2009 News & Events

USF MENTOR POSTER SESSION POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER. RESCHEDULED FOR WED., JAN. 27, 2-4 P.M. AT THE SALSBURY SCIENCE CENTER AT USF.

USD professor and UGF mentor recently published in Molecular Endocrinology
January 13, 2010

Endocrinology, defined as the study of the biosynthesis, storage, chemistry and physiological function of hormones, is a passion of USD professor and SD BRIN Genomics Core Facility director Dr. Kathy Eyster. Her recent work in the field has led to a noteworthy publication. (more)

Annual report to SD BRIN due Jan. 15
December 16, 2009

According to a Dec. 16 memo from Martin Blumsack of the National Center for Research Resources/NIH, COBRE and INBRE Continuation Progress Reports are due two months before the beginning date of the next budget period.

In order to complete the extensive online Annual Progress Report on time, SD BRIN PUIs and cores are required to complete their reports to Dr. Barb Goodman by January 15, 2010. Click here for a copy of the Annual Report Checklist.

Definitely needed from everyone: presentations and publications for all SD BRIN-supported faculty and students, successful grant applications, and changes or updates to research projects, including animal and human subject apporovals. Complete NIH-style biosketches (four pages or less) are only needed from new investigators (added since the renewal application was submitted). Each institution must also evaluate how they have met their goals for INBRE Phase II.

If you have any specific questions about this year's reporting requirements, please contact the SD BRIN office.

The Office of Research Integrity announces a new RCR resource: Lab Management Video Vignettes
November 30, 2009

Video vignettes addressing the management of laboratories. http://learning.ucdavis.edu/LabAct/

University of Sioux Falls to host UGF Mentors Poster Session in January
November 17, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The SD BRIN Undergraduate Fellows Program is please to announce the Second Annual UGF Mentors Poster Session on January 27, 2010 at the University of Sioux Falls, according to the host, USF chemistry professor Dr. George Mwangi.

The event has a two-fold purpose. "The mentors begin new collaborative relationships, including those at research-intensive institutions," SD BRIN Director Dr. Barb Goodman of USD said. "And of course, it is a good place for prospective fellows to meet the mentors and ask questions about their research." (more, including a downloadable poster)

SD BRIN researcher and mentor featured in newspaper and Web articles about stress research
October 20, 2009

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (ARGUSLEADER)-Research scientist Dr. Pat Ronan (left, photo by Elisha Page, Argus Leader) was featured in two recent articles, one by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper and another on the Avera McKennan Web site. Dr. Ronan is a mentor to SD BRIN undergraduate fellows, as well as a clinical researcher and assistant professor at the USD Sanford School of Medicine. Dr. Ronan's research centers on the brain's response to stress and addiction. His research was among five examples of behavioral and social sciences research chosen by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources for making presentations to congressional committees.

You can read the Argus Leader article by clicking here. You can read the Avera McKennan article by clicking here.
SD BRIN obtains A&R funds for PUI renovations
October 2, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The University of South Dakota announced this week that the National Institutes of Health has awarded $224,968 for alterations and renovations at Black Hills State University in Spearfish and Mount Marty College in Yankton. The funds will be used to accomodate growth at the WestCore DNA facility at BHSU and to upgrade the electrical capacityof the science building at Mt. Marty.

The work done at BHSU will double the space for the WestCore DNA core facility, adding 1,900 ft² to the existing facility. Enhancements include a pre-PCR clean room and an RNA isolation area, as well as replacement of benches and lighting. Mt. Marty's upgrade will double the electrical capacity of its science facilites to 1,600 amps, allowing for dedicated power to future equipment purchases.

Pres. Obama visits NIH, speaks on ARRA
September 30, 2009

BETHESDA, MD. (The White House)-President Obama's remarked on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act while at the National Institutes of Health on Wednesday. You can watch the president's speech by clicking on this link.

According to the White House blog, "The president announced $5 billion in grant awards to fund cutting edge medical research in all 50 states." The White House also posted a 5-minute intro piece on its Web site, entitled "Creating Jobs and Finding Cures."

University of Sioux Falls to rededicate Salsbury Science Center on October 2
September 30, 2009

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (USF)-The University of Sioux Falls will rededicate the Salsbury Science Center with a ribbon cutting on campus on Friday, October 2 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. The event is the culmination of a $3.3 million renovation of the science building, which was built in 1967. For more information about the project, click here to visit the USF Web site. Congratulations, USF!

