UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Murdock Charitable Trust

UP Science Takes Home The Prize!

First Place TrophyA group of 26 science faculty and students from the College of Arts and Sciences attended the annual M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Undergraduate Research conference on November 8-9 in Vancouver, WA. The annual conference drew hundreds of college students and science educators from across the Pacific Northwest. A number of UP students gave oral and poster presentations to colleagues from around the Pacific Northwest.  Students mentored by Laura Dyer (biology) and Eugene Urnezius (chemistry) took home poster prizes for outstanding posters in their sections: Pia Fornell won for “Identifying How Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Affects Cardiac Neural Crest Migration Following Fetal Alcohol Exposure” and Kailin Mooney won for “Physicochemical properties of 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-quinones appended with phosphonato groups.”

Additional information about the conference is available on the Trust’s website.

Latest Murdock Grants Total $178,427

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust recently awarded three grants totaling $178,427 to the University of Portland to support scientific research. The three grants include the following:

  • One grant to the biology department to advance scientific understanding of how chemotherapy drugs affect immune system cells, potentially improving the ability of some of these cells to attack cancerous tumors.
  • A grant to the environmental studies program to shed light on how the physical topography and rock hardness of the Oregon coast is related to biodiversity and the overall ecosystem.
  • An award to the chemistry department to explore the immense diversity of a superfamily of enzymes’ functionality, which is important in many cell activities including DNA repair and creation of anti-viral and anti-bacterial compounds.

This grant marks a total of $2.6 million awarded to the University of Portland by the Murdock Trust since 2011.

For more information, contact development at x7395 or giving@up.edu.

$500,000 Murdock Grant For Beauchamp Center

UP-Beauchamp-design copy copyThe University has received a grant of $500,000 from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for the Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center, currently under construction and named in recognition of former University President Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C. The Beauchamp Center, with an estimated cost of $23.7 million is expected to be completed this summer in time for the next academic year.

The center is being constructed entirely from donor-supported funding and has a wide variety of support from a number of constituents, including the University’s board of regents, who have committed several million dollars to the project. In addition, young alumni met a matching donation of $50,000, and the student government association gave more than $72,000. And recently, the University launched a “buy a paver” program to help support the center.

The two-story, 72,270 square-foot facility is expected to become a dynamic focal point on campus and enhance the physical and mental health of students, faculty and staff. Design elements of the new center include: expanded fitness areas with cardio machines, weights, and strength stations; a gymnasium with three courts; climbing wall; indoor track; a large outdoor pursuits center; and multiple studios for functional training, spin classes, yoga, health assessment testing, and counseling. The facade of the building will incorporate brick and large glass windows, and openness will be a theme throughout the building.

For more information contact development at 7395 or hanna@up.edu.