Winter 2010 Newsletter

winter 2010

Message from the Director As newly appointed Idaho EPSCoR project director, I am honored to be part of one of the most important programs in our state for developing academic research capacity.

EPSCoR is not about trying to play catch-up with the larger states but about leveraging and growing existing intellectual resources in our universities to build capacity and expertise that can address the needs of Idaho and contribute to the national research agenda. Our current National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) grant – Water Resources in a Changing Climate – is an example. Von Walden (Lead Scientist), Sian Mooney, Rick Allen, Colden Baxter, and other senior scientists are doing an exceptional job in recruiting outstanding young faculty to Idaho and, together with scientists in state and federal agencies, have formed a highly productive team.

The theme of this project is very timely as Idaho’s economy is driven by the environment and our region is predicted to experience some of the most rapid changes in the United States. The effects on water and environment are severe and the State is taking this concern seriously. We are seeing great growth in research to understand the economic consequences, to further the fundamental science, to improve predictions, and to mitigate these environmental changes.

EPSCoR infrastructure improvements—ranging from support for new faculty at Idaho’s universities, modern instrumentation, and new or strengthened collaborations, to recruitment of the best graduate students, and supporting and encouraging a diverse student population to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)—all play an essential role in engaging Idaho researchers in the national research agenda. Idaho is increasingly gaining recognition for the contributions our researchers are making to address global challenges.

As director, I am particularly looking forward to working with the Idaho EPSCoR Committee to vigorously promote and pursue EPSCoR’s mission. Our governing committee members have much wisdom and inspiration to share with the research

community. In addition, there are many opportunities for synergy between EPSCoR and other programs at the state and federal level. In this and other newsletters, we will highlight such collaborations with state agencies, industry, and others.

This is just one way in which we will promote the EPSCoR program and its accomplishments to the research community, K-12 students and teachers, legislators, and the people of Idaho and beyond.

EPSCoR is about building the science community in Idaho. I look forward to working with state, university, and industry leaders as we explore strategic alliances within Idaho and with other states to further the research enterprise in Idaho.

Sincerely, Peter Goodwin, Project Director

Multigenerational Ecology and the Taylor Ranch Research Station The Salmon River is one of the biggest wild rivers remaining in the lower 48 states, and Idaho EPSCoR researchers are using it as a window into climate change.

The Salmon River Basin hosts the most sensitive ecosystems in Idaho, spanning environments from sagebrush steppe rangelands to forested uplands. Because much of the basin is located in designated wilderness areas, scientists can Taylor Ranch Research Station examine complex ecological interactions separate from intervening variables associated with human-caused activities. continued on page 2

• 1 •

Multigenerational Ecology, continued from page 1 The Ecological Change aspect of the Idaho EPSCoR RII grant, Water Resources in a Changing Climate, focuses on research in the Salmon River Basin to determine the historical relationships among climate, hydrology, geomorphic conditions, fire, and ecology and to understand how current ecological conditions in the Salmon compare with the past. This approach allows researchers to observe how recent changes in hydrology, geomorphology, disturbances (fire, insects), and ecological health can be attributed to changes in climate. Idaho’s scientists anticipate producing a nationally competitive research program for understanding shifts in ecosystem structure and function as a response to future climate change scenarios—a program that collaborates with various stakeholders and state, federal, and tribal agencies in Idaho who are working to meet the potential challenges of climate change.

EPSCoR is funding many crucial research infrastructure improvements, including the recruitment of new faculty and highly qualified graduate students, new field instrumentation, research sites and laboratory capabilities, and new research opportunities for diverse students. EPSCoR support is also helping scientists build on long-term ecological monitoring and research.

In the early 1980s, Idaho State University professor Dr. Wayne Minshall began collecting data in the Salmon Basin, working from the Taylor Ranch research station in the Frank ChurchRiver of No Return Wilderness. Now, more than twenty years later, a new generation of scientists from each of Idaho’s research universities is using this legacy data as a launching point for climate change studies. These scientists include Colden Baxter and Ben Crosby, both Idaho State University assistant professors, as well as Jen Pierce, assistant professor at Boise State University, and Elowyn Yager, assistant professor at University of Idaho, Boise. Minshall aimed to determine how wildfire affects stream ecosystems; only now are researchers beginning to appreciate that the changes revealed by the legacy data are likely linked to shifts in climate. “Long-term studies are like planting a seed,” Baxter explains, “you can’t be sure of the value down the road, and the beauty is that it might be something you didn’t anticipate.”