SD BRIN Welcomes Dr. David Bader to its National Advisory Committee
September 10, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The South Dakota Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network announced today that Dr. David Bader of Vanderbilt University Medical Center will join its National Advisory Committee. Dr. Bader is an alumnus of Augustana College, an SD BRIN partner institution.

"David Bader is a successful biomedical scientist," Dr. Mike Wanous, SD BRIN Steering Committee member said...(more)

Inaugural SD BRIN Research Faculty Retreat set for Cedar Shore Resort, Sept. 11-12
August 17, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The SD BRIN annual faculty retreat will be held this year on September 11-12 at Cedar Shore Resort in Chamberlain. All SD BRIN faculty fellows and faculty mentors from our PUI and tribal college partners are asked to attend... (more)

Undergraduate Research Fellows meet in Vermillion
July 27, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-Sixty-three of South Dakota's brightest young minds met at the new Lee Medical and Science Building on the University of South Dakota campus Sunday. The students, participants in the SD BRIN Undergraduate Research Fellows program, were at USD to begin a two-day convocation with a panel discussion led by Associate Dean of Basic Biomedical Sciences Dr. Steve Waller... (more)

Genomics Core Facility gets equipment upgrade
July 22, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The USD Sanford School of Medicine Genomics Core Facility held a training session today for its new Applied Biosystems (AB) StepOne™ Plus Real-Time PCR System. AB's Dr. Bill Kiffmeyer and Don McAllister completed the installation with a training session designed to teach researchers about the usage and benefits of the system. (more)

SD BRIN gets notice of grant award, official renewal
July 15, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The National Center for Research Resources announced today that the South Dakota Biomedical Reserach Infrastructure Network grant at the University of South Dakota has been approved. The grant will extend the mission of SD BRIN through April 2014. The total award total of $16,148,966 will be distributed over the next five years... (more)

SD BRIN gets verbal renewal
March 31, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The whoosh you hear around some South Dakota college campuses and research facilities this spring may not be the March wind. It could be a huge, collective sigh of relief... (more)

Day, Miller honored at Pierre Poster Session
February 17, 2009

PIERRE, S.D. (SD BRIN)-Dan Day of Augustana College and Jake Miller (photo, left) of Black Hills State University were two of ten undergraduate students from South Dakota colleges and universities who demonstrated the important link between research and higher education... (more)


Augie hosts mentors poster session
January 23, 2009

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SD BRIN)-According to BHSU's Dr. Cyndi Anderson, the SD BRIN mentor poster session was well attended by prospective BRIN undergraduate fellows, faculty mentors and graduate student researchers from several SD-BRIN partner institutions...(more) 

USD professor and UGF mentor recently published in Molecular Endocrinology
January 13, 2010

Endocrinology, defined as the study of the biosynthesis, storage, chemistry and physiological function of hormones, is a passion of USD professor and SD BRIN Genomics Core Facility director Dr. Kathy Eyster. Her recent work in the field has led to a noteworthy publication.

Eyster, along with collaborator Dr. John Brannian of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, USD Sanford School of Medicine, recently published a chapter entitled “Gene Expression Profiling in the Aging Ovary” in the laboratory reference, Molecular Endocrinology: Methods and Protocols (Humana Press).

The purpose of the chapter is to help researchers who are not doing their own microarrays to understand the process and thus give them more control over their data. Conversely, those researchers who are setting up labs to process their own microarrays will find the text useful in establishing their own protocols and methodology. Researchers who are asked to review articles can also benefit from the chapter by becoming for familiar with the process.

Dr. Eyster is a long-time mentor in the SD BRIN Undergraduate Fellows program (UGF) and hopes to mentor another undergraduate researcher this summer.

Here is the abstract to the chapter, also listed in PubMed:  “DNA microarray is an important discovery that allows the analysis of the expression of thousands of genes at a time. Data from DNA microarrays elucidate fundamental biological processes through discovery of differential expression of genes not previously known or predicted to be involved in a particular process. In the ovary and other hormone-responsive tissues the technology can be used to examine the effects of gene mutations, pharmaceutical agents, disease, hormones, developmental changes or changes in gene expression related to aging.”
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University of Sioux Falls to host UGF Mentor Poster Session in January
November 17, 2009

To print a copy of the 2010 UGF Mentor Poster Session flyer, click on poster image.

