S P A R K 2020 RESEARCH REVIEW
In This Issue
Research and New Hampshire’s Economy
S P A R K 2020 RESEARCH REVIEW
10 Start It Up
20 It’s Instrumental
Itaconix cleans up with bio-based polymers
The University Instrumentation Center hosts technology to advance research on campus and off
13 Testing, Testing 4
22 New Hampshire’s Trusted Partner
UNH’s InterOperability Lab brings tech giants to Durham
UNH research contributes to the well-being of the state’s citizenry
16 Innovation Station 4
Announcements & Briefs 6
Warming a Cold Case
UNHInnovation launches the university’s ideas into the world and invites the world to UNH
UNH anthropologist helps identify century-old remains
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Fossil Frenzy Paleontologists assist in “game-changing” fossil find
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Insider Wisdom UNH president decodes academia for business people
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Paths to Prosperity Cooperative Extension connects towns with their “nature economies”
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Autism’s Sex Bias Protein regulation may explain why it’s more common in boys
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Dam Dilemma Majority in N.H. favor removing dams unless they’re providing power
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Gimme Shelter Data links homelessness rates to unaffordable rents
27 Faculty Honors Our faculty members distinguish themselves with recent awards and appointments
28 Graduate Student Honors These early-career scholars are on the rise
29 Creative & Scholarly Works A spotlight on recent faculty books and scholarly publications
32 A Closing Inquiry Meet Marian McCord, UNH’s new senior vice provost for research, economic engagement and outreach
Welcome to SPARK, UNH’s annual review of research and scholarship. In this issue, our sixth, we highlight some of UNH’s highest-impact research and the ways it improves the state’s economy, interacts with New Hampshire business and industry and influences the world.
This issue tells stories about the myriad ways UNH research helps Granite Staters address their most pressing issues — education, energy and the environment, healthcare, workforce development — and how UNH partners with businesses throughout the region to help them thrive and grow. Welcome, too, to Marian McCord, UNH’s new senior vice provost for research, economic engagement and outreach. On campus for just a month before SPARK went to press, McCord shares her thoughts on public impact research on page 32.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Tomer Ketter, data analyst with UNH’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM), flew a drone to capture this photo of the Swedish icebreaker Oden as it mapped uncharted Arctic waters in July 2019. Ketter was on the Oden to collect seafloor data in the Northwest Passage and Baffin Bay as part of the Seabed 2030 Project, for which UNH co-leads the Arctic and North Pacific Ocean effort. CCOM, a world leader in ocean mapping, engages with 45 industry partners (including five in New Hampshire) through its Industrial Associates Program. Partners provide CCOM students and researchers with in-kind access to technology or vessels; in turn, they receive access to CCOM-developed software and algorithms, which some of them have commercialized.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS & BRIEFS
UNH received its largest-ever research contract from NASA ,
$107.9 MILLION to develop a space-based instrument that will study coastal ecosystems near the Gulf of Mexico.
Joseph Salisbury, research associate professor of Earth sciences, leads this interdisciplinary project to develop GLIMR (Geosynchronous Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer). Shortly after GLIMR was announced, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen visited campus for an up-close look at the university’s Space Science Center and the faculty members, researchers and students engaged in NASA partnerships. Photo: NASA
Photo: N.H. DOE
UNH will lead a major preschool development initiative in New Hampshire, funded by a $26.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant, led by assistant professor of family studies and human development Kim Nesbitt (left), is the single largest to a faculty member in the College of Health and Human Services. See more about this project on page 24.
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UNH launched the Center for Acoustics Research and Education, bringing together expertise across wide-ranging disciplines with an initial focus on environmental acoustics. Jennifer Miksis-Olds, School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering research professor, is center director.
Top, from left: UNH President Jim Dean; Harlan Spence, director of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space; NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine; U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen. Bottom: Professor of physics Roy Torbert shows Shaheen and Bridenstine an instrument from the successful Multiscale Magnetosphere Mission.
UNH’s GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni team — alumni and industry partners and advisors based at UNH’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping — won the $4 million Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE for a pair of autonomous ocean mapping vessels.
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Diane Foster, professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at UNH, took the helm of UNH’s School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering in spring 2019.
UNH joined the University of the Arctic — an international network of universities and organizations dedicated to Arctic education and research— in fall 2019, marking an official pledge to continue and expand on its polar expertise.
NOAA tapped UNH and four other ocean science institutions to explore an estimated three billion acres of U.S. ocean territory as part of the new Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
Warming a Cold Case A UNH biological anthropologist has helped crack a case that turned out to be decades colder than anyone suspected. UNH anthropology lecturer Amy Michael, working with colleagues at Idaho State University, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the DNA Doe Project, recently identified a man found in an Idaho cave in 1979 as outlaw Joseph Henry Loveless, born in 1870 and likely murdered more than a century ago. It’s the oldest identity ever recorded using genetic genealogy in a forensic case. Michael first brought her expertise in human tooth and bone microstructure to the case several years ago, while she was teaching at Idaho State.