Minshall and his wife still come to Taylor Ranch every summer and assist in the season’s data collection, along with Baxter and several graduate students, some of whom weren’t even born yet when Minshall began collecting data decades ago. Baxter relishes the type of in-the-field teaching that can occur in this context, in which older scientists point out changes in the landscape based on their observations over many years. This “multigenerational ecology” strings together knowledge over decades and holds significance beyond any one scientist or any one project.

In addition to connecting scientists across generations, Salmon Basin research links faculty and students from different Idaho universities and reaches beyond academe. NSF EPSCoRsupported scientists are catalyzing coordination between academics and government agencies. One such example is a mapping project that brought together scientists from all three

Wayne Minshall and Colden Baxter with students

major Idaho universities along with representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Park Service. The project involved several weeks and some 70 kilometers of Lewis-and-Clarkstyle travel up drainages in the Salmon Basin, resulting in a multi-layered map of geology, geomorphology, and ecology.

Participants call it “The Big Onion,” and it promises to become a vital resource for generations of scientists to come.

At a time when tight state budgets are creating a crisis for some facilities, EPSCoR’s support for research at the Taylor Ranch and for Salmon Basin monitoring helps ensure that Idaho scientists can continue to build our state’s research capacity for understanding the complex ecology of a changing climate.

Idaho’s Climate and Water Project Helps Sponsor Session at the American Geophysical Union Meeting Von P. Walden, the lead scientist for Idaho EPSCoR’s Water Resources in a Changing Climate project, organized and cosponsored a session at the 2009 Fall meeting in San Francisco of the American Geophysical Union, an organization with over 52,000 members from 135 countries that fosters research in “understanding the Earth and space that is used for the benefit of humanity” (www.agu.org/about/mission.shtml).

The session, “Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change on the Western United States,” was co-sponsored by leaders of climate change programs across the West, including Nate Mantua from the Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington, Phil Mote from the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI), Gayle Dana from Nevada EPSCoR, and Bill Michener from New Mexico EPSCoR. Three invited speakers discussed various aspects of climate change impacts in the western U.S. Mike Dettinger from the U.S. Geological Survey spoke on climate change and water availability; Kelly Redmond, from the Western Regional Climate Center, gave an overview of observations of past climate and future projections; and Connie Millar from the U.S. Forest Service discussed potential adaptive strategies for managing changes to western forest ecosystems. Other speakers discussed generating climate scenarios for the West (Phil • 2 •

Mote, OCCRI), impacts of climate change on fire danger (John Abatzoglou, University of Idaho), sensitivity of runoff to climate warming (Tapash Das, University of California, San Diego), climate change and recent droughts in the Northwest (Karen McKinnon, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hollings Scholarship Fellow), and potential drivers of changes in spring temperatures and snowmelt (Jeremy Weiss, University of Arizona).

Abstracts of these talks can be found at www.agu.org/ meetings/fm09/fm09-sessions/fm09_U11D.html. In addition, a large poster session covered a wide range of topics, including changes in water resources, effects on ecological systems, and mitigative and adaptive strategies for dealing with future climatic changes in the western U.S. The poster abstracts are available at www.agu.org/meetings/fm09/fm09-sessions/ fm09_U13B.html.

THE PEOPLE OF IDAHO EPSCOR

Jen Pierce

Assistant Professor Department of Geosciences, Boise State University As a geomorphologist, Jen Pierce studies forest fires and climate change over the past 8,000 years. She interprets records of fires by digging up and examining charcoal, for example, and her graduate students study sediment yields from fire-affected streams. Dr. Pierce collaborates with other EPSCoR-supported faculty involved in the Ecological Change team, including Elowyn Yager, University of Idaho assistant professor, Ben Crosby, Idaho State University assistant professor, Colden Baxter, Idaho State University assistant professor, and Brian Kennedy, University of Idaho assistant professor. She also has enjoyed volunteering her time to teach field methods to grade-school students at the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS).

Ben Crosby

John Abatzoglou,

Assistant Professor Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University

Assistant Professor Department of Geography, University of Idaho Before joining the Department of Geography at the University of Idaho in the fall of 2009, John Abatzoglou (pronounced, as he tells his students, like “a box of glue”) earned his Ph.D. in Earth Systems Science at the University of California, Irvine.

