Arden L. Bement Jr., director of the National Science Foundation, today helped cut the ribbon on YSU's new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance chemistry lab.

Note: To view a photo gallery of Dr. Bement's visit, go to http://www.ysu.edu/gallery/6232008.html.

Arden L. Bement Jr., director of the National Science Foundation, joined U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and Youngstown State University President David C. Sweet today to cut the ribbon on a new chemistry laboratory that will allow faculty and students from across the Northeast Ohio region and beyond to conduct cutting–edge research in biotechnology and nanotechnology.

The lab is funded in large part through a $475,000 NSF grant to YSU’s chemistry department. Over the past five years, the NSF has provided $2.1 million to the university’s mathematics, science and engineering research efforts.

“Youngstown State University appreciates the National Science Foundation’s continued support of our science and engineering research proposals,” Sweet said. “With the leadership of the NSF and Rep. Ryan, and the considerable talent we have amongst our faculty and staff in the sciences and engineering, we believe YSU can become a center of excellence in the area of molecular science, sparking educational and economic development opportunities throughout the region.”

“Step by step we are changing the image of our community,” Ryan said. “The opening of this lab and the partnership we’ve had with the NSF is another major step in our region moving from older industries to science and research based jobs. The fact that Dr. Bement, head of the NSF, is with us today is a sign that our kids will be able to find the good jobs of the future right here at home.”

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency created in 1950, is a major funding source for basic research conducted by the nation’s colleges and universities. In addition to the ribbon–cutting, Bement’s visit to YSU included meetings with community, university and business leaders throughout the region, as well as YSU administrators and faculty. YSU students and faculty also presented their research projects to Bement.

“NSF is proud to partner with YSU to promote discovery and innovation,” Bement said. “With partnerships seeded by federal funding, a region can quickly build competitive research capacity that in turn sparks new companies, new jobs and a more robust economy.” 

The new NMR Lab in Ward Beecher Science Hall features two state–of–the–art NMR spectrometers, which are among the most powerful tools available to chemists to identify unknown substances and to characterize specific arrangements of atoms within molecules. The NSF also provided funding for the new X–ray Crystallography Lab, which is across the hallway from the new NMR lab. The X–ray Crystallography Lab allows researchers to study the structure of solid molecules.

The labs are on par with facilities at other larger research universities, said Martin Abraham, dean of YSU’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

“We are very pleased with the NSF’s support for our analytical labs,” Abraham said. “These laboratory facilities provide us the opportunity to successfully compete for further research funding and to support area businesses through delivery of analytical services. They also give our students an opportunity to work with the most advanced research equipment in the world."

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