Wayne State University Law School Assistant Professor Kirsten Carlson has been awarded a $250,000 grant for the university from the National Science Foundation. Carlson will use the grant to conduct a two-year research project - "Legal Mobilization, Rights Claims, and Federal Indian Policy Reforms" - that aims to develop a better understanding of how, when and with what success American Indian nations use the political process to change the law. "I will also incorporate the research into several classes, which will train students about legislative advocacy. This is a great opportunity for students interested in advocacy to learn more about legal mobilization, advocacy strategies and the success and failure of advocacy strategies." The project begins officially May 1, but the professor already has developed a legislative database of all identifiable bills related to Indians that were introduced and/or enacted by Congress between 1975 and 2011 - a dataset of 6,968 bills. Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson noted that National Science Foundation grants are prestigious and that Carlson secured the grant on her first application, something that isn't common. "We congratulate Kirsten on being awarded the grant and on her important work in this study to provide more information about how American Indian nations are affected by the law-making process," Benson said.