Hampton, VA - The National Science Foundation awarded Hampton University's physics department $5 million over the course of five years to fund the Center for Laser Science and Spectroscopy (C.L.A.S.S). The biological sciences department also received a $310,655 grant over the course of three years to fund national genomics and bioinformatics workshops for 120 undergraduate faculty.

Physics Professor and C.L.A.S.S. director Dr. Doyle Temple will be working with physics professors Dr. Uwe Hommerich, Dr. Bagher Tabibi, and Dr. JaeTae Seo.

"The new center will promote fundamental research to help us understand the physics of new optical materials, and enhance opportunities for undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students," said Temple.

C.L.A.S.S. will be a multi-disciplinary research facility where faculty and students from the departments of chemistry, chemical engineering and physics will conduct research in the areas of fluorescence spectroscopy, laser crystal development, nonlinear spectroscopy of semiconducting nanocrystals, and laser remote sensing of the atmosphere.

Funding sources like this attract students to the department. "We have a really good track record of our graduates and undergraduates and when you build up your research capabilities, others know you are doing quality work," said Temple.

Dr. Edison R. Fowlks, an HU biological sciences' professor, is also looking forward to what the grant money means for his department. He says that genomics, the branch of molecular biology that deals with an organism's genes, is a newly emerging science that is coming to the forefront of teaching and changing biology and medicine.

"This is such a new field and we are teaching teachers so they will be able to train their students in this new technology," said Fowlks. The first class will be held in July 2007 at Morehouse College in Georgia and will be held annually at other colleges. Specialized faculty nationwide will be recruited for their one time attendance.

When the teachers bring the information into the classroom, students will begin to "see the relationship of biology, chemistry, computational science, engineering and mathematics, and physics" as they all blend to "show how biology comes to life in the classroom," according to Fowlks.

Fowlks is responsible for obtaining the grant and leading the research. Assisting him are Dr. Anne Rosenwald of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and Dr. Mary Lee Ledbetter of Holy Cross College in Massachusetts.

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For more information contact Nina Stickles at (757) 727-5457 or via email at nina.stickles@hamptonu.edu