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The team used the relatively new technique of genetic genealogy — which combines forensic science with the growing trove of genetic data generated by those tracing their family heritage via DNA tests — to identify Loveless. Descended from polygamists and obscured by nearly a dozen aliases, Loveless lived a colorful life of crime that further confounded the sleuths. “This is the strangest story I’ve come across in 10plus years of forensic casework,” says Michael, who teaches popular courses on cold cases and forensic anthropology. “This man’s identity and story would not have been recovered without genetic genealogy techniques.” BETH POTIER cola.unh.edu/anthropology
FOSSIL FRENZY Our understanding of how life on Earth rebounded after an asteroid wiped out dinosaurs and most other species 66 million years ago took a huge leap forward recently, thanks in part to the work of professor of Earth sciences Will Clyde and Anthony Fuentes ’19G. The two analyzed and dated an extraordinary collection of fossils (16 mammal species, as well as crocodiles, turtles and fruits) discovered in Colorado in 2016 by a team from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Clyde and Fuentes helped determine the age of this unprecedented find, dating the fossils to within the first million years after the mass extinction, an interval of time that is otherwise very poorly sampled globally. The findings, called “game changing,” were reported in Science and were the subject of a NOVA documentary. “We often hear about the asteroid impact and the demise of the dinosaurs, but we know much less about how ecosystems recovered after this mass extinction event,” says Clyde. “These new fossil discoveries provide a very unusual window into that period.” BETH POTIER c eps.unh.edu/person/william-clyde
INSIDER WISDOM Apples and oranges. Venus and Mars. Despite the myriad synergies and mutual benefits to collaboration, universities and the businesspeople who might engage with them struggle to bridge the cultural gap that yawns between them. A new book by UNH’s ultimate insider — its 20th president — is a first-of-its-kind practical guide for board members, businesspeople, entrepreneurs,
philanthropists, alumni, parents and administrators who want to invest in and enhance higher education. In “The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities” (UNC Press, 2019), UNH president Jim Dean and co-author Deborah Y. Clarke provide a resource for individuals and groups experiencing the reality of a university structure for the first time since their own student days. “A businessperson who brings a wealth of experience but is willing to learn more and to work closely with other board members and academics can make a tremendous contribution to a
Photo: Tyler Lyson, Denver Museum of Nature & Science
college or university,” says Dean. “The synergy between business perspectives and academic perspectives has the potential to dramatically change universities for the better.” BETH POTIER unh.edu/president/
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PATHS TO PROSPERITY New Hampshire is rich in natural amenities — mountains, lakes, forests, rivers — as well as in historic towns that invite visitors with their charm and hospitality. UNH Extension’s new Downtowns and Trails program aims to link those resources, literally, by making trails a pathway to economic vibrancy and the state’s $8.7 billion outdoor recreation industry. In Bristol, a town of 3,300 year-round residents, UNH Extension nature-based economy state specialist Shannon Rogers and her team recently helped residents, businesses and community leaders come together to find opportunities in the rail-trail that connects the historic downtown and nearby Newfound Lake. The work, supported by a
Autism’s Sex Bias
UNH researchers are one step closer to understanding why autism is four times more common in boys than in girls after identifying and
Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development grant, articulated a vision for greater coordination of downtown services and path users and investment in promoting and maintaining the trail. “Broadly speaking, research and practice shows that there are essentially four categories that need to be in place for a successful connection between downtowns and trails: Natural, economic, built and social/leadership conditions,” says Rogers. “We teach and train communities to assess and sustainably leverage their natural assets for economic vibrancy.” BETH POTIER extension.unh.edu/programs/nature-economy
characterizing the connection of certain proteins in the brain to autism spectrum disorders. “Our study is the first to look at the sex-biased regulation of proteins in the brain and how they may play a role in affecting abnormal changes in the body that result in autism,” says Xuanmao Chen, assistant professor of neurobiology and lead author of a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. “Our results suggest that proteins in the female brain, particularly autism-related proteins, are more tightly regulated than those in the male brain, possibly helping to prevent the development of autism in females,” says Chen.
Chen, who is a lead investigator in UNH’s Center of Integrated Biomedical and Bioengineering Research, says that this National Institutes of Health-funded research is still in the early phase with mouse models and that more studies are needed, but he is hopeful that it may open up a new research direction and one day could possibly lead to a new pharmacological treatment. ROBBIN RAY ’82 unh.edu/research/cibbr
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DAM DILEMMA New Hampshire’s rivers and streams host more than 4,800 dams, many of them centuries old and built for purposes that no longer apply, such as powering long-closed mills. These aging dams present a policy dilemma as communities weigh the costs of maintaining or removing them. Recent research can help communities navigate the complexity of these dam decisions. The research — by doctoral student Natallia Leuchanka Diessner, professor of civil and environmental engineering Kevin Gardner, Catherine Ashcraft, assistant professor of natural resources and the environment, and professor of sociology Larry Hamilton — found that a majority
of respondents in three Granite State polls favor removing dams except when they’re being used for hydropower generation. When the alternative is to keep dams to maintain waterfront property values, preserve industrial history or maintain lake- and pond-based recreation, most New Hampshire residents polled favor removing the dams to create free-flowing rivers that benefit fish and wildlife. “These survey results can inform decisions about how to best steward public resources and funding for maintaining or removing dams,” says Diessner, lead author of the Carsey School brief, an outcome of NH EPSCoR’s National Science Foundation-funded Future of Dams project. BETH POTIER nhepscor.org/future-dams
Gimme Shelter Christopher Glynn, assistant professor of decision sciences at UNH’s Paul College of Business and Economics, is addressing the complex issue of homelessness with a surprising tool: Data. Glynn, with funding from the online real estate and rental marketplace Zillow, studied 25 major metropolitan areas and found that when rents reached 32% of the local median income, expected homelessness rates rose sharply. Los Angeles, for instance, where rents are 49% of the median income, is ground zero for the homelessness crisis; Glynn’s research forecast that if New York City rents increased an average of 5% in the coming year, 3,000 more people would fall into homelessness. The study, considered a landmark, exemplifies how data can drive policy, he says. “Making an explicit connection between affordable housing and homelessness is the first, critical step to helping cities budget to provide affordable housing to more people.” DAVE MOORE paulcollege.unh.edu/person/christopher-glynn
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START I T UP
BY DEBBIE KANE
ITACONIX CLEANS UP WITH BIO-BASED POLYMERS
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Launched by former professor Yvon Durant ’96G, Itaconix is an example of how UNH-developed ideas and technology can have larger-world implications. A glittering row of glass jars in the lobby of Stratham, N.H.-based Itaconix contains the secret to the company’s success. A few contain white substances resembling raw sugar or flour; others gleam with an amber liquid. They’re all forms of polyitaconic acid, a nontoxic, biodegradable polymer originally developed in a UNH laboratory by former materials science professor Yvon Durant ’96G. With the support of UNHInnovation (UNHI), Durant, Itaconix’s chief technology officer, licensed the bio-based polymer in 2008, bringing the product out of the lab, then producing and selling it commercially to international producers of laundry and automatic dishwasher detergents, water softeners, hair and skin care products, among others. The startup is UNHI’s first success story, an example of how UNH-developed ideas and technology can have larger-world implications. “We’re trying to create an ecosystem where it’s possible to invest in and create these new businesses,” says Marc Sedam, vice provost for innovation and new ventures and UNHI’s managing director. “They mean a lot to the vibrancy of New Hampshire’s, and the nation’s, economy.”
