CGS Faculty International Research Funding Awards: Spring 2025

Five members of the UW faculty were awarded funding during the CGS International Research Funding spring 2025 cycle. Funding is provided through a partnership with the Center for Global Studies and Research and Economic Development Division.

 

 

Dr. Farida Begum

“Bethune’s First Generation: Muslim Women at Bethune College”

“Bethune’s First Generation: Muslim Women at Bethune College” examines how Bengali women understood Hindu-Muslim interactions in Bethune College in the 1930s and 1940s. Bethune College, located in Calcutta, British India, was the first institution of higher education for women in Asia after it opened its doors as a college in 1879. Despite the heterogeneous population of colonial India, Bethune College did not accept any Muslim students until the twentieth century, with its first Muslim student graduating in 1925. A few other students followed here and there until the 1930s when we see at least three or four Muslim students in every cohort. This article asks: how did the first generation of Muslim girls understand their experiences at Bethune in the 1930s and 1940s? Autobiographies from everyday perspectives of middle-class Bengali Muslim women demonstrate how they experienced friendships in the premier women’s college in the decades before Partition. Women’s experiences of friendship construct a new historical narrative of everyday Hindu-Muslim relationships in Bengal. Central to my argument is that women’s perspectives allow us to re-orient our focus on the social connections between people.

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Dr. Anna Chalfoun

“The downstream influence of repatriation of puma on nesting birds in Patagonia, Argentina”

Large carnivores throughout the world often come into conflict with humans and have been greatly reduced in number or locally extirpated in many places. Yet, large predators can play important roles in the function and structure of ecological communities. I am part of a collaborative project investigating the downstream influence of puma activity on nesting birds in steppe habitats of Patagonia, Argentina. The distribution and numbers of puma have increased in Patagonia in recent years, thanks in part to the establishment of some large parks and other protective measures. Our hypothesis is that puma may benefit nesting birds by reducing the numbers or activity of mesocarnivores that depredate nests. We will assess this by locating and monitoring nests of many species of shrub-nesting birds at 10 plots that span variation in modeled puma and mesopredator activity at two study areas, Monte Leon National Park and Parque Patagonia. The work will enhance broader conceptual understanding of the trophic effects of large carnivores and assist with assessment of the conservation benefits of rewilding.

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Dr. Curt Davidson

“Recreation in a Climate-Impacted Landscape as a Mediating Variable on Climate Action”

As climate change transforms natural landscapes, it also influences human perceptions and behaviors. This research explores how experiencing climate-impacted environments firsthand, specifically through outdoor recreation, affects individuals’ climate awareness and willingness to take climate action. By studying hikers at the Mer de Glace in France, we will examine whether direct exposure to environmental changes leads to increased environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior. Participants will complete surveys before and after their hikes, and we will analyze behavioral responses, including voluntary donations to climate funds. This study contributes to understanding how personal interactions with degraded landscapes can motivate broader climate action, with implications for public engagement and policy strategies worldwide.

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Dr. Morteza Dejam

“Storage Capacity of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in Nanopores of Unconventional Reservoirs”

There is incredible potential in both Wyoming and United Kingdom for the industry to contribute to decarbonization efforts, including implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and waste valorization technologies. To accomplish this, we aim to make the best use of the existing infrastructure available within the chemical engineering and energy and petroleum engineering laboratories in Teesside University and University of Wyoming particularly to collaborate in studying geological storage of CO2.

The proposed partnership will offer new opportunities to both institutions, empowering faculty and students to engage in international collaboration. Teesside University has significantly invested in research and innovation within the Net Zero subject areas, including waste decarbonization as well as hydrogen and CO2 storage in geological formations. The proposed research program aims to establish collaboration with Teesside University and connect with Teesside region where large-scale CO2 storage projects are currently taking place.

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Dr. Michael Dillon

“Thermal biology of bees: preserving pollination services for agriculture across diverse habitats”

Heat waves are increasingly more frequent and intense. Extreme heat not only directly affects humans, but can also profoundly impact insects, including pollinators critical for agricultural and rangeland production. The direct effects of heat waves on pollinators are not well understood and the local conditions that determine pollinator survival and foraging activity are rarely measured. This project will use novel approaches in collaboration with Brazilian, Colombian, and Argentinian colleagues to measure heat tolerance and local conditions for pollinator communities in a wide range of habitats from Wyoming to Patagonia. We will use this information to generate risk maps and mitigation strategies under current and future land use. These products will support the numerous groups that depend on healthy pollinator populations, including agriculture, range management, and government agencies.