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South Dakota Tech Receives Grant For Biochem Lab
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| Title | South Dakota Tech Receives Grant For Biochem Lab |
| Transcript | South Dakota Tech News 501 E. Saint Joseph Street • Rapid City, SD 57701-3995 Phone: (605) 394-6082/2554 • Fax: (605) 394-6177 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 9, 2004 Contact: Steve Buchholz, Public Information Manager, 394-6082 South Dakota Tech Receives Grant For Biochem Lab South Dakota Tech has received a $110, 000 grant from the Aberdeen-based Great Plains Education Foundation to continue developing a biochemical engineering laboratory on campus. The laboratory will support Tech's chemical engineering focus area in biochemical engineering that prepares students to work in the value-added agriculture industry. Renovations to the existing biochemical engineering laboratory will include modern biology benches and cabinetry, new flooring and a new biological hood. The renovations will provide a clean, low-contaminant environment for the transfer of microbial cultures in student fermentation experiments. The grant also will be used to acquire a new pilot-scale fermentation vessel that will demonstrate problems with mixing, aeration, cooling and sterilization associated with the scale-up of microbial fermentations. "This laboratory will help students learn the skills they need to enter the food, pharmaceutical, bioethanol and bioremediation industries, " Dr. Patrick Gilcrease, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, said. "We will provide undergraduates an intense level of hands-on experience normally reserved for training of graduate student researchers." The most basic definition of biochemical engineering is the application of chemical engineering to biological systems. Biochemical engineers work in the ethanol industry, they design biological systems for environmental remediation, they engineer improvements to pharmaceuticals and they work in other areas that combine biochemistry, microbiology and chemical engineering. Chemical Engineering students at Tech interested in biochemical engineering take a series of courses that cover all those areas. They augment that with experience in the biochemical engineering laboratory. Biochemical engineering holds excellent promise to generate and sustain economic development in South Dakota. In fact, it already has, through ethanol plants that have popped up in eastern South Dakota. Several chemical engineering graduates from Tech work in these plants, bringing valued-added benefits to the farmers of South Dakota. "South Dakota is an agricultural state, " Gilcrease said. "Biochemical engineering takes what farmers produce and turns it into other useful products that have more value than the crops themselves. It gives farmers one more way to market what they grow." Tech's biochemical engineering initiative also has received major equipment support from Cargill, as well as scholarship support from Broin and Associates, a Sioux Falls-based company. "Industrial supporters of this program have emphasized the importance of hands-on training with fermentation systems, " Gilcrease said. "Our graduates will have a competitive advantage in this field as a result of their biochemical engineering laboratory experiences." #30# |
| Creator | South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. University Relations; |
| Subject | Scholarships -- South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; |
| Local Subject | South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
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| Digital Publisher | South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Devereaux Library
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| Contributors | Buchholz, Steve; |
| Date | 2004-08-09 |
| Type | Text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Language | eng |
| Relation | Is part of Office of University Relations SDSM&T News Collection |
| Rights | The work from which this copy was made did not include a formal copyright notice. This work may be protected by U. S. copyright law (Title 17, United States Code), which governs reproduction, distribution, public display, and other uses of protected works. Uses may be allowed with permission from the copyright holder, if the copyright on the work has expired, or if the use is fair use or within another legal exemption. The user of this work is responsible for compliance with the law. |
| Submitting Institution | Devereaux Library. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. |
| Date Digital | 2009 |
| CONTENTdm number | 6589 |
| CONTENTdm file name | 7552.pdf |
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