West Lafayette, Indiana
Dec. 21, 1998
Purdue University has become the newest partner
affiliated with the Donald Danforth Plant Science
Center, the Danforth Center's board of directors announced today.
The goal of the $146 million, St. Louis-based Danforth Center is to become a world leader
in plant science and agricultural research, and specifically to help meet world food needs
in the 21st century.
"The addition of Purdue University as a partner for the Danforth Center adds
substantial strengths in the areas of plant physiology, biochemistry and molecular
structure," said Dr. Roger N. Beachy, president of the Danforth Center. "These
strengths will be important as plant biologists develop and exploit for agriculture the
massive amount of information that is being generated through current initiatives in
genomics research."
Purdue President Steven C. Beering commented: "The improvement of life through
science has been part of Purdue's mission since its founding, so we are excited and
honored to be extending our global reach by partnering with one of the world's outstanding
research organizations. The work of Purdue and the Danforth Center is especially important
as we begin to meet the agricultural challenges of the 21st century."
Beering will serve as Purdue's representative on the Danforth Center's board of directors.
When complete, the Danforth Center will be one of the world's largest and most advanced
research facilities dedicated to the plant sciences. Plans are under way for the design
and construction of a $45 million, state-of-the-art research facility that will be located
on a 40-acre site in St. Louis. The center is scheduled to open in the year 2000.
Plant scientists working at the center will add to the knowledge of basic plant biology
and generate scientific breakthroughs that will help farmers produce more plentiful,
reliable and nutritious food crops.
Because of its global focus, the center will also provide a training ground for visiting
scientists from around the world.
Plans for the not-for-profit, independent Danforth Center were unveiled last summer at
ceremonies in St. Louis featuring former President Jimmy Carter and Dr. Norman Borlaug,
winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.
Founded in 1869 as a land-grant university, Purdue is one of the nation's leading research
and teaching institutions with a systemwide enrollment of 65,653. The School of
Agriculture, one of the founding divisions of Purdue, has an enrollment of 2,510 students
seeking one or more of
47 different majors. The school has nearly 400 individual research projects in progress
each year in West Lafayette or at one of its eight agricultural centers statewide.
Purdue joins five other Midwestern partners, all recognized leaders in the plant sciences.
They are:
- the Missouri Botanical Garden, home to an
extensive plant biodiversity program;
- the University of Missouri-Columbia
and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, two
leading public universities with strong agricultural research traditions;
- Washington University in St. Louis, with one
of the world's most extensive research programs in the biological sciences and genomics;
and
the St. Louis-based Monsanto Company, a
global private-sector leader in the life sciences.
The Danforth Center's partners are committed to making the region and the center itself an
international leader in plant science and agriculture. The center will be led by Beachy
and 15 principal investigators, and will eventually house approximately 200 scientists,
including visiting scholars, technicians, post-doctoral and graduate students from partner
institutions and other national and international research institutes. CONTACT: Sam
Fiorello, vice president for
administration and financial affairs, Danforth Center, (314) 935-8310.
Compiled by Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; home (765) 497-2433; E-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@uns.purdue.edu
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