Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/77272
Opportunities, Awards, Plans Spring 2012 Global Policy Research Institute Awards Grants for Grand Challenges secure larger grants from external agencies and organizations," says Arden L. Bement, GPRI director. "The seed money awarded to these six multidisci- plinary teams will help position the researchers to secure more support in the future in service to real needs." Professors who received $40,000 grants and their research projects are: New Strategic Plan for Bindley Bioscience Center A new strategic plan for the Bindley Bioscience Center (BBC) has been devel- oped by a task force of faculty, deans and administrators. The plan is now available online in a media rich format. The strategic plan outlines the vision for the Bindley Bioscience Center — to be leading innovators in merging life sciences and engineering. The online document also contains the core orga- nizational values of BBC and targeted strategic short-term and long-term goals accompanied by detailed objectives designed to meet those goals. For more information, please visit www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/ bioscience/strategicplan. » (Datu) Buyung Agusdinata, associate research scientist with the system- of-systems in aeronautics and astronautics, "Modeling Framework for Policy Development to Mitigate Drought Impacts in East Africa;" » Srinivas Peeta, professor of civil engineering and director of NEXTRANS Center, "Policymaking Considering Interdependent Infrastructure Sys- tems: An Economic General Equilibrium Approach;" » Nelson Villoria, assistant research professor of agricultural economics, "Global Food Price Volatility and Climate Change: Understanding Policy Options and their Trade-Offs;" and » Fu Zhao, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, "Economic and Environmental Consequences of Widespread Deployment of Solar Photo- voltaics: A Computational Approach." Professors who received $10,000 grants and their projects are: » Shirley Dyke, professor of mechanical engineering and civil engineering, "Workshop Focusing on Global Policies for Infrastructure Monitoring and Management: A Paradigm Shift in Lifecycle Costs and Optimization of Resources," and » Arvind Varma, head and R. Games Slayter Dis- tinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, "US-Mexico Workshop on Sustainable Biofuels Production." GPRI focuses on the university's strengths in science, information technology, data management and systems engineering in collaboration with economics and the social sciences to inform policymakers about critical issues. Incentive award grants provide seed money to researchers while also allowing graduate students to work on interdisciplinary teams addressing problems with local, regional, national and global impact. During the last two years, a total of $300,000 in seed money has been awarded. Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert is a health sciences/ news writer for Purdue Marketing and Media. 4 OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH Institute (GPRI). "This is the institute's third year of awarding funds to help faculty members Renewable energy, damage from severe drought and the use of solar energy are some of the grand challenge research topics that have received grants totaling $180,000 from the Purdue University Global Policy Research