NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) - Kansas State University announced today that it has received a three-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support its research into the wheat genome.
The award, made through the NSF's Plant Genome Program, will specifically fund research by KSU's Jesse Poland, who is developing new methods for assembling and ordering the genomes of wheat and its wild relatives.
KSU also said that the NSF funding will support a partnership with the Kansas Foundation for Ag in the Classroom, which is developing agricultural educational and training opportunities for students, particularly around genomics and bioinformatics.
"The goal is to integrate more computer science into agriculture classrooms," Poland said in a statement. "Since datasets have grown larger, good levels of computer skills are needed."