Research

Research
Fletcher Family Fund

Fletcher Family Research Grants - Spring 2004

John Holt, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies
The Buddhist Visnu: Politics, Culture and Religions Transformation
· To support the publication of The Buddhist Visnu, which examines the ways in which the Indian Hindu deity Visnu was absorbed, subordinated and transformed within the Sinhala Buddhist culture of Sri Lanka.


Hadley Wilson Horch, Assistant Professor of Biology and Neuroscience
Local effects of BDNF on dendritic growth.
· To support the publication of a paper examining the role of a particular molecule, Brain-Deprived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF), in the development of neuronal form. Using a sophisticated microscope, called a laser scanning confocal microscope, it is possible to simultaneously visualize “red” BDNF-releasing neurons and “green” BDNF-receiving neurons. My research shows that the form of recipient neurons is influenced by activity, this result has implications for the role of BDNF in the development of brain circuitry.


Aaron Kitch, Assistant Professor of English
Dramas of Social Mobility: Merchants, Gentry, and the Commercial Theater in Tudor and Stuart England
· This project examines a range of playwrights in Tudor and Stuart England who take social mobility as a central subject or theme in their plays. “Dramas of Social Mobility” situates Shakespeare and his contemporaries in an important but overlooked tradition of earlier dramatists who experiment with dramatic structure, characterization, and modes of address in order to stage social conflict. My account challenges and expands existing scholarship on the period that identifies important treatises to a tradition of secular drama that responds to disruptions in traditional models of social status caused by nascent capitalist economic and social practices.


Michael Kolster, Assistant Professor of Art
Looking at Las Vegas
· This is an ongoing project concerned with photographing the Mojave Desert region in the vicinity of Las Vegas, Nevada. Since the summer of 2001 I have made four week-long visits to the area. Each visit to Las Vegas has helped me learn more about its characteristic qualities, gauge better the rate at which it is changing in response to human occupation, and reflect on how my responses to it are informed by my previous interactions with it.

Marney Pratt, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology
Investigating the Physiological Ecology of a Native and Invasive Bryozoan Species
· Invasive species may be better competitors and have higher metabolic rates than native species, but native species may be better at surviving poor conditions. An invasive species of colonial marine invertebrate, Membraniopora membranacea, is the dominant animal living on seaweeds in the summer and fall. A similar native species, Electra pilosa, never dominates the majority of seaweeds, but it seems to survive the winter better. I expect Membranipora will have higher rates of feeding, metabolism, and growth and will be most successful when food is abundant, but I expect Electra will have a higher survival rate when food is scarce.


Leslie Shaw, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Market Economies and Student Field Training: Funding Archaeological Research in Belize
· The combination of person research and providing students with field training opportunities can be challenging in archaeology. I plan to conduct research in Belize this summer to investigate an area at the site of Maax Na to determine if it was the location of a market at the height of the Maya civilization. Confirmation will allow me to build a multi-year research agenda.