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   from the issue of July 15, 2004

     
 
$9 Million To Support EPSCoR Work

 BY KIM HACHIYA, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Four research projects at four Nebraska universities will share $9 million in National Science Foundation funding secured through the Nebraska EPSCoR program. The funded projects include research in nutritional genomics, cell biology, nanomaterials and mobile computing.


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The announcement was made July 6 at an event at UNL.

EPSCoR, Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, is a federal program designed to increase research infrastructure and capacity. Nebraska EPSCoR has four major partners: UNL, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton University.

The projects, each with a three-year life span, are:

• Nutritional Genomics: $4.7 million. The grant creates the Metabolite Signaling Center at UNL to study how the complex chemicals in food (metabolites) influence organisms' growth and development. New genomic technologies have increased the possibility of deciphering such interactions. Project leader is Mike Fromm, professor of agronomy and horticulture and director of the Center for Biotechnology at UNL; co-leader is Judith Christman, professor and chairman of microbiology/molecular biology at UNMC. They will work with a team of scientists from UNL and UNMC. This is a new area of research with possibilities for development of agricultural products that would benefit humans and livestock. Nebraska could become one of the first centers in the nation to focus on this area of science.

• Cell Biology: $1.6 million. The grant creates the Nebraska Center for Cell Biology at Creighton University to study the dynamic behavior of cells using optical imaging technologies. Project leader is Richard Hallworth, associate professor of biomedical sciences at Creighton University; co-leader is Michael Nichols, professor of physics at Creighton University. The team collaborates with researchers at the UNL College of Engineering & Technology in Omaha.

• Nanomaterials Science: $500,000. This funds a planning grant to position Nebraska to submit proposals for large-scale projects in a new class of electronics and sensors: passively cooled high power/high temperature devices. Project leader is Ned Ianno, professor of electrical engineering at UNL; co-leader is Joseph Turner, associate professor of engineering mechanics at UNL. This builds on existing research strengths at UNL in electrospun fibers, nanocrystalline semi-conducting boron carbide materials and radiation-induced chemical vapor deposition fabrication at the nanoscale.

• Mobile Computing: $500,000. This supports a planning grant to establish a center at UNO to develop more secure and robust mobile/wireless computer networks. Project leader is Hesham Ali, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of computer science at UNO; co-leader is Jong-Hoon Youn, assistant professor of computer science at UNO. The project includes researchers at UNO and UNL.

The latest EPSCoR grant continues one project that pays half the salary of student interns placed with state businesses. Since spring 2001, 78 students have been placed in internships in 43 companies. The grant initiates a new project, in which a faculty researcher will be supported to work on an industry-posed problem. Two grants of up to $25,000 each will be offered.

The number and size of the grants could increase in years two and three if the program is well-received by Nebraska industries, said Fred Choobineh, professor of industrial and management systems engineering at UNL and director of Nebraska EPSCoR.


GO TO: ISSUE OF JULY 15

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