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St. Lawrence University receives $282,390 from National Science Foundation for laser-scanning confocal microscope

Posted 9/20/16

CANTON -- Over the last year, the National Science Foundation has awarded St. Lawrence University more than $1 million for various faculty-led projects. The latest award of $282,390 will allow the …

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St. Lawrence University receives $282,390 from National Science Foundation for laser-scanning confocal microscope

Posted

CANTON -- Over the last year, the National Science Foundation has awarded St. Lawrence University more than $1 million for various faculty-led projects. The latest award of $282,390 will allow the university to obtain a laser-scanning confocal microscope to be used by the Department of Biology.

“These NSF grant awards recognize the level of critical discovery being led by St. Lawrence faculty,” said President William L. Fox.

The $282,390 award will allow St. Lawrence to expand its current and future research, teaching and training in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The grant will provide the funding necessary to purchase a Nikon C2+ spectral imaging confocal microscope, which will help support the research of 11 faculty and science professionals in cell and developmental biology and ecology and evolution.

The equipment will be made available to St. Lawrence faculty and students as well as faculty and students from the Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley.

In August, the National Science Foundation awarded two separate grants for projects led by St. Lawrence University faculty, both involving research changes in climate.

The first, awarded to Associate Professor Alexander Stewart, will study leaf waxes preserved in lake sediments as a way to determine past precipitation in order to better understand future changes in precipitation.

The second was awarded to Jon Rosales, associate professor of environmental studies, and Jessica Chapman, associate professor of statistics, who will study remote Alaskan indigenous populations, where babies are named after storms to remember those events.

Together, with the assistance of student interns, they will generate a storm map by combining birthdates with an analysis of driftwood accumulations in order to substantiate claims by villagers that storms have intensified over recent decades.

Last year, the National Science Foundation awarded St. Lawrence $618,524 to create the Liberal Arts Science (LAS) Scholars Program, led by Chapman, to assist underrepresented groups pursuing STEM-related majors and careers.