PROFITABLE POLYMERS Durant’s work on polymers began as part of a joint project between UNH and the University of Maine in the early 2000s, a collaboration funded by a grant from the EPA. While studying applications for itaconic acid, a material fermented from corn and other sugars, he discovered that a higher percentage of itaconic acid in polymers makes them more effective in cleaning applications and can replace petroleum-based polymers. In 2007, after several rounds of grant funding, Durant went to UNHI (then the Office of Intellectual Property Management) to apply for a patent. After one of Durant’s students, Ming Cao ’08G, developed the initial technology to produce the polymers and won a prize in UNH’s Holloway Innovation-to-Market Competition, John Shaw, a guest at the competition, recognized the product’s potential. He and Durant co-founded Itaconix in 2008; Shaw is now CEO. Remaining in his UNH lab for several years after Itaconix was established, Durant researched applications and production processes for new polymers, supported by grants from the New Hampshire Innovation Research Center. In 2009, the company opened a production facility in Dover, N.H., with a staff of 10. They were selling product by the end of the year — a big achievement for a small startup. “Their scale-up time was short because they created the chemistry to make polyitaconic acid commercially viable,” says Sedam. “They were already talking to customers who could use it.” Itaconix polymers are now found in major brands such as Greenworks, method and Resolve.
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KEEPING A UNH CONNECTION Durant has long employed UNH students, alumni and interns. Even now, after relocating to Stratham in 2012, the company relies on Wildcat talent, including research scientists Anita Augustyniak ’11G, Bo Jiang ’12G and John Fernald ’18. “We also have a long history of UNH interns and graduates who work in a variety of roles from sales to development and product support,” says Durant. “It’s a small company so we wear many hats, which makes it a valuable experience for students.” There are advantages to retaining academic talent in a startup like Itaconix, Sedam says, not least because it helped pioneer the technology. “The data around keeping that talent in the mix is pretty compelling,” he says. “According to our research, one in two university startups are still operating, which is much higher than the national average.” Sedam says 73% of all university-based startups are operating in the county where they were formed. “You can imagine what an economic development strategy could be with those numbers,” he says.
Did You Know? 73% of all universitybased startups are operating in the county where they were formed. Itaconix’s success supports those statistics. The only manufacturer of polyitaconic acid in the world, the company was acquired by and merged with Revolymer, a British chemical company, in 2016 and became publicly traded (the company retained the name Itaconix). The acquisition, the first of any UNH startup, enabled the company to expand internationally; its strongest market is Europe, where there is increased interest in high-quality, bio-based products. Agreements signed in the past three years with European chemical companies Croda and Nouryon have led to increased production and expanded product lines. “We’re an international business,” says Durant. “Early on less than half our revenue was from the U.S.” All of Itaconix’s production and distribution is out of its N.H. production facility (the company also has a warehouse in Belgium that enables it to get product to European customers within 48 to 72 hours). The facility, which includes a lab that Durant visits daily, generates no hazardous waste or emissions. “It’s very green,” Durant says. “Everything used to make our product is part of the finished products.”
UNH alumni and Itaconix employees Anita Augustyniak ’11G (Ph.D., materials science), John Fernald ’18 (chemical engineering), Yvon Durant and Bo Jiang ’12G (Ph.D., materials science).
The company continues to grow. Durant estimates they have the capacity to launch one or two new products a year. And that’s exciting to Sedam. “We’re always talking about how to create more startups like Itaconix so that faculty can see how they can commercialize their ideas,” he says. “UNH is the largest importer of talent and diversity in New Hampshire. We want to create those new businesses that contribute to the vibrancy of our economy and build the economy of tomorrow.” itaconix.com
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UNH’S INTEROPERABILITY LAB BRINGS TECH GIANTS TO DURHAM BY KEITH TESTA
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When Gerry Donahue ’22 toured UNH’s InterOperability Lab (IOL) during a visit to campus as a prospective student a few years ago, the New Hampshire resident’s sense of geography failed him momentarily. “I was thinking, ‘wow, it seems like I’m in Silicon Valley,’” Donahue, now a sophomore, says. The lab, on the edge of campus in downtown Durham, can indeed give off Silicon Valley vibes. That’s thanks to the titans of the data communications industry that routinely come to the UNH facility to test their products — partners that have included Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell, Cisco and Nokia. But the lab can also be a direct pathway to Silicon Valley itself — and plenty of other global employment hotbeds — for the more than 100 students who make up its workforce at any given time. “I have found the students I work with there to be incredibly bright,” says Thomas Lewis, Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications and marketing manager at Texas Instruments. “They bring into every interaction a level of excitement you just don’t get working with a standard test house. It’s a phenomenal asset to the community and UNH.” Texas Instruments, which has a design center in Manchester, most recently worked closely with the IOL on the IEEE 802.3bt PoE standard and Ethernet Alliance GEN2 test suite.
