Funded Projects
| Project Title | Overview of the Project |
|---|---|
| Resident Sialoendoscopy Training Workshop Paul Hoff Medical School Kevin Kovatch Medical School John Hanks Medical School Kelly Sayre Medical School Jeffrey Stanley Medical School $500.00 |
The field of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery has many cutting-edge techniques that residents will need to learn before entering independent practice. Sialoendoscopy is a relatively recently developed practice that allows treatment of salivary gland stones or other pathologies using safe and minimally-invasive techniques with endoscopes. As a leader in the field of Otolaryngology, The University of Michigan adopted this technique early. Still, residents may not be comprehensively trained in this procedure due to a steep learning curve and limited exposure. We are developing a course for residents and medical students, including a series of lectures followed by hands on practice on high-fidelity models and cadaveric heads. The goal of this intervention is to provide accelerated competency, better preparation for operative experiences, and a strong foundation for independent practice following residency. |
| Developing Translingual Activities to Support Sweetland’s Multilingual Writing Curriculum Shuwen Li LSA $500.00 |
I am applying for the Instructional Development Fund to support Sweetland Center for Writing’s pedagogical activities for enhancing teaching in multilingual writing classrooms. In the past couple of years, Sweetland has offered four multilingual writing courses in college writing, academic communication, style and editing, and writing in the disciplines. We are looking forward to sustaining the existing effort and creating new opportunities for multilingual students to flourish in their writing. We understand that students’ language differences may create challenges for instructors and students in writing classrooms. However, those challenges can also be transformed into great opportunities. To further support pedagogical activities in multilingual writing classrooms, we would like to pursue the translingual writing path, which is emerging in the rhetoric and composition area. We will gather a group of Sweetland faculty members, interested faculty members from other departments, and graduate students to read and discuss some of the core works about translingual writing, such as the recent book Cross Divide: Exploring Translingual Writing Pedagogy and Programs. Through reading and discussion, we hope to some ideas of feasible translingual activities and developing a translation-based course for Sweetland’s multilingual writing curriculum. |
| Developing interactive “workshops” for the Discussion Sections for a new Cell Biology course Ann Miller LSA $500.00 |
A new sophomore-level cell biology course that we are in the process of developing (BIO 272, Fundamentals of Cell Biology), which will be offered for the first time in Winter 2018, will introduce students to essential principles that guide our current understanding of cell biology. In addition to two 1.5 h lectures each week, BIO 272 students will participate in a 1.5 h Discussion Section each week. The purpose of the Discussion Section is to clarify, expand upon, and deepen student understanding of the topics presented in lectures. We request IDF funds to support developing interactive “workshops” for the Discussion Sections. By designing Discussion Section content that incorporates active learning and encourages students to develop scientific ways of thinking, we hope that the result will be improved student learning and knowledge retention. IDF funds will provide salary support for a graduate student to work with me to develop Discussion Section workshop activities. |
| Online Resources for Piano Literature Matthew Bengtson Music, Theatre & Dance $500.00 |
I have been developing educational enrichment materials on the piano, its repertoire, and its culture. This project aims to utilize the power of the web to present information in an engaging way that is easily accessible and connects musicians with materials for further study in performance, analysis and interpretation. In the summer of 2017, one set of videos about the solo piano mazurka genre and another set about the piano music of Bela Bartók were filmed at the Duderstadt Digital Media Center (DMC). The content of both sets of videos highlights relationships between art music, folk music and dance. Although these topics are fundamental to understanding the inspiration behind this music, they are typically understood only at a superficial level. In an online educational video form, conversations, performances of art, folk, and dance music, dance steps, musical scores, and textual overlay can all be combined into one powerful integrated learning experience. Our videos on the mazurka genre and on the music of Bartók are the first of their kind. They have the potential to become a primary, or first-stop resource to learn about one of the dominant dance forms of the 19th century, and about one of the early 20th century’s leading modernists. They should be of great interest to all pianists and pedagogues, and highly useful for private piano instruction, as well as courses in piano literature, musicology, dance, and Slavic studies, among others. |
