The Cornell Jewish Studies Program supports independent student research through its Summer Travel and Research Grants. Cornell students may apply for funding to conduct archival or field research in Jewish studies. Students may also use summer funding to take advantage of learning opportunities not otherwise available on the Cornell campus. These student research opportunities are made possible with the support of the Pearl and Otto Delikat Holocaust Memorial Fund.
In past years, graduate students have used their grant funding to travel abroad to do critical research for their dissertations, or taken unique and meaningful summer courses at other universities.
Itamar Haritan, an anthropology graduate student, traveled to Israel in the summer of 2021. "Support from the Pearl and Otto Delikat Holocaust Memorial Fund made my research this past summer possible,” says Haritan. “I was able to interview dozens of people for my project on Polish Jewish hometown associations.”
Re’ee Hagay, Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern studies, has received funding to conduct archival research at the National Library in Jerusalem. “The diversity of perspectives - traditional and progressive, nationally-oriented and critical - fascinate and challenge me as I am back in Ithaca, writing journal articles and dissertation chapters,” says Hagay. This past summer he spent time in Israel, digitizing rare footage by the late cinematographer Eli Hamo, whose unfinished documentary work and utopian vision are at the center of another project he is working on.
Jaimie Luria, graduate student in anthropology, was able to travel to Israel in early 2020. “Having the ability to travel to Israel in the early weeks of 2020 allowed me to establish essential community connections and field sites for my future studies of immersion pools across Israel. It is largely due to the Jewish Studies Pearl and Otto Delikat Fund's generous support that I had the opportunity to bridge my dissertation interests in conducting ethnographic research in Israel and my current investigations of ritual purification practices across archeological and contemporary spaces.”
“The Jewish Studies Program is pleased to be able to resume funding for undergraduate research in 2022,” says Professor Deborah Starr, director of the Jewish Studies Program. The program welcomes application from undergraduate students and graduate students. The application deadline is February 15, 2022. Students with questions about the program or about the application process may contact Prof. Starr at das86@cornell.edu.
