Louisiana scientists could get $27.5 million in grants

To encourage economic development and the renaissance of research in the parishes that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged, 11 teams of scientists should share $27.5 million in federal grants, according to a recommendation of a panel chosen by the state Board of Regents.

The projects this money would underwrite include research to bolster Louisiana's fragile coastal wetlands, work that may result in disease-fighting drugs narrower than a human hair and the development of an institute to study and fight infectious illnesses.

A regents committee is to decide Wednesday whether to endorse the panel's recommendations, and the full board is to vote Thursday. Both actions are expected to be formalities.

The money comes from $10.4 billion in community-development block grants that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

"The whole program was created at our insistence," LRA Director Andy Kopplin said. "There was such academic flight and flight risk post-storm, and we wanted to make an investment that said loudly and clearly, 'The colleges and universities and the research capacity in the affected areas are going to be an important part of our recovery, and we're going to make an investment.' "
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