| Cultural Trip to Dearborn $340.00 |
With assistance from the Instructional Development Fund, I will take the students from my cultural studies course AMCULT 311: Camels, Kabobs, and Kahlil Gibran to the Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn for a guided tour and a discussion about the museum’s role in representing the Arab American community, as well as meal of traditional Arab foods. The trip will take place on Feb. 21, 2018, in conjunction with the “Exhibiting Arabness” section of the course. Prior to the trip to the AANM, the students will have visited the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, where they will see how non-ethnic museums exhibit other cultures, particularly Arab and Middle Eastern cultures. The trip to the AANM will be to examine how an ethnic museum represents its own community. Since the thrust of the course is an exploration of how Arab Americans construct their own identities, a trip to the AANM in Dearborn is a necessary and vital part of the course. |
| Primrose International Viola Competition "Field Trip" Caroline Coade Music, Theatre & Dance $500.00 |
The Primrose International Viola Competition (PIVC) is the world’s most prestigious viola competition for violists under the age of 30. The week-long competition occurs every 4 years and will be held in June 2018 in Los Angeles, CA at the Colburn School.
In 2014, I was chosen as one of 9 international judges of the Primrose Competition. We judged the 24 Quarter finalists in their performances for nearly a week. The experience was profound. My request for funding from the Instructional Development Fund is to help realize my goal of creating a really phenomenal “Field Trip” to Los Angeles for my 5 violists who applied to PIVC. Regardless of outcome (whether or not any of my 5 are invited to the Quarter finals), I want to have these 5 who applied to PIVC experience the live Primrose Competition. In conjunction with the PIVC is the American Viola Society Festival, which will run Master Classes, Lectures, and Recitals at the Colburn School during that same week in June.. These events will give my students access to the biggest names in our viola world. This will be an incredible networking event for my students. After a week in Los Angeles observing the Primrose Competition and participating in the workshops of the American Viola Society Festival, my students will have insights and knowledge that they could only gain from such an intense concentration of viola-related lectures, recitals, and witnessing the final rounds of the world-renowned Primrose Competition. |
| Exhibiting Asian Art: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st-Century $500.00 |
see attached document |
| Teach-In on the Global Histories of White Supremacy Anne Berg LSA $500.00 |
White supremacy uses history to fuel its 2ictions. Its promulgators anchor their vision of a racist future in mythical depictions of the past. But the past is not the place that white supremacists imagine it to be. We must reclaim and retell the global history of race. Today’s media narratives and public discourses often seem shocked by contemporary expressions of racism, xenophobia, and hatred—as though white supremacy’s violent present is somehow anomalous, rather than an enduring part of modernity’s core legacy. Yet the roots of white supremacy are deep and dreadful. The ideals we cherish, the words and material goods we use, and the institutions we value are all historically tied to the oppression of non-white, non-Christian, non- European populations. But even most white nationalists cannot truly fathom the violent outcomes that attend the politicization of racial hatred. We must 2ight back with knowledge. As historians we believe that careful collective re2lection on the past is crucial for comprehending our present moment. This teach-in invites us all to critically reexamine what we know about white supremacy and how we know it. We seek to provide historical context, not only to understand the ideological heritage of today’s opportunistic racist agitators, but more importantly to trace the origins and trajectories of white supremacy to better guide our struggle for true humanism. Understanding and interrogating our racial past has never been more urgent than it is right now. |
| Live performance of Renaissance instrumental music Stefano Mengozzi Music, Theatre & Dance $200.00 |
I seek a small IDF grant to offer a honorarium to four Ann Arbor musicians who will visit my music history class for LSA majors (Musicology 345) on Oct. 25, 2017. |
| Spain Unmoored -- Guest speaker about a new book $500.00 |
