Eighteen Cornell doctoral students have received 2019-20 Engaged Graduate Student Grants totaling $269,397, which will support community-engaged research relevant to their dissertations.

Coming from 13 fields of study, grantees are collaborating with communities around the world, including artists of color in Chicago, deported migrants in Guatemala, women homeworkers in India and young people in New York City.

Seven New York state counties and eight countries are represented in this year’s projects.

The funded students and projects are:

• Sonia Ahmad, city and regional planning, Community Water Governance Systems in Khulna, Bangladesh: Exploring how to solve the problem of access to water in a medium-sized city in the Global South.
• Elizabeth Alexander, English language and literature, Writing the Body Through Virtual Choreography: Supporting black women in Chicago to use a combination of dance and virtual reality to explore their personal stories;
• Anne Armstrong, natural resources, Place, Identity and Environmental Stewardship: Exploring how environmental stewardship practices can promote dialogue among diverse voices;
• Kelsie Doty, fiber science and apparel design, Community-Based Indigo: Creating videos to communicate why and how to use natural textile dyes;
• Stephanie Enloe, development sociology, Negotiated Agricultural Knowledge: Engaging farmer researchers in Malawi to address biodiversity conservation, support ecosystem services and improve food security;
• Martin Feehan, natural resources, Urban Deer Management: Engaging citizen scientists to study the population of urban white-tailed deer at Fort Drum, New York;
• Christine Georgakakos, biological and environmental engineering, Antibiotics in the Dairy Farm Environment: Leveraging farmers’ knowledge for healthy farm management;
• Samuel Gutekunst, operations research and information engineering, Winning with Math: Connecting prisoners with mathematical tools for decision-making;
• Caitlin Kane, performing and media arts, Staging Queer History: Developing Leigh Fondakowski’s “Casa Cushman” and using documentary and devising theatrical methodologies to reclaim and reimagine historical narratives;
• Shrey Kapoor, development sociology, Life in Forgotten Resettlement Sites: Raising awareness about and enabling the political agency of evicted laborers in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India;
• John Kennedy, Romance studies, Debt Migration and Family Separation: Collecting, analyzing and sharing stories from deported Guatemalan migrants;
• Mary Moroney, linguistics, Teaching English to Shan Speakers: Creating linguistically and culturally appropriate English textbooks for the Shan community;
• Aravind Natarajan, microbiology, Amplifying Role Models as Inspiration for STEM Education (ARISE): Effectively representing education success stories to diverse students through podcasts;
• Ibukun Owoputi, nutrition, Gender Influences on Maternal and Child Nutrition: Exploring how household gender dynamics influence maternal and child health behaviors in rural Tanzania;
• Emily Parker, policy analysis and management, Health Without Wealth: Examining the social impact of community health centers in rural New York;
• Nidhi Subramanyam, city and regional planning, Women, Water and Work: Increasing equitable access to water for women homeworkers in Tirupur, India;
• Fauzul Rizal Sutikno, city and regional planning, Informal Communities, Social Capital and Resistance to Eviction: Examining why and how some informal settlements are able to resist eviction and remain in center-city locations;
• Elizabeth Centeno Tablante, nutrition, Zika During the First 1,000 Days of Life: Advancing research on the long-term consequences of Zika.

Find more information about each project on the Engaged Cornell website. Applications for the 2020-21 grants will open in the fall.

Ashlee McGandy is content strategist in the Office of Engagement Initiatives.