The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art has received $9,500 in funding for programs related to its Art and the River Project.

The museum received two awards for its “Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th-century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society” exhibition on display through Dec. 13.The first is a $1,000 sponsorship award from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area to help support promotional efforts for the college’s Nov. 7 symposium being held in conjunction with exhibition. The second is a $2,500 quadricentennial mini-grant award from the New York Council on the Humanities will support public education and outreach programs related to the exhibition. Both awards came through the Research Foundation and Office of Sponsored Funds.

Funding for Greg Miller’s “Panorama of the Hudson River,” also on display through Dec. 13, includes $3,500 from the Furthermore Foundation, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, to support publication costs of an exhibition catalog and $2,500 from SUNY Press to go toward the book’s printing costs. The book is scheduled to come out in mid-September.

The Evolutionary Studies program has received $211,387 in funding from the National Science Foundation to increase the number of evolution-related curricular offerings and to support undergraduate research projects that apply evolutionary analysis at the college.

Three course proposals were selected to receive support: Kerry Dean Carso (Art History) will develop “Nature and Science in Nineteenth-century American Art”; Alex Bartholomew (Geology) will develop “Evolution of Reefs through Time,” which will include a field excursion to a research site in the Bahamas; and Jed Mayer (English) will work on “Literature and Culture in the Age of Darwin.”

“We are very excited about the breadth of the additional courses that will soon be available to EvoS students and the entire campus,” said Glenn Geher, director of the program.

Recipients will receive a summer salary stipend and guidance through the course submission process.

Additionally, four summer undergraduate research projects will be funded through the National Science Foundation. Jacyln Martin ‘09 (Geology) and Alex Bartholomew (Geology) will explore “The Coordinated Stasis hypothesis with a field investigation of biofacies within the Middle Devonian Hamilton Group.” Rachel Carmen ‘09 (Psychology) and Corwin Senko (Psychology) will investigate “Women’s Attraction to Men with Different Styles of Humor.” Zuchra Zakirova ‘10 (Biology, English) will work with Jeff Reinking (Biology) to answer the question of “When did nuclear receptors evolve the capability to bind heme?” Finally, Jannett Dinsmore ‘09 (Biology) and Aaron Haselton (Biology) will study the “Effect of Dietary Restriction on Fruit Fly Stress Resistance Responses.”

The faculty and student members will receive a supply budget, a stipend for their efforts over the five-week period, and the students will also receive a cost-of-living allowance.

For more information about these programs, visit the Evolutionary Studies Web site at www.newpaltz.edu/EvoS.

IDMH conference receives funding

The Institute for Disaster Mental Health recently received a $48,125 federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for its 2009 conference. “In the Wake of Disaster: Effective Mental Health Interventions” will be held on April 17 and will provide health and mental health professionals with the latest evidence-based research for caring for victims of natural and man-made disasters.

CRREO receives federal grant

The Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) was awarded a $286,899 grant by the U.S. Department of Education.

Gerald Benjamin, associate vice president for regional engagement and CRREO director, said the Congressionally directed grant, secured by Sen. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, will be used to develop measures of Hudson Valley communities’ social, economic and environmental character that are broadly accepted and allow for the tracking of change.

“This is a great early initiative for CRREO and a project that could be of central importance for the future of the Hudson Valley,” said Benjamin. “I am grateful for Senator Schumer’s support, and look forward to engaging community leaders with CRREO in this effort.”

Teaching materials will also be developed on the environmental/developmental nexus for use in college courses, and other materials will be prepared for distribution to local government decision makers. Publication of these measures by the center will continue as a regular project of the center, Benjamin added.

For more information about the center, visit www.newpaltz.edu/crreo.