Engineering Photosynthetic Organisms for the Production of Renewable Energy Products and Environmental Remediation
Abstract
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 and the Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations Act for 2014 allocated $10.7M to assist Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) and to enhance their research and education capabilities in scientific areas relevant to the defense mission. The FY 2014 program supports the acquisition of research equipment and instrumentation to augment existing capabilities and to develop new capabilities that will facilitate greater participation in DoD research programs and encourage more students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This proposal from Principal Investigator, Dr. Sanjaya, requests support for the acquisition of essential instrumentation to build new capacity of research and education in bioenergy and environmental biotechnology. WVSUÕs undergraduate, graduate, and research faculty in the Agriculture Environment Research Service (AERS), Gus R. Douglass Land Grant Institute (GRDI), Departments of Biology and industrial partners in Regional Tech Park will use these instrumentations to conduct their research. Acquisition of the proposed instrumentation will establish new capacity in plant and algae transformation, bioenergy and environment biotechnology, will permit previously untenable research, and will allow for new experimentation by faculty and students. Currently there are no facilities available at academic institutions in the Kanawha Valley to generate and grow transgenic plants and green algae to produce biofuels, bioproducts and chemicals. Thus, the purchase of instrumentation for WVSU will support research and education by local faculty and students, as well as provide opportunities for high school teachers and students to participate in faculty-directed research and studies in STEM disciplines. WVSU is in transition from a primarily undergraduate institution to a regional anchor for graduate studies and research. WVSUÕs graduate program in Biotechnology draws from and supports the institutionÕs science, technology, and mathematics programs and has been the focus of recent efforts to build the universityÕs research infrastructure and intellectual resources. WVSUÕs new focus on bioenergy and environmental biotechnology research and research-based graduate education will support the growth of West VirginiaÕs intellectual economy and reflects a regional focus on reclaiming its position in basic and applied research. The proposed equipments will enable WVSUÕs research faculty to generate transgenic plants and algae for functional analysis and answer research questions in the area of bioenergy and environmental biotechnology. The acquisition of equipments will also allow WVSU to support regional research efforts in coordination with the West Virginia Education, Research and Technology Park, and the Mid-Atlantic Technology Research and Innovation Center (MATRIC). Within WVSU, new facilities will allow instructors to include bioenergy in advanced undergraduate and graduate curriculum and research activities. As an HBCU, WVSU is particularly committed to supporting the involvement of underrepresented minorities in research, and the availability of these new facilities will support minority participant research associated with the universityÕs programs and other institutionally and externally supported research programs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1510055
Entities
People
- Nfn Sanjaya
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- West Virginia State University