His doctoral work focused on large-scale climate dynamics, considering the North Atlantic Oscillation’s moderating effect on weather and climate in Europe and the eastern United States. After graduating, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, and as an assistant professor at San Jose State University, redefining his research efforts to applied climate studies in the western United States. As part of the current EPSCoR grant Dr. Abatzoglou will collaborate with other Idaho faculty and with EPSCoR-funded graduate students to develop prognostic meteorological and climatological datasets for use in other EPSCoR-funded climate change impact studies. He has devised methods to obtain locally relevant surface weather information from global climate models that can then be used for impact assessment in EPSCoR studies and state agencies.

Such information could help water and land managers in the western U.S. deal with changing water resources and ecosystem impacts, including wildfire. Abatzoglou has begun working with the U.S. Forest Service and sees great potential for Idaho scientists to collaborate with federal agencies and other stakeholders.

Ben Crosby has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Idaho State University since 2006. He studies the physical and biological processes by which the Earth’s surface responds to climatic, tectonic, and anthropogenic disturbance. As part of the current EPSCoR grant, he and his graduate students are examining how the range of elevations within the Salmon River watershed influence the timing and magnitude of the water that flows downstream; this will help them better understand the ecological impact of shifting snowlines, which are predicted with climate change.

Levan Elbakidze

Assistant Professor Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Idaho As an agricultural economist, Levan Elbakidze’s research agenda includes modeling water use in the Snake River aquifer. He began working with other scientists involved in the NSF EPSCoR grant in 2009. He is building models that will integrate hydrologic and economic factors. These models will make it possible to examine the economic effectiveness of various strategies to cope with declining water levels and other potential climate change impacts in the coming decades.

Did You Know? Total National Science Foundation funding to Idaho reached a record high of $21 million in fiscal year 2009, compared to a previous high of $14.7 million in fiscal year 2008.

• 3 •

OUTREACH AND EDUCATION Kindling Scientific Curiosity at the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS)

Students taking measurements of a tree as part of a study of site selection

Boise State University professor Jen Pierce shows a student how to identify rocks using a hand lens

The McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) is a collaboration between the University of Idaho, the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, and Ponderosa State Park. Founded in 2001, MOSS has a strong record of providing experiential outdoor learning for thousands of Idaho’s fifth and sixth grade students and their teachers. Funding from Idaho NSF EPSCoR recently helped MOSS expand its programs to grades 7-12 and to further its collaboration with faculty and students at the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, and Boise State University.

Students come to MOSS in groups from schools or through organizations such as Helping Orient Indian Students and Teachers (HOIST) to science and technology or the Boys and Girls Clubs. University faculty and graduate students guide kids through methods and field work based on cutting-edge science, and then ask students to formulate questions based on those methods. Lee Vierling, associate professor at the University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources (CNR), serves as an EPSCoR outreach liaison, recruiting faculty for MOSS programs and helping them create effective teaching modules. This might mean taking complex climate models, for example, and simplifying them. It might mean floating

Kerri and Lee Vierling and students tracking the flight of various birds in burned habitat

an orange downstream and measuring its speed, as part of understanding the impact of snow-dominated versus raindominated watersheds. Vierling and his wife, Kerri Vierling, associate professor in the CNR department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, along with their children, have spent a lot of “family science time” at MOSS. The Vierlings see how the programs make science “real” for kids, helping connect the disparate information they get from the news, teachers, and other sources, and make sense of it by applying it in the field.

Reaching grades 7-12 is part of a larger goal shared by MOSS and Idaho EPSCoR to create a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Pipeline, keeping students engaged in science at each level of their education. Also central to this effort is cultivating an ethic of outreach among scientists, providing opportunities for them to see the advantage of nurturing scientific thinking beyond the laboratory walls so that it may benefit society. Lee Vierling hopes that more scientists will see outreach as a fundamental part of their job so that it will become a habit to think, “How could I communicate this concept to non-scientists and to young people?”

“Children and teachers are not the only ones to see the benefits; scientists get a fresh look at fundamental questions in their field of expertise,” explained Vierling. “Inspiring curiosity in others can be a powerful thing. Curiosity is the fire in all of us that needs to be rekindled.”

