Academic Excellence Fund awards $3 million in grants
Archived article from Mar 7, 2005
By Ashanti M. Alvarez
Out of 99 proposals, 33 have been selected to receive Academic Excellence Fund awards this year, totaling $3,175,000.
Many of the awards will promote initiatives relating to existing and emerging areas of excellence within the university – transportation, early childhood education, advanced materials and devices, global studies, criminal justice and homeland security.
“These awards provide the best projects at Rutgers with the seed funding they need
to catapult them to nationally recognized status,” said President Richard L. McCormick. “The awards also will establish excellent research facilities and purchase the equipment necessary to bring these researchers to the forefront of their disciplines.”
The program, in its second year, awards winners grants ranging from $35,000 – to develop the Multiphoton Microscopy facility into a full-service facility for researchers from a wide spectrum of disciplines – to $250,000 to purchase a state-of-the-art Biacore SPR biosensor for analysis of biomolecular interactions. Both projects are intended for shared use among disciplines or schools at Rutgers.
Several of the awards will support scientific research and purchase equipment for use across institutions, such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
The proposed projects are diverse and support projects in the humanities, social
sciences, life sciences and physical sciences. Rayman Solomon, dean of the School of Law-Camden, received $50,000 to fund a conference on free speech in wartime next January.
Mercer Sullivan, associate professor of criminal justice in Newark, received $60,000 for a prisoner re-entry research planning initiative. The funding will go toward a rigorous research base that informs public policy.
The New Brunswick classics department will receive $45,000 to help develop a Web-accessible series of teaching tools and resources to enhance Rutgers’ educational programs in studies of classical literatures and cultures. Corey Brennan, associate professor of classics, prepared the proposal.
One award will go toward boosting Rutgers’ already formidable list of transportation centers that are nationally recognized and funded. Martin Robins, director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, received $160,000 for a feasibility study to establish a Freight Transportation Center of Excellence.
“This was a competitive process, and all of the proposals were impressive. I’m proud that Rutgers is able to provide this important funding despite tough budget times,” McCormick said.
The complete list of winners:
Advancing Rutgers’ Mathematical Leadership - $250,000 (Richard Falk, FAS-NB)
To help advance the department’s position as a leader in mathematics education and research by providing for new faculty hires in strategically developed areas in advance of the faculty retirements anticipated over the next five years.
Aerodynamically Enhanced Plasma Processing of Nano-Coatings/ Powders/Energetics - $50,000(Stephen Tse, School of Engineering)
To support multidisciplinary research and increased collaboration in synthesis, design, characterization and modeling of nanostructured coatings, powders and energetics, establishing Rutgers as a premier center for specific applications and scalable, high-throughput reactors.
A BIAcore Biosensor for Biomolecular Interactions and Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Technology to Support Proteomics Research - $250,000
(Nilgun Tumer, Cook College, and Longqin Hu, School of Pharmacy)
To purchase a state-of-the-art Biacore SPR biosensor for analysis of biomolecular interactions, providing detailed information on binding events for use as a shared instrument by multiple faculty across disciplines, departments and schools.
Bio-Math Connect Institute - $100,000
(Fred Roberts, DIMACS)
To support research into the impact of a multidisciplinary program that explores connecting the mathematical and biological sciences at the high school level. The program will run an experimental summer program in 2005, establishing Rutgers as a national leader in pre-college bio-math.
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