Idaho State University awarded more than $8.2 million in September for 16 federal research grants

September was an unprecedented month for Idaho State University, which landed 16 federal research grants representing more the $8.2 million in research funding.

“The grants awarded demonstrate the national competitiveness and prominence of our faculty and their research groups in our core university missions of energy development and health care, as well our environmental and social science studies,” said Pamela Crowell, ISU vice president for research. “It was an amazing month for ISU research funding.”

ISU brought in over $28 million in external funding during the 2009 fiscal year, so the September awards bode well for the remainder of the 2010 fiscal year, which ends June 30.

There were two grants awarded for more than $1 million, including an $1,447,500 “Advanced Elastic/Inelastic Nuclear Data Development Project” to the Idaho Accelerator Center and a $1,290,704 “Understanding Social Networks within Complex, Nonlinear Systems: Geographically-Integrated History and Dynamics GIS” to the history department.

The Idaho Accelerator Center landed five grants in September totaling $3,338,593 in research dollars. The ISU Department of Physics was awarded three grants totaling more than $1.7 million, and the College of Engineering’s nuclear engineering program was awarded two grants totaling $583,482.

The university received three grants related to its health sciences mission, worth nearly $730,000, and the chemistry and geosciences departments also received grants.

Six of the grants were awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy and three each from the National Science Foundation and the Battelle Energy Alliance.

A complete listing of the grants, including the principal investigator (PI), ISU unit, funding agency, grant title and award amount follows:

• PI Tony Forest, Department of Physics, from National Science Foundation, “A Program to Study Hadronic Matter Using Electromagnetic Probes at Jefferson Lab,” $910,000;

• PI Beth Stamm, Institute of Rural Health, “Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, “Awareness to Action Youth Suicide Prevention,” $500,000;

• PI Marylou Dunzik-Gouger, nuclear engineering, Battelle Energy Alliance, “Removal of ¹⁴C From Irradiated Graphite for Graphite Recycle and Waste Volume Reduction,” $477,205;

• PI Judy Thorne, ISU-Meridian Health Science Center, University of Washington, “HIV Education/Training Grant,” $101,604;

• PI Doug Wells, Idaho Accelerator Center, Battelle Energy Alliance, “Advanced Elastic/Inelastic Nuclear Data Development Project,” $1,477,500;

• PI Jack Owens, history, National Science Foundation, “Understanding Social Networks within Complex, Nonlinear Systems: Geographically-Integrated History and Dynamics GIS,” $1,290,704;

• PI Ben Crosby, geosciences, National Science Foundation, “Upgrade of Computing Equipment in the Digital Mapping Laboratory, Idaho State University $75,000;

• PI Doug Wells, Idaho Accelerator Center, U.S. Department of Energy, Investigations of ¹⁸F, ⁶⁷Cu, ⁹⁹Mo/⁹⁹Tc, and ¹³¹Ba/¹³¹Cs Isotope Production with Photo-Nuclear Reactions,” $608,858;

• PI Katherine Chandler, physics, U.S. Department of Energy, Experimental Studies of the Transport Parameters of Warm Dense Matter,” $410,296;

• PI Chris Daniels, ISU Biomedical Research Institute, National Institutes of Health/University of Idaho, “Administrative Supplement to Idaho INBRE to Advance Translational Research,” $128,341;

• PI Tony Forest, physics, U.S. Department of Energy, “The Development of a Positron Source for Jlab at the Idaho Accelerator Center,” $381,509’

• PI Rene Rodriguez, chemistry, U.S. Department of Energy, Incorporation of Novel Nanostructured Materials into Solar Cells and Nanoelectronic Devices,” $498,820;

• PI Doug Wells, Idaho Accelerator Center, U.S. Department of Energy, “Advanced Fuel Cycle Research & Development 2009-2010,” $500,000;

• PI Jay Kunze, nuclear engineering, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Motor Operated Valve Training Courses for Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspectors and Engineers,” $136,277;

• PI Alan Hunt, Idaho Accelerator Center, Battelle Energy Alliance, “Near Real-Time Nondestructive Active Inspection Technologies Utilizing Delayed X-Rays for Advanced Safeguards,” $466,235;

• PI Doug Wells, Idaho Accelerator Center, U.S. Department of Energy, Construction for Investigations of ¹⁸F, ⁶⁷Cu, ⁹⁹Mo/⁹⁹Tc, and ¹³¹Ba/¹³¹Cs Isotope Production with Photo-Nuclear Reactions,” $316,000.