Untitled Document
Volume I, Article 5
January, 2002

Murray State University Awarded Environmental Protection Agency Grant


Amy Benson, MSU graduate student in biological sciences, measures symmetry of a bullfrog tadpole using digital imagery.

 The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Murray State University a highly competitive EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Center grant. Total funding for the 2-year grant is $1,044,000 with part coming from the US EPA and part from the Kentucky Statewide EPSCoR Committee. Dr. David White, Director of the Hancock Biological Station and the Center of Excellence for Reservoir Research, will be the project director. This is the first EPSCoR program to be conducted through Murray State University.
     The Kentucky EPA EPSCoR grant will focus on environmental and biomedical biomarker research throughout the Commonwealth. Its Strategic Improvement Program (SIP) and Science and Engineering Environmental Research (SEER) are designed to improve the health of the Commonwealth's human population and environment. The SIP will organize international, national and local symposia on biomarkers,

provide environmental science and engineering training for underserved and under-represented students and integrate university-based research with environmental initiatives within Kentucky's governmental agencies. The SEER research program will concentrate on understanding the developmental stability of amphibians as a biomarker for chemical and environmental stresses. Because a global decline in the population of amphibians may be an indicator of environmental degradation that ultimately affects human populations, the research will examine ecological issues impacting the health of species relative to predictive models. A major thrust will be to correlate amphibian developmental stability with environmental contaminant levels that accumulate in body tissues. The principal investigators will be Dr. Howard Whiteman and Dr. Bommanna Loganathan.
     To assist the Kentucky EPA EPSCoR Program and to assess growth and maturation of the SEER project, national and local scientific symposia will be sponsored within the Commonwealth. They will provide critical exposure to scientific findings and research coordination, and offer programmatic review of initiatives supported by Kentucky EPA EPSCoR. The Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, the Kentucky Department of Public Health, and Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet will provide additional coordination and support. For further information, contact Dr. David S. White, Director, Kentucky EPA EPSCoR Program, Hancock Biological Station, 561 Emma Drive, Murray, KY 42071, Tel: 270-474-2272, E-mail:
                    David.White@murraystate.edu.

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