ATHENS, Ohio -- The Baker Fund Awards Committee awarded $94,000 in April to fund 12 faculty research projects ranging from a study of the effects of welfare reform on low-income families to research on 150 million-year-old rock formations in Utah.

The committee, currently made up of six faculty members from various disciplines, reviews faculty and staff grant proposals for up to $10,000 for research, scholarship and creative projects that are near completion. This year the committee received 22 proposals. The committee forwards its recommendations to Ohio University President Robert Glidden, who makes the final selection for awards.

The Baker Awards Program has funded scholarly activities in a wide variety of areas ranging from projects in fine arts to engineering. The funding rate is typically around 50 percent, providing an excellent opportunity for faculty and staff to obtain funding for the completion of their scholarly activities," said Bonita Biegalke, chair of the Baker Fund Awards Committee and an associate professor of biomedical sciences.

In the past seven years, the Baker Fund has funded 68 proposals with funds provided by the Ohio University Foundation.

A list of the recipients of the 2002 awards:

• Elliot Abrams, a professor of sociology and anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $3,100 to fund radiocarbon dating of charcoal remnants from his 1998 excavation of an Adena Native American village in Athens County. The dating will complete the project, establishing a chronology of site occupation. Abrams believes the site was home to an Adena community from 1800 B.C. to A.D. 200.

• Don Jordan, an assistant professor of theater in the College of Fine Arts, received $6,710 to fund costumes, puppets, masks and video for an original two-man performance piece titled Oh Gismonda. The production, which Jordan has spent over a year developing and rehearsing, will be performed at venues in New England this summer.

• Guy Goodwin, associate professor of art in the College of Fine Arts, received $8,530 to purchase supplies including polycarbonate blocks with aluminum frames and fluorescent lights that he will use to create new paintings. Goodwin applies text, fiberglass resin and pigment onto the manufactured forms to make contemporary art that explores ideas about commercial signs and their meaning in daily life.

• Audrone Biknevicius, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, received $6,324 for the purchase of equipment that will help her examine data collected from a four-year study of locomotor development in dogs. Biknevicius records the limb movement and posture of dogs while they walk or run across a runway in her lab.

• Gursel Suer, a professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, received $9,000 to fund a graduate assistant position to aid in Suer's studies of machine scheduling in the manufacturing process. Suer is examining how to sequence mechanized jobs and allocate resources to optimize manufacturing output.

• Donald Holzschu, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $9,162 to finish his study of how retroviruses create tumors in fish. Holzschu examines the seasonal cycle of tumor growth and regression affecting the walleye fish, research which could shed light on the mechanisms of viral infections.

• Erika Zettner, an assistant professor of hearing, speech and language sciences in the College of Health and Human Services, received $9,997 to finish her study of sound emissions from the inner ear. This research will provide more information about the auditory system and will aid in the development of treatment technologies for hearing loss.

• Gregory Nadon, assistant professor of geological sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $9,122 to fund six weeks of fieldwork collecting data needed to conclude a study of ancient rock formations in Utah. The results of his study of these 150 million-year-old rocks will help scientists better understand the climate of that time period, as well as the fossils found in the region.

• Savas Kaya, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, received $10,000 to fund a graduate assistant position to assist with Kaya's development of a computer simulation of nanoscale metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors, which are the basic building blocks of microchips. These silicon semiconductors are currently in use in high-tech devices such as digital processors and re-programmable memory cells.

• Jerry Miller, an assistant professor of interpersonal communications in the College of Communication, and Ann Gordon, an assistant professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $6,000 for their study of television advertisements from congressional election campaigns. Their research examines campaign strategies used by women and minorities running for office and how they impact voter decisions.

• Julie Suhr, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $9,100 for her study of older individuals' fears of developing Alzheimer's disease. Results of her research may lead to a better understanding of non-disease factors that influence fear of Alzheimer's disease, work that could aid in the development of interventions to minimize unnecessary concern about the disease.

• Margaret Manoogian, an assistant professor of human and consumer sciences in the College of Human and Consumer Sciences, received $7,093 for her study of how welfare reform has impacted 30 rural low-income families in West Virginia. Her project is part of a national research study of welfare reform, which will provide officials and policymakers with information regarding rural poverty.

Faculty interested in applying for the 2002-2003 Baker Fund Awards must turn in proposals by January 15, 2003. Funding for fiscal year 2003 will increase to $12,000 maximum per award.