Idaho State University

Written by Ken Kingery, University of Idaho Communications

MOSCOW, Idaho - Today’s issues related to climate change and water resources require an abundant flow of information between scientists across the country. Because of this fact, the National Science Foundation not only is providing bigger pipes for three states, it also is making sure they fit together.

The NSF’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) recently announced a three-year grant worth $6 million to be shared by the states of Nevada, New Mexico and Idaho. The grant will help these states address regional issues related to climate change and water resource management in three ways. (more…)

The Idaho State University history department is engaged in a revolutionary, interdisciplinary historical study that has attracted $1.7 million in funding from the National Science Foundation.

It isn't often the National Science Foundation funds a project from a humanities discipline with a history professor as a principal investigator, but that is exactly what happened earlier this fall when ISU history professor J.B. "Jack" Owens received an award for a project titled "Understanding social networks within complex, nonlinear systems: geographically-integrated history and dynamics GIS." About $1.3 million of the four-year grant will go to ISU, with about $471,000 to go to the University of Oklahoma and co-principal investigator May Yuan. (more…)

Residents and workers in Libby, Mont., where thousands have been exposed to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore for over nine decades, will benefit from three key scientific investigations, which include a research project by the Idaho State University Department of Biological Sciences, launched this month by Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City,

Mount Sinai researchers will collaborate on the research effort, to be known as the Libby Epidemiology Research Program, with Libby's Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD), investigators from the University of Montana and Idaho State University, and a national scientific advisory group.  The research will be supported by a grant of over $4.8 million from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

One program, led by Jean Pfau, Idaho State University assistant professor of immunotoxicology, will compare production of blood serum antibodies among Libby residents who were exposed to asbestos only in their environment (and not at their place of employment) with antibodies seen in workers with historically long-term, heavy exposure to common commercial forms of asbestos. (more…)

Idaho State University's Intermountain Center for Educational Effectiveness (ICEE) in the College of Education is changing the way teachers teach.

The ICEE in collaboration with eastern Idaho School districts is defining classroom instructional objectives based on Idaho K-12 content standards and conforming to the No Child Left Behind Act.

This is just one of several major grant projects the ICEE is currently working on. (more…)

Idaho State University researchers René Rodriguez and Joshua Pak, who worked with Idaho National Laboratory researcher Robert Fox, were honored with an Idaho Innovation Awards “Early-Stage Innovation of the Year” for their work with precision nanoparticles.

The winners of the fourth annual Idaho Innovation Awards were announced earlier this month. The state’s only innovation awards program, the Idaho Innovation Awards are presented by Stoel Rives and Kickstand. (more…)

The Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health – which has been awarded $34 million in grant and contract funds since its inception – will celebrate its 20^th anniversary at the Idaho Conference on Health Care on Oct. 30 at ISU.

Members of the IRH will staff booths and offer celebratory cake at the conference from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Pond Student Union.

In 1989, the Institute of Rural Health (IRH) was developed as a non-academic unit by Linda Hatzenbuehler, who was dean of the Kasiska College of Health Professions at the time and is currently ISU associate vice president for health education. The IRH was started to promote the growth of research and bring in external funding from both grants and contracts. (more…)

Idaho State University has received a $329,670 federal grant to help create the ISU Idaho Oral Health Institute (IOHI). The vision of the Institute is to provide a center for oral health education, research and clinical practice in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest, as well as nationally and internationally.

ISU received the grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). (more…)

Idaho State University-Meridian HIV/AIDS education coordinator, Judy Thorne, has been awarded $126,000 in federal grant money to aid Idaho health professionals and practitioners in the detection and prevention of HIV and AIDS in Idaho.

Approximately $101,000 is renewal of an existing grant to train rural practitioners in administering a field test for the detection of HIV and AIDS.  Practitioners include physicians, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists and dentists. (more…)

September was an unprecedented month for Idaho State University, which landed 16 federal research grants representing more the $8.2 million in research funding.

“The grants awarded demonstrate the national competitiveness and prominence of our faculty and their research groups in our core university missions of energy development and health care, as well our environmental and social science studies,” said Pamela Crowell, ISU vice president for research. “It was an amazing month for ISU research funding.” (more…)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded $1.5 million to Idaho State University’s Institute of Rural Health for youth suicide prevention projects over the next three years.

The grant will help fund crucial suicide prevention efforts to reduce suicide attempts and completions among 10-24-year-olds. Projects will include training adults to identify warning signs of suicide in children and teens, supporting volunteer associations in self-sufficiency, providing prevention materials to schools, and assisting public safety, health and mental health providers in conducting suicide risk assessments. A series of special Awareness to Advocacy Academies will be held for advocates as well as public safety, health and mental health professionals. (more…)