Hendrix College in Conway, John Brown University in Siloam Springs and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia received the grants for new faculty recruitment and to strengthen their science programs.

The funds come from the Arkansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, a joint program of the three leading research institutions in Arkansas – UAMS, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (UAF), and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). The network’s headquarters is at UAMS and a UAMS physiologist, Lawrence Cornett, Ph.D., is its director.

"The priority is to facilitate the development of extramurally funded research at colleges and universities that primarily serve undergraduate students. One method to accomplish this is to provide financial assistance for recruiting new faculty, support their establishment of a research program, and sustain an institutional commitment to a research program," Cornett said.

Cornett is also a professor in the Department of Physiology of the UAMS College of Medicine. The associate director of network, Helen Beneš, Ph.D., a biomedical researcher at the UAMS College of Medicine, said, "This program was created to expand the capacity for biomedical research in the state. We believe this is a great way to do it."

Previously, the network has awarded similar grants to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Lyon College in Batesville and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

The network was established in 2001 with funding from the National Institutes of Health.

# # #