Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           985/549-2341/fax 985-549-2061
    Date: 5/6/02
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple 61

SOUTHEASTERN RECEIVES $400,000 IN BOARD OF REGENTS GRANTS
     HAMMOND -- Six Southeastern Louisiana University faculty members have been
awarded more than $400,000 in grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents.
     The grants will fund research projects for students and faculty in the university's biological
sciences and chemistry and physics departments as well as equipment to upgrade classrooms and
curricula. 
     Biological Sciences professor Colin Jackson said his $101,214 grant will be used to train
both graduate and undergraduate students and to purchase research supplies for his project,
"Detection of Arsenate Reducing Genes and Microorganisms in Natural Environments." 
     "Arsenic is a harmful pollutant that is produced from a number of industries such as
refining, wood preservation, and chemical manufacturing," Jackson said. "Various bacteria that
are
naturally found in soil or water can modify arsenic, and potentially make it either more or less
toxic to plants or animals. This project involves looking at the genes that these bacteria use to
resist arsenic, and how they might make arsenic more toxic to other organisms."
     In addition to potentially aiding the bioremediation of arsenic-contaminated areas, Jackson
said the research will also give students hands-on experience and training in state of the art
laboratory and computer techniques and biotechnology and microbiology. 
      "Our graduate and undergraduate students will get paid while they learn these techniques,"
Johnson said.
     Chemistry and Physics professor Maury Howard was granted $99,542 to conduct an
"Analysis of Heavy Metals Contamination in Louisiana Bayous: Defining the Hazard and
Developing Solutions."
     "Heavy metals contamination poses a genuine, long-lasting environmental hazard,"
Howard said. "Metals, in general, are particularly troublesome because natural processes cannot
break them down, and they re-circulate through environmental systems.
     "My research goals compliment Southeastern's well-established environmental 
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BOR GRANTS   Add One
program by adding chemical analysis to the extensive biological research already underway,"
Howard said. She said she will concentrate on trace metals with the goal of investigating regional
sites to evaluate and characterize problem areas and develop new methods for pollutant
remediation.
     She said initially the research will focus on  areas of Southeastern's Turtle Cove
Environmental Research Station and a site near Springfield where she will analyze sinker cypress
and other logs dredged from Lake Maurepas.  
     "Later, I would like to take a look at some potentially contaminated areas within
Tangipahoa and a few surrounding parishes that have already been identified by the
Environmental Protection Agency or the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality as
problem areas," Howard said.
     Biological sciences professor Philip Stouffer will receive $48,000 to recruit "exceptional"
graduate students for research in environmental biology. Stouffer said the grant will fund two
fellowships for biology graduate students who will work on research projects full time while also
participating in kindergarten through high school education outreach programs.
     Three chemistry and physics professors have been awarded grants in the Regents'
"Undergraduate Enhancement" category.
     Chemistry and physics department faculty member Rhett Allain will use a $90,501 grant to
build a student-centered, technology-rich classroom.
     Allain said the classroom, which is modeled on those in use at institutions such as North
Carolina State, MIT, Central Florida, Western Kentucky and the Rochester Institute of
Technology, will employ wireless laptop computers -- one for every three students -- and feature
advanced multi-media capabilities. 
     Chemistry professor Michael Doughty's $41,273 grant will be used to add microplate
technology to Southeastern biochemistry courses. 
     Chemistry professor William Parkinson said his  $26,175 grant will be used to
upgrade the department's Bruker 300 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer
with new computer control software and hardware.  The upgrade, he said, will enhance both the
departments's research and instructional capabilities.
                              -SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/news/spring02.html