K-State announces Targeted Excellence awards

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Source: M. Duane Nellis, 785-532-6224

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

K-STATE ANNOUNCES TARGETED EXCELLENCE AWARDS

MANHATTAN -- Awards made under the second year of Kansas State University's Targeted Excellence program have been announced by M. Duane Nellis, K-State provost.

The Targeted Excellence program was initiated to elevate the standing and reputation of K-State and to help the university achieve the goal of becoming one of the top 10 land-grant institutions in the United States. Through the program, the university makes resources available to enhance programs with the most promise of elevating the university's stature.

From 22 pre-proposals, 11 were chosen to submit full proposals and, of those, six have been selected for funding. They represent the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences. Awards range from more than $380,000 to $2 million over a five-year period.

"This substantial investment in key integrative research areas of the university enterprise will continue to elevate K-State among the elite of land-grant institutions nationally," Nellis said.

Proposals receiving funding, the amount of funding and principal or co-principal investigators are:

• Center for Sensors and Sensor Systems, $1.5 million, with Gurdip Singh, Douglas McGregor and James Edgar.
• Center for the Understanding of Origins, $435,000, with Tim Bolton, Carolyn Ferguson, Bruce Glymour, Srini Kambhampati and Mary Hubbard.
• Geospatial Technology Infrastructure Enhancement, $550,000, with J.M. Shawn Hutchinson and John Harrington.
• Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy, $450,000, with David Procter.
• Strategically Positioning K-State to Benefit from the National Science Foundation's Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science Inc. and National Ecological Observatory Network programs, $381,790, with David Steward, John Blair and James Koelliker.
• Targeted Excellence in Ecological Genomics, $2 million, with Loretta Johnson and Michael Herman.

A new call for proposals will be made at, or before, the beginning of the fall semester.