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MBC Researcher Earns NIH Stimulus Grant

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2009-10-02

Mary Baldwin College Associate Professor of Psychology Louise Freeman is recipient of two of Virginia’s 192 highly anticipated grants funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), known more commonly as the “stimulus act.” The only researcher in the Shenandoah Valley region to receive stimulus funds, Freeman is already employing the grants to hire research interns, increase the musk shrew colony used in her research, and create an on-site surgical facility.

The Recovery Act funds are administered by the National Institutes of Health. In his September 30 announcement of the awards, President Barack Obama called it the “single largest boost to biomedical research in history.” The complete list of grants is available at http://report.nih.gov/recovery/arragrants.cfm.

Freeman was awarded $8,727 in summer 2009 to hire an MBC student intern and a student from a local high school to continue her studies on hormonal and sex differences in musk shrews, the small, mouselike mammals that she has been working with for many years. This week’s grant announcement carries an additional $72,696 which will help hire a consultant from University of Virginia and the buy the equipment necessary to create a surgical facility at MBC. The college currently transports animals to Blue Ridge Community College. Freeman was eligible for stimulus funds because she previously received NIH funding in 2003 and 2007.

Freeman’s research has attracted impressive grant support since she joined the psychology faculty in 2000. A recent three-year award from the NIH totaled $150,000, and she also received funding from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.