Providence, R.I.--Eighteen faculty members from 12 academic disciplines received $82,500 in grants from PC's Committee on Aid to Faculty Research (CAFR) to conduct research throughout the 2009-10 academic year.

Since its inception more than 30 years ago, CAFR has awarded more than $1.4 million to support scholarly research activities that enrich the academic life of the College. For 2009-2010, the individual grants range from $12,187 to $1,014.

The following highlights the research of five faculty members who are first-time CAFR grant recipients.

Dr. Christopher M. Bloom, assistant professor of psychology, received this year's largest grant ($12,187) for his behavioral neuroscience research on "The Experiential Avoidance Model of Non-Suicidal Self Injury Examined." His animal model of the Experiential Avoidance Model (EAM)--the most prevalent theory of human non-suicidal self injury--will provide the first experimental means to test this theory.

Bloom explained that non-suicidal self injury (NSSI) is prevalent in 4% of adults and as high as 21% in adolescents. His research looks at NSSI as an emotional response to stressful events and the difficulty of those who practice NSSI to find alternative, healthier means to regulate emotions. Assisting him are Adam Miller '10 ( Kildeer, Ill.), David Pucino '10 (Glastonbury, Conn.), Jesse Sheinhite '10 (Norwood, Mass.), and Kelly Wante '10 (Blackstone, Mass.).

Chard deNiord, associate professor of English, received a $3,300 grant for "Back Out Of All This Now, Interviews with Eight Senior American Poets: Maxine Kumin, Gerald Stern, Jack Gilbert, Galway Kinnell, Richard Wilbur, John Ashbery, Donald Hall, Philip Levine." He has since extended his research to include another legendary poet, Ruth Stone, the poet laureate of Vermont.

deNiord intends to publish the collection of interviews as "a poignant record of their poetic legacy over the past 60 years." He noted that all of his subjects have influenced his own career and that the project "is a natural outgrowth of my interest in studying contemporary American poets and poetry for the last 30 years." deNiord said his intent is for the interviews to play an integral role in his teaching of the Contemporary American Poetry and other classes. 

Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery, assistant professor of political science and director of the Black Studies Program, received a $4,397 grant for "Learning from the Doers: Women of Color Community-Based Organizations' Response to HIV/AIDS." This project continues her research on marginalized communities and public policy and will contribute, she said, to an understanding of "how to confront the spread of HIV/AIDS among an often hard-to-reach population."

Jordan-Zachary noted that her ethnographic research will "examine the organizing efforts by, for, or directed to women of color in urban communities" as they navigate the dual challenges of the socio-political marginalization of these women and the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Christopher M. Laperle, assistant professor of chemistry, received a $7,300 grant for "Investigation of Solvent Induced Structural Dynamics of Organometallic Catalysts." According to his proposal, the "data generated from this project will influence applied chemistry, with respect to solvent design and predicting yields and outcomes of chemical reactions."

Laperle is researching group VIII transition metal pentacarbonyls, widely used as catalysts in important applied chemical reactions. These compounds possess a unique chemical reactivity, Laperle explained, that give them applications in chemical synthesis, materials chemistry, and biological chemistry. He is being assisted by student researchers Lindsay Belec '10 (Auburn, Mass.) and Marcus Widell '10 (Concord, Mass.).

Eric E. Sung, assistant professor of photography, is photographically documenting the survival of architectural fragments "amid the immediate exigencies of modern life." His "Rebirth of the Past: Photographic Survey of the Architectural Fragments of the Past in Modern Life" will use cutting-edge digital panoramic photography to record Western European architectural remnants, such as Roman roads and bridges in France, and how "contemporary cultures collide with the past."

Earlier travels have taken Sung to historical cities in the Far East and Mexico as part of this ongoing project. His CAFR award was $3,953.

Additional CAFR recipients for 2009-10
In addition to the recipients highlighted above, the following faculty members received funding from CAFR for 2009-10.

• Dr. Joan R. Branham, associate professor of art history, "Imagining the Jerusalem Temple in Art and Religious History," $8,762;
• Rev. Edward L. Cleary, O.P., professor of political science, "Catholicism Without Priests," $1,770;
• Norman P. Desmarais, professor and acquisitions librarian, "Revolutionary War Diaries," $2,325;
• Dr. Catherine E. Gordon-Seifert, associate professor of music, "The Spirit Transformed: Converting Women through French Sacred Song (1655-1700)," $4,023;
• Dr. Aurelie A. Hagstrom, associate professor of theology, "Mariology: An Inter-Disciplinary Retrieval of Traditional Dogma," $4,000;
• Dr. Karen A. Holland, assistant professor of history, "The Sidney Women in Ireland, 1556-1594," $4,375;
• Dr. Deborah J. Johnson, professor of art history, "Rrose Selavy in Context: An American Jewish Artist and Marcel Duchamp," $4,403;
• Dr. Sang Woo Kang, assistant professor of music, "Exploration of 20th Century American Clarinet and Piano Repertoire and Its Lasting Impact on the Far East," $6,648;
• Dr. Stephen J. Mecca, professor of physics, and Dr. Robert G. LaMontagne, assistant professor of physics, "Estuarian Dynamics of Town Pond," $6,376;
• Dr. Edgar Mejía, assistant professor of Spanish, "A Critical Edition of Viaje a Texas en 1827 (Voyage to Texas in 1827) by Manuel Mier y Teran (Mexico 1789-1832)," $1,014;
• Dr. Thomas F. Strasser, assistant professor of art history, "The Plakias Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Survey, 2009," $6,604; and
• Dr. Craig B. Wood, professor of biology, "Return with Students to Cloud Forest Small-Mammal Studies in Honduras, and Evaluation of the Only Known Dinosaur-Age Fossil Locality in Central America," $1,060.

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