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IOL director Jeff Lapak ’04, ’13G describes the lab as a third-party test house that helps companies bring products to market faster while making sure those products work well together. The lab provides a neutral space for companies to test their products against each other in order to confirm compatibility in the real world — read, interoperability — and also focuses heavily on conformance, helping ensure that corporations are meeting critical industry specifications and standards. The lab isn’t ostentatious — it’s replete with bundles of blue-and-white wires hanging from the ceiling, computer monitors with illuminated scrolling green text and racks of tiny metal and electrical parts strewn throughout the space. But the test work taking place there has a significant impact on the data communications industry worldwide. Companies come from around the world to test their products at the IOL, massive international companies that are otherwise “trying to go head-to-head with each other and win the market,” Lapak says. The IOL worked directly with 183 companies last year. The lab is the only one of its kind in the country. It is entirely industry-funded, so it costs the university nothing, and it handles a wide range of technologies, a significant advantage over most test houses that specialize in one area. It also grew organically, from humble beginnings. In 1988, UNH’s Research Computing Center (RCC) was testing data equipment from a pair of vendors — one of which was Prime Computing — that it discovered was not interoperable. The RCC brought the vendors together and brokered a solution. And that’s when the lightbulb went off for founders William Lenharth ’69, ’74G, ’78G and Barry Reinhold ’81, ’88G.
“The students I work with at UNH are incredibly bright. They bring into every interaction a level of excitement you just don’t get working with a standard test house.” Thomas Lewis, Texas Instruments
“Prime said, ‘you fixed it for us and saved us a lot of money; can you do it again?’ We took that concept and we just keep adding technologies and companies to it,” Lapak says. “We got lucky in that 30 years ago, the [UNH] administration saw this as beneficial to students on the career side.” Through all the growth and success, the IOL’s focus has remained steadfastly on the students. And though about 80% of the 100-plus student workforce is made up of engineering and computer science majors, the other 20% come from all majors across the university. Students perform the vast majority of the testing work done in the lab, which allows them to interface directly with recognizable global brands on a regular basis, opening the door for employment opportunities virtually the moment they receive their diploma. “You’ll get a job. It’s all but guaranteed as a student if you want to go into the field,” says Lapak, who noted that the lab has a “99.9%” job placement rate. “A big part of that is they’ve been working with companies for three or four years, so I usually don’t even need to help make connections for the students — they have
a network of people they’ve worked with who want them to come work for them.” Donahue, now a computer science major, was so impressed with his initial tour that, once admitted, he began working at the IOL the week after he graduated from high school. He has secured an internship with Intel in California this summer. “I think the best part about the lab is the experience you get,” says Donahue. “You’re testing devices, you’re learning protocol, you’re going through training — it’s real-world experience, and it also works alongside what you’re learning in the classroom.” Hannah Dukeman, a senior information technology major, has no shortage of post-UNH options, thanks in large part to her work with the lab. “It’s nice to be able to get your name out there, because you’re constantly talking with companies,” says Dukeman. “I have people who are reaching out and saying, ‘we’ve worked with you for years, what are you planning on doing?’ It’s an awesome experience, and I really do feel like I have a leg up.” iol.unh.edu
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INNOVATIO UNHINNOVATION LAUNCHES THE UNIVERSIT Y’S IDEAS INTO THE WORLD AND INVITES THE WORLD TO UNH
BY KRYSTEN GODFREY MADDOCKS ’96
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UNH research has helped hundreds of colleges, high schools and the military reduce sexual and relationship violence. Mathematics professor and entrepreneur Kevin Short developed the first technology that downloaded music to our cell phones. Universities nationwide track their sustainability efforts using a tool created by the UNH Sustainability Institute. And the university holds the license to never-seen photographs of reclusive author J.D. Salinger by famed photographer Lotte Jacobi. If not for the work of UNHInnovation, these ideas might have lived only in research reports or scholarly journals, their ability to make the world a better place untapped.
ON STATION
“We are always looking at different ways to be helpful and affect the economy and society,” says Marc Sedam, managing director of UNHInnovation (UNHI) and vice provost for innovation and new ventures.
The glue that helps grow and steward UNHderived ideas, UNHI leverages university resources and experts to maximize the university’s social and economic benefits to the Granite State and beyond. In addition to managing all of UNH’s intellectual property and trademarks, it licenses creative works, supports startup companies based on UNH’s intellectual property (Chaoticom, founded by Kevin Short in 2001, was UNH’s first spin-off ) and develops new opportunities for industry partnerships.
Marc Eichenberger (left), UNHI director of corporate engagement, and Marc Sedam, managing director of UNHI, at UNHInnovation’s office at the edge of campus and downtown Durham.
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Under Sedam, who joined UNHI in 2010, the staff and scope of the department has grown exponentially: It helped found six startups based on UNH intellectual property, forged 182 corporate partnerships, launched the Entrepreneurship Center to foster the next generation of innovative leaders, exceeded $1 million in licensing revenue, and made UNH a top five university in the total number of licenses signed each year since 2015. Recent innovations are making it easier than ever for industry to license UNH intellectual assets, potentially reducing negotiation time from months to minutes. The goal of a license isn’t to maximize revenue, Sedam is quick to note. “Success comes with finding a way to transfer good ideas that can be brought to market in a meaningful way and impact society.” UNH’s Prevention Innovations Research Center (PIRC), which creates evidence-based curricula aimed at preventing sexual violence, relationship violence and stalking, exemplifies this licensing strategy. PIRC’s Bringing the Bystander® curriculum has been used by hundreds of colleges and universities and is being adapted and extended for use in the military and high schools. Building on that success, UNHI helped PIRC co-founders Sharyn Potter, professor of sociology, and executive director Jane Stapleton launch Soteria Solutions, an independent nonprofit that is UNH’s first female-founded, researchbased startup.