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The SD BRIN Undergraduate Fellows Program announced today that the University of Sioux Falls will host the 2^nd Annual UGF Mentors Poster Session on January 27, 2010 at the Salisbury Science Center on the USF campus. According to the host, USF chemistry professor Dr. George Mwangi, the event will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and all area mentors, researchers and students are invited.

The event has a two-fold purpose. "The mentors begin new collaborative relationships, including those at research-intensive institutions," SD BRIN Director Dr. Barb Goodman of USD said. "And of course, it is a good place for prospective fellows to meet the mentors and ask questions about their research."

Students will come face to face with the mentors and can ask detailed questions and try to get a feel for whether or not they would be a good fit in a prospective mentor's lab. "This is an alternative to having the student look up the mentors at our undergrad Web page," UGF Coordinator Mark Maxon said. "Those pages are regularly updated, but this gives the student better two-way communication, especially for students who are interested in working with researchers not located on their home campuses."

Mentors and researchers from the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, Augustana College, the University of Sioux Falls, Avera Research and Sanford Research are scheduled to be there, and possibly mentors from Black Hills State University, Dakota Wesleyan University and Mt. Marty College as well.

For questions, please contact Dr. George Mwangi or UGF Coordinator Mark Maxon.
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SD BRIN Welcomes Dr. David Bader to its National Advisory Committee
September 10, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The South Dakota Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network announced today that Dr. David Bader of Vanderbilt University Medical Center will join its National Advisory Committee. Dr. Bader is an alumnus of Augustana College, an SD BRIN partner institution.

"David Bader is a successful biomedical scientist," Dr. Mike Wanous, SD BRIN Steering Committee member said. "He has been a very helpful alum, offering to take one of our students each summer for research. (He) values undergraduate research."

Dr. Bader's expertise in developmental biology and genomics is ideal for his inclusion on the committee.

"Dr. Bader will be helpful from the scientific research side with an understanding of basic research and molecular approaches," SD BRIN Director Dr. Barb Goodman said. "He knows what is needed in order to be competitive for federal funding resources and has a good understanding of life at a predominantly undergraduate institution."

Dr. Bader earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Dakota (another INBRE state) and is part of Vanderbilt's Biomedical Research Education & Training team. Click here for a link to his bio page at Vanderbilt UMC's Web site. (Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt UMC.)
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Inaugural SD BRIN Faculty Retreat set for Cedar Shore Resort, Sept. 11-12
August 17, 2009

[LETTER FROM DR. CYNTHIA ANDERSON, SD BRIN PROGRAM COORDINATOR]

Greeting SD BRIN Faculty Members,

Our first SD BRIN research faculty retreat will be held this year on September 11-12 at Cedar Shore Resort in Chamberlain. All SD BRIN faculty fellows and faculty mentors from our PUI and tribal college partners are asked to attend. Hotel accommodations have been made for all of us. Please e-mail Sue Paquette at the SD BRIN office as soon as possible to confirm your attendance at the meeting so she can get a head count for food and adjust the room reservations.

Past experience has shown that some of the most productive parts of such meetings are the informal discussions that arise during the unorganized time periods. (Many of you may remember the bus ride to and from Fargo from which some collaboration arose.) For this reason the meeting will begin Friday evening with an informal reception – a chance to simply visit with your colleagues.

In response to a request by SD BRIN PUI faculty members, this year the program includes a workshop about program evaluation of undergraduate research. In order to secure funding for undergraduate research, funding agencies are now requiring detailed explanations of the assessment procedures that will be used to evaluate undergraduate research programs. A good assessment program strengthens your research proposal thus increasing the chance it will be funded. This is important as we begin the next round of SD BRIN funding and as all partner institutions begin a new season of evaluating our SD BRIN funded undergraduate research programs.

The remainder of the meeting will be devoted to the dissemination of information about the services available from the SD BRIN core facilities, and about faculty research at the PUIs and TCs. Please come prepared to present a brief (no more than five slides) overview of your research interests. If you desire a collaborator with specific skills, this is the perfect venue to let that be known. Our goal is to create an awareness of the interests/strengths of faculty across the partner institutions. This helps us to form a more cohesive group and will hopefully allow the SD BRIN program to increase the number of cross-institutional collaborative research projects.

I am looking forward to seeing you all there!

