Eco-Innovation

ResearchUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE Volume 2 / Number 1 / 2010

Eco-Innovation

Dare Gulf spill to be first response first person UD is thinking big, Researchers lend high- The initial hours are critical for and inventions show it tech help to Gulf spill disaster researchers page 4 page 32 page 48

www.udel.edu/researchmagazine ResearchUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE Patrick Harker Tom Apple President Provost

UD Research Oﬃce

Mark Barteau Senior Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives Karl Steiner Senior Associate Provost for Research Development Cordell Overby Associate Provost for Research Christine Cook Assistant Provost for Research Management and Operations University of Delaware UD lends Research Oﬃce 32 209 Hullihen Hall high-tech Newark, DE 19716 Phone: (302) 831-4007 help to Gulf spill E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.udel.edu/research UD has deployed an autonomous underwater vehicle to scan the ocean interior for oil. Oﬃce of Communications and Marketing

David Brond Vice President for Communications and Marketing Native Son 44 Tracey Bryant Editor In this issue Ecologist Doug Tallamy tells David Barczak you how to landscape for Senior Art Director butterflies, birds and a better life — using native plants. Daniel Wright 2 A laboratory for the nation Production Coordinator 10 Going green University of Delaware Research is published twice a year by the University of Delaware Office of 14 Targett steers college into future Communications and Marketing in collaboration with the UD Research Office. Please address inquiries to Tracey Bryant, 16 A view from the pilothouse Editor, Academy Building, 105 East Main St., Newark, DE 19716-7201, telephone (302) 831-2792, fax (302) 831-1440, e-mail to [email protected]. 20 e great eco-quest For address changes, please contact [email protected]. 24 e rising tide Visit UD Research online at www.udel.edu/researchmagazine. 28 In the field at Toolik Field Station, Alaska 36 Discovery learning comes of age 42 e search for solutions to air pollution Dare 48 First person 4 to be first

Discovery, innovation, invention — 50 Year in review idea leadership is a pillar of UD’s Mixed Sources new brand. Janine Sherrier is Product group from well-managed forests, controlled sources and one of a crop of UD researchers recycled wood or fiber 56 Test your knowledge: Who’s who with big ideas.

2 From The preSIDenT

elcome to the “eco-Innovation” issue of University of Delaware Research. Just as “eco-innovation” Wdescribes one of UD’s biggest research areas, “eco-leadership” describes one of our key missions. We’re fulfilling that mission with several sustainability milestones.is past summer,UD commissioned a 2-megawatt onshore wind turbine that’s now powering our campus in Lewes, Delaware. We’ve since signed a research agreement with the national renewable energy Laboratory that could initiate the testing of commercial wind turbines off the Delaware coast — the first offshore turbines in the Americas. our vehicle-to-grid technology — allowing electric car batteries to store excess energy when demand for power is low and send it back to the grid when demand is high — is undergoing its first large-scale demonstration project. meanwhile, Delaware Governor Jack markell signed the world’s first bill mandating that electric car owners be compensated for electricity they return to the grid at the same rate they pay to charge the cars’ batteries. A Critical Zone observatory at the Christina river Basin, funded by the national Science Foundation, is helping UD answer critical climate change questions, while our energy Frontier research Center, funded by the Department of energy, is developing catalytic technologies that can more efficiently convert biomass into chemicals, electricity and fuels. But this is just a snapshot: e University is conducting breakthrough research in photo- voltaic solar cells, lightweight composites, next-generation magnets and hydrogen storage. UD’s great opportunity now is to get our important innovations out of the lab and into our homes, our cars, our offices — our way of life. We are closing the science/policy and policy/practice divides. U.S. leaders are turning to UD for guidance on alarming environmental events and their implications — from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of mexico to the cleaving of a huge ice island from petermann Glacier in northern Green- STUART WATSON STUART land. We’ve developed a cross-disciplinary undergraduate major in energy and environmental policy (our graduate programs were the nation’s first), and conceived the Sustainable energy Utility, a nonprofit delivering energy-efficiency and renewable-energy services to homes and businesses. As an institution creating some of the world’s most promising environmental science and policy — an institution with nearly 20 centers dedicated to energy and environmental research — the University of Delaware has an absolute imperative to do the interdisciplinary work that will solve this nation’s sustainability crisis, and to be the first-stop resource for countries aiming to do the same. our “eco-leadership” depends on it.

Patrick T. Harker president, University of Delaware KAThy F. ATKINSON F. KAThy

Mark Barteau is UD’s Senior Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives, and the Robert L. Pigford Chair of Chemical Engineering.

UD RESEARCH OFFICE A laboratory for the nation by Mark Barteau solutions. We seek ideas, systems, technolo- statewide, as well as assisting school leaders gies, best practices that can be developed to develop evidence-based plans for school and tested at a meaningful scale, and that improvement. “ink Globally, Act Locally.” We have can be reproduced and adapted on national probably all seen this admonition on e Delaware health Sciences Alliance, and international scales. bumper stickers and elsewhere. It is indeed a partnership of the University of Delaware, a valuable reminder that even with chal- enter Delaware! our “Small Wonder” omas Jefferson University, Christiana lenges as global as the health of our planet state and its flagship university continue to Care health System, and nemours/A.I. and the life it supports, individual decisions grow in their importance as a laboratory for dupont hospital for Children, is aimed at and individual actions matter. the nation. earlier this year, Delaware was the development of health care solutions named one of the first two states to be se- from bench to bedside, and to assessing the At the same time, the world in which we lected for race to the Top funding by the impact of these on population health at the live is far too interconnected for individual U.S. Department of education. is effort statewide scale. actions to solve global problems, or even for seeks to create new paradigms for public the individual to fully appreciate all the Delaware’s Sustainable energy Utility education in the 21st century by working at consequences of his or her decisions. As we and enabling legislation for vehicle-to-grid the statewide level. look at the challenges facing our society, technologies, both products of UD re- from environmental preservation and University of Delaware faculty have search and policy scholarship, represent amelioration, to clean energy, to a healthier been especially involved in Science, Tech- first-in-the-nation, scalable solutions to society, to public education that prepares nology, engineering and mathematics our energy future. our Critical Zone students for the “flat” world in which they (STem) teacher education and building observatory, one of only six funded by the will live, the common need is for scalable capacity to deliver rigorous STem courses national Science Foundation, focuses on

Annual Expenditures KAThy F. ATKINSON F. KAThy

UD Sponsored Programs reached $180 million in Fy 2010 (doubled in 10 years).

