UND Research Booming - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

  Research is booming in the northern valley, despite the elimination of federal earmarks.

  UND officials were worried the elimination of earmarks, special funding packages added to bills in Congress, would hurt research funding.

  However, their Chemical Engineering Department is expanding. Some 30 companies are now interested in their research to uses grain to produce fuel and plastics.

Prof. Wayne Seames: "Like the lenses of your glasses are made out of that. Floor tiles use a different type of polymer. We use polymers… they're all over the place. Most of them are made from crude oil. Our objective it to replace all or part of the chemical that go into those polymers."

  UND now brings in over 100-million dollars a year in research funding. That accounts for one-quarter of its entire budget. And UND officials say they could see a major jump in research funding dollars if it becomes a "Center of Excellence" research center for unmanned aircraft, later this year.