The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Radford University's Office of Student Support Services a $313,559 grant to help fund a program designed to identify qualified students from disadvantaged backgrounds and help them to succeed in college.

VT professor to work on food security

Virginia Bioinformatics Institute professor Andy Pereira and an international team of co-researchers have been awarded a three-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create drought-resistant strains of staple food crops.

Cereal crops such as maize, wheat, rice and barley can be drastically affected by even slight water deficits at critical reproductive stages. The team will develop a cereal drought gene interaction network by integrating data from rice and maize to help identify key regulatory genes and signaling pathways that may be critical for improving drought resistance.

Higher education boosts the economy

A study released by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia says that in 2007 spending related to Virginia's public colleges, universities and community colleges contributed $24 billion to the state's gross domestic product, accounting for 6.2 percent of the total GDP.

According to the study, commissioned by "Grow by Degrees," a campaign of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, for every dollar the state spends on the public higher education system, it generates $13.31 of economic activity and $1.39 in increased tax revenues.

Higher education operations create about 144,550 Virginia jobs, the study stated.

"Grow by Degrees" is a coalition made up of business, community, education and economic development leaders and organizations from across Virginia that support investment in higher education.

The Virginia Business Higher Education Council is a nonprofit partnership between Virginia's business community and higher education leadership. Its mission is to enhance the performance of Virginia's public colleges, universities and community colleges and their funding by state government.

Workshops held for dairy producers

Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service invite Virginia dairy farmers to attend a series of free seminars on managing risk in the dairy business. Workshops will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on six consecutive Thursdays, Oct. 15 to Nov. 19.

The six futures, assumptions, risks and marketing (FARM) 101 workshops will address futures and options contracts, trading on the Chicago Board of Exchange, forward pricing, margin protection and other strategies to help producers stay profitable. The seminars will be offered by teleconference from several Virginia sites and include speakers from across the country.

Registration is required. A list of speakers and more information is available at www.vdacs.virginia.gov/news/workshop.shtml.

VT cadets to honor 1959 grads

The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets will welcome the members of the Class of 1959 back to campus as it celebrates their entrance into the Old Guard.

In recognition of the class's 50-year anniversary, the corps will honor the members with a parade at 4 p.m. Friday on the Drillfield near Burruss Hall. Cadets will remain on campus despite a student holiday to honor returning alumni during the 2009 homecoming.

Scholars celebrate Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin enthusiasts and scholars will offer contemporary perspectives on the English naturalist's theory of evolution through natural selection at the Nov. 4 Celebration of Darwin conference at Virginia Tech.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of "Origin of Species" and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The Celebration of Darwin will be held at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, visit www.cpe.vt.edu/darwin.

RU researcher gets NSF support

Radford University biology researcher Jeremy Wojdak has received National Science Foundation support for two collaborative projects.

Wojdak received $26,795 through NSF's Research Opportunity Award Program, which partners faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions with those at research intensive institutions.

Wojdak joins an ongoing collaboration between James Vonesh of Virginia Commonwealth University and Karen Warkentin of Boston University in researching how predators at different stages of an animal's life influence the timing of "switchpoints" between stages, such as egg hatching or tadpole metamorphosis. The research is based at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Station in Gamboa, Panama.

Wojdak also received $165,072 for his project titled "Collaborative Research: Community composition and disease outcomes in a multihost-parasite system."

The project will establish a research program between the laboratories of science faculty at Tech and Radford that will provide broader educational experiences for students at both.

Radford University gets hip online

Radford University is now posting news releases, photos, videos and other information on Facebook and Twitter.

Alumni may connect to their alma mater through the official alumni group on Facebook and on LinkedIn.