Henry J. Copeland Fund for Independent Study

Recent Successful Proposals - Samples

Past Successful Proposals

1. A $1,600 award enabled a Biology major to travel to Guam to study the Brown Tree Snake’s responses to visual and pheromonal stimulation as a first step in constructing a lure to control the population of this devastating predator.

2. A $760 award enabled a Music History major to travel to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. to examine facsimiles of Hector Berlioz’s original work in his study of the composer’s treatise Orchestration and Instrumentation.

3. A $1,272 award enabled an Anthropology major to examine 442 rib cages from the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Skeletal Collection at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. to determine whether or not there is a relationship between autopsy death records and tuberculosis skeletal indicators in a study of the possible relationship between rib lesions and pulmonary tuberculosis.

4. An $806 award enabled an English major to travel to New York City, Indianapolis, and Traverse City to interview three of today’s most significant poets: William Pitt Root, Karen Kovacik, and Michael Delp.

5. History major Charles Laube was awarded $1,150 to spend a week in England gathering research on the development of canal transportation, especially the Grand Union Canal linking Birmingham and London, during and after the Industrial Revolution.

6. French and English double major Liz Farina was awarded $1,560 to travel to France to interview fashion and advertising photographers in Western Europe in her cross-cultural study of images of women in advertising in women’s magazines.

7. Political Science major Kurt Gottfried was awarded $1,175 to travel to Scotland to interview members of parliament in his study of whether devolution of power within a state pre-empts or fuels independence movements.

8. Cultural Area Studies major Molly Keefe was awarded $1,500 to travel to Nicaragua to take photographs and conduct interviews in her study of the use of political graffiti in that country.

9. Communication Studies major Estella Anku was awarded $2,000 to travel to South Africa in her attempt to create a successful AIDS awareness campaign based on traditional African storytelling.

10. English major Claire Frese was awarded $2,000 to travel to South Africa to attend National Youth Day, commemorating those children who died in the Soweto riots, as research for her novella aimed at junior high school students.