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Rep. David McKinley Pushes for Northern Panhandle Research Options

WHEELING — The University of Pittsburgh is beating West Virginia University in scoring federal research dollars, and as a whole the Mountain State’s colleges and universities aren’t getting their share of federal grants for research projects, according to Rep. David McKinley.

McKinley, R-W.Va., sees research dollars as a means of economically revitalizing the Ohio Valley if more federal research were conducted in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle, as well as across the river in Ohio. He is seeking to organize local providers of higher learning so they might jointly apply for available federal research grants.

This week, he addressed representatives attending the first meeting of the Upper Ohio Valley University Consortium at Oglebay Park’s Wilson Lodge.

West Virginia colleges represented included West Liberty and Wheeling Jesuit universities, Bethany College and West Virginia Northern Community College. From Ohio, Franciscan University of Steubenville was present, as were Belmont College, Ohio University Eastern and Eastern Gateway Community College.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., attended the meeting, as did representatives of Sen. Rob Portman and Rep. Bill Johnson, both R-Ohio.

Also present were representatives of the National Institute of Health, who spoke with the school leaders on how they should organize a collaborative effort for applying for federal grants.

Staff members with McKinley’s office said the congressman — a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — has learned West Virginia schools receive far less in federal research funding than do schools as close as Pittsburgh. The University of Pittsburgh receives a full 1 percent of the research budget of the National Institute of Health, while WVU gets about 0.05 percent.

The NIH representatives who spoke at the meeting in Wheeling on Wednesday told educators there is much research money available, and advised how their schools should go about applying for it.

The Rev. William George, advisor to WJU President the Rev. James Fleming, said the three-hour meeting was “pretty intense.”

“There was a lot of information,” he said. “The NIH had four doctors speak and they showed us how to navigate the websites to get grants, and they told us who to call,” he said. “They showed us how some small institutions qualify when larger ones don’t.”

The colleges were encouraged to focus their application efforts on issues easily studied in the area, such as health care, energy and national security research. There was also discussion about participating in studies pertaining to substance abuse and the environment.

It was the first meeting of the consortium, but George said the group plans to meet again at a time to be determined.

“Next time, we’ll get together at one of the Ohio universities to organize ourselves,” he said. “Once we do, I think we could bring significant research to the Ohio Valley. We are all hopeful.”

West Liberty University President Stephen Greiner also was at the table during the meeting.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for presidents of area colleges to get together, collaborate and brainstorm — particularly on how we can work together to address some issues, and how to acquire joint grant funding from the NIH,” he said.

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