IU receives $7M grant for research, parking upgrades

While students were in the middle of their three-week winter break, U.S. Congress was in session approving a $7 million federal grant for IU. The money will be used to fund seven research and construction projects that will benefit IU-Bloomington students, as well as students at satellite campuses. \nOne project that will most directly influence IUB students includes a $600,000 upgrade to the parking lots located at Memorial Stadium, where three of the four campus bus routes, including the park-and-ride Stadium Express, begin.\nThe $600,000 is only a fraction of the estimated $3 million needed to fully realize the University's plans, which include repaving the Purple Lot north of the White Lot along Dunn Street and construction of two shelters, including one with restrooms for bus drivers.\nJames Hosler, director of campus bus services, said he does not know how much of the project will be able to be completed with the grant money, but he said the project will start off with one shelter and as much paving as possible. He said he hopes more money will come in to help finish the entire upgrade.\n"That area is the single largest generator for activity for the buses," Hosler said. "Twenty out of our 22 buses terminate there, and the more parking available out there, the less traffic there is in the center of campus."\nHosler said the improvements are not only important for the drivers but also for students who will have the benefit of an extended parking area in a space that can be easily plowed and maintained.\nMore than one-third of the total grant money will go to IU's Cyclotron Facility, with $1 million going toward the creation of a low-energy neutron source facility, $1.8 million for a radiation effects simulator and $1.4 million to fund research for NASA about how radiation can affect space travelers.\nThe Cyclotron specializes in the use of particle accelerators to enable various types of scientific research and development in areas concerning accelerator physics, medical physics and materials science.\nDoug Wasitis, IU's director of federal relations, said the upgrades the grants support will not only help develop IU's relationship with NASA, but will also directly benefit students.\n"(The upgrades) will allow more communication between NASA and IU, and it will fund graduate students' research," Wasitis said. "The funding will also support some research at the undergraduate level."\nOther IU campuses received funding as well. IU-South Bend received $765,000 for a pedestrian bridge, and $1 million was appropriated to the Indiana Center for Rehabilitation Sciences & Engineering Research, which IU-Purdue University Indianapolis helps operate. \nThe University had requested a total of $21.1 million from the federal government for a dozen projects in a priority list Congress evaluated in late December. Purdue University also received federal grant money but has not yet released the amount.