Teachers play a central role in the STEM Pipeline as well. The MOSS Summer Teacher Institute in 2009 hosted 25 teachers from 13 different schools for three days of connecting with other teachers, meeting scientists and learning about their research, and learning about the resources offered by MOSS. Teachers discussed opportunities and barriers for engaging in “real” science in their classroom – science that builds critical thinking and science process skills. They spent a day in the field visiting scientists at field sites, learning about their research questions and methods, and brainstorming ways to bring this to their classrooms. Participating scientists included Jen Pierce (Boise State University assistant professor), Jeff Hicke (University of Idaho assistant professor), Matt Germino (Idaho State University associate professor), and Andy Hudak (Rocky Mountain Research Station research professor). Jan Eitel, postdoctoral fellow in the College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, presented on using ground-based Light • 4 •

Detection and Ranging radar (LIDAR) to measure soil erosion.

Elowyn Yager, University of Idaho assistant professor, and her graduate student, Lauren Perreault, presented information on measuring sedimentation in fire-affected watersheds.

Additionally, Christopher Tennant, Idaho State University graduate student, presented his study of stream discharge in snow-dominated, rain-dominated, and rain-snow mixed watersheds. Teacher workshops generated many ideas for curriculum: scale models of erosion plots, adopting a local stream and replicating discharge measurements, and having scientists work with the class to create longer-term research projects based on the larger questions that the scientists are studying.

growth biology Professor Rod Hill are the first Idaho researchers to receive a EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The team will explore new approaches to gene therapies by using locked nucleic acids, or LNAs, as invaders to target specific sections of chromosomes. They will use zebrafish embryos in the study. Their study will focus on ways to improve the targeting of the invader LNAs through chemical engineering and to show how they can affect the genes. The 3-year, $523,000 Research Project Grant (R01) will support the team’s innovative, high-impact biomedical research.

“We are very excited about having the support to explore this approach,” Papasani said. “We are proud to be recognized as one of the teams that proposed an idea considered both exceptional and unconventional.”

The researchers hope their work will help medical researchers speed the development of new drugs or lead to gene therapies that provide new approaches to treatment of diseases.

“We want to develop a chemical probe technology that binds more strongly to specific genetic sequences and can target many more sequences than is currently possible,” Hrdlicka said. “If successful, this technology has the potential to treat diseases of genetic origin.”

COLLABORATIONS National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) As part of its efforts to promote diversity in STEM fields, Idaho EPSCoR has developed collaborations with the University of Idaho chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). The NSBE provides mentorship for black engineering students toward academic success and professionalism, and they strive to have an impact in the community through outreach programs in local schools. Each spring, they host the UI Dynamic Engineers Lecture Series, featuring highly successful professionals in STEM fields who also happen to be members of a minority group. University of Idaho EPSCoR funds have helped Idaho NSBE students attend national conferences and recruit new members. The next national NSBE conference will take place in Toronto, Canada, March 31st-April 4th, 2010. For more information, visit www.national.nsbe.org.

Results From Prior Nsf Epscor Support DNA Researchers Receive NIH Award Three University of Idaho researchers previously supported

by NSF EPSCoR funding are embarking on an unconventional approach to DNA research as one of 20 teams who have received federal funding for their ideas to explore scientific frontiers. Chemist Patrick Hrdlicka and molecular physiologist Madhu Papasani, early career scientists, and senior scientist,

Western Consortium of Idaho, Nevada, and New Mexico Innovation Working Groups The New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR‐funded programs have formed a Western Tri-State Consortium of EPSCoR states with similar research agendas related to climate change and water resources. The Western Tri‐State Consortium significantly increases opportunities for scientific collaboration, and enhances each state’s ability to secure competitive funding and tackle complex climate change research agendas. In keeping with the Consortium mission, Innovation Working Group (IWG) funds are being made available to support collaborative, trans‐ disciplinary work by researchers from the three member states.

Innovation Working Groups provide a venue for engaging scientists and educators, along with key nationally and internationally recognized experts, to address grand challenges that can transform science and education. This program supports week‐long working group activities that are modeled after those hosted by the highly successful NSF-supported National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).