200

150

100

MILLIONS 50

0 The Research Oﬃce is based in Hullihen 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Hall, UD’s main administration building. FISCAL YEAR 2 Mark Barteau is UD’s Senior Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives, and the Robert L. Pigford Chair of Chemical Engineering.

key watershed issues that have regional impact and solutions that can be applied far beyond. e University’s new wind tur-

bine on the Lewes campus is already pro- ATKINSON F. KAThy viding electric power to the grid, while serving as an important research facility for wind turbine technology in a marine environment. ere are no offshore turbines anywhere in the Americas, and thus the knowledge that will be gained from UD’s new wind turbine on the Lewes campus is providing electric power to the this UD initiative promises to affect clean grid and serving as a research facility. energy development and deployment on the scale of the hemisphere. ese are just some of the ways that the new ventures and partnerships opens the nation’s prominent research universities, University of Delaware is driving the new opportunities to translate university and our pace is accelerating. But the real creation of knowledge, technology, educa- research, scholarship and creativity into excitement comes not from the numbers, but tion and policy of national importance. truly scalable solutions. the people. e best part of my job is learning Delaware as a laboratory for the nation is “ink globally, cultivate locally.” e about new research and creative activities of not an idle dream, but a recognition of opportunity to do great things rests on our faculty and students, from the arts to leadership and impact that grow every day. thousands of individual efforts, inspirations technology, from the local to the global. I e redevelopment of the former Chrysler and interconnections. By any quantitative hope you also will enjoy some of those newark assembly plant site into a science measure, the University of Delaware is among “best parts” through the stories in this issue. and technology campus that will house Sponsored Program Expenditures FY 2010 Research

Expenditures by Sponsor 180 160

140 17% 14% 120 5% 100 19% 80

23% MILLIONS 60 22% 40 20 0 2006 2007 U.S. Dept. of Defense (DOD) Other Federal 2008 2009 National Science Foundation (NSF) State FISCAL YEAR 2010 U.S. Dept. of health & human Services Other Instruction Public Service Research Total

3 Other

State

Other Fed

Departement of Health & Human Service

National Science Foundation

Department of Defense Dare to be ﬁrst.

At the University of Delaware, discovery, invention and innovation matter. We’re thinking big.

Mix human ingenuity, abundant resources and a location in a state known as an Eco-Innovation incubator of global, entrepreneurial R&D, and you have Idea Leadership — a key UD characteristic and a pillar of the University’s new “Dare to be ﬁrst” brand.

True to that brand, invention disclosures are on the rise at UD — up 60% from last year with support from our Oﬃce of Economic Innovation and Partnerships (OEIP). Here, you’ll meet inven- tors who are planting ideas with “green” potential in more ways than one: helping the environment and growing new businesses.

Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” —omas Alva Edison (1847–1931)

4 discovered several different ways to integrate them into cells. Engineering the perfect cell Through this integration, Papoutsakis is able to take the traits desired from each magine being able to create an ideal “What we want to do is to be able to organism — each with a different type of organism for producing biofuels and mix properties of microbes so you have a DNA — and mix them together. Ichemicals from renewable resources: variety of new, semi-synthetic microbes, In addition to biofuels, Papoutsakis says resistant to toxic chemicals, a fast grower each one doing different things suitable for the research method could even translate and producer, complete with only desired, different applications.” into the medical field or pharmaceutical beneficial bioprocessing characteristics. Seeing the most promise for his re- industry, as it would allow for the produc- While it sounds almost too good to search in the green sector, Papoutsakis tion of a better cell that could produce be true, Eleftherios (Terry) Papoutsakis, gives the example of engineering a cell to small organic molecules for drug testing. Eugene du Pont Chair of Chemical Engi- be resistant to the toxic chemicals required Papoutsakis leads a research group neering at UD, has filed two invention to make the biofuels he wants to produce. disclosures this year that put him at the at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute at forefront of this uncharted research field. “My goal is to create a new cell — a new UD focused on genomic and metabolic biocatalyst — for this process that is not engineering studies of microbial systems, A classical chemical engineer by under- only able to produce the chemicals of the as well as applications of stem-cell biotech- graduate training, Papoutsakis, who joined biofuel that I desire, but also is very nology for the production of blood cells. the UD faculty in 2007, explains that, typi- resistant to those chemicals, so that it does cally, genes from different species cannot His research contributions have been not die and keeps producing.” mix, such as those from humans with those recognized by numerous awards, including from dogs or camels, because cells do not Papoutsakis is working to engineer one most recently, the 2010 International recognize or express the foreign DNA. microbe so that it can recognize the DNA Metabolic Engineering Award and the “Organisms recognize their own specific from another microbe, to, in turn, be able to 2010 Elmer Gaden, Jr. Award from the elements of DNA that control the expression express genes and change the program- journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering. of the genes that produce proteins to ming of the cells. He also is the inventor on more than do the desirable reactions or to get the He calls these gene combinations from 15 patents and patent applications. desirable cell properties,” Papoutsakis says. different microbial species “alloys” and has — Meredith Chapman

DARE TO BE FIRST

Eleftherios (Terry) Papoutsakis (right), Eugene du Pont Chair of Chemical Engineering, works with postdoctoral research fellow Stephan Lindsey in the lab at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.

5 Visit UD’s Oﬃce of Economic Innovation and Partnerships at www.udel.edu/oeip/.

A little collaboration

grows a long way EVERETT CROkER AND

Bacillis subtilis THE DBI BIO-IMAGING CENTER

ome people see bacteria as a deterrent The scientists put their heads together and to productivity. However, for two UD designed a research plan to take advantage of the Sresearchers, the colonization of plants beneficial interaction between diverse crops and by Bacillis subtilis holds promise for battling growth-promoting bacteria. droughts and plant diseases and, ultimately, “Roots normally forage — just like any herbi- for increasing yield for farmers in Delaware and, vore — for a food source, for table water, for possibly, around the globe. competition,” Bais explains. “The interaction Janine Sherrier and Harsh Bais, both profes- with B. subtilis enhances the ability of plants sors of plant and soil sciences based at the to combat stresses like disease, drought and Delaware Biotechnology Institute at UD, were nutrient insufficiency. “ sharing “eureka” moments from their research and realized they could achieve potentially The research that Bais and Sherrier are revolutionary results if they collaborated. doing with B. subtilis has the potential to increase biomass — resulting not only in greater yields “We have diverse interests, but we also have but also expanded root systems, which can help a lot of common ground,” Bais says. plants to tackle abiotic stress, such as a mid- Sherrier works on a very well-defined system of summer drought. legumes and bacteria known as rhizobia that live The use of B. subtilis, according to the inside the roots of these plants, while much of Bais’ work focuses on relating abiotic stress — chemical research duo, is not only less expensive than or physical factors, such as drought — to plant utilizing fertilizers, fungicides and supplemental structure, behavior and function. water, but also has a smaller environmental impact and is straightforward for growers to According to Bais, plants and some bac- implement in both small-scale gardens and large, teria have evolved together to have benefi cial commercial settings. interactions. This discovery could aid farmers with crop pro- “We have shown in the past that plants can actually recruit beneficial microbes,” he says. duction, as well as help protect the environment — a combination of benefits that further fuels Bais and Thus, when a plant is in distress, it sends Sherrier in their research. a chemical signal; beneficial bacteria react and aid the plant. While using the plant as their en- “I have always been a true believer in doing ergy source, the bacteria help fend off dangers broad science, answering big and complex and promote healthy plant growth. questions related to plant survival and fitness — it is what drives me every day,” Bais says. Sherrier focuses her research efforts on biological nitrogen fixation in legumes. Sherrier, who primarily concentrates on “In the lab, we are trying to define the com- fundamental research on plant-microbe inter- ponents that are necessary for a plant and a actions, is excited to have collaborated with Bais bacterium to recognize each other and form a on this effort and to apply laboratory results in a symbiotic infection,” she says. field setting. During a successful interaction between “When I consider the potential impact of this bacteria and legume roots, the bacteria convert project for growers, the environment and on atmospheric nitrogen into a form that the plant food production, it truly is a dream project for utilizes for robust growth. me,” she says. “Since nitrogen is often a major limiting nu- Aided by UD’s Office of Economic Innovation trient for crop production, this interaction and Partnerships, from patent procurement allows plants to grow successfully in nitrogen- through the commercialization process, Bais and poor environments without the addition of Sherrier hope that B. subtilis could eventually have costly chemical fertilizers. Ultimately, there has a global impact, reaching farming communities in to be a chemical conversation between the two South America, Australia, Africa and beyond. partners, so our objective is to understand how — Meredith Chapman this process occurs,” she notes.

