TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Three doctoral graduate students in The University of Alabama’s department of anthropology have been awarded prestigious National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grants for the 2007-2008 academic year.
Toni Copeland of Tuscaloosa; Meredith Jackson of Tifton, Ga.; and Sarah Szurek of Watertown, N.Y. received a total of more than $38,000 in grants to support their dissertation research in the fields of cultural and medical anthropology.
The three awards were the second largest number received by any university. Four students at the University of Chicago received the NSF Award. Only 50 were awarded nationwide.
“The NSF grant is one of the most prestigious and competitive awards in the country with a very rigorous and detailed application process,” said Dr. Michael Murphy, professor and chairman of the department of anthropology in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Murphy said the awards are also significant because UA’s doctoral program in anthropology is much smaller and younger than other doctoral programs in anthropology that received the student grants. UA’s doctoral anthropology program began in 2003.
Copeland received a grant of $14,320 to conduct research for her dissertation, “Poverty and HIV-Positive Women in Nairobi, Kenya: Cultural Models of Managing HIV/AIDS in the Absence of Biomedical Treatment.” Copeland will analyze whether an association exists between the length of time women have lived in Nairobi and their knowledge of the shared cultural model of managing their illness.
Szurek received a grant of $12,345 for her dissertation, “Cultural Models of Food and Social Networks among Mexican Immigrants in the Southeast United States.” Szurek is interviewing members of the Mexican immigrants living in Tuscaloosa in order to learn about how their dietary practices have changed since leaving Mexico. She is also planning to travel to Mexico to research dietary practices.
Jackson received a grant of $11,997 for her dissertation, “Cultural Models, Stress and Pregnancy Outcomes: Examining Intra-cultural Variation in Jalisco, Mexico.” Jackson has interviewed women from remote rural villages to westernized metropolitan shopping malls around Jalisco to determine if shared cultural models of a culturally-defined “good” pregnancy exist in this area.
Through her research, Jackson will determine if a woman’s ability to follow the accepted model of a good pregnancy is associated with physical and mental health. Jackson hopes that her research will improve prenatal care in Jalisco and other regions of Mexico.
Dr. Kathy Oths, professor of anthropology at UA, serves as the students’ doctoral adviser.
The National Science Foundation’s Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, and Division of Science Resources Statistics award the grants to doctoral students to improve the quality of dissertation research.
They provide funds for data-gathering and field research. Awards are based on the scientific merit of the students’ research proposal, the theoretical importance of the research question and the data and methodology that will be used to address the question.
Contact
Carmen Brown, College of Arts and Sciences, College Relations, 205/348-8539, brown109@bama.ua.edu