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NSF and VermontIn FY 2003, NSF provided 41 awards totaling approximately $10 million to 13 institutions in the state of Vermont as well as $102,000 in fellowships. Institutions in Vermont that received NSF support in FY 2003 included the University of Vermont, Landmark College, MicroStrain, Inc., The Vermont Center for the Book, and Middlebury College. Examples of Projects Currently Funded by NSF in the State of Vermont:Function of Arabidopsis thaliana Proline-Rich Proteins in Root Hairs and Guard Cells of Arabidopsis — The plant cell wall is a dynamic structure that can be modified in response to developmental and environmental signals. The cell wall provides structural information that helps maintain cellular form and function during plant growth. The structure of the cell wall also changes in response to pathogen infection and stresses, such as drought, high salt, and cold temperature, in a manner that helps protect plants from biotic and aboitic stresses. Proline-rich proteins (PRPs) represent an integral family of structural cell wall proteins whose expression has been linked to active growth in a number of plant systems. This University of Vermont project uses a combination of PRP promoter/GUS fusions and epitope-tagging to characterize the expression of these genes in Arabidopsis and their localization to the walls of specific cell types. Identification of structural cell wall proteins in defining cell-type specific matrix structures is an important first step in our ability to modify the cell walls of plants in a manner that will let them grow in adverse conditions. The Vermont Information Technology Project – Foundations for the Future — This Advanced Technological Education project at Vermont Technical College is a comprehensive information technology education and training improvement program. It is increasing the pool and expertise of Vermont's IT technicians by changing the state's information technology education and training network to a new model to meet future economic growth and development needs. Guided by a structured partnership of employers, secondary and postsecondary educators, and government agencies the project is developing a more flexible and responsive IT curriculum lattice model of self-contained education, training, and work experience modules recognized by both academic credit and industry skill standards certificates, which allows student flexibility to move across area specialties as well as to increase expertise in a given specialty. Small Business Innovation Research — An NSF SBIR award to the Green Mountain Radio Research Co. supports the development and testing of a prototype low-cost, high-efficiency transmitter for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. Existing MRI transmitters use conventional power amplifiers, which makes them inefficient and consequently large, heavy, and expensive. Prior research has demonstrated the feasibility of using developed high-efficiency amplification techniques to produce significantly more power from a given transistor, thus lowering the cost. Also demonstrated was the feasibility of using these amplifiers to produce the pulsed-RF signals used by MRI. This project will develop a prototype transmitter that combines high-efficiency power amplification with digital signal processing to provide both low cost and superior signal quality. This in turn will produce superior image quality resulting in improved diagnostics. The prototype transmitter will be configured into a manufacturable form to facilitate transition to commercialization. For more information on Vermont and NSF, please contact the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs at 703-292-8070. Useful Links: Vermont's
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