This request for funding accompanies a new lecture course, Anthrocul 329 / PICS 385, Encounters: Cultural Difference in the Modern World. Here is the blurb for the course:This course examines cross-cultural encounters in the modern world. Cultural difference has not faded away or disappeared with globalization; rather, the accelerated mobility of people and circulation of commodities have created new forms of interaction and demands for making sense of difference. These encounters take many forms, both within and across national boundaries. Explanations of difference may invoke religious identity, history, politics, ideas about race, and culture itself. This course draws on concepts from political scientists, historians, sociologists, and anthropologists who seek to explain these encounters and the persistence of difference, including nationalism, ethnicity, modernity, race, and culture. It then applies these concepts to a series of thickly-described cultural encounters: between people living in rural Papua New Guinea, the state, and a transnational mining company; Ladinos and Mayans in Guatemala; Muslims and Christians in Spain; people in Cameroon who invoke witchcraft as a contemporary form of politics; and advertisers in Bombay seeking to market commodities by invoking culture. Above all, this course examines the continued significance of culture and difference in a globalizing world. I am seeking funding to bring Prof. Mikaela Rozogen-Soltar, at the University of Nevada, Reno, to class to talk about her recent book, Spain Unmoored, Migration, Conversion, and the Politics of Islam (University of Indiana Press, 2017). |
| Field Trip to the Steinway Piano Factory Robert Grijalva Music, Theatre & Dance Wayne Petty Music, Theatre & Dance $500.00 |
This field trip is intended to provide a unique look at the construction of the world's finest piano, Steinway, at their factory in New York City. Unlike their colleagues in the instrumental world, pianists are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to knowing and understanding the design philosophy and execution of a piano's design. The complexities of the instrument are a barrier for most pianists, and it creates a unique reliance upon a professional piano technician to service and tune their instrument. Students who aspire to become professional pianists need to immerse themselves in piano technology in order to inform their playing, as well as to learn to communicate with their own piano technician. The factory tour is a first step in that immersion experience. Past students who have experienced the factory tour in conjunction with the Intro to Piano Technology class taught by me at the SMTD have expressed how their entire attitude and approach to playing has been transformed. Knowing how the keyboard action is constructed, for example, explains how the feel of individual pianos varies from piano to piano. This is an important factor for a pianist when choosing an instrument for performance, in competition, or as a personal choice during the purchasing process. Learning about the three majors schools of tone currently favored by piano builders around the world gives a pianist an appreciation for the history and development of piano tone. European, American and Asian tone are all different, and their roots are in the histories of music for each region that gave them birth. This can influence the choice of instrument for specific types of piano literature. Steinway is the pre-eminent representative of the American tonal model, the most prevalent in schools and conservatories in the United States, including at the SMTD. Learning about the historical role that Steinway played in creating the American model gives rise to possibilities for appreciating the approaches of the Europeans and the Asians. When a pianist finds out that pianos continue to evolve and change, the stereotype of pianos as static and unchanging is swept away, and leads to a renewed sense of awe and possibilities. In its heyday, during the Industrial Revolutions of Europe and the United States, the piano was considered the most technologically advanced hand-built item in the world. Steinway grew in its pre-eminence as a result of its contributions to the manufacturing environment in the United States. It is fitting that we go there to open our eyes and widen our perspective, investigating up close how an old technology continues to fit in our lives through continuing innovation while cleaving to the past. |
| Performance by Digital Music Ensemble in the Delaware Copper Mine (Upper Peninsula) Stephen Rush Music, Theatre & Dance $500.00 |