Sincerely,
Dr. Cynthia Anderson
SD BRIN Program Coordinator

INAUGURAL SD BRIN RESEARCH FACULTY RETREAT AGENDA

Friday, Sept. 11
3:00 – 6:30 p.m.	Arrive and check in at Cedar Shore Resort
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.	Informal reception
Saturday, Sept. 12
9:00 - 10:45 a.m.	Discussion Session Please come prepared to present a brief (no more than 5 slides) overview of your research interests.  If you desire a collaborator with specific skills, this is the perfect venue to let that be known.
11:00 a.m. - Noon	Core Facility Resources
Noon – 1:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.	Workshop: Developing and Implementing a Successful Program Evaluation Strategy for Undergraduate Research Programs

Link to the Cedar Shore Resort Web site: http://www.cedarshore.com/index_resort.htm
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Undergraduate Fellows meet in Vermillion
July 26, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-Sixty-three of South Dakota's brightest young minds met at the new Lee Medical and Science Building on the University of South Dakota campus Sunday. The students, participants in the SD BRIN Undergraduate Research Fellows program, were at USD to begin a two-day convocation with a panel discussion led by Associate Dean of Basic Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Dr. Steve Waller. Waller is also director of USD's Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.

Former SD BRIN fellows and current USD M.D./Ph.D. candidates Liz Davis and Allison Watson took part in a panel discussion about the research opportunities available at USD, along with incoming M.D./Ph.D. and former SD BRIN fellow Jake Miller, and Assistant Professor Dr. Pasquale (Pat) Manzerra of USD BBS.

Above: Augustana's Jillian Tholen shares a laugh with her mentor, Dr. Bill Harris of Sanford Research/USD, while at the UGF poster session on July 27 in Vermillion, S.D.

"I was going back and forth between medical school and a Ph.D. program until I came to this (convocation) last year," Miller said. "The program combines both of what I want to do."

This year's fellows asked a variety of questions, from what constitutes a good MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) score to how the interviews are conducted. Dr. Manzerra explained the difference in USD's interviewing process. According to Manzerra, the medical school (M.D.) interviews are basically one on one, with the interviewer taking their impressions of the candidate to a committee who decides whether or not to offer a place in the next year's class. But there is a difference with Ph.D. interviews.

"The Ph.D. interviews are conducted with the candidate meeting with the entire committee at once," Manzerra, who serves on the Ph.D. admittance committee, said. "The Ph.D. interviews are much more dynamic."

Dr. Waller stressed that life experiences are just as important as grades and test scores, although he did say that the MCAT is a very good predictor of success for the medical student. Since the MCAT is also acceptable for those applying to USD's Ph.D. in Basic Biomedical Sciences program, Dr. Manzerra offered this advice to the fellows who are thinking of taking the GRE and the MCAT.

"Instead of studying for the GRE, you are better off spending the extra time studying for the MCAT," he said.

When asked what their ideal work week would look like, Watson said that she would like to work in a clinical setting about 60 percent of the time, with the rest of her week spent in a research lab. Davis though she would ultimately spend more time in research than in a clinical setting.

Manzerra stressed that graduate school is far different than the undergraduate experience.

"There is a lot of flexibility in research," he said, likening it to working for yourself. "You set your hours around your research projects. It's not like in undergraduate school where you learn what is known - it's the opposite. You are looking for things that are not yet known."

Manzerra added that a successful researcher has to be tenacious. He said that when an experiment fails, the researcher has to keep working to figure out the solution. "You've got to be curious and a hard worker," he said.

The convocation continued on Monday with mock interviews, a tour of the new medical school including the gross anatomy lab and a research poster session from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Lee Medical Building atrium. Approximately 150 people turned out for the poster session, which was deemed by one of the fellows as "the highlight of the summer."
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Genomics Core Facility gets equipment upgrade
July 22, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The USD Sanford School of Medicine Genomics Core Facility held a training session today for its new Applied Biosystems (AB) StepOne™ Plus Real-Time PCR System. AB's Dr. Bill Kiffmeyer and Don McAllister completed the installation with a training session designed to teach researchers about the usage and benefits of the system.

Click here for a detailed description of the StepOne system at Applied Biosystems' Web site.

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SD BRIN gets notice of grant award, official renewal
July 15, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The National Center for Research Resources announced today that the South Dakota Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (SD BRIN) grant at the University of South Dakota has been approved. The grant will extend the mission of SD BRIN through April 2014. The total award total of $16,148,966 will be distributed over the next five years.

