K-State selects seven projects for targeted excellence grants

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News release prepared by: Alfred W. Cochran, 785-532-4372, cochalw@k-state.edu

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

K-STATE SELECTS SEVEN PROJECTS FOR TARGETED EXCELLENCE GRANTS

MANHATTAN -- The fourth year of awards made under Kansas State University's Targeted Excellence program have been announced by M. Duane Nellis, K-State provost and senior vice president.

The Targeted Excellence program is a competitive initiative that supports and enhances cooperative, interdisciplinary programs that show promise of elevating K-State's stature as a top 10 land grant institution.

"This ongoing strategic investment in the university's existing and emerging strengths is transforming our research capabilities and facilitating the interaction of faculty members and students from all across campus," Nellis said. "This initiative helps us in our efforts to be a top-10 land grant institution."

From 33 pre-proposals, 13 were chosen to submit full proposals, with seven selected for funding. Individual awards range from $210,000 to $1 million over a two- to four-year period.

Proposals receiving funding represent the humanities, the social, biological and physical sciences, engineering and veterinary medicine. They include:

* Beef Cattle Institute at K-State, $490,000, with Daniel Thomson, Chris Reinhardt and Deanna Retzlaff as co-principal investigators.

* Center for Nanostructured Materials for Indoor Air Quality, $625,000, with Steven Eckels and Christopher Sorensen as co-principal investigators.

* K-State Center for Sustainable Energy, $750,000, with Ron Madl, Mary Rezac and Richard Nelson as co-principal investigators.

* The K-State Digital Prairie Plant and Insect Collection: Elevating Biodiversity and Bioinformatics to the Next Level, $800,000, with Gregory Zolnerowich, Carolyn Ferguson, Mike Haddock and David B. Allen as co-principal investigators.

* East Asian Studies Enhancement Project, $210,000, with David Graff, Max Lu and Wei Wu as co-principal investigators.

* Scientific Enhancement of the Midwest Institute for Comparative Stem Cell Biology, $350,000, with Duane Davis, Deryl Troyer, Mark Weiss, Jim Coffman and Ernest Minton as co-principal investigators.

* The Sorghum Translational Genomics Program: Mining Genomic Diversity for Sorghum Improvement, $1,000,000, with Frank White, Mitch Tuinstra, James Nelson and Jianming Yu as co-principal investigators
A new call for Targeted Excellence proposals will be made in June.