Four research grants for women faculty at Cornell have been awarded for the first time through a new campus center, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Cornell, dedicated to recruiting and retaining women in science and engineering.

The Research Initiative Awards are a program of the Cornell ADVANCE Center, launched late last year through a $3.3 million NSF grant. The center seeks to promote leadership positions for women scientists and engineers and to institutionalize best practices, policies and programs across colleges as they pertain to women faculty.

The award recipients are:

Abigail Cohn, associate professor of linguistics, who researches phonetics and phonology. The grant will support the completion of her book project, "Phonology in Phonetics: The Phonetic Realization of Phonological Representations."

The book explores the nature of the relationship between phonology -- the study of the structure and patterning of human speech sounds -- and phonetics -- the physical realization of those sounds.

Cohn believes the relationship between phonology and phonetics is central to the understanding of linguistic grammar. Her goal is to investigate ways in which the cognitive and physical aspects of the sounds of human languages work in tandem or may be at odds with each other, while providing a comprehensive review of empirical evidence as distinct from the theoretical assumptions about their relationship.

Susan Quirk, associate professor of animal science, who studies ovarian physiology and molecular biology. With the award, Quirk will continue her project on the hedgehog signaling pathway in the mammalian ovary.

The idea for this research project emerged in an attempt to use a comparative approach to identifying pathways important for follicle development in mammals. Her research on the hedgehog signaling pathway, a cellular development channel opened during early embryonic stages and critical for ovarian function in Drosophila (fruit flies), had been done on Drosophila but not studied in vertebrates.

Quirk plans to use genetically altered mice in her study, using several strains of mice that have either a deleted or activated hedgehog ovarian signaling pathway.

Beth Ahner, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering, who explores how organisms adapt to trace metals in the environment and influence the nature of metals in the environment. The grant is supporting Ahner's project on bringing plant molecular biology tools to engineering applications.

One environmental engineering application of Ahner's research is in phytoremediation, or the use of plants to remediate contaminated soils. Successful application of this remediation lies in the ability to effectively transform plants. One key component of her current work is that she is taking advantage of a biological mechanism to facilitate lead uptake into plant root tissues.

Jane Fajans, associate professor of anthropology, who has conducted long-term research in Papua New Guinea, with the Baining people of East New Britain Province. Her interests originally focused on ritual and socialization, but she has also examined aspects of personhood, emotion, identity and value.

The grant is supporting Fajans' project on regional food and regional identity in Brazil.

Fajans is interested in the role food has played in many aspects of social and cultural processes in Brazil. Her research will examine how a culinary distinction among subregions in Brazil may reflect differences in wealth and resources but at the same time also convey a value system of racial prejudice and ethnic bias.