NSF gives Western’s math and science programs large grant

By Margaret Slayton

Missouri Western has received its largest National Science Foundation research grant – $170,000 – to fund student and faculty work in synthetic biology.

This grant reaches across the country and across majors. The grant will be used to support a three-year collaboration between the math and biology departments of Western and Davidson College in North Carolina.

The project is one of eight in the country to receive new funding from the Undergraduate Training in the Biological and Mathematical Sciences Program of the NSF. There were 34 applicants. The proposal by Western and Davidson College was the only collaborative proposal submitted.

The Western faculty members heading this program are Dr. Todd Eckdahl, professor of biology, and Dr. Jeff Poet, associate professor of mathematics.

Using technology, the faculty and students of both institutions are able to communicate efficiently about the research.

“Technology allows us to work together. We have conference calls on a regular basis with our faculty colleagues from Davidson. We email on a regular basis and instant message all the time,” Eckdahl said.

Western student Jordan Baumgardner, junior in biochemistry and molecular biology, looks forward to this joint effort between the schools and departments.

“This gives us the opportunity to bring science and math together. A lot of times people see just a science major or a math major but they don’t realize how much the two disciplines are intertwined,” Baumgardner said.

The grant money will be used for student summer research stipends, equipment, guest speakers and traveling expenses.

“We will bring in world-renowned, leading edge speakers,” Poet said.

One such speaker is Dr. Jay Keasling from the University of California at Berkeley. He was named Discover Magazine’s first ever Scientist of the Year in 2006 for his work using synthetic biology techniques to reduce the cost of producing malaria medicine. The talks will be open to all faculty, students and the community at large.

The grant will pay for the team’s travel to MIT in Boston in November to present their research at the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Jamboree. In 2006, Western won first place for Best Presentation and three other awards at iGEM. The grant will also pay for future research teams to travel to Davidson for one week in the summer.
 
Students who are interested in becoming a part of this project can join Dr. Poet and Dr. Eckdahl every Friday at 2 p.m. in Agenstein 215 for a BioMath Connections teleconference with the group from Davidson. Faculty is also invited.