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Research Faculty and Staff,
I’m pleased to report that since the last issue of Research Update, UC’s total American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) research funding has more than doubled to $15.5 million. New awards and award supplements are still coming in and this number will continue to rise.
I thank you again for your efforts and urge you to continue to apply for funding opportunities as they become available.
As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to check out research.uc.edu.
Sandra Degen, PhD
Vice President for Research
NEWS/GRANTS
State of Research Presentation
Mark your calendars for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, for the university’s annual presentation of research data. Sandra Degen, PhD, vice president for research, will share 2009 numbers during a presentation in the Rieveschl Auditorium of the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies. She will provide an overview of UC’s research enterprise and highlight state and federal issues and opportunities related to research funding.
2009-10 URC Award Programs
University Research Council is now accepting applications for the Faculty Research Grants Program. Details can be found at www.uc.edu/ucresearch/FSRG_Program_Details_09.html.
New Application Packages, Shorter Page Limits The National Institutes of Health has announced that all new or resubmitted applications targeting due dates on or after Jan. 25, 2010 (for FY2011 funding consideration), require the use of new application forms and instructions, which include shorter page limits (NOT-OD-09-149). Applications submitted using incorrect application forms will be delayed and may not be reviewed. Applicants should review the new instructions and begin preparing for a shorter research plan, and will need to return to the FOA (or new Parent Announcement) in December to download the new forms. More details can be found at the Enhancing Peer Review Web site.
New Grants Awarded in September
Writing winning grants is tough. We understand the hard work that goes into preparing a proposal and want to make sure that effort doesn’t go unnoticed. Check out your great work—and that of your colleagues—at uc.edu/ucresearch/new_grant_winners.html.
GREEN BITS
The university, as part of the Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati, is working collaboratively with four other major organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area to reduce its carbon footprint. The coordinator for the group works in the MSB and is looking for opportunities in our labs and offices to improve energy and waste management. Research Update—with the help of Eric Gruenstein, PhD, professor of molecular genetics—provides monthly “greening” tips for research faculty and staff.
Tip #15: Cow Burps
I have a dear friend named Margie. She’s very smart and very clever. As evidence of her intelligence, she’s a graduate of Harvard College, and Harvard Med School—she’s what they call a pure preparation H. As evidence of her cleverness, I have to tell you a little story.
Some years ago, Margie became both a vegetarian and an animal rights advocate. The vegetarian part I could understand, even if I didn’t subscribe to it. But the idea that we should stop doing all animal experiments engendered a number of lively discussions without our reaching any substantial agreement. Realizing that I’m not likely to stop my studies on rat neurons, as a fallback position Margie has decided that I should at least stop eating meat. Now here comes the clever part: Knowing how much I enjoy eating, she has taken another tack and focused on my concerns about climate change.
Information that she sent me, and I’ve subsequently verified its accuracy, indicates that worldwide the raising of cattle accounts for 18 percent of the greenhouse gases produced by human activity. That, it turns out, is more than is produced by all cars, trucks and planes combined. (Holy smoke, Batman!) Cows emit large volumes of methane; 95 percent by burping and 5 percent by flatulence. And methane is about 23 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2. Some wise guy even calculated that a vegetarian driving a Hummer is being more environmentally friendly than a carnivore on a bicycle.
Given that there’s no single silver bullet for attacking global warming, the coming battle is going to require multiple changes in our ways of thinking and our lifestyles. Some of these will be big changes and some will be relatively small, like the kind of light bulbs we use, how we drive, what we drive in, and what we eat.
So, I’ve cut way back on the amount of cow I eat. But I am lobbying hard to get President Obama to use some of that stimulus money for research on developing a breed of burp-less bovine. After all, if we can do it for cucumbers, why not for cows. In the meantime, score one for Margie.
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