College of Engineering Receives $783,936 GAANN Grant

TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 10, 2009) – The USF College of Engineering was recently awarded a Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) grant, which will support a group of six to eight Ph.D. students to pursue research and education at the Water, Materials, Energy, Human Nexus with faculty from the departments of Civil and Environmental, Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

The project management team includes faculty engineering members Maya Trotz, Delcie Durham and James Mihelcic, whose research and educational activities support the USF vision for sustaining healthy communities.

"We are extremely happy to receive this grant, which will train students to take a multidisciplinary approach to solving some of the world's grand challenges and really push the traditional engineering fields to consider sustainability and how it can be incorporated into graduate training," said Trotz.

Helen Muga, a post-doctoral researcher working with Mihelcic, worked tirelessly in helping to put the large grant together, which includes both a research and educational component for training the new cohort of American students.

Through the multidisciplinary program students will take a core set of classes on water, energy, materials, social interactions, and sustainability as well as engage in interdisciplinary seminars and project based research activities. The educational component of the grant will prepare students for academic careers and includes mentorship of undergraduate and masters’ students in the Master's International Peace Corps Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, completion of a teaching certificate from the Center for 21st Century Teaching Excellence, and pairing with an educational faculty mentor.

The University of South Florida is one of the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $360 million in research contracts and grants in FY 2007/2008. The university offers 224 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The university has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 46,000 students on institutions/campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

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Story written by Marketing and Communications Officer, Janet Gillis, College of Engineering

Vickie Chachere
News Manager
University Communications & Marketing
813-974-6251
vchachere@admin.usf.edu