Grants from corporations, foundations, and government agencies support everything from building construction to program development to individual faculty research. Here are grants recently awarded to Hampshire.

Institutional Grants

• The College was awarded $534,000 from the Department of Energy for the renovation and revitalization of the Charles and Polly Longsworth Arts Village, including the installation of a solar canopy. The project will produce 47mwh of renewable power annually, and will also serve as a project site for students and faculty investigating the latest clean energy technologies and the real-time decrease in the campus’s carbon footprint.


• The National Science Foundation awarded Hampshire College an S-STEM grant for $450,000 to support women and minority transfer students from community colleges into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields at Hampshire. The grant will run for five years, providing financial assistance to as many as 20 STEM transfer students each year. Learn more about STEM students at Hampshire.


• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation awarded Hampshire College $250,000 to the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program (CLPP) to develop young leaders for the reproductive rights movement.

Faculty Grants

• Professor Dulasiri Amarasiriwardena and Dean of Faculty Alan Goodman were awarded $120,000 from the National Science Foundation to support the purchase of a new laser ablation system with applications for their ongoing work in the New York African Burial Ground project, the Andean Mummy project, and the identification and characterization of soil contaminants in the Pioneer Valley.


• Professor Salman Hameed was awarded $381,500 from the National Science Foundation for his research on acceptance of biological evolution and perspectives on science and religion among Muslim physicians and medical students. In partnership with John Hopkins University, Professor Hameed will visit a dozen countries to interview doctors and medical students.


• Professor Charlene D’Avanzo was awarded $165,000 from the National Science Foundation for her research on difficulties with principled reasoning about biological processes. It builds upon a Phase I project that assessed student understanding of specific topics in biology and used active learning strategies in those areas. Four key components inform her current work with other instructors: Diagnostic Question Clusters; Tools for Active Learning; Workshops and Support Networks; and Research on Teaching and Learning.


• Professor Sarah Partan was awarded a Whiting Foundation Fellowship of $5,121 to continue her groundbreaking research in biorobotics while on sabbatical in Spain. In the relatively new field of ethorobotics, Professor Partan studies animal behavior using "biological life forms to inspire robotic design." She will meet with researchers in Castellon, learning how to make more effective robotic models of gray squirrels, and developing a new project to study red squirrel behavior.