Scientists from the Western Tri‐State Consortium and national or international experts may be invited. A strategic final objective of the IWGs is the submission of proposals that target NSF cross‐cutting programs and/or the publication of synthesis papers in peer reviewed journals. continued on page 6

• 5 •

The first Tri-State IWG, The effects of climate change on ecosystems and societies: A Focus on Native American and Hispanic communities, convened on October 19-21, 2009 at Hyatt Regency Tamaya in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The workshop was co-hosted by the Desert Research Institute, the University of Idaho, and the University of New Mexico.

The purpose of this IWG was to develop research ideas that will couple the effects of climate change on ecosystems and societies while focusing on potential impacts to Native American and Hispanic communities.

Hydrologists, ecologists, and social scientists convened to (1) hear stakeholders and experts offer their perspectives and concerns on potential impacts, and discuss how potential impacts and mitigation can be incorporated into long-term planning related to climate change; (2) discuss how climate and hydrological models can be improved to identify and mitigate risks to these vulnerable populations; and (3) jointly write a cross-cutting proposal to NSF that takes a holistic approach to addressing complex interactions of socio-political and biophysical systems affected by climate change.

The IWG members are Jan Boll, Associate Professor, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Idaho; Karletta Chief, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Division of Hydrologic Sciences Desert Research Institute; Julie Coonrod, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico; Barbara Cosens, Associate Professor, College of Law, University of Idaho; Terry Fisk, Ph.D. Student, Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno; Alex Fremier, Assistant Professor, Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho; Mahesh Gautam, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Division of Hydrologic Sciences Desert Research Institute; Susan Kelly, Interim Director, Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico; Asako Stone, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Desert Research Institute; and Mark Stone, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico.

Collaborations in STEM Education Idaho EPSCoR is collaborating with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Idaho State Department of Education in an effort to promote the Idaho STEM Pipeline and support additional STEM initiatives in the State of Idaho. As part of the collaboration EPSCoR staff serves on a statewide I-STEM committee organized by INL in coordination with the Idaho State Department of Education. The committee is designed to •

Identify, complement, and collaborate with stakeholders to advance STEM in Idaho

•

Identify Idaho’s STEM education needs

•

Build the bridge between resources and educators to fill the gaps in STEM education

•

Promote the vital role of STEM education for Idaho’s future

•

Provide accessible state-wide STEM education resources through an IT network.

INL and the Idaho State Department of Education offer support by promoting Idaho EPSCoR’s Idaho STEM Pipeline website (www.idahostem.org) through various media outlets such

as web links and publications that go out to Idaho students, teachers, community, and other stakeholders.

ANNOUNCEMENTS Salmon Basin Summit 2010 “Coordinating Watershed Research and Long-term Monitoring” took place January 22nd, 2010, in Boise, Idaho. This full-day workshop was co-sponsored by the Idaho NSF EPSCoR Water Resources in a Changing Climate program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service Integrated Status & Effectiveness Monitoring program and included scientists from government agencies, academic institutions, and other parties interested in coordinating watershed ecosystem research and monitoring (e.g., climate, hydrology, geomorphology, ecology, and policy/economics) in the Salmon Basin. Participants worked to raise group awareness of past and present efforts (especially long-term studies), make reciprocal connections between academic and agency-based science, and identify strategies for improving monitoring to detect and respond to long-term change.

Look for more information about the results of this summit and for dates for future Salmon Basin Summits in this newsletter.

For more information, contact Colden Baxter at the Stream Ecology Center, Idaho State University, baxtcold@isu.edu or 208-251-5980.

New Interdisciplinary Modeling Course: Water-Related Issues and Changing Climate (NRES 730) University of Nevada Reno, July 12-30, 2010 www.cabnr.unr.edu/saito/classes/nres730/nres730.htm The Western Tri-State Consortium of Idaho, Nevada, and New Mexico EPSCoR programs funded the development of a new interdisciplinary modeling course to be offered in summer 2010. Students will be introduced to models that are available in different disciplines and how such models might be applied together to address water-related issues regarding climate change, address issues of variability and uncertainty in implementing interdisciplinary approaches, and gain experience in working in teams to apply interdisciplinary modeling approaches to increase knowledge about water-related issues regarding climate change. Students also will use a common software to do an interdisciplinary project.

