色界吧

A professor and students in Iceland

Faculty-Led Richter research and creative practice projects make a big impact on students and faculty at 色界吧.

PAST PROJECTS

The next chapter of Richter research continues its innovative format. This exciting opportunity expands our ability to engage students in faculty mentored impactful research and creative practice.

  • Faculty guide groups of two to three students through an international project for two to three weeks over the summer.
  • Students work on independent projects that support an overall research question or creative practice related to the faculty member’s area of expertise.
  • Students are supported through the process of selecting their objective by the faculty member and given basic tools that will allow them to run their short-term project independently. Faculty mentors are available for guidance as needed and aid in tying components together at the end of the experience.
  • Faculty members from any discipline interested in leading a group of students submit an application to the IPO detailing the proposed coursework and methods and the anticipated impact of their research or creative practice.

The International Programs Committee reviews applications for strength of the proposed program and its ability to place students in dynamic independent project situations. Following the decision of the committee, selected projects are announced on the IPO website. Interested students submit an application that demonstrates a clear project idea, as it relates to the topic, and willingness to work both independently and as part of a larger group. Faculty select their student team, and student participants are subject to the College's mandatory clearance and pre-departure process. 

This new short-term faculty-led Richter format will expand the number of students who are able to take advantage of these high-impact experiences and develop into lifelong leaders and researchers in the international community. Learn more about the  Interested applicants should meet early in January with Julie Santos to explore potential project ideas and discuss any questions or concerns.

Deadlines

  • Summer 2025 Project Implementation *renewal option: November 8, 2024

          (*projects that have run in the past 2 years)

  • Winter/Summer 2026 Project Implementation (new proposals): February 3, 2025

  

Richter Project Timelines

色界吧 professor Vivian Lin with three of her students posing in Nepal

“This was such a special opportunity to engage in practice-based research alongside Occidental students. Students learned how to work with a community partner, listening and reflecting on their needs to develop a media curriculum for young women in Nepal. Together, we were able to innovate teaching practices and in teaching my students to teach, I feel that this really benefited my own pedagogical practice as well.”

Vivian Lin
Professor + project leader, Nepal

Faculty-Led Richter Creative Practice & Research Participants

Term Faculty Name Department Theme/Project Description Country # Students
Summer 2024 Alexandria Pivovaroff Biology ARABICA - Are Rubiaceae able to respond to Increasing environmental change? Understanding Rubiaceae light, carbon dioxide, and vapor pressure deficit limits Costa Rica 7
Summer 2024 Vivian Lin Media Arts & Culture Voices of Women Media - Participatory Video Curriculum Development and Workshop Nepal 3

Winter 2024

Amber Stubler Biology Recruitment patterns of coral reef organisms in Discovery Bay, Jamaica Jamaica 2
Summer 2023 Shana Goffredi Biology Endosymbionts of sap-sucking insects Costa Rica 3
Summer 2023 Gretchen North Biology Investigating leaf heat tolerance for a common tank bromeliad, Werauhia gladioliflora, after drought and rehydration Costa Rica 3
Summer 2023 Beth Braker Biology Census of trees in the La Selva Arboretum / Habitat and spatial occurence of three species of poison dart frog Costa Rica 5
Summer 2023 Stephanie Nelli Cognitive Science Language scaffolding: neural signatures of cross-language magnitude comparisons Thailand 2
Winter 2023 Amanda Zellmer Biology Predicting the spread of invasive frogs across the Galapagos Islands Ecuador 2
Summer 2022 Shana Goffredi Biology Tropical insect symbioses Costa Rica 3
Summer 2022

Gretchen North

Biology Heat tolerance for leaves of tank bromeliads; digital collections Costa Rica 2
Summer 2022 Beth Braker Biology Growth and survival of early life stages of the tropical tree Pentaclethra macroloba Costa Rica 5
Summer 2019 Amber Stubler Biology

A Decade of Change: understanding spatial and temporal patterns of coral reef communities from 2009-2021

Jamaica 3
Summer 2019 Alexandra Puerto History Liberation Theology, Indigenous Rights, and Community Health in Chiapas Mexico 3
Summer 2019 Darren Larsen Geology Quantifying the relative roles of climate and human activity in driving landscape dynamics and ecosystem changes in the Icelandic highlands Iceland 2
Contact International Programs
McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, Johnson 102