OFFICE OF ECONOMIC INNOVATION AND PARTNERSHIPS Innovation on the rise

UD is the birthplace of such cool technologies as the touch screen in Apple’s iPhone, to vehicle-to-grid (V2G), which allows electric car owners to send energy stored in their batteries back to the electrical grid, saving money while helping the environment. Since the Office of Economic Innovation and Part- nerships (OEIP) was formed at UD in 2008, a key mission of its Technology Transfer Center has been to protect and commercialize UD researchers’ ideas. In addition to streamlining the patent process, OEIP has opened it up to the entire University — anyone from an undergraduate student to a tenured faculty member can disclose an invention, regardless of its stage of development. OEIP files a provisional patent on the inventor’s behalf, giving the inventor one year to develop and realize the idea’s commercial potential. During that year, OEIP works closely with the inventor, providing advice and counsel. As a result, invention disclosures, the first step in the patenting process, have increased by more than 60 percent in fiscal year 2010, with 56 filed. Here’s a look at just a few of these bright ideas: ■ Marine scientist Mohsen Badiey has two inventions useful for coastal surveying by autonomous underwater vehicles. One disclosure, called “MIMO,” submitted in collaboration with fellow marine scientist Aijun Song, improves the accuracy of underwater data transmission. The second prototype provides accurate position and velocity information for underwater moving objects. When combined, these two technologies equate to underwater GPS. ■ Software developed by plant and soil scientist Blake Meyers analyzes and identifies genes that are regulated in development or in response to stress. Such genes are useful for intro- ducing special traits in plant biotechnology. ■ Marine scientist kathryn Coyne has discovered an algicidal compound capable of killing harmful dinoflagellates such as Pfiesteria, while having no significant effect on other algae. There appear to be parallels between the mechanism in the compound that causes death of the algae, and anti-cancer treatments. Project managers from OEIP’s Technology Trans- fer Center are working with each of these professors to develop commercialization strategies and identify partners to bring the technologies to market. For more information on UD’s available technolo- Janine Sherrier examines a test plot of soybeans grown gies, visit www.udel.edu/oeip. — Meredith Chapman from seeds treated with the beneficial bacterium DARE TO BE FIRST Bacillus subtilis. The plants exhibit more extensive root systems, more rapid growth and overall greater vigor than plants grown from untreated seeds. 7 Visit UD’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships at www.udel.edu/oeip/.

Evozym Biologics homes in on prized proteins for biofuels, drug discovery

vozym Biologics Inc., founded in “That’s the cool thing about science,” target three to four protein interactions 2009 by scientists at UD and the Marsh says. “You’ll never know where with one drug, you could build a whole EDesert Research Institute, aims to you’ll end up. I’m working with a marine new class of antibiotics.” accelerate the discovery of useful proteins invertebrate in Antarctica and wanted to Marsh credits the University’s Office of for the high-stakes fields of biofuels pro- know how the organism’s genome Economic Innovation and Partnerships duction and drug development, saving in- evolved in extreme cold. Joe had a similar (OEIP) for helping the company to protect dustries significant time and R&D costs. interest with microbes that thrive in high and organize its intellectual property; Using novel data tools to understand temperatures at hydrothermal vents and OEIP’s Small Business Development Center how the genomes of organisms are built, in low temperatures in Antarctica, but for advice on how to structure and market including high-performance computers was coming at it from another direction. the business; and his dean, Nancy Targett, and proprietary algorithms and data- We were working toward the same goal and associate dean, Chuck Epifanio, for bases, the Delaware start-up has demon- on two different tracks. When we got allowing him to pursue a commercial strated that it can home in on as few as together and compared our findings, application of the bioinformatic discover- 50 potentially high-value synthetic pro- every result pointed to success.” ies uncovered by his research. teins from hundreds of billions of possi- A key to the process, Marsh says, is Did Marsh speculate five years ago that ble trajectories, according to co-founder understanding how specific proteins are he would be leading such a company? Adam Marsh, associate professor of shaped by evolution, by how well they fit “No way,” he says. “But I really like the marine biosciences at UD. into their environment. idea of bringing research to bear on “Millions of years of evolution have In the biofuels realm, a company problems, to make things better. shaped the genes and proteins and en- might spend a million dollars or more on “I was so naïve,” he adds. “I thought, zymes of microbes, animals and plants,” largely shot-in-the-dark research to iden- ‘ah, we’re done,’ when we got our algo- says Marsh. “Our unique tools understand tify proteins that are enzymes and serve rithms completed. But that was just the and systematically utilize these evolution- as catalysts for certain biochemical reac- beginning. I’m excited about the future, ary rules of genome adaptation.” tions, such as breaking down the cellu- and I know we’ll make a difference.” Deriving its name from “evolutionary lose in plant material more easily. For more information, visit the com- enzyme,” Evozym Biologics is the brain- With their computational platform pany’s website at www.evozym.com. child of Marsh, who is on the faculty of of high-throughput computers and UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Envi- patented algorithms and databases, — Tracey Bryant ronment, and Joseph Grzymski, research Evozym Biologics has zeroed in on a suite assistant professor at the Desert Research of 50 genes that likely contains several Institute in Reno, Nev. prime candidates for the job, Marsh says. The two first met in Antarctica while “The genes we’ve targeted cost only “The beauty of nature — doing research on “extremophiles” — about $1,000 apiece to test,” he notes. the driving, kicking organisms that thrive in harsh environ- In the drug development arena, the forces — inspired me. ments. Marsh does research on sea company’s role is to pinpoint a pathogen’s urchins in the frigid waters, and Grzymski “Achilles’ heel”— its most critical, sensi- Every day I’d write out a on microbes that live in both terrestrial tive genes — so that pharmaceutical code, process it and then and aquatic polar environments. Both sci- companies can create drugs to knock entists were fascinated by how organismal them out. generate a new graph. genomes can become adapted “Multi-drug-resistant pathogens are a I was the first person see- to life in such difficult, serious issue, causing staph infections, stressful conditions, ing this data. Every day skin infections and other problems in and it was this mutual hospitals and nursing homes,” Marsh was a day of discovery.” interest that spawned notes. “While one drug can target a single their collaboration. — Adam Marsh protein, a gene often can mutate and bypass that drug’s effect. But if you could

Using proprietary algorithms and databases, Adam Marsh’s start-up company, Evozym Biologics, can DARE TO BE FIRST home in on as few as 50 potentially high-value synthetic proteins from hundreds of billions, saving companies signiﬁcant time and R&D costs. The company’s target areas are biofuels and antibiotics.

