In 2005, Furman shared an award with seven South Carolina institutions with an overarching goal aimed at increasing biomedical research competitiveness in our state. Between May 2005 and April 2010, Furman received approximately $2M in funding through NIH-INBRE with the primary focus on 6 target faculty across three disciplines (Biology, Psychology and Chemistry). In 2010, Furman’s NIH-INBRE award was renewed (INBRE II) for an additional five year period supporting five target faculty in Biology, Chemistry and Neuroscienc.
INBRE II provided benefits to Furman in the following ways:
- Through the support of five target faculty in the biomedical sciences, Dr. Renee Chosed (Biology); Dr. Karen Buchmueller (Chemistry); Dr. David Hollis (Biology); Dr. Nick Kuklinski (Chemistry); and Dr. Onarae Rice (Neuroscience). Target faculty received summer support for themselves and their students, lab tech support or startup, and academic year release time to focus more intentionally on building a competitive research program.
- Through the support of 10 individual faculty research projects of biomedical relevance. Funds were allocated through matching Furman support and provided a $10,000 faculty summer research stipend, one $4,000 student research stipend and a supplies budget of up to $3,500. Faculty in the department of Psychology (1), Health Science (2), Chemistry (3) and Biology (4) were supported.
- Through infrastructure support including startup funding for the new hires, funding for specified research instrumentation to support the biomedical research faculty and research opportunities for students at Furman and surrounding institutions.
- Through support of faculty and students from other regional undergraduate institutions working with established Furman investigators, e.g., Dr. Neval Erturk from Converse College and her students have worked at Furman during the Summers of 2010 through 2014 on collaborative projects with Dr Eli Hestermann (Biology).
Science Outreach
INBRE II directly supported science education and outreach initiatives through salary support for Dr. John Kaup (Director of Science Education) and direct support for the following programs:
- Furman STEM Mentors Program
- HHMI sponsored Research Experience for Teachers (RET)
- Bridges to a Brighter Future (BBF) Science Exposure program
- Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) SPRI Program and
- FU Scope-on-a-Rope (SOAR) program