These grants provide financial assistance to colleges wanting to maintain their historic commitments amid current economic and cultural challenges, but who are also keen to invest in the future of their institution by enhancing their engagement with science and scientific research. Especially in the context of COVID-19, there is a clear need not only to help these critically vital educational institutions recover, but also to take advantage of the opportunities these recent challenges have presented to develop new and innovative solutions to contemporary crises. While contributing toward the alleviation of short-term needs, the project goes beyond being simply reactionary, offering opportunities for renewal, renovation and expansion.
The grants are designed to enhance campus-wide cultures of constructive engagement with and investment in scientific research, in conversation with important questions and opportunities raised by the field of science and religion, and with attention to broader issues of science and society. The centerpiece of each grant is salary support and research support for two or three Faculty Fellows. Each Fellow will carry out research through a collaboration with a nearby research-intensive institution, and will conduct their research at that institution. This approach supports and advances scientific engagement at Christian higher education institutions by drawing on existing infrastructure.
Faculty Fellows, along with faculty colleagues from the humanities and social sciences, will also be provided training to deepen their understanding of and engagement with issues pertaining to science, religion, and society. Grant funds will also help to establish or enhance student science and religion clubs, support undergraduate student researchers in STEM fields, provide opportunities for campus leaders and other campus-connected communities to engage science, religion, and society issues, fund activities to enhance diversity in STEM on campus, and fund public engagement of science.
SCIO Staff
- Dr Stanley P. Rosenberg, Project Director
- Dr Pete Jordan, Project Co-Director
- Dr Megan Ulishney, Project Postdoctoral Fellow
Senior Consultants
- Joel Carpenter
Senior Research Fellow, Nagel Institute, Calvin University;
Provost Emeritus, Calvin University, MI - Dorothy F. Chappell
Professor Emeritus Biology, Wheaton College;
Former Academic Dean, Gordon College, MA;
Former Dean of Natural and Social Sciences, Wheaton College, IL - Bruce Congdon
Professor Emeritus Biology, Seattle Pacific University;
Former Dean, College of Arts and Sciences and Interim Provost, Seattle Pacific University, WA - Mark Sargent
Senior Fellow, Westmont College;
Former Provost, Westmont College, CA and Gordon College, MA
Consultants
- Channon Visscher
Associate Professor Chemistry & Planetary Sciences;
Director, Andreas Center for Scholarship and Service,
Dordt University, IA - Christopher B. Newman
Associate Professor, Department of Higher Education,
School of Behavioral and Applied Sciences,
Azusa Pacific University, CA - Amanda Nichols
Chair, Division of Natural and Health Sciences
College of Professional Studies
Professor of Chemistry
Oklahoma Christian University
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