9 Going

THE UD BOTANIC GARDENS encompasses 12 gardens on 15 acres on Green south campus. The Native Garden and KATHY F. ATKINSON F. KATHY new Lepidoptera Trail are ideal for From protecting a National observing birds, butterﬂies and moths on Wild and Scenic River ﬂowing native perennial plants of the eastern U.S. through main campus, to Eco-Innovation installing a 2-megawatt wind turbine to power the Lewes campus, UD is making major moves toward sustainability.

THE UD WATER TEAM brings together a consortium of faculty, staﬀ and students from departments and disciplines across campus to implement creative stormwater management initiatives. DANIELLE QUIGLEY

A river runs through it Did you know that the University of was formed in early 2008 as a collaborative deputy dean. “Be- Delaware is one of only two universities initiative with the long-term goal of merging sides the obvious with a National Wild and Scenic River on and facilitating University-wide efforts to runoff from the its campus? e UD Farm, operated by minimize the environmental impacts of farm, there is a the College of Agriculture and Natural stormwater runoff from the campus. e considerable vol- Resources (CANR), and much of UD’s focus has been primarily on ecological ume of contaminated main campus in Newark, Del., drain into restoration of stream corridors, wetlands and water from lawns, park- Cool Run, a tributary of White Clay Creek. other natural resource areas on campus. ing lots, roads and roofs.” e creek is now celebrating its tenth year With funding support from the Dela- For the past three-and-a- with this ecological status symbol. ware Water Resources Center at UD and the half years, water quality has been Even with this designation, White Clay nonpoint source pollution program at the monitored in these flow paths. Now Creek still has its fair share of environmental Delaware Department of Natural Resources the college is using the research gathered problems. Runoff from the campus and the and Environmental Control (DNREC), one from scientists and students to systematically city of Newark contribute to nonpoint of UD WATER’s first projects was to work implement ecologically based best manage- source pollution of area streams and exces- with six undergraduate students during the ment practices to mitigate pollution from sive runoff that causes downstream flooding. 2008–2009 academic year to develop an agricultural, urban and campus sources and With stormwater management a major chal- action plan for the Cool Run watershed. reduce stormwater impacts on water quality. lenge for the University and the city, UD is “e first part of our process was to iden- In 2008, a poorly draining cow pasture uniquely poised to both study and protect tify the pathways by which water and pollu- on the farm was converted to a wetland. UD the watershed. tants move through campus to the 350-acre students were involved in every aspect of the e UD WATER Project (Watershed farm and flow into Cool Run,” says Tom project, from site design and installation to Action Team for Ecological Restoration) Sims, UD WATER co-director and CANR two rounds of planting. is wetland, now a

10 DANIELLE QUIGLEY

THE DAIRY, housing a herd of approximately 100 milk cows, is enhanced by solar power and a manure composting facility.

WATER QUALITY MONITORING, WETLAND RESTORATION conducted by UD, is supported by on the UD Farm was designed to the White Clay Creek Watershed improve water quality and enhance Management Committee. Data from habitat. However, the ongoing project eight sites will be used to assess the impact also will be used for research and of the new restoration projects. teaching related to water quality, soils, ecology and horticulture.

DANIELLE QUIGLEY The UD Farm is KRAPEEVAN

part of the the stormwater best management practices research on a UD site that will serve as a 28% UD Botanic and wildlife habitat improvements in the “compensatory wetland” to balance the eco- of UD’s main Gardens, has headwaters of Cool Run will spur others to logical functions of a wetland that is being re- been utilized as similar action within the wild and scenic moved due to construction at the Port of campus an outdoor class- watershed,” says Linda Stapleford, White Clay Wilmington, according to Susan Barton, room by landscape Creek Wild and Scenic River Administrator. assistant professor of plant science, who design, landscape construc- Jenny McDermott, CANR’s facilities serves as a faculty adviser for the project. tion, ornithology, wildlife management manager, acknowledges the fact that these “Five student interns will each work on and wildlife ecology students. restoration projects would not be possible an independent project that will contribute Over the next several months, without the help of partners internal and to the formation of the wetland and the over- a degraded stream that delivers campus external to UD. all health of the farm,” Barton says. and farm runoff to Cool Run will be re- “Grant funding and assistance from several Students are researching state and federal stored, and a storm water retrofit is planned DNREC departments, the New Castle Con- wetland mitigation policies and monitoring to address building and parking lot runoff servation District, and the University’s water quality, aquatic insects, terrestrial in- on south campus. alumni-supported Sustainability Fund have vertebrates, plants and birds. “CANR is setting a great example on how been matched by funding from our college “Our students are participating in every as- to clean up the White Clay Creek. e water- to not only implement environmental protec- pect of these projects, from collecting baseline shed restoration plan includes different facets tion but to provide a teaching opportunity for data to implementing recommendations and like wetland restoration, stream restoration, students and a demonstration of watershed documenting and monitoring successes,” Sims modern agriculture, conservation and even re- protection,” McDermott notes. adds. “e discovery learning opportunities newable energy,” says Gerald Kauffman, direc- Ecological restoration projects also are un- that this project offers are preparing students tor of UD’s Water Resources Agency and UD derway to return degraded habitats to healthy well for careers in natural resources, agricul- WATER co-director alongside Sims. ecosystems, improve wildlife habitat and re- ture and environmental fields. ey are solving “UD WATER and CANR are excellent move invasive plants. During the summer of real-world problems just steps from their class- models of watershed stewardship. We hope 2010, students and faculty conducted rooms.” — Katy Lamborn O’Connell

11 Wind turbine project puts new spin on

Culminating years of planning and study, the University of Delaware and Gamesa Technology Corporation began operating a 2-megawatt wind turbine at KrapEEvan the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes this past summer. “We couldn’t be happier to partner with Gamesa on wind-energy research and technology,” UD President Patrick Harker said at the turbine commissioning cere- mony on June 11. “Together, we can make Delaware a U.S. leader in wind-power science, production and policy.” The land-based turbine stands 400 feet high from its tower base to the apex of its blade at peak rotation. Each of its three blades is 144 feet long. A typical 2-megawatt turbine provides enough emissions-free electricity to power Gathering to flip a switch symbolizing the turbine’s connection to the electrical grid on June 11 are, about 500 average homes, so the single from left, foreground, Collin O’Mara, secretary, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and turbine is expected to provide clean, Environmental Control; Prof. Jeremy Firestone, one of the conceivers of the project; Nancy Targett, carbon-free electricity for the entire dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment; Gamesa North America CEO Dirk Matthys; campus, which is part of UD’s and UD President Patrick Harker. College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. At times, the turbine will generate more said Gamesa North America CEO Dirk than enough power for the campus, with Matthys. “As an industry leader, we are the excess fed to the electric grid. The Uni- always looking for new opportunities, like versity will provide any excess power at the our partnership with the University of same cost the Lewes Board of Public Works Delaware, to move America toward a more pays wholesale, so there will be no addi- sustainable, domestic clean-energy future.” tional charge to Lewes customers for get- Gamesa specializes in sustainable ting a portion of their power from a energy technologies, mainly wind power. local, clean resource. With an international workforce of 6,300 “Gamesa has invested more employees, including 850 in the United than $220 million on U.S. States, the company has installed some The Specs manufacturing and wind 16,000 megawatts of its main product lines energy development,” in 20 countries over four continents. MODEL: Gamesa G90 In Lewes, however, carbon-free electricity is not the only benefit of the turbine. GENERATOR POWER: 2 megawatts “This project will enhance research in TOWER HEIGHT: 256 feet areas such as turbine corrosion, avian TOWER WEIGHT: 203 tons NACELLE WEIGHT: 103 tons (houses mechanical and electrical components) NUMBER OF BLADES: 3 BLADE LENGTH: 144 feet BLADE WEIGHT: approx. 7 tons BLADE MATERIAL: Epoxy reinforced with carbon and glass fibers This logo represents the University of Delaware’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The colored ROTATIONAL SPEED: bars stand for UD’s three-pronged approach: producing 9–19 revolutions per minute leading-edge research and scholarship on the subject; incorporating sustainability into our operations; and ROTATIONAL DIRECTION: engaging the campus, state, nation and world in the Clockwise (front view) issue. The three different colors highlight that UD’s colors (blue and gold), when mixed together, make green.

