MEADVILLE, Pa. – April 12, 2011 – Allegheny College chemistry professor Martin J. Serra has received a $239,553 grant from the National Science Foundation to fund collaborative student-faculty research exploring new areas of RNA structure.
The grant will support an additional three years of work on Serra’s project “Research in Undergraduate Institutions: Thermodynamics of RNA Structural Motifs.” Serra and his students are working to develop models to predict the structure of RNA molecules from their sequence. Accurate prediction of such structures will improve understanding of RNA’s biological role and may even lead to the development of new treatments for diseases.
“Undergraduate students will perform all of the investigations, including the selection of sequences to be studied, providing them with excellent training and valuable research experience,” said Serra, the Paul E. and Mildred L. Hill Professor of Chemistry at Allegheny.
Serra’s students will join him in presenting their findings at Turner’s “thermodynamic summit.” The summit’s attendees will consider all sequence effects on the stability of RNA, with the goal of revising the current model for RNA structure prediction.
One hundred percent of the cost of Serra’s project will be covered by federal funds through the National Science Foundation grant.
“This grant reflects the importance of Allegheny College’s commitment to engaging undergraduates in meaningful and challenging research opportunities,” said Allegheny president James H. Mullen Jr. “Collaborating with faculty mentors helps provide our students with the ability and confidence to confront complex issues, work with others to develop creative solutions and become difference-makers in their careers and communities.”
Allegheny College is among only 16 percent of liberal arts colleges nationally that require independent research and/or original creative work of all graduates. Ninety percent of Allegheny alumni seeking employment start a career within eight months of graduation, and the college ranks in the top 5 percent of schools nationally whose students go on to earn Ph.D.s.
The 32nd oldest college in the nation, Allegheny will celebrate its bicentennial in 2015. One of the 40 schools featured in Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives,” Allegheny also is included among the 100 “best values” in national liberal arts colleges by Kiplinger’s, a private financial advising company.
The national liberal arts college where 2,100 students with unusual combinations of interests, skills and talents excel
