Public Universities Rewarded for Research Innovations

From the South Dakota Board of Regents:

PIERRE, S.D. – Six university proposals geared to promote research-driven economic development, along with a major collaborative project on security and anti-counterfeiting technology, will benefit from $1 million in state research grants awarded through a competitive process.

The South Dakota Board of Regents announced today the creation of a Center for Security Printing and Anti-Counterfeiting Technology, with South Dakota School of Mines & Technology as the lead institution. Collaborating with other faculty from the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University, these university-based researchers will work on new projects to address the most pervasive and destructive security and counterfeiting problems. The center will receive $300,000 in start-up funding from the state.

“This new research center keys off the state’s 2020 Vision, a science and innovation blueprint for future research and economic development efforts,” explained Paul Turman, the regents’ vice president for research and economic development. “One area of focus is to develop South Dakota’s capacity in advanced manufacturing and materials and information technology.

“This new center is a perfect marriage of that, with a further strategy to establish South Dakota researchers as the foremost experts in this high-tech, developing field,” Turman said. Long term, the 2020 Vision seeks to promote innovation, foster knowledge-based companies, generate higher-wage jobs, and build the capacity to sustain this kind of research effort long term, he added.

Research innovation grant awards were also made to the following universities and projects:

• $117,846 to Black Hills State University for new equipment to be used in biomedical research focused on discovery of new medicines and assessing toxicity of materials used in modern manufacturing.
• $40,000 to Dakota State University for expanded investments in cyber-infrastructure and to support capital equipment purchases for sponsored research.
• $42,154 to Northern State University to acquire scientific instruments to upgrade chemistry laboratories and to support faculty and student research.
• $200,000 to SDSM&T to upgrade existing laboratories and to develop state-of-the-art laboratories for large-scale production in advanced manufacturing.
• $100,000 to SDSU to acquire an in-vivo imaging system to visualize in real time certain molecular and physiological events in living animals and plants.
• $200,000 to USD to purchase state-of-the-art instrumentation for its imaging and visualization facilities and to increase its capacity to seek outside funding for research leading to development of advanced materials and biomedical devices.