12 Agent of change clean energy Policy leader guides sustainability eﬀorts John Byrne, UD’s Distinguished Professor of Energy and impacts and policy issues related to renew- Climate Policy and director of the Center for Energy and Envi-

able energy,” said Nancy Targett, dean of ronmental Policy (CEEP), is recognized internationally as an the college. innovator, the architect of novel policies for a sustainable future. Another benefit of wind energy is economic, according to Collin O’Mara, secre- Byrne and his students invented the concept of the Sustain- able Energy Utility (SEU), a nonprofit focused solely on advanc- tary of Delaware’s Department of Natural John Byrne, Distinguished Profes- Resources and Environmental Control. ing energy efficiency and renewable energy. In 2007, the Delaware sor of Energy and Climate Policy “Transitioning to a clean-energy economy General Assembly established the Delaware SEU — the first in the has the potential to improve our environ- nation. To date, it has invested over $15 million in renewables and energy efficiency, including ment and create thousands of jobs,” he support for the 10-megawatt Dover SUN Park. Byrne co-chairs the SEU and is assisting others, said. “The UD-Gamesa partnership will from Washington, D.C., to South Korea, in designing their own SEUs. demonstrate significant economic and He also is training the next generation of policy scientists. CEEP’s graduate program ranks among environmental benefits for this transition and serves as a model for future offshore the top three in the world, and now Byrne is launching the first undergraduate major in the field. development.” “One of the great things about our program is the exchange of ideas between the students,” The Lewes wind turbine project is part Byrne says. Currently, about 40% of the graduate students who enroll in CEEP have a prior degree of a joint venture, First State Marine Wind, in science or engineering; the remainder hold degrees in the social sciences and humanities. between UD-owned Blue Hen Wind and “When the social science students need to understand a new technology, they go to the engi- Gamesa Technology Corp. The city of Lewes neering students to find out how it works. en the engineers find they need an understanding of and Sustainable Energy Developments Inc. the economists’ models, and they go to the social science students for help,” he says. “Our students are also key partners. learn, early on, the value and benefit of interdisciplinary collaboration.” Targett and Profs. Jeremy Firestone and Willett Kempton conceived the project. CEEP is an official observer of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Firestone and Kempton have studied many which means its faculty and students are permitted to observe, participate and present briefing aspects of wind energy, including the po- papers to the annual meetings of government delegates. A team of CEEP faculty and students is tential power supplied by Delaware’s off- working on activities for the 2010 meeting in Cancún, Mexico, in December. shore winds as well as public reaction to “It allows us to have a contribution to the process,” says Byrne, who is a veteran member of and policies for wind-energy use. the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Also this summer, the University and the Byrne is designated as one of several hundred laureates for that year’s award. U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renew- able Energy Laboratory announced they will One of CEEP’s key contributions has been calculating the target carbon budget or “footprint” collaborate on offshore wind research and of 3.3 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per person per year — a standard used globally for the work to facilitate the testing of commercial greenhouse gases released from burning fossil fuels for electricity, transportation and other needs. wind turbines off the Delaware coast. Americans, however, are way off this target. e United States currently tops 20 tons of carbon Under a cooperative research and de- emissions per person per year. But there are ways to solve the U.S. “energy obesity” problem, he says. velopment agreement, UD will work with “It’s a big problem and not easy to solve. But at the same time, I’ve seen remarkable change — federal and state agencies to identify and meet criteria for establishing any potential 35 states now require 15–20% of their energy from renewables,” he says, noting that CEEP helped offshore test sites. Public involvement is write Delaware’s legislation, whose requirement of 25% by 2025 is one of the country’s most ag- expected to be a key part of the process. gressive. “And California has found a way to flatten their electricity use per capita since the 1970s — Ron Ohrel despite rapid growth in the state’s economy,” he notes. Key to California’s success has been using smart-grid technology and rewarding residents and businesses that cut energy demand. An architect of the University’s Climate Action Plan, Byrne said UD “walks the walk.” Two more big steps have been taken, with the wind turbine online at the Lewes campus and a partnership with Standard Solar, Inc., to install solar panels on several buildings on main campus this fall. e solar power plant will be one of the largest at a U.S. university, generating over 1 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year while reducing carbon emissions by 1.3 million pounds. — Tracey Bryant

The new solar power plant on the UD campus Jon Cox is being funded, in part, by student power — the 2009 senior class gift.

