Every young faculty member needs a little boost now and then.

And grants represent the best boost of all.

This year, 15 of UC Davis’ newest faculty members got some big help in the form of individual grants from the Hellman Family Foundation in San Francisco. Altogether, these faculty will receive about $248,000 in total funding.

The idea is to spur the research quests of the newest faculty members on campus — those who often have promising research plans, but lack the stable funding of more established faculty.

Under the guidelines, the Hellman fellows must have completed at least two years as an assistant professor and submitted a compelling research proposal. The duration of the award is normally one year, but if the awardee does not spend it all in the grant year, he/she may request permission to spend the carryover amount in a second year.

All the foundation asks in return — beyond adding to society’s knowledge base, of course — is that the recipients have lunch next spring with Warren and Chris Hellman, the philanthropists behind the foundation. Warren is an investment banker and UC Berkeley alumnus.

Th 2009-10 Hellman fellowships started on July 1. The recipients and their research topics are:

• Jochen Ditterich — Center for Neuroscience, “Neural Mechanisms of Flexible Decision-Making,” $21,000.
• Matthias Geiger — Art, “Parallel Universe,” $17,465.
• Alissa Kendall — Civil and Environmental Engineering, “GHG Accounting for Capturing the Effects of Emissions Timing on Climate Change,” $15,000.
• Susan Verba — Design Program, “Get Out Safe: Designing Emergency Exit Maps That Work,” $11,360.
• Carlos Francisco Jackson — Chicana and Chicano Studies, “Mapping/Documenting the Chicano Social Seriography Movement,” $11,000.
• Archana Venkatesan — Comparative Literature and Religious Studies, “Text and Performance at the Alvar Tirunagari Temple, South India,” $11,000.
• Ryan Galt — Human and Community Development, “Sustainable Food Networks in California’s Central Valley: Learning and Collaboration in Community-Supported Agriculture,” $19,000.
• Andrew Marshall — Anthropology, “From Individuals to Landscapes: Long Term Perspectives on the Reproduction of Bornean Rainforest Plants,” $25,500.
• Burkhard Schipper — Economics, “Hormones and Competitive Behavior,” $20,000.
• Ali Anooshahr — History, “Moral Politics & the Crisis of the 17th Century,” $17,000.
• Cheryl Boudreau — Political Science, “Conflicting Cues, Consistent Opinions? The Effect of Party Labels, Polls, and Endorsements on Public Opinion,” $20,000.
• Katharine Graf Estes — Psychology, “The Development of Mapping Sounds to Meanings in Early Word Learning,” $20,000.
• Brian Trainor — Psychology, “Rapid Effects of Estrogens on Behavior,” $20,000.
• Michael McQuarrie — Sociology, “From Urban Populism to Foreclosure Crisis: The Rise and Decline of Markets in Community Development,” $20,000.

Here is how the review process Hellman review panel is appointed to review the applications and make a recommendation to the Academic Personnel office for final decision.

Next year’s deadline for Hellman applications will likely be in April. Decisions are usually announced in June. The range of awards is typically from $10,000 to $26,000.

Visit academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu, and click on “awards and fellowships” for Hellman grants information.