Abstracts

U and Science Museum partner on renewable energy
"Prairie Maze"

The new exhibit, which will open as part of the Science Museum's new Big Backyard exhibit area this summer, is funded in part by a $125,000 grant from the University's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.

David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology, Steve Polasky, ecology, evolution, and behavior, and Don Wyse, agronomy and plant genetics, are working with Patrick Hamilton at the Science Museum to develop the demonstration project. The Prairie Maze will be a working, interactive exhibit that will educate museum visitors about renewable energy and the importance of managing ecosystems. Biomass from the Prairie Maze will be used by an adjacent heat and power plant. The exhibit is scheduled to open in June.

IREE leader invents hydrogen reactor on renewable fuel

Lanny Schmidt, IREE cluster leader, and colleagues have invented the first reactor capable of efficiently producing hydrogen from a renewable fuel source (ethanol). When coupled with a hydrogen fuel cell, the new device'small enough to hold in your hand'could generate one kilowatt of power, almost enough to supply an average home. The technology provides a practical means of producing hydrogen fuel that moves the hydrogen economy a step closer to reality.

The work, which was featured in the February 13 issue of Science, was supported in part by the University of Minnesota's Initiative on Renewable Energy and the Environment. Schmidt, who is Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Institute of Technology, is a co-leader of IREE's Hydrogen Research Cluster. Working with him were scientist Gregg Deluga, first author of the Sciencepaper, and graduate student James Salge. All three are in the Institute of Technology's Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

IREE awards more than $1 million in research grants

IREE has awarded more than $1 million to faculty who have submitted research proposals for projects ranging from production of biohydrogen to public education on renewable energy and the environment. Following is a breakdown by award category and research cluster.

• $325,000 for support services for the Research Demonstration and Outreach Center at Morris [In addition to $2.5 million committed for the center itself.]
• $75,000 for three seed grants in the Hydrogen Cluster
• $281,585 for 10 seed grants in the Bioenergy and Bioproducts Cluster
• $117,928 for three seed grants in the Conservation and Efficient Energy Systems Cluster
• $88,500 for three seed grants in the Policy, Economics, and Ecosystems Cluster
• $150,000 for two special opportunities grants
• $100,000 for one matching-fund grant

Three additional matching-fund grants totaling $2,175,000 have been approved by the IREE executive committee, pending receipt of matching funds from outside agencies.

In Print

Girl chimps learn faster than boy chimps
Elizabeth Lonsdorf, former graduate student in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, is first author of 'Sex Differences in Chimpanzee Learning,' published in the April 15 issue of Nature. The study shows that female and male chimps both learn from their mothers how to insert sticks into termite mounds and pull out tasty termite snacks, but that females learn earlier. Gender differences in learning this skill compare to differences in human girls and boys acquiring fine motor skills, such as writing.

Nature article on sustainable lion hunting
Karyl Whitman, graduate student in ecology, evolution, and behavior (EEB), is first author on 'Sustainable Trophy Hunting of African Lions,' which was published in the March 11 issue of Nature. Craig Packer and Tony Starfield, professors in EEB are co-authors. Henley Quadling, Peyton West, Meggan Craft, and Bernard Kissui also contributed to the study. The group presents a novel approach for managing hunted lion populations that improves conservation of lions.

Second edition of genetics textbook
The second edition of 'Genetics: Analysis and Principles,' written by Rob Brooker, professor of genetics, cell biology, and development, was released in January. Publisher is McGraw-Hill.

Research Grants & Awards

Sadowsky awarded $1 million for research on nitrogenfixing bacterium
Michael Sadowsky, professor of soil, water, and climate, and member of the Biotechnology Institute, is co-principal investigator on a three-year, $1,028,514 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to construct and evaluate genomewide microarrays to examine environmentally regulated gene expression in the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum (Brj).This bacterium forms a symbiotic association with soybean plants. David Emerich and Gary Stacey from the University of Missouri-Columbia are co-PIs.

NIH awards Kahlert lab $440,000 for X-ray diffraction equipment
The Kahlert Structural Biology Laboratory, which houses the U's macromolecular X-ray diffraction facility, has been awarded $440,000 by the National Institutes of Health to upgrade the X-ray equipment, with $150,000 in matching funds from CBS, the Medical School, and the Office of the VP for Research. The new equipment will make it possible to collect high quality X-ray data more quickly using smaller crystals of biological molecules. Principal investigator is Carrie Wilmot, assistant professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics, director of the lab. The Kahlert lab is located in the Basic Science and Biomedical Engineering Building on the Minneapolis campus. The new equipment is expected to be operational by fall 2004.

Robert Sterner received a $337,076 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct a study on 'Element Linkage and Growth-Competition Tradeoffs in Freshwater Zooplankton.'

Robert Sterner and Jacques Finlay received a $375,931 National Science Foundation award to study "The Nitrifying of Lake Superior and Its Intersections with the P and Fe Cycles." Sterner is professor of ecology, evolution, and behavior; Finlay is assistant professor.

Reuben Harris, assistant professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics, has been has been named a 2004-2006 Searle Scholar. The national award program recognizes excellence in biomedical research and selects 15 assistant professors for this honor each year. Harris studies enzymes involved in nucleotide metabolism, specifically the class of proteins that deaminate RNA and DNA, which are involved in a variety of biological processes from RNA editing to immunity.

The Neuroscience Graduate Program is among nine neuroscience programs nationwide selected for the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, a five-year action and research project aimed at improving doctoral education at American universities. The initiative is supported by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, go to http://www.carnegiefoundation.org