Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. ~ Stephen Swid, Chairman and CEO of SESAC, Inc.

Though it can provide neither riches nor wealth, The University of Mississippi's Faculty Research Program (FRP) offers both money and time to UM faculty members to encourage research, scholarship, and creative activities. The primary purpose of the FRP is to provide initial support for projects that will be of interest to external funding agencies. The program may also support projects that: • are in areas where external funding is presently unavailable or very limited; • are small or limited in scope, such that seeking external funding would be impractical or inappropriate; • are of a "high risk" nature or involve highly innovative new concepts that might be less competitive when compared with more mainstream proposals in an external agency review. Following the October 4 application deadline, faculty review committees completed their work in November and forwarded recommendations to Dr. Alice Clark, Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs. Dr. Clark is pleased to announce the selection of the following individuals as University of Mississippi 2005 Faculty Research Fellows.

Name	Department	Project Title
Barker, Deborah	English	The Rape of the South: Sexual Violence in the Cinematic South
Bombelli, Luca	Physics and Astronomy	Fluctuations of Spatial Geometry and Phenomenology of Quantum Gravity
Brewer, Stephen	Biology	Methods of Inducing Flowering in a Fire-Adapted Plant
Buskes, Gerard	Mathematics	Arens Regular Bilinear Maps and Positivity
Cavaglia, Marco	Physics and Astronomy	Black Holes in Particle Colliders and Cosmic Rays
Dellinger, Kirsten	Sociology and Anthropology	Catfish Culture: Work and Identity in a Southern Industry
Dinius, Oliver	History	Work in Brazil's Steel City: A History of Industrial Relations in Volta Redonda, 1941-1968
Doerksen, Robert	Medicinal Chemistry	Ab initio Car-Parrinello QM/MM Molecular Dynamics Study of the Active Site and Catalytic Functioning of Biliverdin Reductase
Eagles, Charles	History	Loewen and Sallis: Controversy over a Mississippi History Textbook
Ellison, Eric	Chemistry and Biochemistry	Studies of Excited State Quenching in Polar Solvated Zeolites
Endo, Seiji	Family and Consumer Sciences	Mass Customization in Mississippi's Manufacturing Industry: A Case Study of Textile, Apparel, and Furniture Industries
Evans, Brian	Theatre Arts	Breath Work in Combat Scenes for Actors
Fennelly, Beth Ann	English	Soft Science: Poems
Ford, Allison	HESRM	Risk Factors Associated with Low Bone Mineral Density Among University of Mississippi Employees
Gutting, Edward	Classics	Venus in the Aeneid
Haenfler, Ross	Sociology and Anthropology	Straight Edge: Clean Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change
Harker, Jaime	English	Speaking in Tongues: Missionaries and Cultural Hybridity in Twentieth Century American Culture
Howard, Joshua	History	Nie Er: Composing Revolution in China
Jackson, Jeffrey	Sociology and Anthropology	Nation Building and Official Development Assistance (ODA): Preliminary Data Analysis
Jones, Bradley	Biology	Transcriptional Control of Glial Cell Development in Drosophila
Lata, Hemant	NCNPR	Evaluation, Characterization and Monitoring Genetic Stability of In vitro Conserved Medicinal Plant Germplasm
Lobur, John	Classics	Consensus, Concordia and the Formation of Roman Imperial Ideology
Murray, Matthew	Sociology and Anthropology	Indigenous Communities and the Formation of Rome's Danube Frontier in Southeastern Germany
Noble, Stephanie	Marketing	Understand the Symbolic and Image-Oriented Consumption Patterns of Generation Y
Ostrovskii, Igor	Physics and Astronomy	Acousto-Electric Phenomena in Multidomain Ferroelectrics for Communication
Reed, David	Biology	Interactions between Population Fitness and Population Dynamics
Reysen, Matthew	Psychology	The Effects of Social Pressure on Memory Performance
Ritchie, Jason	Chemistry and Biochemistry	Effects of Structure on Ionic and Molecular Transport in a Sol-Gel Prepared Polymer Electrolyte
Song, Chung	Civil Engineering	Construction of Design Charts for Easy Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity of Soils Using Pore Pressure Respones of Piezocone Penetration Tests
Starr, Julian	Biology	Phylogenetic Relationships with the Sedge Family (Cyperaceae)
Thurlkill, Mary	Philosophy and Religion	Chosen Among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi`ite Islam
Wadkins, Randy	Chemistry and Biochemistry	Molecular Dynamics of Carboxylesterases
Wang, Karl	Accountancy	The Reverse Effect of Economic Incentive on Internal Auditors' Judgment in Financial Audit
Wilson, Kelly	Psychology	Relational Stimulus Control and Fear Relevant Stimuli
Wilson, Sean	Pharmacology	Aging and Calcium Signaling in Arterial Smooth Muscle
Wrobel, Gabriel	Sociology and Anthropology	Bioarchaeological Investigations at Caves Branch Rock Shelter, Belize
Yang, Fan	Electrical Engineering	Analysis of Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) Structures Using Spectral Domain FDTD Method
TOTALS:	37 Fellows	$279,956 in Faculty Research Program grants from The University of Mississippi through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Testimonial from a 2004 FRP Fellow
My 2004 summer grant from the Office of Research made all the difference in the world. For years I have taught summer school —after all, the youngest of our five children is still in college. But this past year, I was able to teach an overload during the spring semester and therefore to spend first summer term traveling in Europe, giving poetry readings and lectures, attending two conferences, and writing a lot. Then upon my return, I was able to spend second summer term funded by my [FRP] grant, working on new poems, revising the poems I had written in Europe, and revising a book manuscript of poems to incorporate my new work. This book manuscript, which used to be called “Dream Cabinet” but now is called “Five Terraces,” has just been accepted for publication by Wind in 2005.

