SEVEN OHIO STATE-LED CONSORTIA RECEIVE REGENTS FUNDING

   COLUMBUS -- The Ohio Board of Regents has awarded nearly $10 million to 10 Ohio research projects through its 1999 Hayes Investment Fund Program, and the lion’s share of the funding -- more than $7.6 million -- will be split among seven consortia led by Ohio State.

   The role of Ohio State as the contact institution varies among the funded projects, but may include facilitating, coordinating and providing leadership among partner universities. For some of the consortia, Ohio State also will maintain the core research facility.

   The program requires that each university provide partial matching funds -- 10 percent of its share of the requested equipment costs -- to maintain the equipment and operate the consortium. The matching funds are provided by the colleges and departments involved.

   “The Hayes Investment Fund is a unique program that not only provides state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, but encourages and enhances collaboration among Ohio’s universities,” said William A. Baeslack III, interim vice president for research at Ohio State. “It is a tribute to the strength of our faculty researchers that Ohio State is serving as the contact institution for so many of the 1999 awards. These projects will help the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University to move forward in several important technology areas as well as enhance competitiveness for external research grant funding.”

   On July 16, Regents approved the following projects for which Ohio State is the contact institution:

   -- $1.86 million to the State-of-the-Art Mass Spectrometry Consortium, led by Patrick Hatcher, professor of chemistry, to expand and revitalize facilities for identifying chemical substances for biological and medicinal chemistry. Partners include the universities of Cincinnati, Akron and Toledo, and Ohio, Miami, Kent State and Youngstown State universities.

   -- $1.4 million to the Ohio BioMEMS (Micro-Electro- Mechanical Systems for biomedical applications) Consortium, led by Mauro Ferrari, director of the Biomedical Engineering Center, for the investigation of silicon medical microdevices to treat diseases. Partners include the universities of Cincinnati and Akron, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Battelle Memorial Institute.

   -- $1.4 million to the Consortium for Novel Microfabrication Methods of Medical Devices in Non-Silicon Materials, led by Marc Madou, director of the Center for Industrial Sensors and Measurements. This consortium will develop medical microdevices from plastics, metals, ceramics and glasses. Partners include the University of Cincinnati and Case Western Reserve University.

   -- $1.23 million to the Plant and Microbe Functional Genomics Facilities Consortium, led by Keith Davis, associate director of the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, to develop facilities for research into gene function. Partners include the University of Toledo and Ohio University.

   -- $1 million to create an Ohio Center for Wetland & River Restoration, a consortium led by William Mitsch, director of the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. The center will foster research and teaching in wetland ecology, aquatic ecosystem restoration and creation, and ecotechnology. Partners include Shawnee State, Wright State and Youngstown State universities, and Kenyon College.

   -- $500,000 to create a Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials, a consortium led by Hamish Fraser, professor of materials science and engineering. The center will develop tools for creating new materials quickly and with reduced cost. The partner is the University of Cincinnati.

   -- $265,000 to the Bone and Mineral Metabolism Research Laboratory: A Mobile Unit, led by Velimir Matkovic, associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation. The consortium will obtain state-of-the-art equipment for a mobile bone research laboratory that also will provide osteoporosis screening to people in economically deprived regions of Ohio. Partners include Wright State and Ohio universities.

   A panel of researchers from universities across the country selected the winners from a pool of 58 proposals. The panel chose the projects which held the highest potential to achieve national excellence, advance the quality of graduate education in Ohio, and advance the state of Ohio’s economic development in key technology areas.

   The Hayes Investment Fund Program provides support for major equipment purchases and facilities to enhance the research infrastructure of Ohio’s universities and to foster collaboration among them. Since its inception in 1991, the program has awarded almost $58 million to individual universities and university consortia.

   In July of 1998, the board renamed the program in honor of Edward F. Hayes, the Ohio State vice president for research and president of The Ohio State University Research Foundation who died suddenly in March of that year at the age of 56.

Contact: William A. Baeslack III, Research, (614) 292-1582