ITHACA, N.Y. -- The President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW), an alumnae group that serves as an advisory council to Cornell University's president, has awarded its 2005 research grants to three women faculty members.

They are:

• Kavita Bala, assistant professor, computer science, for "Constrained Texture Synthesis for Computer Graphics."
• Michelle Campos, assistant professor, Near Eastern studies, for "Palestine Between Empire and Nation: 'Civic Ottomanism' in a Shared Homeland, 1908-14."
• Nancy Wells, assistant professor, design and environmental analysis and the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, for "The Effect of the Environment on Obesity in Low-Income Families: Influences on Physical Activity and Diet."

Established in 1992 to help advance the careers of women in academia through support of research leading to tenure, PCCW's Affinito-Stewart Grant Program has presented more than $462,000 to 151 women at Cornell. The program is named to honor the group's founders, Lilyan Affinito, a 1953 Cornell graduate, and Patricia Carry Stewart, a 1950 graduate. Both are presidential councillors, trustees emeritae and members of the Cornell University Council. 

This year the three grant recipients will receive a total of $33,000 in funding from PCCW. Grant applications were reviewed by a committee of 26 faculty members who rated them according to scholarly merit, research design, feasibility and relevance to promotion and tenure. Nine PCCW members, most of whom are academics from other universities, reviewed the faculty-rated proposals and awarded the grants. Nonacademic reviewers focused on how critical a role the project would play in receiving tenure and whether other sources of funding might be available.

The 305-member PCCW was established in 1990 with the mission of advancing the involvement and leadership of women students, faculty, staff and alumnae within Cornell and throughout its many constituent communities.