HIGH POINT, N.C., June 18, 2012 - Dr. Joshua Campbell, assistant professor of biology at High Point University, recently co-authored a grant through the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. The project will be funded for three years and totals $393,000 for ongoing research on biofuel crops that could be used as an alternative to corn.

Campbell worked with three other professors from Mississippi State University while writing the grant. Their research began in summer 2011 and will continue for another two years. Campbell's role in the project is to examine pollinating insects, including bees, butterflies and more, and how their populations and diversity are affected by various types of biofuel crops.

"Currently the effects of biofuel crops on pollinators and other beneficial insects are largely unknown," said Campbell. "Ecology and the environmental sciences are very dynamic, and I think it is important not to become 'static' in the way that you think and analyze data and environmental problems. I think this approach to ecology trickles down to the students that work in my lab and the students that I teach in class."

Campbell also feels that his research will prepare and make his students at HPU more marketable for graduate schools. He has already begun to include his research in the courses he teaches at HPU.

At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.℠ HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with over 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report at No. 3 among Regional Colleges in the South. Parade Magazine lists HPU in the top 25 private schools in the nation. HPU was selected in the 2010-2011 list of "Colleges of Distinction," as well as one of the top green schools in the country by the Sierra Club. The university offers 44 undergraduate majors, 40 undergraduate minors and 10 graduate degree programs. It is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.

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