2023-24 Grants

Dan Bogan, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental studies and sciences, and two recent graduates have been selected as 2024 CSC fellows through the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to pursue their proposed project “Seeking First Growth and Old Growth Forests of the Catskill Region Through a Process of Elimination and Evaluation.” Dr. Bogan received $15,000 in funding which will be used to develop a methodology to identify areas of the Catskills that are not only old growth (developed over a long period of time without disturbance), but first growth, which means forest that has never been logged or disturbed. The Catskills are one of the major sources of drinking water for New York City, so the team’s research could provide a greater understanding of the natural ecosystem used to protect the water’s purity. The students will also receive an educational and career experience that meets the research needs of environmental resource managers in the region.

Dr. Teresco, received a grant of $49,843 from the National Science Foundation.  Dr. Teresco and his collaborators on the SIGCSE Committee on Computing Education in Liberal Arts Colleges will develop and deliver a series of workshops for faculty, organized around a curriculum design workbook to support curricular innovation in computer science programs at liberal arts colleges. The workbook provides a process faculty can follow to align their curriculum with their unique institutional and departmental mission and context, informed by international curricular standards. This will, in turn, broadly impact the students who complete CS programs with innovative curricula and have a broad societal impact at a national level, helping to fill the nation’s needs for a workforce trained in technical skills grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation.

Received a $291,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.  This project prioritizes having a diverse student body and allows for Siena undergraduate students the opportunity to observe, develop data analysis and computational skills, and to be members of an international collaboration.  With collaboration from the University of Kansas, Physics and Astronomy Department the primary objective of this grant is to understand how the gas content and star-formation properties of galaxies are altered as they move through the cosmic web and enter galaxy clusters, the densest regions of the Universe.  Also as a part of this grant Siena will run summer workshops to train high school physics teachers, and to teach relevant science and observational techniques to interested teachers. It will also provide 6 astronomy/space science programs per year for Girls Scouts, reaching 150- K-12 students per year. 

Was awarded a three-year grant of $252,000 from the National Science Foundation.  Dr. Bellis collaborates closely with the Cornell High Energy Physics group and is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland . Siena students will be able to engage in physics research on one of the most exciting experiments in the field. The Siena group will work on searches for baryon-number violating decays of the top quark, novel uses of the CMS detector for indirect detection of dark matter, efforts to upgrade the detector, data preservation of the CMS data set, and innovative outreach activities. The involvement of Siena with CMS analysis continues the transformation of the Physics department into a top-flight destination for undergraduate education and research. The resources provided will support not only the activities taking place at Siena, but related activities reaching out to high schools in the upstate-NY area.  

Siena received a $20,400 grant from the Glenn W. Bailey Foundation for a Design and Prototyping Summer Experience camp for local high school students who are from underrepresented and/or underserved populations in the STEM fields.  The camp, spearheaded by Siena's Physics Department's Dr. Pashayi, will focus on the engineering design process by creating functional products and processes. The goal of this immersive experience is to ignite students' interest in STEM, foster their creativity, enhance problem-solving abilities, and introduce a deep comprehension of the engineering design process involved in turning ideas into engineering products. 

Siena received a $10,000 grant from the Koch Foundation, Inc.  This grant will be administered by Br. Michael Perry as part of the  Laudato Si' Center for Integral Ecology at Siena.  This project seeks to develop faith-inspired materials that might be used in the classroom and online. It will develop teaching modules that communicate the central aspects of Pope Francis's encyclical. It will propose opportunities for seminars and conferences focused on the principles of Catholic social teaching as they relate to the encyclical and to care for the poor and the planet. These will be made available to college and high school students in several other countries, including but not limited to, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam, and Kenya by way of the network of Franciscan schools. 