"I'm excited about the future of biomedical research in South dakota based on this next five years of funding," SD BRIN Director Dr. Barbara Goodman said.

SD BRIN, sponsored by the USD Sanford School of Medicine in Vermillion, S.D., is the South Dakota component of the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). SD BRIN seels to further develop a strong collaborative network within South Dakota to enhance basic biomedical research capabilities via an interdisciplinary approach to research in the control of cell growth with special emphasis on proteomics and genomics. Therefore, the goals of the next phase of SD BRIN are to:

1) Develop S.D. research capacity in the area of control of cell growth with special emphasis on proteomics and genomics by: a) enhancing research capacity and critical mass of investigators in proteomics and genomics by mentoring junior faculty members at lead research intensive institution, b) maintaining proteomics and genomics core facilities (with professional staff) which can be used by investigators throughout S.D., and c) providing increased opportunities for graduate training.

2) Develop human resources for undergraduate programs and graduate programs in the biomedical sciences and bioinformatics at South Dakota institutions by: a) providing research support and mentoring for junior investigators and faculty from participating institutions, b) providing opportunities for, and understanding of, cutting-edge scientific research for students at predominantly undergraduate institutions, c) introducing undergraduates to graduate programs and future careers in biomedical sciences and bioinformatics, and d) enhancing science and research capabilities at tribal colleges to provide opportunities for further education and careers in science and research.

The official NIH news release is available online here.

The project was supported by Award Number P20RR016479 from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center For Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

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SD BRIN gets verbal renewal
March 31, 2009

VERMILLION, S.D. (SD BRIN)-The whoosh you hear around some South Dakota college campuses and research facilities this spring may not be the March wind. It could be a huge, collective sigh of relief.

“We will be funded,” SD BRIN director Dr. Barb Goodman said.

And with that pronouncement, the SD BRIN director and principal investigator let researchers dependent upon the grant know that Dr. Laura Jenski had received verbal confirmation from Dr. Fred Taylor that the SD BIN grant would be renewed. In the midst of an economic downturn, the likes of which not seen since the Great Depression, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which laid to rest any questions of whether or not the NIH would be able to stoke the INBRE fires.

A discussion with Dr. Goodman revealed that, generally speaking, it will be business as usual for SD BRIN for the next six years.

“We will continue to provide the library resources that everybody desperately needs at USD and the primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs),” Goodman said. “It will definitely provide financial resources to PUIs that they still do not have in their own infrastructures and still need in order to become competitive (in research). It will continue to support the genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics core facilities here at USD and the DNA sequencing core facility at Black Hills State (WestCore), so that we can provide services at reduced rates for researchers throughout South Dakota and other INBRE states.  And this summer it will support 51 (out of 78 applicants) undergraduate fellows.”

Goodman does not anticipate any new core facilities coming on line during this grant cycle, “unless we end up with other sources of funding.”

“We will not be using BRIN grant funds for further infrastructure building,” she said. “We will be focusing on what we’ve been doing with higher hopes of bringing more people up to competitive research and more students getting involved in Ph.D. programs. It’s kind of same old, same old, but more advanced.”

Instead, SD BRIN hopes to move the junior researchers along the path toward independent funding from public and private sources. “We’re hoping that the junior faculty members at the PUIs, with a little more support, will be able to ‘graduate’ from the BRIN program,” Goodman said.

Research success
SD BRIN is hoping to enhance collaboration by providing opportunities for the researchers across the state to get together in a supportive environment to talk about their projects.

“We are going to have an annual meeting of the faculty throughout the state,” Goodman said. “The other thing that we’ve done is that in the renewal application we have specified that each junior faculty member will identify a scientific mentor. Whether or not the mentor will become a collaborator, we don’t know. We hope that the mentor will help the (junior faculty members) design and run experiments that would lead them toward the cutting edge in their fields.”

The mentor-mentee relationship will be an emphasis in the coming years. SD BRIN is hoping to enhance collaboration by providing opportunities for the researchers across the state together in a supportive environment to talk about their projects. The relationship will directly impact BRIN on an annual basis.

Goodman pointed to a recent collaboration that seems to work well. Drs. Bill Harris and Mark Larson of Augustana College have worked together since 2006 (see October newsletter).

