New associate VP for research named
Benicewicz, a former senior physicist, project leader, and lab manager for General Electric in upstate New York and Greenville, S.C., has been named associate vice president for research and senior director of research advancement and outreach at Carolina. She first joined the University last year as director of industrial research relations.

3 top researchers to lead/co-direct CoEEs

Three leading researchers will direct two USC Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) and co-direct a third collaborative Center-- all aimed at creating jobs and new opportunities for South Carolinians.

Drs. Simon Hudson and Anton Jochen Lauterbach, will direct, respectively, new USC CoEEs in Tourism and Economic Development, and Strategic Approaches to the Production of Electricity from Coal. Dr Steve Blair will co-direct (with Dr. Carolyn Jenkins of MUSC’s College of Nursing) the collaborative Technology Center to Enhance Healthful Lifestyles. .

Science Nation episode features USC Hydrogen Researcher
Dr. John Van Zee is currently appearing in a Science Nation “Trailblazer” episode on the City of Columbia’s transformation into a hotbed of hydrogen research--thanks in large part to the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells at the University of South Carolina.

Van Zee, director of the center, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, notes, "What we're focused on specifically in this center is how to make a better fuel cell, how to make the fuel cell less expensive, how to make the fuel cell more reliable.”

$4.9 million grant to address storage of carbon dioxide
The funding, which will go to researchers from the university's Earth Sciences and Resources Institute (ESRI) and department of earth and ocean sciences, is one of only 11 national awards from DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Arts and Humanities Grants
The Arts and Humanities Grants program is a new pilot program, sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, to support faculty development through scholarship and creative achievement in the Arts and Humanities. The purpose of this program is to provide funding to assist Arts and Humanities faculty in achieving their scholarship goals, with particular emphasis on those activities that support work needed for tenure, promotion, completion of an ongoing project, and/or in exploring new areas of scholarship or creative work.

Research funding record $210M
USC research funding reached a record $210.3 million in fiscal year 2009, up 2 percent from last year and gratifying (news) during a year of economic turbulence according to University President Harris Pastides.