New Honors College Grants Support International Research

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Clio Rom, an honors art history major with minors in Italian and gender studies, is researching the different ways that male and female artists depicted women for her honors thesis, titled "Sitting Pretty: The Depiction of Women and Women's Fashion in Renaissance and Baroque Portraiture." Photo courtesy Clio Rom.

Honors students who need to dig deep into labs, sites or archives abroad to research their honors thesis have a new source of support: The Honors College International Research Grant. Up to $50,000 will be awarded this year to honors students, who must be nominated by their faculty mentor. The grant supports full-time research on the honors thesis, conducted abroad. For students planning to travel in summer or fall 2017, the deadline is Oct. 15. 

"We want to support those students who have a full semester of honors thesis research under their belts and wish to work with a faculty member abroad whose expertise would advance their research," said Jennie Popp, interim associate dean of the Honors College. "This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to go deeper with their research, and for students and faculty mentors to make connections around the world." 

Pilot international research grants have supported a wide range of research topics. This past summer, Honors College Fellow Madeline Meier worked in a lab at the University of Geneva, using thin-layer electrochemistry to analyze quality and environmental indicators in fresh and sea water samples. She worked under the direction of Eric Bakker, an internationally acclaimed expert on chemical sensors.

Clio Rom, an honors art history major with minors in Italian and gender studies, studied differences in how male and female artists depicted women in Baroque and Renaissance paintings. Thanks to a research residency at the National Museum of Antique Art, housed in Rome's Palazzo Barberini, Rom was able to take an especially close, daily look at the political and class symbolism embedded in the fabrics, colors and jewelry adopted by fashionable sitters.

When asked whether such research could have been conducted online and from photos in books, Rom was emphatic: "No photo, high definition or not, will do a painting justice. There are details that you can't see until your nose is two inches away from the painting and the security guard is yelling at you to step back," she said. Rom emphasized the value of libraries and repositories she was able to access in Rome, as well as the mentorship of art historian Consuelo Lollobrigida, a faculty member at the U of A's Rome Center who guided her research in Italy.

"Dr. Lollobrigida steered me in the right direction and provided resources and contacts at museums. She jumped at the opportunity at the Palazzo Barberini - I filled the inaugural research residency there," Rom said. She will finish her honors thesis under the direction of Lynn Jacobs, Distinguished Professor of art history. Read more about Rom's research in the Honors College Blog: "On 16th-century Supermodels, A Shroud & the Male Gaze: 5Qs for Clio Rom." Both Meier and Rom are students in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. 

A second grant funding period with a March 15, 2017, deadline will be offered for research beginning in fall 2017 or spring 2018. Students may apply only once each year for an international research grant. For more information on eligibility and award criteria, visit International Research Grants on the Honors College website.