facilitating a fieldtrip (to the ExxonMobil refinery in Baytown. This helped students develop further interest in taking on immediate leadership roles in the development of the Energy and Environment Initiative (E2I) within Rice University.