KaThy F. aTKinson F. KaThy 13 A new undergraduate degree Targett steers college into future in marine science Four years ago, Targett was asked to lead a task force to examine undergraduate envi- Since Nancy McKeever Targett took the helm as dean ronmental education at UD. e task force engaged faculty from across the University of the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, to determine what curricular changes needed and Environment (CEOE) five years ago, her life has to be made to provide students with enhanced opportunities. been in high gear like the state-of-the-art wind turbine e process yielded new curricula and she recently commissioned at the Hugh R. Sharp core requirements for bachelor’s degrees in environmental science and environmental Campus in a bold step toward a clean-energy future. studies, and new concentrations that allow students to gain depth in their area of inter- A leader in demand, Targett was invited for 36 of its 40 years focused on marine est, from atmospheric science and sustainable to the White House in June 2010 to brief science and policy — and graduate educa- energy technology to environ- Vice President Joe Biden’s Domestic Policy tion — but now has an expanded scope. mental policy and law. Advisory Committee staff about the Gulf oil With the recent additions of the geogra- ose programs were im- spill and the need for greater coordination phy and geological sciences departments, the plemented in fall 2009, and of scientific efforts. at was in her role as former College of Marine Studies became soon Targett expects an excit- chair of the board of trustees for the Con- the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environ- ing addition, pending Faculty sortium for Ocean Leadership, a nonprofit ment (CEOE) and now includes work in Senate approval — UD’s first comprising 96 top ocean science institutions both Earth and ocean systems from a natural undergraduate degree program and a number of nongovernmental organi- and societal perspective. in marine science. zations and industry affiliates. “Before, our college was focused on the “It likely will include a She has flown to China several times in marine environment, and now we have semester in Lewes and give the past two years to foster the develop- broadened that, to link land, air and sea so students the opportunity to do ment of the Joint Institute for Coastal Re- that students can more readily understand experiments in a new wet lab search and Management with colleagues the connections from both a science and with aquaria that will be view- at Xiamen University. Launched in 2008, society perspective,” Targett says. “Our goal able by people on our public the institute highlights global perspectives now is to produce scientists, educators and tours,” Targett says. and partnerships in areas of natural science, policy specialists who have the broad vision Students also will have and interdisciplinary background to address social science and public policy related to hands-on access to state-of-the- the sweeping, interrelated issues that are part coastal environments and their manage- art technologies in the Global of the study of ocean and earth systems.” ment in the U.S. and China. Visualization (G-Vis) Lab in Currently, CEOE has 118 scientists, Lewes, with its stunning real- And as director of Delaware Sea Grant, including 61 faculty, in six core areas: time data streams of ocean part of a national network of 32 university- geography, geological sciences, marine bio- temperature to global winds based programs aimed at promoting the wise sciences, marine policy, oceanography, and projected on nine, integrated use, conservation and management of ma- physical ocean science and engineering. 55-inch flat-panel TV screens; rine resources,Targett has spearheaded initia- ey work on topics ranging from climatol- and the Visualization and tives for improving the forecasting of coastal ogy to declining fisheries; offshore wind Advanced Simulation Training storms, to increasing public awareness about power to environment and society. (VAST) Lab in Newark, which climate change in Delaware and beyond. CEOE operates the 146-foot research ves- includes a command center that sel Hugh R. Sharp and houses the secretariat enables scientists to operate Navigating a college of the international Scientific Committee for underwater vehicles remotely. with a new outlook Oceanographic Research. CEOE also is “What I really love about home to the Delaware Geological Survey, these technologies is that they Most days, Targett, the road warrior, part of a national network that conducts geo- enable people to literally drives the 180-mile roundtrip from her logic and hydrologic research; the Delaware see and understand the big home in Lewes, not far from the seaside Environmental Observing System, with its picture — it helps facilitate a Hugh R. Sharp Campus, to the University’s critical roles in natural resource monitoring conversation that was in the main campus in Newark. ere, from the and emergency management; and the Dela- abstract before. e G-Vis Lab dean’s office in Robinson Hall, she is navi- ware Geographic Alliance, which seeks to has already been a catalyst for gating the rapid evolution of a college that boost geography education statewide. new collaborations,” she says. 14 Learn about UD’s College of Earth, ocean, and Environment at www.ceoe.udel.edu/.

“ere is a lot of emphasis today on sci- decisions, from the college’s name to the hopes to become a marine scientist. ence and society, and universities as catalysts installation of the new wind turbine, have Earle wrote back. for innovation,” she adds. “I believe the col- received widespread faculty support. “She told me to ‘stay the course, to keep lege has long been a leader in that, from the At the end of the day, Targett says, it all your dreams,’” says Targett, who still has days of the DELBUOY, which used wave comes down to a love of science. the letter. energy to make potable water from seawater for island nations, to our wind turbine in “I knew when I was a little kid that I Although Earle’s letter was inﬂuential, Lewes, to our vehicle-to-grid technology for wanted to be a marine scientist,” says Targett, Targett says her greatest inspirations have electric cars.” who grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., watching been her parents — her late father, who was a meat salesman, and her mother, a former Targett recognizes the strong faculty in marine biologist Jacques Cousteau on TV. telephone operator. the college as the basis for many of her suc- Her desire for a science career was cesses. As new ideas percolate from the further piqued as a young girl when she “In the early days, my Mom said, ‘Find faculty, she says her job is to aggregate them, saw an issue of Parade magazine with your passion and then do your best.’ help formulate the vision and get people oceanographer Sylvia Earle on the cover. “I really love my job,” Targettsays,smiling. working together. She is proud that major Targett wrote a letter to Earle about her — Tracey Bryant KaThy F. aTKinsonKaThy F.

Nancy Targett, dean of the College of Earth,  Ocean, and Environment, is shown outside Robinson Hall, her base of operations on UD’s main campus in Newark. Targett also oversees research facilities at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes, 90 miles south, on the shores of Delaware Bay.

15 The view from THE PILOTHOUSE An interview with Capt. Bill Byam

Ship Stats

LENGTH: 146 feet TOP SPEED: 11.5 knots RANGE: 4,000 miles CREW: 6–7 when underway DURATION: 18 days (max.) CAPACITY: 14 scientists, 1 captain and 6–7 crew (2 deckhands, 2 engineers, 1 cook, 1–2 technicians) MILES LOGGED SO FAR: over 100,000 How long have you OPERATING RANGE: been a captain? Mid-atlantic Bight, I’m on my seventh issue; each issue is ﬁve from Cape hatteras, n.C., years, so I’ve been a captain for 35+ years. to Long island, n.y. I’ve been at Delaware for 11½ years, and has sailed as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, I’m one of the newest in the crew, which as far north as gives you some idea of the continuity Georges Bank, of our crew. Before UD, I worked in Canada, and as far east as the Bahamas. the oil industry, ran ferries for Interna- tional Paper and operated a charter sailing business.

What’s a typical workday run? It’s six hours on and six oﬀ. My watch starts at 5:30 a.m. I’m on from 5:30 in the morning to 11:30/noon; and back on again from 5:30 to 11:30 at night.

How many days is the R/V Sharp typically at sea? e target is 180–200 days per year. e crew sails two-thirds of the schedule. e captain and chief engineer can sail over 140 days. We work seven days a week. Christmas and anksgiving are the only holidays we always try not to schedule any cruises.

Photos by Evan Krape 16 Follow the r/v hugh r. sharp at www.ceoe.udel.edu/. 

What’s it like to be captain of UD’s 146-foot flagship, R/V Hugh R. Sharp? Capt. Bill Byam fills us in on this state-of-the-art floating laboratory, described by American Ship Review as one of the most advanced coastal

research vessels in North America. UD scientist Doug Miller (center) examines a worm found in a sediment sample collected from the atlantic ocean ﬂoor.

What’s most What kinds of science What kind of data unique about projects is the ship do you log? this ship? currently supporting? Once underway, we’re continually pumping e design of the ship itself — it’s We do a lot of work with AUVs water, monitoring temperature, wind, sur- modular, so we can change as technology [autonomous underwater vehicles] with face water, fluorescence, with a time-stamp does and incorporate new equipment to researchers at the University of Delaware, log of all of this. Once an hour, we transmit support the wide range of researchers plus we have projects in Delaware Bay with the data via the Rolling Deck to Repository, we serve from institutions across the several UD scientists.We have a scallop which is a gateway to the national data cen- United States. Also, this vessel has diesel project with NOAA [National Oceanic ters [National Geophysical Data Center and electric engines and Z-drives that enable and Atmospheric Administration] that National Oceanographic Data Center]. At you to turn 180° or go sideways. You can requires doing surveys in the waters from the end of the cruise, the scientist gets a CD feather the drives down to very low RPM Virginia to Canada, and we completed full of all that data. We have two systems and rotate the Z-drives with no stops. It’s two years of marine mammal and bird here that allow us to do satellite communi- also very acoustically quiet, which is a real observations for the state of New Jersey. cation by phone, fax or Internet. We still benefit for studies of marine mammals keep a captain’s log also. It’s and fish. done on all ships and is a legal document.

