The top-ranked proposal submitted in the Endowed Chairs for Eminent Scholars Program during FY 2010-11, to establish the Nesser Family Endowed Chair in Energy Law at LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center, is the first Chairs proposal ever to receive a perfect score. The holder of the Nesser Family Chair will provide academic, cultural and scientific leadership for the Law Center’s broad-based energy law initiative. This initiative builds on an established tradition in oil, gas, and mineral law into other categories of energy transformation, including biological-based, solar, wind and nuclear.
LSU-Baton Rouge has established a successful diversity initiative through its Graduate School, and has again been ranked the top proposal in the BoR/SREB Graduate Fellowships to Promote Diversity Program. As described in the proposal, expanded use of peer mentoring and professional development opportunities, especially for research, are likely to bolster this already strong program.
Notice concerning Supervised Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) Competition
A request for proposals (RFP) for the SURE program was issued on April 21, 2011. This program seeks to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines. The RFP specified that there would be two rounds of competition, the first with proposals due on May 9, 2011 and the second with proposals due December 1, 2011.
The purpose of this notice is to announce that the second competition will be deferred until spring, 2012. A new, revised RFP will be issued for this competition and will be posted on the Board of Regents Sponsored Programs website at http://laregents.org/.
A Tulane University research team, led by Dr. W. T. Godbey, was able to target and destroy bladder tumor cells through a minimally invasive technique involving catheterization and gene therapy equivalent to a topical drug administration. Early results suggest that the investigators have a viable cancer treatment with potential for human application.
Dr. Rui Lu of LSU-Baton Rouge has received funding through the Research Competitiveness Subprogram for his top-ranked proposal, “Function and Mechanism of DRH-1 in Worm Antiviral Innate Immunity.” The project will study suppression of viral infection in worms using a combination of cellular, genetic and immunological approaches.
Dr. Sarah Liggett of LSU-Baton Rouge will be directing the top-ranked Multidisciplinary Enhancement project, “ScienceDemo: Improving Student Learning in Science through Communication-Intensive, Service-Learning Projects.” The project, truly multidisciplinary in scope, will enhance student learning in large, general-education science courses by “capitalizing on the synergies between the sciences and LSU’s Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership (CCELL); Communication Across the Curriculum (CxC); and Center for Academic Success (CAS).”