The course will be taught by a host of instructors representing various disciplines and universities. The course is open to graduate students from all institutions in Idaho, New Mexico, and Nevada who work in any discipline related to water including, but not limited to: hydrology, engineering, political science, law, economics, geology, atmospheric science, geochemistry, environmental science, chemistry, and water resources. Students should have some experience with modeling and/or at least one course in modeling or consent of the coordinating instructors.

The application process is competitive. Registration is open until March 31, 2010. Applicants will be notified of acceptance after March 31. Support for travel and lodging will be provided by the Idaho, New Mexico, and Nevada EPSCoR offices. For • 6 •

Students participating in e-Day activities

information about course fees, see the application form at: www. cabnr.unr.edu/saito/classes/nres730/nres730.htm Contact Laurel Saito at lsaito@cabnr.unr.edu or (775) 784-1921 for questions about the course or the application form. You may also contact Timothy Link in Idaho at tlink@uidaho.edu.

Don’t Miss e-Day: Discover Engineering at a free one-day camp for grades 7-10 on Saturday, April 17, 2010, at Boise State University. Hosted by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Student Chapter at Boise State University, activities will include Edible Aquifer, Designer Bridges, Amazing Robotics, Creative Inventions, and more. For more information visit: http:// coen.boisestate.edu/K-2connection/SummerPrograms.html

KUDOS

Bruce Finney, Idaho State University research professor, was recently awarded a $136,780 NSF grant for “Collaborative Research: Nonlinearities in the Arctic Climate System during the Holocene.” The project will involve the study of rapid changes in the arctic climate system using climate-modeling experiments.

Jeffrey Hicke, University of Idaho assistant professor, was awarded a $138,986 NSF grant for “Quantifying the Effects of Large-Scale Vegetation Change on Coupled Water, Carbon and Nutrient Cycles: Beetle Kill in Western Montane Forest.” The proposal will involve examining how rapid, extensive changes in forest structure and composition associated with Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) infestation of western montane forests affect the coupling of water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles.

Janet Callahan, professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering at Boise State University is principal investigator on a $590,753 NSF grant to fund the Idaho Science Talent Expansion Program (STEP). STEP seeks to increase the number of students receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging fields within science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Kelly Cobourn, assistant professor at Boise State University, won the “Best Thesis” award from University of California, Davis department of Agricultural Economics. Now her Ph.D. Dissertation has been nominated by University of California, Davis for “Best Ph.D. Dissertation,” an award conducted under the auspices of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

What is NSF EPSCoR? EPSCoR is a program designed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote scientific progress nationwide. It is for states, including Idaho, that have historically received lesser amounts of competitive Research and Development (R&D) funding. Twentyseven jurisdictions currently participate.

NSF EPSCoR establishes partnerships with higher education, government, and industry and provides support for key research areas at Idaho’s public universities. The goal is to stimulate lasting improvements in research infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, our national R&D competitiveness.

For more information about this program and other Idaho EPSCoR projects visit www.uidaho.edu/epscor or E-mail epscor@uidaho.edu

• 7 •

Idaho EPSCoR PO Box 443029 Moscow, ID 83844-3029

*KBK865$M*

UPCOMING CONFERENCES Engaging America’s Talent - NSF Education Outreach Conference, hosted by Arkansas EPSCoR and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, will be held at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, AR on March 22-24th.

It is designed to be interactive and high-tech with a large number of presentations describing education models. For more information visit: www.arkepscor.org/ registrationEAT.html

Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research in Idaho (208) 885-5842 (208) 885-5111 fax Peter Goodwin, Project Director pgoodwin@uidaho.edu, 208-364-6164

The 2nd Annual Tri-State Western Consortium Meeting will take place April 6-8, 2010 in Incline Village, Nevada. Registration is now open. For more information, visit http://www.nevada.edu/epscor/tri-state-2010.html

Von Walden, Science Lead vonw@uidaho.edu, 208-885-5058

Save the Date: Idaho NSF EPSCoR Annual Meeting is scheduled for August 31st through September 1st, 2010 at the Grove Hotel in Boise, Idaho. Look for details closer to the date at www.uidaho.edu/epscor

Richard Allen, University of Idaho, Liaison rallen@kimberly.uidaho.edu, 208-423-6601 Sian Mooney, Boise State University, Liaison sianmooney@boisestate.edu, 208-426-1471 Colden Baxter, Idaho State University, Liaison baxtcold@isu.edu, 208-251-5980

www.uidaho.edu/epscor • 8 •