I was particularly grateful to receive an Office of Research grant because I am a senior professor, and grants usually go to junior faculty. But in recent years I’ve dramatically switched directions in my work; though I still write academic literary criticism, most of what I now write is poetry, and I’ve become part of the English department’s MFA faculty. I strongly encourage the Office of Research to make grant opportunities available to other senior faculty. After all, the strength of any university depends very much on its senior professors’ abilities to remain vitally engaged with new work and projects.

Thank you very much, and best wishes,

Ann Fisher-Wirth

See ORSP News/Division of Research below for more on the 2004 Faculty Research Fellows

SURA Cyberinfrastructure Workshop: Grid Application Planning and Implementation
January 5-7, 2005, at Georgia State University in Atlanta, presented by Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) with support from several industry leaders including Sun Microsystems, James River Technical/SGI, United Devices, IBM, and AT&T. Presentations from major grid application initiatives will illuminate the broader uses of grids, followed by case studies of "grid-enabled" application deployment in settings that range from institutional to international. Interactive sessions will provide additional depth on key topics, with wrap-up presentations on networking, funding, technology trends and support. For more information and online registration, visit www.gsu.edu/~wwwacs/suragridconf/. SURA is a consortium of 60 US universities and colleges, including UM. SURA operates the US Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab and promotes initiatives in nuclear physics, information technologies, and coastal research. www.sura.org

Mississippi Academy of Sciences to Meet in Oxford
The Mississippi Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting will be in Oxford at the new Oxford Conference Center on Thursday and Friday, 17 and 18 February 2005. Each year, the Academy holds an annual meeting to present addresses, symposia, workshops, scientific papers, and exhibits of interest to its members. To join MAS, submit an abstract, or pre-register for the meeting, visit www.msacad.org/.

Mid-South College Computing Conference to be Held at UM
The Mid-South College Computing Conference (MSCCC) is in the process of joining the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) as CCSC's Mid-South Conference. This process should be complete by the end of February 2005. MSCCC 2005 (CCSC Mid-South 2005) will be held 1-2 April 2005 on the campus of the University of Mississippi. David Gries of Cornell University has agreed to be a keynote speaker. The deadline for submission of papers, tutorial/workshop/panel proposals, and poster abstracts is Friday, 3 December, 2004. Accepted papers will be published in the Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. There will also be a student programming contest. See the website www.msccc.net for submission or other conference details. Send any inquiries to msccc@cs.olemiss.edu.

