ND EPSCoR 2024 TCU STEM Research and Education Program awards announced

The ND EPSCoR State Office’s mission is to increase STEM research capacity and competitiveness in North Dakota; a build stronger STEM pathway that produces our next generation workforce, educators, and researchers; and foster an informed citizenry that values the STEM ecosystem and economy.

In service of that mission, last month the ND EPSCoR State Office solicited proposals to fund STEM activities at the Tribal colleges and universities within our jurisdiction. Proposals were accepted for the purchase equipment that helps advance scientific inquiry, research and development, and education, as well as proposals to support undergraduate research.

We are pleased to announce that the following awards have been made.

Equipment awards

Cankdeska Cikana Community College

PI: Nicholas Bittner, Advanced Manufacturing Instructor

Equipment funded: 3D printers for polymer work

CCCC will combine additive and subtractive manufacturing, which will allow them to instruct students in hybridized manufacturing.

Cankdeska Cikana Community College

PI: Brent Voles, Science Instructor

Equipment funded: Automated DNA, RNA, and protein purification system, and a

bead mill tissue homogenizer

This equipment will be used in collaborative, ongoing research at TCUs into pollinators’ microbiomes.

Nueta Hidasta Sahnish College

PI: Audrey LaVallie, Chemistry Instructor/DOKA Grant Director

Equipment funded: Elemental analyzer

The funded equipment will be used in several research projects concerned with land base health at NHSC, and a number of proposed studies which will closely scrutinize soil, water and air resources on Ft. Berthold Reservation and surrounding areas. NHSC has become an important research partner for MHA Nation on its almost one million acres of reservation land, and monitoring is planned to continue indefinitely.

Turtle Mountain College

PI: Brent Voels, Chemistry Instructor

Equipment funded: DNA, RNA, and protein purification system; bead mill tissue

homogenizer; fluorometer; and a rotary evaporator system

This equipment will be used in collaborative, ongoing research at TCUs into pollinators’ microbiomes. Future research could include genomics study of sacred medicinal plants where medicinal compounds are isolated from plant material; monitoring the blood meal of mosquitos for pathogens and feeding habits; and doing metagenomics of the rhizosphere on plants grown with different microbial

inoculants.

United Tribes Technical College

PI: Alexa Azure , Engineering Chair/Instructor

Equipment funded: a high-temperature muffle furnace and high capacity potentiostat

UTTC will use this equipment to advance their research capabilities in material synthesis and electrochemical analysis. With growing interest in energy

storage, this equipment will be crucial to assess materials synthesized at UTTC

for such applications.

United Tribes Technical College

PI: Mandy Guinn, Environmental Science Chair

Equipment funded: an automated drone telemetry system for tracking imperiled bat species in North Dakota

Having a complete automated tracking system will not only allow Guinn and her students to collect much-needed data for bat conservation, it will also support STEM training for undergraduate students at UTTC.

United Tribes Technical College

PI: Ram Hona, Instructor

Equipment funded: tube furnace for solid state reactions

This equipment will significantly improve UTTC’s laboratory capabilities, allowing for precise control of high-temperature processes essential for synthesizing and studying new materials. By integrating the tube furnace into their curriculum, UTTC will provide students with hands-on experience in advanced materials research, preparing them for careers in science and technology.

Undergraduate Research Award

Turtle Mountain College

PI: Brent Voels, Chemistry Instructor

Project funded: Cataloging the microbiome of pollinators on the Tribal lands of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa

This research project aims to catalogue the different pollinator species and their

microbiomes that are extant on the Tribal lands of the Turtle Mountain Band of

Chippewa. Undergraduate research assistants will gain advanced training in techniques using automated systems, while simultaneously processing samples for downstream analysis.