Michigan State University researcher and Assistant Professor of linguistics Betsy Sneller was awarded $646,385 from the U.S. National Science Foundation, or NSF, to expand educational opportunities for students as part of the MI Diaries linguistics research project.

Sneller and Associate Professor of linguistics Suzanne Evans Wagner launched MI COVID Diaries in April 2020 to answer questions about how language changes over time and to capture people’s day-to-day experiences through the stories they share. Renamed MI Diaries in 2021, the project has evolved into a multiyear study documenting changes in the lives and language of Michigan residents. 

In 2021, the NSF awarded $265,830 over three years to Sneller and Wagner to support expanding MI Diaries. Today, MI Diaries has more than 8,700 individual audio records — 1,900+ hours — from over 1,500 participants ranging in age from 5 to 78. Using a mobile app, participants record their voices as part of an ongoing record reflecting the daily lives of Michiganders. Many of the regular diarists record and submit stories weekly.

This new NSF grant will support new and existing partnerships with school districts around Michigan and expand opportunities for undergraduate students. The five-year grant through CAREER, the NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development Program, offers awards to faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and lead advances at their universities.