MANHATTAN, Kansas - A $20 million National Science Foundation grant
will further establish Kansas as an internationally recognized leader
in global climate change and renewable energy research - and will let
a Nobel-Prize winning K-State scientist continue his work on the
effects of climate change.

"More than being pleased for researchers across the state, I also am
excited what this investment by the National Science Foundation will
mean for scientists at K-State," said Kirk Schulz, K-State president.
"This grant allows Charles Rice, a university distinguished professor
of agronomy, and his fellow researchers to continue their important
work on climate change. As K-State continues to make sustainability a
campus priority, we are more proud than ever to be involved in a
project on global climate change and renewable energy."

Rice was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

The five-year award to Kansas NSF EPSCoR (Experimental Program to
Stimulate Competitive Research), a statewide program that includes
major Kansas research universities, will provide a fresh integrative
approach to address climate change and renewable energy challenges.

The grant is a multi-institutional, multi-sector effort that will
link four universities: Kansas State University (K-State), the
University of Kansas (KU), Wichita State University (WSU) and Haskell
Indian Nations University; three Kansas-based companies: Abengoa
Bioenergy, MGP Ingredients, and Nanoscale, and two companies outside of the state: ADM (Illinois) and Netcrystals (California) in a
massive research effort. The initiative also will be supported by $4
million in matching funds from K-State, KU and Kansas Technology
Enterprise Corporation (KTEC).

"This is a tremendous opportunity for the state of Kansas," said
Kristin Bowman-James, principal investigator and project director of
Kansas´ EPSCoR program. "With this funding we will be able to harness the talents of researchers across the state to address two major issues of society today -- climate change and renewable energy -- under the umbrella of a single integrated initiative. We envision
that this interdisciplinary research effort, bridging across the
natural and social sciences and engineering, will ultimately allow
Kansas to be a key leader in research that addresses serious global
challenges."

The Climate Change and Renewable Energy initiative spans a variety of
disciplines, with five team leaders. Rice, a University Distinguished
Professor of Agronomy at K-State, leads the group that will use
climate modeling tactics to predict the effects of climate change and
develop strategies for adaptation and mitigation. Dietrich Earnhart,
Associate Professor of Economics at KU and colleagues will assess how farmers make decisions about which crops to grow. Judy Wu, University Distinguished Professor of Physics at KU, will explore the high tech use of nanotechnology to harness solar energy with a cadre of scientists and engineers. Dan Wildcat, Director of Haskell
Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Center and acting Vice-
President of Academic Affairs at Haskell, and Joane Nagel, University
Distinguished Professor of Sociology at KU, will work with tribal
college students in exploring climate change and energy issues on
Native American lands, while developing an educational pathway for
Native Americans to earn doctoral degrees.

The part of the project that K-State´s Rice leads - the climate
change portion - makes up about $5 million of the $20 million
funding.

About 40 scientists are currently involved in the collaborative
consortium, representing a vast array of disciplines, including
agronomy, anthropology, computer science, economics, geography,
mathematics, sociology, engineering, biology, chemistry and physics.

EPSCoR is a federal program that targets states that have
traditionally been underfunded in the sciences and engineering. In
part, funding comes to EPSCoR jurisdictions through the Research
Infrastructure Improvement (RII) program, which makes awards on a
competitive basis for proposals that are aligned with the State´s
science and technology needs. For more information on NSF EPSCoR
see: http://www.nsfepscor.ku.edu/.