Entrepreneurship’s Home Founded in 2015, the Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center — ECenter — serves would-be entrepreneurs from across the university with programming, startup development mentoring and networking, seed and internship funding and a Makerspace with tools to fabricate prototypes. “The ECenter is about helping students, faculty and alumni become problem-solvers and idea creators first, and then supporting them as they take those ideas to the next level,” says ECenter director Ian Grant.
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“Success comes with finding a way to transfer good ideas that can be brought to market in a meaningful way and impact society.” Marc Sedam, managing director, UNHInnovation
“We worked with Sharyn and Jane to create a sustainable business model so their scholarship could be distributed far and wide,” says Sedam. Named after the Greek goddess of safety and preservation, Soteria brings the team’s bystanderfocused interventions to schools and workplaces to build safe, respectful environments. Even as licensing and startups send the university’s research and ideas out into the world, more industry partners than ever are coming onto campus and finding resources to help their businesses thrive and grow. “Our ultimate ambition is to create more of a presence on campus for these companies on multiple levels,” says Marc Eichenberger, who recently joined UNHI as director of corporate engagement. “The goal is to engage companies who might want to work on research projects with UNH faculty, use equipment to test materials at the University Instrumentation Center or even hire student interns.” Toward that end, UNHI hosts biannual industry days, focusing on fields in which regional companies are likely to find synergies with UNH research capacity. In May 2019, more than 140 industry representatives attended an advanced manufacturing day at UNH, hearing two-minute speed pitches from 60 faculty researchers and touring UNH’s Olson Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
Innovation Neighborhood UNHI’s vision for the future is a proposal that could include 60 acres at the edge of campus for research, retail and residential opportunities.
The outcomes from these so-called “sandpits” have already proven to be fruitful. Following a food and agriculture day in November, New Hampshirebased MegaFood, a nutritional supply company, forged productive partnerships with faculty researchers and the University Instrumentation Center (see page 26). As the scope of UNHI grows, so do its plans for the future. Sedam says UNHI is currently proposing the plans for a research foundation and community of innovation — what many know as a research park — that could include privately redeveloping 60 acres of land near the current west edge of campus. Preliminary plans, pending approval by the University System of New Hampshire board of trustees, call for creating one million square feet of retail, residential and research space over the next 15 to 20 years that would positively impact economic development in the region. “This is one of the final pieces we need to provide a holistic approach to affect the economy and society,” Sedam says. “A research park would help us reach President Dean’s goals of embracing New Hampshire and becoming a top 25 university, while driving $1 billion of economic impact into New Hampshire by the end of the decade.” innovation.unh.edu
IDEAS WORTH SHARING UNHI helps universities nationwide access solutions that were originally developed to address UNH problems. SIMAP (Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform) Carbon and nitrogen footprint tracker used by more than 500 universities UNHCEMS (Chemical Environmental Management System) Chemical and hazardous materials inventory manager used by dozens of universities ecoText Student startup from ECenter for low-cost digital textbooks YouScheduler Student startup from ECenter for online course schedule generation for university students
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It ’s Instrumental BY LILY GREENBERG ’21G
Cutting-edge research requires cutting-edge technology. With significant innovations and investments in analytical instruments and scientists who operate them, UNH’s University Instrumentation Center (UIC) has become a leading resource for researchers at UNH and for academic and industry scientists throughout the region.
The University Instrumentation Center is more than a home for instruments — it is a healthy ecosystem of symbiotic relationships that span researchers, students and industry professionals.
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Established in 1973, the UIC is a university-wide core facility — a central shared resource — with state-of-the art instruments and expertise. The recent addition of two shared labs on the UNH campus and expanded user services have positioned the UIC as one of the leading instrumentation facilities in the New England region. “When I came here, I saw a lot of underutilized talent and instrumentation,” says Shawn Banker, UIC director since 2014. “We have upgraded our services by providing external users access to instrumentation within the UIC and across campus, added
a remote monitoring service and expanded our instrument calibration and repair services.” The center’s newest acquisitions exemplify its commitment to enhancing the university’s research capabilities. A Zeiss Versa 610 X-ray microscope, funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to New Hampshire BioMade, allows for high-resolution 3D models that let researchers characterize the properties and behaviors of materials. The Bruker Biospin 700 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, which uses
University Instrumentation Center director Shawn Banker showcases the UIC’s new 700 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Below opposite: Sample images from the UIC’s scanning electron microscope.
technology similar to magnetic resonance imaging, is widely used in biotechnology chemistry and medicine to understand the structure and motion of molecules as well as to analyze complex chemical and biological systems. The instrument was funded by a $1.6 million NSF grant to Krisztina Varga, assistant professor in the department of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences (MCBS), with the university contributing an additional $700,000 in matching funds; Varga will share the instrument with other researchers at UNH, at other academic institutions and in industry. To that end, the UIC is more than a home for instruments — it is a healthy ecosystem of symbiotic relationships that span researchers, students and industry professionals. “One of the things that is really critical to having high-end instrumentation is that there is a mechanism in place to maintain the instruments as well as to train users to operate
the instruments,” says Rick Cote, MCBS department chair. “The UIC excels on both of these fronts, and they play a central role in providing the basic training for students, faculty and staff to use these instruments themselves.” Banker estimates that some 30 industry users — typically manufacturers — use UIC services each year, often opening the door to deeper relationships with UNH research. Of particular interest to industry professionals are UIC’s expert analysis services, including remote capability, which allows customers to watch and participate in a sample run in real time, without any need to travel. “Working with Shawn was outstanding — he was accommodating and let us get trained and certified so that now we can operate the scopes ourselves,” says Jay Hoying, partner and chief scientist at Advanced Solutions Life Sciences (ASLS), a regenerative medicine company that relocated to New Hampshire to work with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute. Hoying also uses the remote services,
particularly for UIC’s scanning electron microscope, or SEM. “In real time, we can see the images as they’re coming off the SEM and direct what’s being done. It’s a fantastic solution.” Hoying’s work with the UIC has also led to learning and job opportunities for UNH students. Russell Carr, professor of chemical engineering, has brought students from his tissue fabrication course to the ASLS facility to explore bioprinting from an industry perspective. Hoying and Carr’s work together even resulted in a UNH summer intern at ASLS. “Core facilities like the UIC are a gateway in and out to different community members,” Hoying says. “Thanks to their companyfriendly approach, we get to be another asset in this community of scientists.” unh.edu/research/welcomeuniversity-instrumentation-center
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New Hampshire’s Trusted Partner
BY DAVE MOORE
UNH research contributes to the well-being of the state’s citizenry
When the Granite State has a problem to solve, it repeatedly turns to University of New Hampshire expertise. By engaging with what key stakeholders say matters most to them — environment and energy, education at all levels, the economy and workforce, and healthcare, including mental health and substance abuse — UNH research exponentially improves the state’s capacity to tackle tough issues and makes New Hampshire a better place to live and work for everyone.