ASM Biodefense Research Meeting
The American Society for Microbiology is currently accepting abstract submissions for its third annual Biodefense Research Meeting scheduled for March 20-23, 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland. This third biodefense meeting will emphasize select agents and countermeasure development, including diagnostics and forensics. The program and workshops will highlight practical issues related to biosafety and product development, including a keynote address on application of the recently enacted Bioshield legislation. Abstracts may be submitted at www.asmbiodefense.org by Monday, January 24, 2005; program information will be posted at the same website as it becomes available.

Human and Social Dynamics ~ National Science Foundation NSF 05-520
The Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) priority area fosters breakthroughs in understanding the dynamics of human action and development, as well as knowledge about organizational, cultural, and societal adaptation and change. Accomplishing its goals requires multidisciplinary research teams and comprehensive, interdisciplinary approaches across the sciences, engineering, education, and humanities, as appropriate. The FY 2005 competition will include three emphasis areas: Agents of Change; Dynamics of Human Behavior; and Decision Making, Risk, and Uncertainty. Support will be provided for Full Research projects and for shorter-term Exploratory Research and HSD Research Community Development projects. Deadlines: February 9, 2005 for Exploratory Research proposals and HSD Research Community Development proposals; February 23, 2005 for Full Research proposals. www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf05520

USDA Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its 2005 solicitation for proposals under its Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grants (BRAG) Program. The purpose of this program is to assist federal regulatory agencies in making science-based decisions about the effects of introducing genetically modified organisms into the environment. Investigations of effects on both managed and natural environments are relevant. The deadline for submissions is February 24, 2005. For more information, visit www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1075.

Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program (DoD PCRP)
FY05 DoD PCRP has released program announcements for ten different funding mechanisms (see below). For links to the website and program announcements, visit cdmrp.army.mil/.

Deadline: February 8, 2005	Deadline: June 7, 2005
Clinical Trial Development Award	Health Disparity Training - Prostate Scholar Award
Postdoctoral Traineeship Award	Health Disparity Research - Prostate Scholar Award
Predoctoral Traineeship Award	HBCU Undergraduate Collaborative Summer Training Program Award
Exploration - Hypothesis Development Award	Physician Research Training Award
New Investigator Award
Idea Development Award

Find MORE on the ORSP Funding Opportunities Recent Announcements page

SEARCH for Funding Opportunities using Community of Science

Export Control ~ It May Apply to You!
Attendees at the ORSP Export Control workshop (Friday, December 3) learned about the severe personal penalties for sharing certain security-related technology with other countries or with international faculty and graduate students. EC considerations are triggered primarily when research does not qualify as “Fundamental Research.”; This occurs when:

1. the university or researcher accepts any restrictions on the publication of the information resulting from the research, other than limited prepublication reviews by research sponsors to prevent inadvertent divulging of proprietary information provided to the researcher by the sponsor or to insure that publication will not compromise patent rights of the sponsor; or
2. the research is federally funded and specific access and dissemination controls regarding the resulting information have been accepted by the university or the researcher.

ORSP will help PIs understand EC regulations and avoid problems by:

• screening grants and contracts for restrictions
• visiting departments to meet with faculty
• posting guidance on the ORSP website

UM Researcher Featured at IP Forum
The University of Mississippi was among the five leading research institutions represented at the inaugural MRC/MTA Intellectual Property Forum and Technology Expo, held November 30-December 1 in Jackson. Among the spotlighted presenters was Dr. Michael Repka, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics and research assistant professor in the Research Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences. Repka's bioadhesive film platform technology has recently spawned a relationship with a Mississippi company, WraSer Pharmaceuticals. In a recent press article, the relationship was described as one designed to allow WraSer “to work with the university to ‘identify, develop, register and commercialize’ new pharmaceutical products.”; This represents the latest in a series of successes for The University of Mississippi, and specifically the School of Pharmacy, related to technology transfer.

