Biology Department Receives $385,000 Grant

WACO, Texas -- The Baylor University Department of Biology has been awarded a $385,000 grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation to purchase two electron microscopes.
The grant will provide funds for a scanning electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope and additional preparatory equipment. The new equipment will establish the W. M. Keck Foundation Microscopy Laboratory.
"This grant provides us some state-of-the-art equipment that gives us research capabilities we did not have before," said Dr. Keith Hartberg, chair of biology. "This equipment will not only add a very important component to the instructional curriculum but will also encourage additional research."
Dr. Ann Rushing, associate professor of biology, added that the new equipment will have an interdisciplinary focus and will support various departments from Family and Consumer Sciences to Anthropology. She said that the new scanning microscope will allow her to develop a new course for the Department of Biology.
"The new microscopes will give us a much more reliable and user friendly environment," Rushing said. "We will be able to give our students the opportunity to learn a valuable research technique from which they will benefit in their future studies."
The W. M. Keck Foundation, one of the nation's largest foundations in terms of annual grants, was established in 1954 by the late William M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company, who also created in his will the W. M. Keck Trust for the benefit of the foundation. The foundation's primary focus is on grants to universities and colleges throughout the United States, with particular emphasis in the fields of science, engineering and medical research. It also provides limited support, focused on programs serving Southern California, in the areas of community services, health care, precollegiate education and the arts.
For more information on the electron microscopes, contact Rushing at (817) 755-2911.