In an unusual turn of events, the Digital Music Ensemble (an experimental ensemble using electronic means to create sound art/concerts) was invited to perform in the Delaware Mine in Delaware, MI, which is located in the heart of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The group will rehearse in a "virtual mine" (see below) during September, GO to the mine and perform in October, then perform again in Ann Arbor - emulating the ambience of the mine in sight, sound and smell. The director has visited the mine already, doing an "impulse response," (capturing the acoustical behavior of the performance space/Delaware mine digitally - for reproduction in rehearsal in Ann Arbor). During classes/rehearsals at U-M we will "sound" like the mine. The students will also be reading books, "The History of the Delaware Mines" and "Life of Douglas Houghton" by Steve Lehto. In these books they will learn three things: The economic and geological history of Michigan, the importance of specifically copper mining to the United States and to Michigan, and a new aspect on the history of the institution of the University of Michigan. The students, will then travel to the Upper Peninsula, live in a Yurt for four days, and performing underground in a Michigan Copper Mine. They will have the experience of learning about digital emulation of unique sonic spaces and a vastly (if visceral) expanded appreciation for the history of the state of Michigan and the University. This is a unique but non-complicated technology. It will allow all students to explore the sound of the spaces they experience more fully. |
| Improving the Gameful Learning Experience in Public Health Students Olivia Anderson Public Health Dave Bridges Public Health $500.00 |
Gameful Learning, a pedagogical approach that was developed based off elements of the Self-Determination Theory1 that leverages student autonomy, abilities, and interests to produce intrinsic motivation when engaging in course assessments. It was implemented into NUTR 630: Principles of Nutritional Sciences in Fall 2017, a first year, first semester and required course for Nutritional Sciences (NS) Master of Public Health (MPH) students. Although the first year of implementation was successful as evidenced by course evaluations, we have much room for improvement with the overarching goal to support student learning outcomes in the most effective way possible with this innovative pedagogy that fosters student autonomy. For this proposal we have two key objectives: 1) Learn from other instructors - how they developed, implemented and revised their Gameful Learning experiences in order for their students to achieve their learning outcomes. 2) Gain student insight pertaining to “what worked well” or “needed improvement” -specifically after going from this to the next course in the series (NUTR 631) as well as other required courses in the program. |
| Architecture for All: Complexity Made Simple Julia McMorrough Architecture and Urban Planning $500.00 |
The purpose of this grant is to fund the printing of multiple sets of twelve original books for children, on the subject of architecture. The books are being written and designed by architecture and urban planning students in the course “Fresh Graphics: Complexity Made Simple,” with the input of local preschool and elementary children. The grant will allow the finished books to be professionally printed and bound, and donated to the libraries of the University of Michigan Children's Center and Thurston Elementary School. The efforts of this course embrace a design logic set forth in the early twentieth century by Otto and Marie Neurath, pioneers of visual education. The course is organized as a simultaneous research seminar and design workshop. Throughout the semester, students have investigated not only masterful graphic communication (including the Neuraths’ Visual History of Mankind and the Isotype), but also relevant architectural ideas, concepts, designs, history, and architects. The culminating effort of the course is the production of a set of children’s books about architecture, written and designed by the students. |
| The Classroom as a Learning Space: Tools for an Educative Transformation in the Spanish as a Second Language Class $500.00 |
This proposal seeks funding from CRLT to attend a course entitled “The Classroom as a Learning Space: Tools for an Educative Transformation in the Spanish as a Second Language Classroom.” Attendees will learn to transform the classroom into a more suitable space for active learning, facilitating access to knowledge while making students responsible for their own learning. The course will teach participants how to create an environment where the humanity of the teacher, each individual student and the class content is visible. From this broader perspective, teachers will learn how to advance students’ cognitive learning as well as to help them draw a meaningful connection between the Spanish class content and their own experiences, making their whole selves engaged in the learning process. |
| Poster Session for EECS 598-008: Mining Large-scale Graph Data Danai Koutra Engineering $500.00 |
This semester I am offering a graduate-level, project-based course (special topics) on mining large-scale interconnected data (such as social networks, brain graphs, protein-protein interactions, and computer networks). Topics in the course include community detection, anomaly detection, deep learning over networks, summarization and recommender systems. I am applying to request funds to support a poster session for the students’ semester-long projects, which would allow for disseminating their data science work to the UM community. |
