[ Golden Gater Online - September 18, 1997 ]
SF State has been awarded a $3 million federal science grant geared toward funding research facilities at schools with large minority-student populations.
SF State is one of seven schools in the country and the only one in California that qualified for the federal money. Nationwide, about 28 universities applied for the grant. The grant money will mainly be used to enhance research facilities at SF State and -- as a result -- increase the competitiveness of graduating students, said Paul Fonteyn, vice president of research and sponsored programs.
"This is significant because it makes SF State a leader in biomedical research," he said
Seven departments are eligible to apply for funding from the grant.
"I was confident we [SF State] would win. The quality of instruction and research here are both outstanding," he said.
SF State's diverse student population was a significant factor in securing the Research Infrastructure at Minority Institutions grant, according to Fonteyn.
Sean Ureta, administrative operations analyst at the office of biomedical research and the administrator of the grant, said the goal of the RIMI grant is to set down an infrastructure for biomedical research at schools that qualify as minority institutions.
According to Ureta, the possibility of developing collaborations with UC Berkeley, Stanford and UC San Francisco also played a role in securing federal funding for SF State.
The universities are the big biomedical research institutions in California, Ureta said. Working closely with these schools could help SF State's reputation as a serious research institution.
As a result, some of the RIMI money has already been allocated to establish closer cooperation with these universities, he said.
"This [developing collaborations] is a good thing to do in terms of enhancing your biomedical research capacity," he said.
Besides earmarking funds to establish collaborations with the universities, a new biochemistry laboratory will be set up in the Health and Human Services building.
In addition, grant money has been used to buy equipment for several departments which are conducting biomedical research, he said.
The RIMI grant will also allocate money to faculty engaging in biomedical research.
"You might have the infrastructure down, but you need individuals to do the research," he said.
The expectation is that faculty will have students assist them in their research, enabling more research to be conducted on campus than before, Ureta said.
Shannon Perry, director of the school of nursing, said that because of the grant, she and Dr. Amy Nichols were awarded release time from teaching to do research next spring.
Perry's research will focus on interpreting the experiences women have when giving birth to a child.
She collected data in San Francisco and Scotland and intends to spend most of next spring on analyzing her findings.
"Grad students are going to assist me in analyzing my paper and they might be able to extract their own thesis from my research," she said.
The chemistry and biochemistry department, the Center for Biomedical Laboratory Science, the biology department, the School of Nursing, the kinesiology department, the physical therapy program and the gerontology program are eligible to apply for biomedical research funding, according to Ureta. The money will be paid out over the course of five years.
[ Golden Gater - September 18, 1997 ]