Deborah Swackhamer has been named Charles M. Denny Chair. Read more

Prof. Jennifer Kuzma was recently part of a team awarded a $3.3 million National Science Foundation grant "Precise Engineering of Plant Genomes using Zinc Finger Nucleases". On this project, Prof. Kuzma will serve as co-PI and take the lead on the societal implications component of the research, investigating stakeholder, expert, and public perceptions of a novel technology for modifying plant genomes and evaluating oversight models for it. She and a student will work with PI Dan Voytas from Plant Biology at the U of MN and co-PIs Jae Joung (Mass. General Hospital), Kan Wang (Iowa State) and Drena Dobbs (Iowa State).

Prof. Kuzma was invited to participate in a small planning workshop of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council for the "Impact of Nanoscale Technologies on Agriculture and Food Systems: A Scoping Workshop for Assessment of Technological and Societal Implications" on August 21-22, 2009 in Washington DC. The National Academy of Sciences is the premier national organization for addressing critical science and technology issues and giving advice to the federal government and the public. The organization is planning more activity in one area of Prof. Kuzma's research, agrifood nanotechnology.

Director Steve Kelley, interviewed on MPR, January 26th, 2009: Steve Kelley favors a "build it and they will come' approach to expanding broadband. He said once people see the opportunities high-speed Internet service creates, if its available, they'll buy it. "When the tools are there ahead of time people invent lots of new ways to use it," Kelley said. "So I do think we've fallen behind on providing the capacity and infrastructure that will generate new innovation in how we use it." Follow this link for the full story.

Dr. Elizabeth Wilson along with colleague Dr. Sangwon Suh, Assistant, Professor, Bio- Products Bio-Systems Engineering and Research Fellow, Melisa Pollak were recommended for funding to receive a $143,000 grant by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) to conduct an "Evaluation of Options to De-Carbonize Minnesota's Electrical Power System: Life-cycle Technical and Socio-political Analyses"