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
CLEAN WATER, HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS New Hampshire is a desirable place to live and to visit, which is good news for those who visit and live here. But all of this love places the state’s precious water resource “under significant development pressure,” says Bill McDowell, director of the UNH-based NH Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) and professor of natural resources and the environment. When McDowell and other WRRC scientists aren’t analyzing water samples from scores of lakes, rivers and streams around the state, they’re out working with state representatives, local town officials, scientists and planners to discuss ways to mitigate the impacts of population growth on the region’s potable water supply and ecosystem health. Consider Blair Folts, executive director of Green Mountain Conservation Group (GMCG), a community-based organization that protects and conserves central Carroll County’s Ossipee watershed. Folts has been working with McDowell since 2000, not only availing herself of WRRC
analysis but also learning how to manage watershed ecosystems. “It’s not just about knowing what organisms are in our water but also how to work within the boundaries set by ecosystems,” Folts says. Sound science guided GMCG in preventing such marvels of “development” as a proposed racetrack, car wash, power plant and, yes, a sludge import operation from either opening altogether or skirting compliance standards. “Getting your arms around complex issues like these doesn’t happen by itself,” she says. “Together with our partners, such as UNH, we ensure the protection of shared natural resources for 12,000 people living in more than a dozen communities.”
REDUCING ARSENIC LEVELS Environmental professionals aren’t the only ones interested in healthy drinking water. For years, health officials in the Granite State have been trying to deal with unhealthy levels of arsenic in drinking water, which has been linked to cognitive impairment and lung, bladder and skin cancers. In 2018, New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) tapped an interdisciplinary team of UNH researchers to explore the economic benefits of lowering allowable arsenic content in New Hampshire’s municipal water systems. Bob Woodward, the Forrest D. McKerley Professor of Health Economics Emeritus at UNH, led the effort. “Monitoring and filtering for arsenic has the potential for being expensive,” Woodward says. “So it’s important to
know how much people are willing to pay each month to have access to filtered water.” Collaborating with UNH economists Robert Mohr and Scott Lemos and professor of resource economics John Halstead, Woodward arrived at the relatively modest sum of $35 a month. Their findings enabled state lawmakers to pass a bill limiting the amount of arsenic in public drinking water to half the federal limit, or five parts per billion.“ NHDES is grateful to UNH for providing sound science on arsenic,” says NHDES water division director Thomas E. O’Donovan. “Armed with the facts, we were able to change the maximum contaminant level and can now work to truly and positively impact the health of our citizens.”
“Armed with the facts, we can now work to truly and positively impact the health of our citizens.”
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FIGHTING ADDICTION UNH is addressing an acute shortage of behavioral health workers as the opioid crisis overwhelms the state’s capacity to treat it. In 2019, UNH added a psychiatric health certificate as a post-master’s offering for nurse practitioners.
Family nurse practitioner students, such as Stephanie Penny ’20, do fieldwork in the state’s rural and underserved areas. “It’s not just about people showing up for medication,” Penny says. “Clients build their days around going to therapy and meetings. They’re dedicated to their recovery.”
UNH serves as a Project ECHO hub and created the Partnership for Academic-Clinical Telepractice (PACT), led by the UNH Institute for Health Policy and Practice. ECHO provides “telehealth” learning opportunities to healthcare professionals who can’t make it to Durham to receive training. Currently, 18 community practices statewide are using ECHO to better manage addiction issues in their communities.
EARLY CHILDHOOD WELL-BEING According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count report, the Granite State is first in the nation with regards to child well-being. However, the averages mask unequal access to opportunity and achievement based on where families live and how much money they earn. To bridge the gap, state education and human service leaders turned to assistant professor of human development and family studies Kimberly Nesbitt to lead a statewide project to improve the state’s early childhood system for children, families, schools and communities. A $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services helped Nesbitt and her team identify where the need is and draft a preliminary plan to address it. And a new $26.8 million grant from the same federal agency will build on the team’s success and support their leadership of the state’s plan to ensure children and families of New Hampshire are healthy, learning and thriving.
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
SCIENCE AND MATH EDUCATION FOR RURAL SCHOOLS Across campus, education professors Leslie Couse and Emilie Reagan and their team at Teacher Residency for Rural Education (TRRE) are tackling another challenge: meeting the need for science and math teachers in rural schools. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, TRRE is a 15-month master’s degree program for future elementary or secondary math or science teachers in rural, highneed schools in New Hampshire. With dozens of partnership schools in 13 school districts statewide, TRRE offers a textbook case in the value of beyond-textbook learning. At White Mountains Regional High
School in Coos County, for instance, TRRE graduate and current teacher Aidan Wiggin ’19G uses a nearby field set against snow-capped Mount Washington for a survival project. “My students have to figure out how to build a shelter, cook food and build a water filtration system, using materials mostly found on the spot,” says Wiggin. Couse says rural life requires smarts and an ability to use math and science to engineer solutions, from planting and rotating crops to animal care and understanding the impact of weather on crops. “Our mountains, lakes, rivers and forests are educational resources, not liabilities,” she says.
