Faculty Receive Global Awards for Research Initiatives

Penn Global has announced it will support 21 new faculty-led research and engagement projects at a total funding level of $1.2 million, including 10 projects led by Penn Arts & Sciences faculty. The Penn Global Research and Engagement Grant Program prioritizes projects involving leading scholars and practitioners at Penn and beyond to develop new insights on global issues in key countries and regions around the world.

Disciplines span the humanities, social sciences, and natural and applied sciences, and projects will engage Africa, India, China, Latin America, the Caribbean, or multiple regions.

“These awards represent Penn’s commitment to global engagement as a critical part of the University’s research, teaching, and service missions,” says Penn Global’s Director of Strategic Initiatives Scott Moore. “We are especially excited to support several multi-region projects, which will help Penn enhance its contributions to understanding and addressing critical global issues, including climate change, public health, and emerging technologies.”

Penn Global will host a symposium on April 27 at Perry World House to introduce the new projects. Research topics led by Penn Arts & Sciences faculty are as follows:

MULTI-REGIONAL PROJECTS

• Enchanted Geography: India in the West African Popular Imagination—David Amponsah, Presidential Assistant Professor of Africana Studies
• Global Lives of Medicines: Materials, Markets, and Healing Practices across Asia—Hsiao-Wen Cheng, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
• Sighting Black Girlhood in Philadelphia, Jamaica, and South Africa—Deborah Thomas, R. Jean Brownlee Term Professor of Anthropology

PROJECTS ENGAGING AFRICA

• Local Histories of Climate Change in the Horn of Africa—Lee Cassanelli, Associate Professor of History
• Penn Development Research Institute (PDRI) Fellowship for African Scholars—Guy Grossman, Professor of Political Science
• African Dark Earths: Climate Mitigation and Sustainable Agriculture—Alain Plante, Professor of Earth and Environmental Science

PROJECTS ENGAGING INDIA & CHINA

• Kerala Maritime Communities Project—Thomas Tartaron, Associate Professor of Classical Studies
• Understanding India’s Urban Future—Tariq Thachil, Madan Lal Sobti Associate Professor for the Study of Contemporary India and Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India

PROJECTS ENGAGING THE AMERICAS

• Water Rights at the interface of New Constitutionalism, Climate Change, and Extractivism in Latin America—Kristina Lyons, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
• Galapagos Climate Change Adaptation Americas—Michael Weisberg, Bess W. Heyman President's Distinguished Professor and Chair of Philosophy / Co-Director, Galápagos Education and Research