O “We value all academic scholarship and creativity, in its many different forms across all of the disciplines. Since almost every index of a university’s national standing includes significant attention to its sponsored research portfolio, we need to focus on funded research as a specific strategic area for development.”
ver the past six months, WVU researchers have demonstrated progress in a wide range of important areas from energy research and climate change to national security/defense, wildlife conservation and space robotics. Here is a brief recounting of recent highlights. For more information or to see other stories visit http://research.wvu.edu/.
CLIMATE CHANGE & ECOLOGY
- WVU President James P. Clements
Researcher nets fellowship to study climate change managed relocation Sara Souther, Ph.D., a Peace Corps veteran in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, was recently awarded a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her studies on the feasibility and implications
of managed relocation of species in anticipation of continued climate change impacts. The honor is one of the most prestigious postdoctoral research awards in the field of conservation biology. She was one of only four persons in the US to receive the fellowship. Many scientists predict that climate change will exceed the capacity of some species to adapt or disperse to more favorable climate surroundings. “Managed relocation” involves manually moving species into more accommodating habitats where they are not currently found to improve their probability of survival.
WVU Researcher Uncovers Eagles Among Us Todd Katzner, Ph.D. (left), a wildlife and fisheries resources research assistant professor in WVU’s Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, has found that the Mountain State has more golden eagles wintering within its borders than just about anywhere else east of the Mississippi. Katzner has been studying the species’ population trends for five years, working with colleagues at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, as well as biologists and managers across the Appalachians, from upstate New York to Kentucky and North Carolina.
ENERGY RESEARCH
WVU brings science to the mountain-top mining debate Todd Petty, Ph.D., an associate professor of wildlife and fisheries resources in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, received more than $600,000 to characterize land cover disturbance factors such as mining and residential development, and then relate those disturbances to stream water quality and biological community composition. The study involves the entire southern tier of West Virginia watersheds – the Gauley, Kanawha, Coal and Gyandotte rivers; Twelvepole Creek; Tug Fork; and portions of Kentucky. Petty said coal mining is incredibly important to West Virginia’s economy, and the health of the state’s river systems is equally important to the well-being of its citizens. The intensity of the debate over the Spruce #1 Mine permit has shown the significance of the research. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided $300,000 to support Cumulative Impact Assessments in the region where mountain-top mining is practiced.
WVU signs on to US-China energy research agenda Officials representing the U.S. and China agreed to a joint work plan officially launching a five-year research agenda for the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center that includes an advanced coal research component coordinated by West Virginia University. The agreement was commemorated in an official signing ceremony in Washington, DC. The U.S. Department of Energy selected a competitive proposal submitted by WVU’s US-China Energy Center to lead the coal research segment known under the program as the U.S. Advanced Coal Technology (ACT) Consortium. The DOE awarded $2.5 million to date of the $12.5 million in federal funding identified to support the five-year effort. Members of the U.S. Advanced Coal Technology Consortium will provide dollar-for-dollar matching funds. In China, Chinese government agencies and businesses will also provide $25 million, bringing the total for the combined U.S.-China Advanced Coal Technology Consortium to $50 million over five years. Gerald Fletcher, Ph.D., professor and research economist at the Davis College, serves as Director of the WVU based US-China Energy Center and directs the work. The effort is a component of WVU’s Advanced Energy Initiative.
WVU’s Receives $1.15 Million to Develop West Virginia’s Second Hydrogen Production/Fueling Station
By building and operating a new hydrogen fueling station in Morgantown, WVU will demonstrate the efficiency of running automobiles on hydrogen fuel made from coal-powered electricity– a step that could help break America’s dependence on imported oil, use coal in an environmentally-sound manner, and keep the Mountain State at the forefront of another evolving energy industry. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) recently awarded a grant of $1.15 million to West Virginia University’s National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium, (NAFTC) to develop and install equipment to produce and dispense hydrogen fuel along with a detailed testing and evaluation program.