ship technician Wynn Tucker makes a quick repair to the scanfish, an undulating CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) system. it operates to within 3 meters of the seafloor. 17 How has ship is much more energy-efficient than our technology affected old ship, the 120-foot Cape Henlopen. how science is done? We use about 100 gallons less fuel per day, We’re getting closer to the point where despite the fact that the Sharp is a much the crew can accomplish the work, and larger ship at 146 feet long. the scientist can stay back home and give instructions virtually. What conservation practices does the ship have? How “green” is the ship? We have a reverse-osmosis system for mak- e R/V Sharp is among the cleanest ves- ing water. We make 800–900 gallons a day sels in the fleet. e engines were designed and have a 2,200-gallon capacity of potable to meet Tier 1 emissions standards of the water. Everybody can shower daily, but we EPA, and we burn a low-sulfur fuel. It also ask people to be smart about water, such as Doctoral student nicole raineault monitors the aUv’s location with adviser art Trembanis. not leaving the faucet running. We advocate a “Navy shower” where you wet, turn off, the Bahamas with divers on the bottom, and soap up, then turn the water back on to we’ve helped retrieve gliders that fly offshore shower off. We have a washer and drier on up to 30 days and then surface for recovery. board also. e gray water is discharged when the vessel is offshore. Are there any ship superstitions? What’s the most None specific to this vessel, but in general, exciting thing that’s don’t start a cruise on a Friday, and don’t happened at sea? carry bananas. “Exciting” is a word we don’t like to have in our vocabulary. We try to avoid it. What do you do during “Uneventful” is the key word — that’s really your ‘down time’ at sea? I’ve always been a fan of sea stories — good in our business.... ere is the aspect of Ernest Hemingway, John Slocum…. seeing sunrises and sunsets and seeing marine Know the difference between a fairy tale mammals offshore. We caught an 18-pound and a sea story? A fairy tale begins with lobster once and a pretty good-sized stur- ‘Once upon a time’ and a sea story starts geon at the mouth of Delaware Bay. One of UD geoscientist art Trembanis examines his with ‘I swear this is the truth….’” autonomous underwater vehicle (aUv) before our moorings off Chesapeake, Virginia, had it is deployed in the atlantic ocean off Delaware. an octopus on it. We’ve also done projects in — Interview by Tracey Bryant

A Top Crew

“It’s just a great program — with such a large boat, you can do pretty much the science you want to do on it, and the crew are fantastic,” says Jeff Cornwell of UD’s research vessel. Cornwell, a professor at the Uni- versity of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, WYNN TUCKER MARY MOORE PAUL GOMEz has used UD’s flagship frequently during the past 20 As the ship technician aboard A native of Lewes, Del., home As the ship’s cook, Gomez years — first the 120-foot R/V Cape Henlopen, and the R/V Sharp, Tucker interacts port of the R/V Sharp, Moore is plays a crucial role, making now its successor, the 146-foot R/V Sharp. directly with the scientists on a deckhand/second engineer. sure the crew and science the ship. She is in charge of When sailing as second engi- team are well fed. A chef by “It takes a top crew to run this ship,” says Capt. Bill all data collection, science neer, she completes engine training, he buys groceries, Byam, director of marine operations at UD. During the equipment and deployments. room rounds, repairs systems does the cooking, the clean- missions in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays when Tucker says she “was destined” as needed and operates the ing and laundry. He prepares these photos were taken, Byam was serving as relief for a career at sea. She grew deck winches and frames. balanced meals three times a up on the water, traveling the Moore describes herself as a day even in rough seas. His captain for Senior Research Vessel Capt. Jim Warring- Intracoastal Waterway with fourth-generation waterman. specialty is a delectable ton. The crew also includes second mate Chris Bogan her parents. She holds a de- Her family does net fishing for seafood pasta made with and assistant chief engineer Chuck Baird. gree in marine technology. sea trout, croaker and perch. shrimp, scallops and clams.

18 SHIP AT NIGHT. Research aboard the R/V Sharp continues through a warm August night. As UD’s autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) surveys the Atlantic Ocean floor, the instrument’s location is monitored and recorded, along with what it sees. The AUV is mapping an artificial reef of sunken subway cars and ships on the seafloor.

TIM NORTH OLIVER FULLARD MARY FENN UD’s research vessel is named in honor of the late As chief engineer, North over- A native of Freedom, Pa., Fenn lives in Cape May, N.J., hugh r. sharp Jr., who served for many years on sees the four 500 KW diesel Fullard is the second engi- and ferries across the the University’s board of trustees and was a generators that supply power neer, the officer responsible Delaware Bay to Lewes, staunch supporter of marine research. The ship for the ship’s propulsion and for assisting the chief engi- Del., to work aboard the is a national resource, available for charter by service (electricity for lights, neer in the daily maintenance R/V Sharp as a reliever when federally funded scientists through the University- computers, heating/air condi- and operation of the ship’s the ship’s full-time second national oceanographic Laboratory system. The tioning, pumping water, etc.). engines. Fullard stands the mate has scheduled time off. UnoLs fleet includes 21 vessels operated by 16 He also is a U.S. Coast Guard 11:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. watch. During her watch, Fenn is academic institutions. The national science Foun- licensed captain. The Cam- During this watch, he does responsible for all ship dation provides 70% of the funding for ship opera- bridge, Md., native comes from engine room rounds, oper- operations, navigation and tions. ships of the fleet range from 20 to 85 meters a commercial fishing back- ates all deck equipment and safety. She has handled (65–278 ft) and work in the coastal waters of the ground on the Eastern Shore. repairs systems as needed. boats all of her life. U.s., the Great Lakes and the world’s oceans.

19 THE GREAT Eco-Quest

Solving today’s environmental issues demands innovative applications of science, engineering and public policy. The Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN), launched at UD in 2009, is bringing outstanding researchers together in interdisciplinary projects and fostering partnerships among government, industry and the public to tackle eco-challenges. Don Sparks, DENIN director, ﬁlls us in on the new institute’s progress.

 Donald L. Sparks, S. Hallock du Pont Chair in Plant and Soil Sciences at UD, is the director of the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN).

In his 31 years at UD, the maverick from the 150,000-member International Sparks has made his mark. He has created Union of Soil Sciences for outstanding an internationally prominent graduate pro- contributions in soil science research. gram in environmental soil chemistry in Sparks’ latest quest is to put DENIN the College of Agriculture and Natural Re- in motion as a catalyst for collaboration sources, authored over 284 scientiﬁc publi- in addressing environmental challenges. cations and three textbooks, mentored 50 e institute’s goals are to initiate large, graduate students and 25 postdoctoral interdisciplinary research projects at researchers, and served as an invitational UD; support interdisciplinary academic speaker at 79 universities and insti- programs and foster the development of tutes on four continents — so far. new ones; forge problem-solving partner- Sparks also has won over $31 mil- ships among government, industry and lion in research grants and lots of the public; and sponsor projects ranging awards and honors. He received his lat- from venture partnerships to public est recognition, the 2010 Liebig Award, symposia focusing on the environment. 20

aMBrE aLExanDEr Evan KrapEEvan in securing funding and attracting students and faculty, and provide state-of- the-art core facilities. And we’re currently searching for the Howard E. Cosgrove Chair in Environment — that’s a University- wide initiative that will certainly beneﬁt DENIN and the entire University. In collaboration with faculty from several colleges, we also are discussing the development of new interdisciplinary graduate programs.

