Grants & Gifts

Allegheny College, Edinboro University, Gannon University, and Mercyhurst College are collaborating on an AmeriCorps VISTA project, sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This project partners seventeen VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America) with seventeen social service agencies in Crawford and Erie counties that are dedicated to working with children and youth. These agencies match student volunteers with mentoring and tutoring programs that assist children and youth who are marginalized because of economic circumstances and insufficient support from families. The AmeriCorps VISTA project will address the needs of underserved children and youth, building on the trust and good will already established between the colleges and the service partners. The VISTAs will create new programs and improve the effectiveness of existing programs that use student volunteers in impacting children and youth in the region. Two more VISTAs will serve as leaders of the Crawford and Erie county efforts.

The Orris C. Hirtzel and Beatrice Dewey Hirtzel Memorial Foundation has awarded the College $75,000 to purchase four high-performance liquid chromatographs for the chemistry department. The new instruments will benefit two departments and will impact the entire chemistry curriculum. Specifically, the new equipment will: transform our first-year laboratory experience; serve our new biochemistry program; expand high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) capacity for student-faculty research; foster collaboration across departments; and provide graduates with competitive hands-on experience with HPLC.

Through her collaboration with the University of Kansas, Assistant Professor of Geology Rachel O'Brien has received a grant of $22,054 from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled "Groundwater ecosystems: The interdependence of microbial mineral weathering and population diversity." This grant constitutes 100 percent of funding for the project.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has granted Allegheny College funding in the amount of $30,000. This grant will support the work of the College's Center for Political Participation—including campus activities, scholarly research, and educational outreach—during the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

The Meadville Community Energy Project (MCEP) has been awarded a $30,000 competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its energy outreach programs in northwestern Pennsylvania as part of the federal Rebuild America Program. This grant will allow MCEP to partner with the Northwest Regional Office of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to offer a series of workshops on energy management specifically targeted at religious congregations, beginning in October 2004. This grant constitutes 39 percent of funding for the project.

Professor of Chemistry Marty Serra is the recipient of an Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institutes of Health. This project, titled "Themodynamics of RNA Structural Motifs," will afford two Allegheny College students the opportunity to collaborate on Serra's research. The grant, in the amount of $132,232, constitutes 88 percent of funding for the project.