WVU researchers use artificial intelligence to optimize Marcellus Shale production
Scientists have known about the Marcellus Shale formation for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that they realized it could be one of the largest-known natural gas fields in the world. A grant for $353,934 from the Gas Technology Institute will enable researchers with West Virginia University’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources to use data-intensive science to optimize gas production in the region. Shahab Mohaghegh, Ph.D. (top right), a professor in WVU’s Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, is leading a team of researchers in applying the latest technology to reservoir modeling. Mohaghegh is a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence and data mining in the petroleum industry. “Traditionally, in order to increase production you would build a predictive reservoir model using conventional technology,” Mohaghegh said. “The technology we are using is new and unconventional. It is not based on physics and mathematics, but on ‘Top-Down’ modeling. This is very new technology that has
been extensively and exclusively used here at WVU. People in the industry are quite interested to see how our research in this area progresses.”
WVU researchers present work at national UAV event on Capitol Hill
The project is part of the University’s Advanced Energy Initiative, which coordinates and promotes University-wide energy research in science, technology and public policy.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
WVU researchers work to help secure U.S. borders Knowing just who is coming into the country is key to security, but continues to be challenging. Researchers in West Virginia University’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources are working with colleagues across the country to use biometrics to try to meet that challenge. A $400,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence in Border Security and Immigration, or Borders project, to WVU’s renowned biometric experts is part of a 14-institution, $16 million, six-year project being led by the University of Arizona. The goal is to develop technologies, processes and policies that will help protect our nation’s borders, foster international trade and enhance long-term understanding of immigration trends and dynamics. Researchers at WVU will be conducting research on biometric identification and surveillance.
WVU displayed its expertise in developing a new class of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) that can expand a battlefield soldier’s ability to detect out-of-sight threats during a special event in the Nation’s Capitol. UAVs offer a variety of advantages over traditional aircraft. They can be deployed without endangering pilots and are less expensive to operate than traditional aircraft because they can be much smaller. UAVs have been used for scouting missions and communications and, because of their small size, can often pass completely undetected. WVU is conducting research and development on hybrid-projectiles – a new class of UAV called micro-aerial vehicles. The new technology will allow soldiers to launch micro UAVs using existing gun systems from 40 mm to 155 mm. The low-cost projectiles will have the capability to look and behave like standard ammunition, or transform into a UAV that can be guided to the target.
TECHNOLOGY WVU, NASA join to launch academic opportunities, economic development WVU and NASA are linking together on earth to figure out how to link things together in space. Tapping expertise from WVU faculty, students and staff, the WVUNASA Robotics Center will provide collaborative scientific and engineering research associated with evaluating sensors and algorithms for autonomous rendezvous docking and small-scale contact dynamics for space robotic platforms supporting future Goddard-related space exploration missions. The partnership began as a $3.2 million NASA grant in late 2009 and has since developed rapidly. Along with a vast array of computer and other high-tech equipment, the warehouse-like lab also contains a life-size model of a spacecraft that will be used to simulate robotic service operations. The Center is operated by the WVU Research Corp.
WVU home to pioneering biometrics studies Fingerprints, faces and irises are well established ways to identify people, but at West Virginia University student researchers are adding additional ways to strengthen recognition—such as identifying a person using the blood vessel patterns visible in the white of their eye. WVU is a leading institution in the study of biometrics
and serves as a hub for groundbreaking research and collection of the extensive data needed to support it. In order to further understanding of biometrics, researchers at WVU explore both new features that may be unique as well as how multiple features might be used in combination to more accurately identify individuals. For instance, people can be identified through the patterns on their irises, the part of the eye surrounding the pupil.
HEALTH WVU researchers study important tobaccorelated issues WVU researchers are engaged in two separately funded smoking studies; one focused on the effects of secondhand smoke on asthma symptoms in susceptible people, and a second to study how midwives use a tobacco cessation program to encourage their patients to stop smoking. Zhong-Xin Wu, M.D., Ph.D., research associate in the Translational Tobacco Reduction Research Program, will use a $100,000 biomedical research grant from the American Lung Association to study changes in the airways caused by exposure to secondhand smoke during early life. The second grant, $12,953 from the March of Dimes, will enable Ilana Azulay Chertok, Ph.D., R.N., is an associate professor with the WVU School of Nursing and a maternal-child health researcher, to look at the issue of pregnant women who smoke. Though the number of pregnant women who smoke is decreasing nationwide, prenatal smoking in West Virginia has climbed dramatically.
Your Brain in Love
WVU’s James W. Lewis, an assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology and a researcher in WVU’s Sensory Neuroscience Research Center, was part of a team led by Syracuse University that produced this map of a “brain in love.” The picture and story appeared in Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=your-brain-inlove-graphsci
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