OSU to invest nearly $17 million in various interdisciplinary projects – MedCity Morning Read, Oct. 15, 2009

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State University plans to invest $16.7 million over five years in interdisciplinary projects focused on such global issues as poverty and infectious diseases, Business First of Columbus reported Wednesday.

The investment initially will support two centers for innovation and three innovation groups, according to a press release.

OSU announced that the new centers will tackle international poverty and the global food supply. The innovation groups, which have the potential to grow into centers, will revolve around three separate tasks:

• studying complex systems and creating models to predict behavior
• addressing ethical issues in all areas of life
• investigating what causes the spread of infectious diseases and how to control them

“Without a doubt, solving our most pressing problems will require new, collaborative approaches that incorporate the full breadth and depth of faculty expertise,” OSU President E. Gordon Gee said in a statement. “Applying the university’s great range of resources to address fundamental human and community needs is at the very core of our noble public purpose.”

Proposals for centers of innovation were required to involve at least 30 faculty members from a minimum of eight colleges, while proposals for innovation groups were required to involve at least 10 faculty members from a minimum of three colleges, according to the press release.

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