SAN DIEGO STATE JOINS NATIONAL RESEARCH CONSORTIUM

Oak Ridge Associated Universities Membership Expands Student, Faculty Opportunities

Contact: Lorena Nava
San Diego State University
Tel: (619) 594-3952 office; (619) 309-5179 cell
lnava@mail.sdsu.edu

SAN DIEGO (Tuesday, July 25, 2006) – San Diego State University announced today that it has become the first university in California to join Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a national organization of universities that promotes science and technology education and research.

"This is a significant advance for our research program," said Tom Scott, SDSU’s vice president of research. "With our membership in ORAU, we will be able to attract additional research grants, as well as provide new internship and scholarship opportunities for our students."

Also joining ORAU this year are Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, Penn State University and the University of Texas at Dallas. With these additions, the ORAU consortium consists of 96 sponsoring institutions and 13 associate members, representing 28 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

"We’re excited to have San Diego State University as a member," said John Nemeth, ORAU’s vice president for partnership development. "We look forward to helping SDSU identify and leverage opportunities to advance its science and technology research and education programs."

ORAU officials will visit SDSU this week to tour the campus’ research facilities, present SDSU with a plaque commemorating its membership, and give faculty members an introduction on ORAU and member benefits. As an ORAU member institution, SDSU will qualify for special educational and research programs for its students and faculty, including the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Awards and the Annual Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students.

SDSU’s membership in ORAU is the latest research landmark for the university. Earlier this year, the Carnegie Foundation reclassified SDSU as a "research university" with high research activity, placing it among the top 200 universities for conducting research nationwide. More recently, SDSU’s Heart Institute won a prestigious program project grant from the National Institutes of Health, a $9.5 million award to study new ways to protect against heart attacks. Also this month, SDSU’s geological sciences program installed a million-dollar high-resolution mass spectrometer for research in geochemistry. This is one of only two such instruments in the world and the first in the Western Hemisphere.

Oak Ridge Associated Universities, located in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is a university consortium leveraging the scientific strength of major research institutions to advance science and education by partnering with national laboratories, government agencies and private industry. ORAU manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for the U.S. Department of Energy. For more information, please visit www.orau.org.

SDSU is the oldest and largest institution of higher education in the San Diego region. Founded in 1897, SDSU offers bachelor’s degrees in 81 areas, master’s degrees in 72 and doctorates in 16. SDSU’s nearly 33,000 students participate in academic curricula distinguished by direct faculty contact and an increasingly international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu.

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