University of Virginia Library

Mary Washington Receives
National Science Grant

Mary Washington College has received
a grant of $150,000 from the National
Science Foundation to be used for a
College Science Improvement Program
over the next three years.

In addition to the federal funds the
College will allocate approximately
$217,000 for the program, bringing the
total allotment to more than $450,000.

The funds allotted for the program,
which is under the direction of Samuel O.
Bird, Professor of Geography and Geology at
the College, will be used to improve existing
programs in several departments in the natural
and social sciences and to introduce a number
of new multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary
programs not now available at the College.

Designated to participate in the program are
the departments of biology chemistry,
geography and geology, political science and
economics, physics, psychology, and sociology.
In each case the funds will provide primarily for
the purchase of additional equipment,
additional faculty training, or the introduction
of new course offerings.

New programs and projects which will be
made possible by the grant include a center for
quantitative studies, a linguistics program,
Rappahannock River ecology studies, an
advanced seminar for natural sciences, a center
for the preparation of illustrations for
classroom use, an x-ray diffraction and
fluorescence laboratory, and a nuclear
laboratory.

As approved, Mary Washington College will
receive $115,400 the first year, $59,400 the
second, and $75,100 the third and final year of
the grant.