“We have Drs. Harris and Larson as an excellent example of collaboration through BRIN,” Goodman said, “but there have been very few, so this is basically an exception and not a rule.”

In order to expand this type of alliance, SD BRIN supported a poster session at Augustana College in January with the mentors of the Undergraduate Research Fellows program. Researchers from the PUIs, USD, SDSU, Avera and Sanford Research/USD met with prospective student fellows to discuss their projects. The meeting also was chance for the scientists to “talk shop” and possibly forge new research partnerships.

“We’re going to strengthen the mentoring relationship by doing things like pre-submission reviews of external grant applications,” Goodman said.

“I think (this process) is really helpful, even if the reviewer is not somebody who is an expert in the field, they can look at (the) organization (of the grant) and see if it’s been thought out correctly. That information is helpful in making last minute changes in the grant before you submit it.”

The process is tried and true; Goodman said that it is already done in other INBRE states.

“Having been on both ends, as both a reviewer and a writer of grants, I can say that organization is very important for the people who end up reviewing the grants,” Goodman said. She thinks that having somebody help with the grant’s organization and clarity will help to deter grants from getting rejected because of poor organization.

Possible additions
While the grant will not leave room for much that is new, there will be some exciting additions.

“Unfortunately, because the upper limit of the grant hasn’t changed, we are not able to add very many new things,” Goodman said. “However, we will be adding a post-doc position in bioinformatics. The position should be filled sometime next year.”

Goodman also had positive news about the core facilities. “There will be new equipment in the proteomics core facility,” she said. “Because of the BRIN grant, Mt. Marty College and BHSU will likely be receiving separate awards for (alterations and renovations).”
There will also be some personnel changes.

“Dr. Cynthia Anderson of BHSU will be the new program coordinator, due to the retirement of Dr. Maureen Diggins at Augustana College,” Goodman said. “Cynthia has some ideas for some more things that she would like to do to provide opportunities to PUI faculty members.”

The grant will become official after the University of South Dakota receives the Notice of Gant Award later this spring.

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Day, Miller honored at Pierre Poster Session
February 17, 2009

PIERRE, S.D. (SD BRIN)-Dan Day of Augustana College and Jake Miller of Black Hills State University were two of ten undergraduate students from South Dakota colleges and universities who demonstrated the important link between research and higher education by sharing their research results with state lawmakers at the Poster Day in Pierre on February 17.

Day, a senior from Vermillion majoring in computer science and biology, was selected to represent SD BRIN undergraduate fellows, while Miller, a senior from Pierre, was Black Hills’s at-large choice.

“Research involvement by students requires initiative that goes well beyond the regular classroom, but the payoff in terms of developing problem-solving skills and special expertise is greatly enhanced,” said Gary Johnson, system vice president of research for the South Dakota Board of Regents.

Day, a Dean’s List student, was selected as a SD BRIN fellow to work in bioinformatics after his freshman year. He spent the summer following his sophomore year at the University of Minnesota, and last summer at a joint Harvard/MIT program in computational biology and molecular biology (see Oct. 2008 newsletter article). He has been accepted at Yale for his PhD and will be interviewing at Harvard and Chicago as well.

Miller is currently a senior pre-med student majoring in both biology and chemistry. He has been actively involved in research for the past three years, both as a work study student and as a SD BRIN research fellow.

“Jake is one of the most enthusiastic researchers I know,” his mentor, Dr. Cyndi Anderson, said. “His devotion to learning has been an inspiration to his fellow students.”

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Augie hosts mentors poster session
January 23, 2009

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SD BRIN)-SD BRIN mentor poster session was well attended by prospective BRIN undergraduate fellows, faculty mentors and graduate student researchers from several SD-BRIN partner institutions. 

“We were honored to have researchers from Sanford Health, Avera and SDSU in attendance as well,” Anderson said. “Not only did this poster session provide the prospective undergraduate research fellows a synopsis of the variety of research going on at all of the institutions represented, but it gave the researchers themselves opportunity to share their research with each other.”

Anderson was impressed with how well the session met it’s objectives of informally gathering researchers with shared interests.

“The passion that these researchers have for their subject matter was evidenced by the energy and excitement that could be felt as each explained their research to the curious onlookers.  It is venues such as this that provide the face to face opportunity to see and appreciate the research that others across our own state are doing. It is the goal of the SD-BRIN program, and my own hope, that these types of meetings will lead to more inter-institutional collaborative research within the state.”

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