DATA YOU CAN COUNT ON If you ask Steve Reno “what is New Hampshire?” he’ll tell you it’s a website maintained by the Carsey School that furnishes the Granite State with “a reliable set of well-researched, credible data that policymakers can use to ground themselves in a common set of facts about where we are as a state, where we have been and what challenges we may face based on our analysis.” Reno should know. The former chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire and current executive director of Leadership New Hampshire used to edit and review “What is New Hampshire?” — first a book and now online. “It poses a question rather than offers an answer, i.e., This is New Hampshire, precisely because it leaves the decision-making to the businesspeople, law makers, educators and citizens who use it,” Reno says. And use it they have, to help guide policymaking that addresses challenges such as wage stagnation, educational upgrading, an aging workforce, housing affordability, poverty, aging infrastructure and other issues.
“Policymakers can use the data to ground themselves in a common set of facts about where we are as a state, where we have been and what challenges we may face based on our analysis.”
Contributor and Carsey School founding director Michael Ettlinger says that over the years, this report has “furnished a common understanding of the facts that is an imperative to coming together to tackle challenges facing our state.” u nh.edu/main/nh
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A PORTRAIT OF A PARTNERSHIP Collaboration with UNH research and support from the state has been a significant source of growth for many New Hampshire businesses, like MegaFood, the Londonderry-based dietary supplement and nutraceutical manufacturer.
STATE OF NH PRIVATE SECTOR
MegaFood
NHIRC
“UNH’s resources are much more extensive than ours in certain areas. Our work with UNH has really helped us leverage our work to generate economies of scale. It’s been a very profitable relationship.”
In 2002, MegaFood collaborated with UNH and the state to develop technology to bring its unique fermentation process in-house.
Scott Buttram, Director, Science and Research, MegaFood
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Number of jobs MegaFood promised in grant proposal it would add.
$41, 000 State funding from NH Innovation Research Center (NHIRC) for MegaFood to work with UNH microbiology researchers William Chesbro, Robert Mooney and Louis Tisa. Awarded in 2002 and matched by MegaFood.
4
University Instrumentation Center instruments MegaFood is using to help patent its process.
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
145
Since its creation by the state legislature in 1991, the NHIRC has awarded more than $8 million in state funds to support research projects that help increase the number of high-quality jobs in the state.
Approximate number of jobs MegaFood added after successful UNH collaboration.
3
Potential future collaborations with UNH researchers as a result of MegaFood attending UNH industry “sandpits”.
BENEFITS TO NH Economy Jobs Technology Innovation
Faculty Honors Hydrographic Society of America Hydrographer Hall of Fame Andy Armstrong, NOAA co-director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/ Joint Hydrographic Center
Joe Dwyer, professor of physics
Laura Allen, assistant professor of psychology
Toni Galvin, research professor of physics and astronomy
Jeannie Sowers, associate professor of political science
Department of Energy Early Career Research Award Francois Foucart, assistant professor of physics American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship Samantha Seal, assistant professor of English
Edward Song, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering
Select list of honors
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Emerging Scholar Kabria Baumgartner, assistant professor of English and women’s and gender studies Opportunity Finance Organization Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award
National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award Cheryl Andam, assistant professor of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences
Larry Mayer, director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping
Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences Early Career Impact Award
American Geophysical Union Fellows
Council of American Overseas Research Centers Multi-Country Fellowship
The Oceanographic Society Munk Medal
Michael Swack, director of the Carsey School of Public Policy Center on Impact Finance
National Academy of Inventors Fellow Wayne Jones, provost and vice president for academic affairs
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Graduate Student Honors National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award
Ecological Society of America 2019 Junior Scientist Outstanding Publication Award
Sydney Birch, Ph.D. student, molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences
Andrea Jilling ’19G, Ph.D., natural resources and Earth system sciences
Savannah Devoe, Ph.D. student, ocean engineering
Literacy Research Association Student Outstanding Research Award
Alexandria Hidrovo, Ph.D. student, civil and environmental engineering Samuel Palmer, Ph.D. student, natural resources and Earth system sciences
American Geophysical Union Voices for Science
Joy Erickson ’19G, Ph.D., education
Andrew Robison, Ph.D. student, natural resources and Earth system sciences Tamara Marcus, Ph.D. student, natural resources and Earth system sciences
Switzer Fellowship Tamara Marcus, Ph.D. student, natural resources and Earth system sciences
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Melissa Meléndez-Oyola, Ph.D. student, Ocean Process Analysis Laboratory
Maine Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
NOAA Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Jesse Ross, master’s student, civil and environmental engineering
Amanda Beal, Ph.D. student, natural resources and Earth system sciences
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Select list of honors
CREATIVE & SCHOLARLY WORKS
Leah Plunkett associate dean, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law Sharenthood MIT Press In her first book, Plunkett advises parents and other adults to think twice before hitting “post” on children’s images and data, saying it can compromise their privacy, future opportunities and sense of self. “Use the ‘holiday card’ rule of thumb,” she says. “If you wouldn’t put it in hard copy and mail it to a few hundred people in your life ...don’t put it on the internet for thousands of people in, near, or outside of your life to repurpose and display indiscriminately.”
