By Stephanie Laird

Ohio University's Graduate Education and Research Board (GERB) recently awarded the Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute $169,000 in base funding to support research initiatives and graduation education that will bolster the national and international prominence of the program.

“The university created the GERB to develop and implement a process to prioritize specific research and creative activity initiatives to recommend to President Roderick J. McDavis and Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl for strategic investment of central funds consistent with the Graduate Education and Research Academic Priorities established in Vision Ohio,” according to a recent university release.

The Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute and the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English both received base funding through GERB totaling $300,000. The decision to award these programs base funding was derived from their existing strengths in research and graduate education that could raise the national prominence of the university's graduate programs, said Krendl in a recent university release.

“This has been a long, hard effort spanning over a year,” said Arthur R. Smith, NQPI director and associate professor of physics and astronomy. The process began with the submission of a letter of intent to the GERB last January, along with a full proposal detailing the program's viability as a contender for base funding. The proposals that passed the internal review process were sent to a separate external review committee for final consideration. Of the six finalists competing for the base funding, the nanoscale and creative writing programs received overwhelmingly positive responses from both committees.

“Now we have to decide how to strategically invest the GERB funding in the best way,” said Smith. Institute members will be meeting within the next few weeks to determine how to maximize the impact of the new funding.

According to Smith, the GERB funding will most likely be used to strengthen research collaborations within the university and with other institutions; to increase the support for graduate education initiatives; and to expand the infrastructure and support of the graduate nanoscale program. In addition, NQPI in considering the purchase of a helium liquefier – an instrument needed to cool microscopes to the temperatures required to study atoms at the nanoscale – as well as hiring a business manager and a research technician to assist faculty researchers in their work.

Of the seven departments affiliated with NQPI from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, three played instrumental roles in the development of the GERB proposal, said Smith, though this was a team effort that will substantially impact the support and scope of graduate education in the nanoscience program.

For additional details please visit: http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/07-08/February/310.cfm