UCM Luce Initiative
Summer Luce Fellowship
Application Deadline: Monday, November 27, 2023
As part of our efforts to build capacity for community-engaged research, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, we will be offering up to eight summer fellowships ($7000) connected to graduate student enrichment experiences, including participation in research with one of two faculty-led summer projects sponsored through this initiative, as well as participation in the Summer Institute for Community-Engaged Scholarship (May 20-21, 2024).
Fellows will have the opportunity to gain skills and experience, for example, through:
Community Engagement and Scholarly Research:
Building community and gaining insight into non-profit organizations and professional experiences through community partner and organization activities (interviews, observations, strategic planning, etc.)
Working collectively and demonstrating leadership, creativity, and resourcefulness appropriate to the community partner/organization and project.
Developing expertise and skills in areas such as ethnographic research, archival work, educational programming, communication, writing, and digital/other technologies
Applying project objectives and timeline as well as the community partner/organization’s overarching missions, when working on the research project
Mentorship with lead project faculty and research team.
Qualifications include being in good academic standing and having made progress to degree, according to campus and program policies. The application asks for a summary and reflection on experiences with community-engaged research and associated skills, including special projects, volunteer activity, coursework, training, and academic experience. Also valued are experiences with teamwork and/or collaborations with community partners. Graduate students at all levels are invited to consider this opportunity, with faculty advisor support as an application requirement.
Commitments associated with this fellowship include:
○ A plan (with key activities and milestones) for spring/summer activities by February 2024 submitted and approved by project faculty lead
○ One-on-one or team meeting with Emily Lin of the UC Merced Library to discuss digital humanities elements of research plan
○ Participate in research team group study during Spring 2024 as organized by faculty lead. This is designed for team building, familiarization with community engaged research practices, and developing specific plans for Summer research.
○ Attendance at Spring 2024 Luce workshops, which will be held approximately once a month are strongly encouraged.
○ Full participation in the Summer Institute for Community-Engaged Scholarship, May 20-21, 2024
○ Participate in a Fall 2024 Luce workshop to present on summer research
○ Submit a one-page report on activities by Friday, September 20, 2024
To apply for this fellowship, please submit the application information below and attach the following documents:
○ Unofficial UCM Transcript
○ Curriculum Vitae (CV)
○ Email from Faculty Advisor (that certifies their endorsement of your application with a 1-2 sentence email - please do not provide a full reference letter)
The $7,000 fellowship will be disbursed by July 1, 2024.
Financial note: Receiving the fellowship will substitute for summer USAP support. Per federal guidelines, all fellowship and tuition support are taken into consideration when determining student loan eligibility. If the student will receive federal student loans during the same academic year as this award, please note that this award could, and most likely will, reduce their student loan eligibility.
Below is information about the two faculty-led research projects. Applicants are invited to reference at least one of the two projects in their application.
From the Past to the Present: Exploring Linguistic Landscape and Language Diversity in Merced
Yiran Xu and Jiajun Liang
Merced, boasting a rich, diverse demographic with a plentitude of languages spoken by its inhabitants, is a fertile ground for exploring the dynamics of linguistic representation in public spaces. The current project focuses on the concept of “Linguistic Landscape” which refers to “the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region” (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p. 23). We explore two research questions: 1) How does the linguistic landscape of Merced reflect its language diversity? 2) How does the linguistic landscape of Merced evolve over time? The current exploration into the linguistic landscapes serves as a lens to examine the multilingual reality against its representation in public space in Merced and unravel the historical tapestry of Merced’s linguistic landscape in a temporal frame.
Graduate student researchers will 1) photograph public signs within selected communities in Merced, 2) interview local residents, business owners, and policymakers to gain insights into the linguistic landscape, and 3) conduct archival research in collaboration with community partner, Sarah Lim, Director and Archivist of Merced Courthouse Museum. Potential target communities for study include restaurants and food trucks, markets (e.g., farmers’ market, flea market), churches, local government offices (e.g., library, Social Security Office, DMV), and transportation hubs (e.g., bus stops, train station, airport). The selection of communities will be strategic, based on the research team’s linguistic background and research interests. Graduate student researchers have opportunities to present the study to local, national, and international audience. Students who speak multiple languages (particularly Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Punjabi) are highly encouraged to apply.
Rock Art Heritage Preservation Project: Democratizing Rock Art in the Metaverse--Continued
Holley Moyes
The Rock Art Heritage Preservation Project will digitally record rock art sites in Merced and Mariposa counties and produce digital twins that will be virtual 3D interactive images of the art and the surrounding geographic and topographic contexts, allowing us to create virtual interactive displays that can be shared with our primary community partner and/or other select stakeholders, including the Sierra Southern Miwuk Tribal Council. This project will contribute to the Tribal Community as a form of cyber-placemaking and create anchors for social memory. By valorizing these sites, their importance to the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation will be demonstrated and elevated, reifying the community’s deep cultural heritage and bringing awareness to the community itself as well as other local groups. Students involved with the project will be invited but not required to attend all planning meetings as team members so that they can gain first-hand experience in community-based research working and negotiating with various constituencies. Additionally, they will learn valuable skills in digital heritage and oral history collection such as ethnographic surveys and data collection, photogrammetric techniques, and working with 3D point clouds, processing and post-processing image data, fusion of complementary data sets, and modeling 3D images. We are also looking for a student interested in collecting oral histories.