RECENT PUBLICATIONS Kimberly Alexander
Nora A. Draper
Fredrik Meiton
lecturer of history
assistant professor of communication
assistant professor of history
Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era Johns Hopkins University Press Historic New England Honors Book
The Identity Trade: Selling Privacy and Reputation Online New York University Press
Kabria Baumgartner
Kevin Healey
assistant professor of English and women’s and gender studies
associate professor of communication
In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America
Ethics and Religion in the Age of Social Media: Digital Proverbs for Responsible Citizens
New York University Press
Jaed Coffin assistant professor of English Roughhouse Friday: A Memoir Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Routledge
Electrical Palestine: Capital and Technology from Empire to Nation University of California Press Middle East Studies Association Albert Hourani Book Award; Roger Owen Book Award
Carmen García de la Rasilla professor of Spanish Salvador Dalí: tradiciones, mitos y modos culturales Editorial Universidad de Granada
Delia Malia Caparoso Konzett professor of English Hollywood at the Intersection of Race and Identity (editor) Rutgers University Press
Will Smiley assistant professor of classics, humanities and Italian studies From Slaves to Prisoners of War Oxford University Press 2019 Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies book prize
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UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
IN THE SPOTLIGHT In October 2019, professor of theatre David Richman wrote and directed a bold new dramatization of “The Odyssey.” Professor of music Lori Dobbins wrote original music for the production, which was co-directed by Rachel Bergeron ’20. More than 100 students major in theatre, dance and music, taught by acclaimed faculty members who are also practitioners. Many students and alumni of UNH’s performing arts comprise the 1,400+ employees in New Hampshire’s performing arts industry, fueling the state’s $2.5 billion arts and culture economy.
Photo: Ron St. John.
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A CLOSING INQUIRY
Meet Marian McCord In February, Marian McCord became UNH’s senior vice provost for research, economic engagement and outreach. She was previously the associate dean for research at the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University, overseeing the college’s sponsored program portfolio and research infrastructure with more than 200 active projects and 19 testing and service centers. McCord also co-founded two research-based startups.
How has your career primed you for this position? I have a diverse and multidisciplinary background in my own research program and in research administration, as well as in developing partnerships, working on economic development and working with extension and engagement. I have also been engaged in entrepreneurship, both on the for-profit and social entrepreneurship side. My personal mission aligns with the mission of the university: I am very interested in public-impact research and am a firm supporter and fan of the land-grant mission. Universities develop science, humanities, arts and technologies, and land grants are the leaders in transferring that to the public and to societal impact. That is our responsibility as public institutions. Tell us more about your research. Broadly, my research is in a transdisciplinary area encompassing textiles, polymers and biomaterials for human, plant and animal health applications. I have two degrees in biomedical engineering and I created a nice niche, using textiles or fibrous materials for medical products, devices or implants. I became engaged in some interesting global health challenges that were a really good fit for
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my expertise: preventing vector-borne disease by creating materials that were either insecticidal or insect-bite-proof, to protect humans against insect bites. I have had a great career, and I really love the research work that I do, but the amount I can do will be limited in this new role. As an administrator, I have found that remaining engaged in research allows one to relate better to the day-to-day challenges facing faculty. What opportunities are you most excited about in this new role? What UNH is doing with bringing together research, innovation, extension, engagement and outreach is really smart and very forward-thinking. It was this integration of these units into a single office that made this position so attractive to me. I am also excited by the mission and the vision that President Dean has laid out to become a top 25 public university, and the focus on student success. I am drawn to UNH’s land-grant mission, its size and scale and its great reputation. The university is poised to take great leaps and I want to be a part of that.
A top-tier research institution R 1 C A R N E G I E C L A S S I F I C AT I O N®
Research, engagement and innovation at the University of New Hampshire, the state’s flagship public university and a Carnegie Classification R1 institution, reaches from the depths of our oceans to the edge of our solar system and the Earth and environment in which we all thrive. With research expenditures of more than $145 million, UNH’s research portfolio includes partnerships with NOAA, NASA, NSF and NIH. UNH is one of the top institutions in the country for licensing its intellectual property, and its outreach programs reach thousands of communities, companies, families and students each year.
S PA R K
College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Charles Zercher, Interim Dean
2020 Research Review
College of Health and Human Services Michael Ferrara, Dean
A D M I N I S T R AT I O N President James W. Dean Jr. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Wayne Jones Senior Vice Provost for Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach Marian McCord E D I TO R Beth Potier beth.potier@unh.edu WRITERS Lily Greenberg ’21G Debbie Kane Krysten Godfrey Maddocks ’96 Dave Moore Robbin Ray ’82 Keith Testa
CO N T R I B U T I N G P H OTO G R A P H E R S Jeremy Gasowski Tomer Ketter Emily Lord Tyler Lyson Brooks Payette Scott Ripley Perry Smith Ron St. John University Instrumentation Center David Vogt
DESIGN Five Line Creative
College of Liberal Arts Michele Dillon, Dean College of Life Sciences and Agriculture Jon Wraith, Dean Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics Deborah Merrill-Sands, Dean University of New Hampshire at Manchester Michael Decelle, Dean University of New Hampshire School of Law Megan Carpenter, Dean Graduate School Cari Moorhead, Dean Cooperative Extension Kenneth La Valley, Vice Provost of Outreach and Engagement and Director Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space Harlan Spence, Director School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering Diane Foster, Director
UNH.EDU/MAIN/RESEARCH
Carsey School of Public Policy Michael Ettlinger, Director
@unhresearchnews #UNHSPARK 603.862.1948 research.info@unh.edu © 2020 University of New Hampshire All rights reserved.
Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach Thompson Hall, 105 Main St. Durham, NH 03824
UNH launched its Brewing Science Lab and a brewing science minor in 2018 to serve New Hampshire’s growing craft brewing industry. Recently the lab, directed by Cheryl Parker ’00 (pictured), collaborated with Conway’s Tuckerman Brewing Company to brew a limited-edition beer, called 1866 in honor of UNH’s founding year.
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