BOG: $2.3 million to Bucks for Brains

The West Virginia University Board of Governors approved a request for state funds matching more than $2.3 million in gifts from the WVU Research Trust Fund Friday.

The state will match $2,335,355 in pledges and gifts certified by the WVU Foundation.

The Research Trust Fund provides up to $35 million from the state to fund research in energy, nanotechnology, biosciences and biometrics.

BOG chairwoman Carolyn Long called the special meeting via conference call so the request for funds could be sent before the BOG's April meeting.

"It's important to get the money from the state and working for the University," Long said.

WVU graduate George Bennett gave $1 million for research at the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, and the Maier Foundation gave $1 million to create the William J. Maier Chair of Research at the WVU School of Medicine-Charleston. WVU is eligible to receive money from the Research Trust Fund to match private donations over the next five years.

The donations must be made to support research in areas, according to a University release, "linked to economic development, health care and job growth." Other gifts included in Friday's request for matching funds were:

• James A. & Ruby Romano Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering Endowment – $263,182
• James A. Kent Endowment for Biomedical Engineering – $40,000
• E. Elizabeth Morgan Cancer Research Endowment – $26,473
• Schoepp Neuroscience Research Student Support Fund – $5,000
• Alan Susman Corticobasal Ganglionic Degeneration Research – $500
• Oleg D. & Valentina P. Jefimenko Physics Fellowship – $200