Helping Students and Faculty Help Themselves

BIRS' reach is university-wide. It's helping Michael Samide and Olujide Akinbo, both associate chemistry professors, patent a chemical-analysis tool they created. The institute also worked to establish copyrights for a half-dozen faculty members in areas such as pharmacy and assisted Michele Schultz, an instructor in the Physician Assistant Program, in copyrighting a DVD that instructs students on how to perform a physical examination.

"Our overall goal," said Robert Holm, director of the Institute for Research and Scholarship, "is to help make the faculty and the students at Butler successful in their research and to heighten the visibility of Butler in the academic community, the local community and nationwide."

Among the department’s other successes:

• Securing a $1 million federal Department of Education grant for Katie Brooks, assistant professor in the College of Education, and a $150,000 National Science Foundation grant for LuAnne McNulty, assistant professor of chemistry.
• The Butler Summer Institute. Each summer, the university hosts 30 students who've submitted proposals to a faculty committee to do research with a faculty member for nine weeks.
• Enhancing the presence and reach of the annual Undergraduate Research Conference. Held each April, the conference now brings about 600 undergraduates and faculty from across the country to Butler to present their research. "It's recognized regionally and nationally as one of the premier conferences for undergraduates in the country," Holm said.

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