Biology Professor Awarded National Science Foundation Research Grant

Bernadette Connors, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology, has been awarded a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  The two-year, $166,042 grant (award #1950018) is enabling her to take a year-long sabbatical during the 2020-2021 school year to work at the Bioinformatics Lab at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst. 

Connors is working with world-renowned computational biologist Li-jun Ma, Ph.D., and Ma’s research team to  understand how to analyze genomic data with different sequencing technologies. “I will synthesize that work such that when I come back to Dominican University I can utilize that technology with our students and our undergraduate researchers,” Connors explained. 

In addition to furthering her research of microbial communities in Hudson River Valley freshwater streams, Connors said the grant will fund new equipment for Dominican University’s laboratories and provide stipends for two undergraduate research students at the College.  The grant from NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology is awarded to scientists who have accrued meaningful data about environmental issues and challenges faced in the U.S., but who need financial support to synthesize their work.