ND EPSCoR announces UND doctoral dissertation awards The North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR) has announced the 2008 Doctoral Dissertation Assistantship (DDA) awards at the University of North Dakota. ND EPSCoR’s DDA awards are designed to increase the completion rate of Ph.D. students enrolled in the science, engineering, and mathematics disciplines at North Dakota’s research-intensive universities; and to increase the number of competitive proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation. Gary Johnson, ND EPSCoR co-chair and interim vice president for research at UND, noted that “the overall goal of ND EPSCoR is to increase the competitiveness of North Dakota researchers for merit-based grants and contracts in support of science and technology research from federal funding agencies.” DDA support is available for up to 24 months to enable doctoral students to dedicate their time exclusively to dissertation research. Applications are made by the students with supplemental information provided by their advisors, along with endorsement from their graduate program directors and department chairs. Four competitive awards were made at UND and the review committee was very impressed by the overall quality of the proposals, according to Dr. Johnson. The 2008 DDA students, their departments and faculty mentors, and the topic of their approved research proposals follow. * Biswaranjan Pani, Biochemistry, advisor Brij Singh, “To Investigate the Role of Lipid Raft/Caveolar Protein Caveolin 1 in the Regulation of TRPC1 Function.” * Josef Beranek, Chemistry, advisor Alena Kubatova, “Characterization of Oligomers in Air Particulate Matter.” * Aize Li, Chemistry, advisor Julia Zhao (PI) and David Pierce (co-PI), “Synthesis and Applications of Silica-Based Nanocatalysts.” * Tae Hee Han, Electrical Engineering, advisor Hossein Salehfar (PI) and Michael Mann (co-PI, Chemical Engineering), “Simulation, Design, and Control of Stand-Alone Integrated Wind-Hydrogen Power Systems in Residential Applications.” For additional information concerning ND EPSCoR or the DDA program, please contact Gary Johnson, co-project director, ND EPSCoR, 415 Twamley Hall, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58201-7093, 701-777-2492. -- Gary E Johnson, Co-Project Director, ND EPSCoR, garyejohnson@mail.und.nodak.edu, 701-777-2492