Grenander Funds Non-Animal Research

A new award designed to encourage faculty engaged in research or testing to consider alternative methods to use of animals has made Helmut Hirsch of the Department of Biological Sciences its first recipient.

Established by Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus M.E. Grenander in memory of her grandparents, the Hannah R.E. and Arvy I. Whitney Award for Non-Animal Methodologies in Research, Testing, or Education is using the first two years of its presentations as a pilot project to determine the feasibility of establishing a major endowment to support multiple awards in the years ahead.

Hirsch, who was the first scientist to demonstrate how a mammal’s earliest experiences steer its brain development, is now applying that research to the fruit fly. He is also using the fruit fly to study the effects of chronic exposure of lead upon the brain. The award provides funding to assist in the exploration of using computer simulation, cell and tissue research, and other non-invasive mean in undertaking research.

The award committee for the new award included faculty members John Overbrook of classics, Bonnie Steinbock of philosophy, and Dan White of history, and also included Sorrell Chesin, associate vice president in University Advancement.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation created an endowment gift of $100,000 on June 2 to establish a fund in perpetuity that will support graduate level educational assistantships to minority scholars pursuing careers in public policy and public affairs at the state level of governance.

This endowed fund, named the Steven D. Gold Endowment for Graduate Research Assistantships in the Graduate School of Public Affairs, will benefit minority scholars at a rate of $7,500 per year for each of three years of full-time graduate study at the University’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy.

Steven D. Gold, who died on Aug. 16, 1996, was one of the nation’s premier authorities on government fiscal issues. In his six years at Albany, from 1990-96, on the faculty of the Graduate School of Public Affairs and as director of the College’s Center for the Study of the States, he was a frequently sought expert for all national media on the fiscal issues facing state and local governments.