Three FSU Projects Awarded Grants

Fairmont State University is the recipient of three awards from the West Virginia Expanded Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Grants Program (EPSCoR). FSU has the distinction this year of being the only college or university to receive more than a single award.

"These types of grant successes are extremely important to the programs in question because they enable them to provide expanded opportunities for students in specific courses. Just as importantly, they create avenues for undergraduates to have unique learning experiences by conducting independent research under the guidance of faculty mentors," said Dr. Phil Mason, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. "I am very proud of the success of our faculty members in pursuing EPSCoR funding."

Dr. Mark Flood, Professor of Biology, and interdisciplinary team members, Dr. Paul Reneau and Dr. Tad Kato, received a $40,000 award and a $20,000 cash match from FSU for their project "Bridging Mind and Body: The Interdisciplinary Study of Human Response in Psychology, Exercise Science, and Biology." The monies will be used to purchase human physiology instrumentation.

"This is an exciting opportunity for FSU students from several disciplines to use state-of-the-art equipment," Flood said. "Students from psychology, exercise science, biology, safety/environmental engineering technology and music will conduct hands-on activities in classes that will help them understand their discipline in a deeper fashion. In addition, this equipment will allow the faculty to be involved in new areas in collaboration with undergraduate students."

Dr Andreas Baur, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, received a $10,000 grant to obtain a new fluorescence detector for high performance liquid chromatography.

Baur said FSU students Adrienne Riggi, a biology and chemistry major, and Gregory Donohoe, a chemistry major, are going to participate in an undergraduate research project involving the new fluorescence detector.

"We plan to investigate the effects of homocysteine on cells; high levels of homocysteine are recognized as risk factor in cardiovascular diseases. The detector is going to be an essential part in determining the concentration of homocysteine and its metabolites in the intra and extracellular matrix," Baur said.

Dr. Sarah Dodson, Assistant Professor of Biology, received a $20,000 grant and a $7,000 match from FSU to purchase a digital imaging system.

Dodson said the digital imaging system will make it possible to visualize and document nucleic acids and proteins. The system is the type found in a laboratory that examines DNA, RNA or proteins in cells.

"The digital imaging system will be used by the students in many of the biology courses as well as being utilized in the ongoing faculty and student research projects at FSU," Dodson said.