Michael Rowe, a professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $7,336 to study how brain signals from the inner ear are used by the brain to maintain postural balance and stable vision by correcting for the movements of the head.

Susan Evans, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and a principal investigator with the Edison Biotechnology Institute, received $8,000 to research HDM2, a gene that inhibits the function of p53, the body's tumor suppressor, which can lead to the growth of cancerous cells. The project may aid in designing new treatments for cancer.

Michael Burton, an assistant professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $8,000 to research the dynamics of White House political work by conducting interviews with current and former White House staff. Burton, who was a political aide to former Vice President Al Gore, is developing a book titled The White House Experience.

Sherrill Stroschein, an assistant professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $3,211 to examine the politics of ethnically mixed regions of Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, where national identity has emerged as a political force in the years since these countries have adopted parliamentary democracies. Stroschein will travel to Eastern Europe to gather information, which she plans to eventually publish in a book.

P. Gregory Van Patten, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $7,605 for the purchase of laboratory equipment to aid his research in nanotechnology, which is the science of building new materials on the tiny scale of molecules and atoms. Van Patten hopes to produce semiconductors that could be used as materials for next-generation optical, electronic and computing devices.

T. David Curp, an assistant professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $8,000 to research the long-term political and cultural repercussions of ethnic cleansing on post-war (1945-1960) Poland. Curp plans to travel to Poland this summer to start research.

Matthew White, an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, received $6,664 to learn DNA sequencing techniques for use in research on genetic variations in fish populations. This research aims to shed light on the evolutionary history of fish populations and may aid conservation efforts.

In addition to the OURC awards, Kim Brown, an assistant professor of environmental and plant biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, was named the recipient of the Ohio University Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award in April. Brown received $25,000 to fund a postdoctoral fellow in her lab who will assess what impact forest management practices such as thinning and burning have on the ecosystem. The fellow will conduct research at the university's land lab in southern Ohio, Dysart Woods, a 300-year-old forest.

The Vice President for Research offers $25,000 and benefits for each postdoctoral position granted each year. The Ohio University Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award aims to help develop the next generation of scholars while bolstering the research and scholarship conducted at the university. The program's ad hoc committee of four faculty members from various disciplines on campus received four proposals this year.

Faculty interested in applying for the 2002-2003 OURC awards must turn in proposals by Oct. 3, 2002 for the fall cycle and Jan. 30, 2003 for the winter cycle. The deadline for the University Post-Doctoral Fellowship award is Feb. 13, 2003.

For more information on the OURC and the University Post-Doctorate Fellowship awards, visit the Web at www.ohiou.edu/research/ourc.htm and www.ohiou.edu/research/univpostdoc.htm or contact Projects Coordinator Roxanne Male-Brune at male-bru@ohio.edu. To view a list of OURC recipients from the fall 2001 cycle, read the release online at www.ohio.edu/researchnews/news/ourc2002.html.