NSF Grant Positions YSU For STEM Growth
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A $470,000 grant from the National Science Foundation stands to raise the bar in materials and engineering science research at Youngstown State University, officials said Tuesday.
The money will be used to purchase potentially two high-end, X-ray diffractometers, equipment that will allow students enrolled in the university's College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, to examine crystal and powder molecules at an atomic level.
"You can't learn science and technology without hands-on experience," said Allen Hunter, a professor of chemistry at YSU and lead grant researcher for the project. "Our focus is to develop that expertise. This proposal is meant to bridge hands-on teaching, research at the cutting edge, and service to the community."
Youngstown State already has two X-ray diffractometers, but the new instruments would be some of the most sophisticated of their kind in Ohio, and allow researchers and undergraduate students to examine more complex and challenging problems.
"We'll be able to get better quality data," Hunter said.
The equipment allows students and researchers to see through X-ray where the atoms are in a particular molecule, Hunter said. Research gleaned from this process could lead to improved anti-cancer drugs, better protein ingredients for cleaning products, stronger ceramics, and even more effective catalysts for a vehicle's catalytic converter.
YSU would seek bids from three different vendors for the specific equipment, Hunter said, and he hopes to have the new instruments installed in the lab by February or March.
Moreover, the grant underscores the national attention YSU is attracting because of its STEM programs, Hunter added. "We've had a faster growth of external funding than any other university in the country, and that's been through this team collaboration."
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13th, said that such awards help redefine YSU as a relevant research institution that trains students for the high-tech demands of the private sector.
"It's science, technology, engineering and math that drive your economy," Ryan said. "That makes sure those graduating are creating jobs, wealth, giving businesses what they need in allowing them to expand. That what's this is about."
Ryan emphasized that grants such as this are indispensable to building a competitive domestic economy, citing a $4.5 million grant to Stanford University that encouraged collaboration with a then-unknown company called Google.
"Google now employs 19,000 people and is worth $150 billion," he said. "I think we need a 10-year reduction deficit plan in the United States, but you don't sacrifice these types of investments. You don't get rid of the seed corn that allows your economy to grow."
YSU President Randy Dunn said in this era of federal and state budget restraints, it's imperative that universities establish close relations with lawmakers in Washington.
"We have to work more closely with our federal delegation," Dunn said, praising Ryan's support for such endeavors. "It's critically important to us."
And awards such as these help to build enrollment, Dunn noted. "We're going to have the ability for undergraduates to access this diffractometer and use it," he remarked. At other institutions, such equipment would be reserved for faculty, Ph.D., or graduate students.
Martin Abraham, dean of STEM, reflected that the purpose of creating the college was to facilitate interaction between the science and engineering fields on campus and encourage cooperation on specific projects.
"This equipment goes directly to the benefit of our students, and indirectly to the economic growth of the Mahoning Valley," Abraham said.
Students ready to graduate from the STEM program are already being approached with lucrative job offers, he related, and this NSF funding enables future graduates to be even more prepared to find jobs in the private sector, some locally. That, in turn, injects additional wealth into the economy.
"This support is an investment that pays very large dividends," Abraham said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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