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation (MCHF) awarded Siena College $675,000 for a multi faceted Healthcare Career Pipeline program, grant that aims to address the immediate and severe need to develop a diverse healthcare workforce now as well as to inspire the next generation of caregivers to the rewarding field of healthcare.  Siena will conduct a three tier outreach program to build interest in healthcare careers among K-12 students specifically focusing on students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in higher education and healthcare workforce.

Received $718 from the ALPhA Immersions Support Grant through the Jonathan Reichert Foundation.    ALPhA (Advanced Laboratory Physics Association), offers Immersion experiences for faculty to visit other institutions and learn how to implement an experiment or apparatus for use at their home institution. The Jonathan Reichert Foundation offers financial support to help purchase equipment related to the Immersion, the grant will support purchase of a receiver for the radio telescope at Siena. 

$40,000 grant from The Boeing Company to develop The Boeing Women in Leadership Initiative at Siena which will support development of women as future leaders and innovators.  A female student will receive $5,000 annually for four years that is enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program in Siena’s School of Business. Siena can host high profile women leaders in business, STEM, government or other fields for a campus presentation. Also The Boeing Women in Entrepreneurship Award in the amount of $1,000, to be presented to a woman or all-female team who enter the College’s Spark Tank competition. 

$100,000 from Highmark’s Blue Fund for Siena’s Interprofessional Complex Care Teams (Hotspotting) Teams program. Hotspotting is a health care method aimed at reducing costs while improving patient health and experience by identifying “super-utilizers” (those with frequent hospital visits or admissions), and provides hands-on, individualized interventions for patients with complex social and health care needs. The Siena Interprofessional Complex Care Teams include social work, nursing and health studies students. Under the guidance of a faculty member, these teams work together with high risk individuals in the community to improve their social, health and mobility issues.

$40,000 from the Willits Foundation.  The Willits Foundation grant provides funding to help with costs associated with Siena’s Student Bonner Leaders to their nonprofit sites which are located in the most underserved areas of the Capital Region.

$5,000 from Enterprise Rent-a-Car Foundation to form a campus wide faculty committee to develop Career Readiness Competencies and infuse the competencies into course curriculum.  

$3,000 from Highmark Community Grants Fund for a speaker series with speakers who specialize in mental health advocacy for emerging adults and an author/speaker for suicide prevention.  The speaker series will be held in partnership with Siena’s student lead chapter of Active Minds.

Part of the $675,000 will be used for Four to six Mother Cabrini Health Foundation nursing scholarships to students who enroll in Siena’s Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in nursing (Siena/Maria College Dual Degree) program and demonstrate exceptional financial need. Siena’s Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in nursing (Siena/Maria College Dual Degree) program is an innovative partnership between Siena and Maria Colleges, offering a seamless educational pathway to a nursing degree. $10,000 from Cohoes Savings Foundation for scholarships for non-traditional students.  A non-traditional student is defined as a student who is over the age of 22 in their first term of undergraduate study with a combination of the following characteristics; have a full-time job, have children, single parent, financially independent of their parents, military Veterans and/or professionals in professions where credentialing and requirements to maintain credentials have changed and now require a four-year bachelor degree.  

$1,500 from Highmark Community Grants Fund for Siena College’s WAYFINDERS Mentoring program which is an extension of its Mentoring program which has been in existence for over 40 years.  The WAYFINDERS program is designed for high risk teens of underserved areas of Albany who have aged out of existing mentoring programs run by Siena College.  The focus of the WAYFINDER program is to expose teens to a variety of pathways post high school as well as cultural and educational opportunities in a fun and supportive environment.  

$20,000 from the Dominic Ferraioli Foundation for the AMC Summer of Service program. Students are required to perform two summers of service, one while at Siena and another while at Albany Medical College. These service activities will largely be done in areas where the population is underserved. The students may travel abroad or remain in the United States depending on their interests. This unique part of the program, combined with Siena's strong emphasis on a broad based scientific and liberal arts curriculum, gives our students a profound depth of knowledge, understanding, and compassion when they enter their medical careers. The Summer of Service typically lasts four to six weeks.