The Research Improvement in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program was established to provide support to strengthen the research environments and capabilities of predominantly minority institutions or institutions that have substantial minority student populations. Eligible institutions must also have graduate programs in science or programs in engineering. Funding is provided for faculty research in fields of science and engineering supported by the Foundation and for the acquisition of research instrumentation. Texas Southern University will use RIMI support to study coal catalysis and coal derived products. The work will involve the prepartion and characterization of transition metal complexes. In addition, considerable work will focus on coal liquefaction and the nature, structure, and composition of various catalytic species. The proposers will correlate the molecular weight and molecular structure of the metal complexes with catalytic activity and product selectivity. Texas Southern is an urban university that is located in an area where many of its minority constitutents live. The principal investigator is a minority chemist who is an expert in polypyrasoyborate ligand systems. He has published widely in refereed journals and has done coal research in the academic and industrial sectors. The Foundation has supported this project because it will provide opportunities for minorities to increase their participation in meritorious research.
