The Center for Biofilm Engineering

Partners in Science

M.J. Murdock Charitable
Trust Award 

Murdock Trust press release, 02/28/2008 by Bart A. Hadder, Program Director _____________________________________ The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington, is pleased to announce that it has awarded a grant of $15,000 to Montana State University Bozeman. This award will enable Paul Andersen, a science teacher at Bozeman High School (406.522.4833) of Bozeman, MT, to form a partnership with Dr. Elinor deLancey Pulcini to conduct research during the next two summers in the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University Bozeman (406.994.1814). The title of the research to be conducted is Effects of Antibiotic Resistance on Biofilm Formation Capabilities in Clinical Isolates. The award also includes funds to attend two national Partners in Science conferences where Paul Andersen will share the results of each summer's research.

Elinor deLancey Pulcini, recipient of  the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust  award

This grant has been awarded through a competitive process in the Partners in Science Program at the Murdock Trust. Applications are accepted from high school teachers and mentors from a five-state region to conduct summer research. The primary goal of the Program is to provide high school science teachers with opportunities to work at the cutting edge of science, and thus to revitalize their teaching and help them appreciate the use of inquiry-based methods in the teaching of science.

The selection of awardees is based on the qualifications of the partner members, the quality of scientific research proposed, and the potential of its impact on the high school setting.

The Murdock Trust, created by the will of the late Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, provides grants to organizations in five states of the Pacific Northwest that seek to strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. The Partners in Science Program is one of its many efforts to do so in its grantmaking region.