Call for Reviewers ~ Sea Grant Expertise
The California Bay-Delta Authority Science Program is seeking scientists to evaluate submissions for its first solicitation for proposals. Selected proposals will ultimately develop new knowledge about how water use and management activities interact with and affect key aquatic species and environmental processes across broad spatial and temporal scales. Program directors anticipate a large number of proposals dealing with the fisheries, watersheds, invasives and contaminants areas where the Sea Grant Network has very strong expertise. Reviewers will be compensated a flat fee of $300 for each proposal reviewed. To be considered as a reviewer for this solicitation, please visit www.calwater.ca.gov/Solicitation and follow the reviewer registration instructions, which can be found by clicking the Registration link on the left side of the Science PSP homepage. For additional information, email help@solicitation.calwater.ca.gov or call the PSP Helpline at 877-408-9310.

NIH Centralizing Grant Administrative Support
The National Institutes of Health has established the Division of Extramural Activities Support (DEAS), which began operations on October 3, 2004 and will eventually be NIH's largest division when fully staffed. In an article for the fall issue of the NCURA Newsletter, Tony De Crappeo, Associate Director for the Council on Governmental Relations, writes: “Under DEAS, NIH will centralize support services for Peer Review, Grants Management and Program functions. What this strategy represents is a major departure from NIH's current structure, through which each Institute and Center carries out its own extramural activities support services. DEAS ... will provide extramural activities support services to all Institutes and Centers but will not be aligned with any one. NIH officials recognize that this undoubtedly will introduce a major ‘cultural’ change at NIH in the working arrangements between professional and support staff, and with the external research community, with an attendant set of problems above and beyond those typically associated with change.”;

Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity ~ Estuarine Science on Chesapeake Bay
The Maryland Sea Grant Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, funded by the National Science Foundation, plans to host 14 students from colleges and universities nationwide in Summer 2005. Students spend 12 weeks living and working at either Chesapeake Biological Laboratory or Horn Point Laboratory, both part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Students work closely with a scientist-mentor on a research project focusing on the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to a strong introduction to research, the program features a week-long orientation to marine science and seminars throughout the summer on writing, oral presentations, alternative careers, and science ethics. Applications are due February 8, 2005; for more information, or to apply online or download an application, visit www.mdsg.umd.edu/Education/REU. Students from traditionally underrepresented groups in marine science are especially encouraged to apply.

Division of Research
On November 12, 2004, the second annual Faculty Research Fellows Poster Symposium was held in the Johnson Commons Ballroom on the Ole Miss campus. First presented last fall, the poster symposium honors the previous year's Faculty Research Program grant recipients and shares their work with the university and the community, exposing interested attendees to numerous projects in a short time frame with the opportunity to interact one-on-one with the researchers and creators of the work. Twenty-five fellows mounted posters and most were present during the 1.5-hour event to talk with numerous visitors from all across campus; all presenters and attendees enjoyed a buffet luncheon. Click here to view a slide show of photos taken at this year's symposium.

Division of Research Integrity and Compliance

• Reminder: Human subjects researchers should read about the mandatory online education requirement for all project staff on applications submitted after February 15, 2005 (see last month's IRB Bulletin).
• Save your printer! Submit your IRB and IACUC applications via email and fax the signature page to x3927. Animal researchers will find essential guidance with references in the new IACUC DOs and DON'Ts.
• See important information about Export Control regulations and penalties in Bits & Pieces, above.

Division of Technology Management
Technology Management staff have been busy organizing and participating in the inaugural MRC/MTA Intellectual Property Forum and Technology Expo, held November 30-December 1 in Jackson (see related story in Bits & Pieces, above). The event highlighted research efforts and capabilities among Mississippi universities. With over 130 in attendance, including venture capitalists, industry representatives, university researchers, and members of state government, this event proved very successful for its first showing. One of the highlights was a speech from Governor Haley Barbour which emphasized the importance of technological innovation and research to the Mississippi economy and the role of the leading universities in the state in providing these important elements. Among the spotlighted presenters at the IP Forum were Dr. James Chambers (NCPA and mechanical engineering) and Dr. Michael Repka (Pharmaceutics and RIPS).

For complete information about the ORSP —mission, structure, services, responsibilities, and more —visit the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs page