The Utah Statesman, September 14, 2009

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Utah Statesman Monday, Sept. 14, 2009

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USTAR funds veterinary diagnostic research By JP RODRIGUEZ staff writer

A new research team created over the summer will study veterinary diagnostics and infectious diseases at USU. Funding from the state may provide research opportunities for students interested in the agricultural and veterinary sciences. The team, called Veterinary Diagnostics and Infectious Diseases (VDID), is a project funded by the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, said Ken White from the College of Agriculture. White is one of the team leads for the VDID team. The goal of the team is to improve the ways that diseases in agricultural animals are being diagnosed and to prevent them from spreading by generating new equipment and laboratory tests, White said. The team intends to use the latest technology available to develop equipment that will allow for testing of animal diseases out on the field, said Kerry Rood, member of the VDID team, and faculty at the department of animal, dairy, and veterinary science (ADVS) at the College of Agriculture. The team will also look for more sensitive and accurate methods of testing for the various diseases that affect agricultural animals. White said the project will build upon ongoing research at USU, in particular, with faculty members of the colleges of agriculture and science. “We are not starting up from scratch,” Rood said. “We have a very strong base of faculty and research that is going on right now on campus in this area.” White said part of the goal of VDID is not only to generate new technologies but to create new equipment and tests that are lower in cost to today’s alternatives, as well as creating more efficient, rapid methods in diagnosing and preventing disease. USTAR funded $7.2 million to the team, White said. Part of the funding is intended to hire researchers whose skills will enhance the existing capabilities of the dozen or so faculty members already working on the VDID team at USU. “It is very competitive to receive USTAR funding and to get this amount,” Rood said. “That must mean that there are some really good things that Utah State already has to offer to attract this type of funding.” White said each new hire will be an expert in a particular field related to VDID’s emphasis of improved diagnostic testing. The first hire will be a molecular diagnostic specialist. This person will look at the genetic sequences of diseases at the DNA and ribonucleic acids (RNA) levels to identify particular characteristics of diseases, which will help in the development of new tests and equipment. The second hire will be an expert on animal disease modeling. This will allow the team to develop computer models that would help predict the outbreak of disease more quickly. Rood said some of the models that are first used in animal diseases can eventually be developed for use in the field of human disease. The third member will be a chemist, with experience in animal disease diagnostic. This position will help develop assays or tests that are both more sensitive and accurate at discriminating the various diseases and vaccines that animals may have. White said the hiring of the new faculty will take place over the next couple of years, with the first person being identified for one of the positions next spring. “Anytime you hire a research faculty member, it dramatically impacts the number of opportunities for students’ employment,” White said. Students from the colleges of agriculture and sciences are

CLAIRE ADAMS, senior in biology, extracts DNA for research at the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) building. USTAR funded $7.2 million for the research team. TYLER LARSON photo

already working on projects that fall under the umbrella of VDID. Jacoba Mendelkow, public relations and marketing specialist for USU’s department of Strategic Ventures and Economic Development (SVED), said undergraduate research is strong at USU, and the new team will provide “really cool” opportunities for students to get involved with the research. SVED is the department that oversees the USTAR teams at USU. Mendelkow said USTAR was created in 2006 as a governmentfunded initiative by then Gov. Jon Huntsman. Due to a trend at that time, in which many of the high-tech jobs were leaving the state of Utah, Huntsman asked to create USTAR to help fund research that kept technology jobs in Utah, and to attract experts in the field to come work in the state. Mendelkow said one of the goals of USTAR is to help the state’s research universities by funding teams and projects that can benefit the university, local and state communities by generating sources of high technology jobs in the state and bringing revenue from the services and technologies created by these programs. “Animal agriculture has a tremendous economic impact to the state of Utah, particularly in rural areas,” said Lee Rickords, of the ADVS department, and member of the VDID team. “The veterinary market is a $1 billion a year market in the U.S. alone,” said Michael O’Malley, who does the public relations and marketing for USTAR, and is a member of its governing board. Some of the technology and tests that come from this team can

significantly affect and improve the economy of the Utah. O’Malley said the goal of USTAR is to help the teams at USU and the University of Utah to generate research that will lead them to create patents and licenses for new technologies. “What (USTAR) does is actually help expand what we have going and, maybe to a certain degree, help speed up the process,” Rood said. O’Malley said the VDID team is one of three new teams that were created at USU and funded by USTAR over the summer. All three teams have been given a combined budget of $9 million over the next five years. The budget will be used to hire new faculty and personnel that will allow the team to keep working on their current research, and will allow them to generate both new research, and further funding in the form of grants from the federal government and other institutions. Mendelkow said including the new teams created over the summer, SVED at USU now manages a total of nine teams, which have received USTAR funding as seeding money. That is, the teams plan to use the money to get the research started, and hire researchers, consultants and other personnel. After the research gets going, the plan is to obtain money from grants from the federal or state governments, via the National Foundation of Science, among other places. –jprodriguez78@gmail.com

Utah State and the College of Eastern Utah to merge By BENJAMIN WOOD senior news writer

Merger talks continue as the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) prepares to become a regional facility of USU. Pending approval from state legislators, a USU and CEU merger will likely commence in July. The Utah Board of Regents approved the merger and appointed Cory Duckworth as transition director. Representatives from both campuses, as well as the office of the commissioner for higher education, are working through the details of incorporating CEU into the Utah State System for a memorandum of understanding that will be presented to state lawmakers in their upcoming session, Duckworth said. “I think the main challenge is there’s so many issues that need to be dealt with,” Duckworth said. Duckworth, vice president of Student Affairs at Utah Valley University and a graduate of

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USU, said he was appointed to be a neutral campuses outside of Logan in Uintah Basin, party unaffiliated with either university. He was Tooele, and Brigham City, yet the incoming CEU involved in the merger of Ferris State University campus, located in Price, will be unique among and Kendall College of Art and USU’s other properties. Design, yet admits that the situaUnlike the current extension InDepth tion isn’t exactly common. campuses that were created as part A closer look at issues of the USU community, CEU has “In higher education, these affecting USU types of affiliations don’t norits own traditions, image, history mally happen,” Duckworth said. and programs, like athletics and A number of committees have been formed student government. Albrecht said that much of to look at the details of incorporating the twothis individuality will remain intact, and sugyear community college, Duckworth said, and gested CEU’s individuality will serve as a model the final memorandum is planned to be prefor the other campuses to reach. sented in December, with the merger slated to “This needs to be value-added. We don’t want officially begin on July 1, 2010. to take away anything that’s good,” Albrecht said. CEU’s identity crisis Even so, changes will inevitably occur as CEU becomes a branch of USU and the committees Many factors led up to the decision to merge working with Duckworth are trying to identify the two schools, among them were CEU’s declin- the aspects, and to what degree, that will be coning enrollment and high per-student cost, cursolidated in the memorandum of understandrently the highest in the state, USU President ing. The CEU vice president of Student Services, Stan Albrecht said. USU currently has three Brad King, said there is some concern on CEU’s

9/14/09 USU’s women’s soccer team split a pair of road games over the weekend in Texas. Page 8

Multicultural Student Services hosts their biggest event Saturday, the Salsabration. Page 5

end about losing campus identity in the merger but added that the merger is largely without precedent in the state of Utah. “We still need to find out what a comprehensive regional facility is,” King said. King said the merger offers many opportunities to students of CEU. Those looking to continue beyond their two-year programs will have a closer association with the university and potentially more curricular choices. “I have no reason to think that things aren’t going to turn out for the better,” King said. Dave Buhler, associate commissioner of higher education, also said the merger will positively affect students in Price. “I think it will be great for them,” Buhler said. “It just gives them more opportunities; it doesn’t take anything away.” Mike King is currently operating as interim president of CEU, Buhler said, and it remains to be seen what administrative structure will

- See MERGE, page 3

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