Ramaswamy

The College of Agriculture has opened the doors to a most exclusive club. All it costs to get in is $1 million.

Two teams and one individual researcher are inaugural millionaire's club members for securing $1 million in grants during 2005-06.

"I am very grateful, especially during this difficult funding climate, that my laboratory was able to secure federal funds to support our research projects," said Scott Briggs, assistant professor of biochemistry and one of the "millionaires" cited.

"Furthermore, it is such a nice honor to be recognized by Purdue and the College of Agriculture for this achievement. These funds will help support projects that are trying to explain the basic function of how genes are regulated and how aberrant gene expression may lead to cancer."

Other Purdue Agriculture researchers honored with membership in the "club" are a team led by professor Mary Pilat in the Department of Youth Development and Agricultural Education, and one led by food science professor Richard Linton at the Purdue Center for Food Safety Engineering.

Sonny Ramaswamy, associate dean of Purdue Agriculture and director of Agriculture Research Programs, explained why the club was created: "By honoring these researchers, we want to send the message that our faculty are hitting their stride on securing big-time grants.

"Getting a million dollars in grants is pretty amazing. Establishing this millionaire's club within the college is a way of recognizing these outstanding scientists."

In an era when the average grant is around $200,000, the ability to secure million-dollar grants says Purdue teams are conducting research that funding agencies think is important.

"Funding is incredibly competitive," Ramaswamy said. "Major funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the USDA National Research Initiative only fund between 6 and 12 percent of grant applications, so our researchers' ability to secure these large grants is significant."

The name of each researcher is listed on a large plaque in the Agricultural Administration Building. In addition to the college award, Purdue Provost Sally Mason plants a tree on campus to honor each research team.

The team led by Linton focuses on building multidisciplinary teams and developing better approaches for detection and control of foodborne hazards that affect the U.S. food supply. Other team members whose names appear on the plaque are Bruce Applegate, Arun Bhunia, Carlos Corvalan, Maribeth Cousin and David Nivens, all from food science; Joseph Irudayaraj, Michael Ladisch and Chang Lu, all from agricultural and biological engineering; and Charles Woloshuk, from botany and plant pathology.

The team led by Pilat runs the CARe (Communities Against Rape) initiative, which creates, implements and evaluates interpersonal violence prevention educational programs in more than 35 communities, 200 school systems, and at 27 colleges/universities, reaching more than 300,000 youth ages 12-21. Other team members whose names appear on the plaque are Andrea Linsmeyer, Renee McKee and Suzan Norris, all in youth development and agricultural education.

Contact Ramaswamy at sonny@purdue.edu