Biochemical Investigation of Non-Ribosomal Peptides: Provision and Incorporation of Nonproteinogenic Monomers

Non-ribosomal peptides are a class of medicinally important molecules produced by a range of microorganisms and fungi, with examples including penicillin, cyclosporine, and vancomycin. We are currently studying the enzymatic machinery responsible for the production of these molecules, with the long-term goal of engineering variants with improved therapeutic properties.

Flow cytometry-based laboratory investigations across the biology curriculum

Developing a strategic plan for Macalester College's field station, the Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area

Collaboration grant to explore teaching and research opportunities at Macalester's Ordway Field Station

This grant will fund a retreat at the Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area (KONHSA) for colleagues from the ACTC. The retreat will include a tour of the facilities and grounds, brainstorming on potential academic course, program and research collaborations, and discussion of individual and institutional needs and wants that might be met by improving KONHSA. As additional outcomes, this gathering will foster collegiality and contribute to on-going discussions between biologists at the participating colleges.

The Hand of the Maker: An Investigation of Art in China

A 24-day research travel through China focusing on the artistic past, preservation of artistic traditions/practice and creating a context for exploring contemporary Chinese art. In Beijing and Shanghai research will be interviews with contemporary artists, galleries, students and educators. Travel to the rural area of Guizhou Province and Jingdezhen will focus on traditional artistic techniques and those that carry on these art forms.

Production and Perception of Linguistic Voice Quality

RUI: Combinatorics and Representations of Diagram Algebras

Mathematics and Computer Science Professor Tom Halverson holds a 3-year $120,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct research on matrix representations of diagram algebras. This research will use concrete matrix and diagrammatic methods to model abstract algebraic phenomenon. A major component of this grant is to provide summer support for Macalester College students to collaborate with Halverson on this research. (This is Halverson's fourth NSF research grant, and this funding has previously supported summer research experiences for 18 Macalester students.)

LSAMP: Northstar STEM Alliance Yr 2

Teaching Minnesota Academic Standards in Geography and History via Authentic Pedagogy

2009-2010 Firewise Community Grant

Alliance Endowment Request

Planning Grant for International Chemical Biology Collaboration

Functional analysis of Small Auxin Up-Regulated (SAUR) genes in Arabidopsis

Into the Community: Changing Perceptions and Increasing Participation in Computer Science

Characterization of the Interaction of Copper With Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein Zinc-Binding Domains

Metals such as copper and zinc are functional in many biological processes and are essential for life. However, at high concentrations, these and other metals may also display significant toxicity. This project examines the effects of copper on biological molecules and seeks to understand factors that control how metals naturally function in a biological system.

Collaborative Research: GARNET (Geoscience Affective Research NETwork)

The aim of the GARNET (Geoscience Affective Research Network) Project, a NSF-funded study, is to advance discovery and understanding of student learning by examining the impact of the affective domain on student learning in a series of introductory geoscience courses. Specifically, the goals of this collaborative project are to investigate how aspects of the affective domain, in particular student motivation, vary for students in introductory geoscience courses, and how those aspects vary with instructor, learning environments, and class characteristics.

Uyghur Music and Minority Nationalism in Northwest China

The project is an ethnographic study of popularized forms of traditional music of the Uyghur people, Turkic-speaking Muslims in northwest China. It examines the unique roles of musical performance in channeling ethno-nationalistic sentiments and the often complicated minority subjectivities in this controversial Central Asian borderland.