How is DENIN working to bring Q: scientists and engineers from the diﬀerent disciplines together?

We’ve had a number of seminars A: co-sponsored by diﬀerent departments and colleges. We’re trying hard to make sure that we not only talk about science but that we also include aspects of policy, economics and social dynamics. We’ve been facilitating the formation of teams of faculty from the sciences and engineering and policy or economics that should prove useful in enhancing our competitiveness in obtaining funding. A lot of federal agencies, for example NSF,

are stressing the integration of these areas, Learn about Delaware’s Eco-Challenges at www.denin.udel.edu/.  particularly for environmental grants. So I think this is one way that DENIN can play a very valuable role.

What have been DENIN’s What are some promising initiatives Q: biggest accomplishments since its Q: that are under way or grants that What will be the focus of official launch in October 2009? have been awarded because of the institute? Q: the coming year? I think we have gained a better One of the major successes we’ve A: understanding of who at the Univer- A: had was getting the Critical Zone In collaboration with the depart- sity of Delaware and at our other state part- Observatory grant from the National Sci- A: ments and colleges, the plan is to ners is involved in research related to the ence Foundation (see page 22). It’s one of hire a number of new faculty in the envi- environment and what they’re doing. six in the United States, and it’s addressing ronmental area. It’s a great time to be hir- DENIN has provided some great opportu- a very important issue: climate change and ing because so many places aren’t hiring. nities to get to know each other, to learn carbon cycling. With this being such a We really want to continue to come up what our strengths are and what perhaps we major issue worldwide, having the obser- with ways to add value to what we’re al- could improve. vatory will certainly bring attention to the ready doing at the University, to make sure DENIN also has provided an opportu- University and what we’re doing. our environmental programs are stronger. nity to inform people outside the University I also think the new Interdisciplinary I would like for DENIN to be one of the about the research going on and to solicit Science and Engineering Laboratory that top environmental institutes in the USA their input on research needs, which can UD is building is exciting. e institute and for UD to be viewed as the place help us focus our efforts. When we inter- will be physically housed there, and the where faculty and students who are interview people now, they know about the insti- new facility will help bring faculty and ested in the environment want to be. tute, and they’re excited about the things graduate students together to promote that are going on and about the future. collaborations, enhance competitiveness —Interview by Beth Chajes 21 2009, NSF awarded a multidisciplinary New observatory explores team of scientists from the University of Delaware and Stroud Water Research Cen- ter in Avondale, Pa., a five-year grant to Earth’s “critical zone” study the basin. e $4.3-million grant was funded as part of the American Recovery To the untrained eye, the verdant woods and and Reinvestment Act. babbling streams of White Clay Creek State Park In the zone Scientists define the “critical zone” as the in the northwestern corner of Delaware may look portion of the planet from the treetops to more pristine than most landscapes along the the groundwater that sustains terrestrial life. Within this zone, chemical elements that heavily populated Mid-Atlantic coast. are the building blocks of life — such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen — circulate at But the careful observer can find the tell- Basin, which includes five counties and 60 various rates between “storage pools” in the tale signs of past generations: abandoned municipalities in Delaware, Pennsylvania soil, water, atmosphere and living organisms. roadbeds, traces of dams and millraces, and and Maryland and encompasses Brandy- Carbon sparks particular interest among crumbling stone foundations are scattered wine Creek, White Clay Creek, Red scientists since carbon-based molecules serve throughout the park, testaments to 300 Clay Creek and the Christina River and as the “batteries” that store energy from the years of settlement, agriculture and industry. their watersheds. Land use within the sun for use by organisms. In addition, warm- e park is now more heavily forested basin ranges from more pristine areas, to ing of the global climate has been attributed than it was 100 years ago, and White Clay second-growth forests, farm fields, subur- to the transfer of carbon from terrestrial and Creek has been designated a National ban settings and highly industrialized and living storage pools to the atmosphere in the Wild and Scenic River, but human activi- urbanized areas. form of greenhouse gases such as carbon ties such as forestry and construction have e Christina River Basin is now a liv- dioxide and methane. le behind a lasting imprint. ing laboratory, one of six areas in the nation Members of the CZO team, including e state park is just one small section designated by the National Science Foun- three postdoctoral researchers, eight gradu- of the 565-square-mile Christina River dation as a “Critical Zone Observatory.” In ate students and more than a dozen under-

scientists deﬁne the “critical zone” as the portion of the planet from the treetops to the groundwater, the area that sustains terrestrial life. This illustration shows the interconnectedness of key elements and life in the zone.

22 UD’s Critical Zone observatory is funded by nsF through the american recovery and reinvestment act.

graduate students at UD and Stroud Water PA NJ Research Center, are working to determine N

how, and how rapidly, soil erosion and sedi- DE Delaware Bay ment transport through rivers impact the ex- MD

change of carbon between the land and the KrapE Evan By phoTos Christina Chesapeake atmosphere, and thus affect climate. River Basin Bay Factors influencing carbon cycling range PA from the chemical and physical processes of DE weathering and erosion that form the min- V eral basis of soil, to the changes caused by PA MD the addition of organic matter to the mix MD DE and the role of decomposer microorganisms in releasing carbon to the atmosphere. As co-principal investigator Anthony Aufdenkampe, assistant research scientist at Stroud, explains, “Erosion and excava- tion activities expose minerals that mix with organic matter in surface soils and are transported through streams and rivers to the sea. We want to better understand how the interaction of carbon with minerals might sequester that carbon from the atmosphere and also understand how humans have altered that process. To do that effectively, we need to take a whole watershed approach to studying these processes at multiple scales in order to put them all together into a predictive model. at The Christina river Basin Critical Zone observatory (CZo) covers five counties and 60 municipalities would be a significant contribution.” in Delaware, pennsylvania and Maryland. above right, research collaborators from UD and stroud Water research Center work together in White Clay Creek, a national Wild and scenic river in the region. A cutting-edge Dissertation research by UD doctoral student Chunmei Chen, lower left, will be among the first to monitoring system answer the CZo’s climate change questions. A research project of this magnitude requires the collection, management and and environmental science requires exten- level. Advances in cyber-infrastructure that analysis of large amounts of data. A key sive real-time data and a collaborative effort seamlessly merge real-time data with state- feature of the project is expanding and en- that the cyber-infrastructure of this Critical of-the-art graphics are further establishing hancing the network of environmental moni- Zone Observatory will make available to the CZO as a community resource for shar- toring stations throughout the study area scientists around the nation.” ing scientific data and public information. with some of the most sophisticated tech- New field installations and data man- As the CZO team learns about the niques available. For example, a partnership agement systems are enhancing the exten- Christina River Basin, they will share results with NSF’s National Center for Airborne sive existing network of stations used for Laser Mapping is providing for the collection not only with the scientific community but monitoring water flow and water chem- and processing of extremely detailed and ac- also with policy makers and the public. istry within the Christina River Basin. e curate topographic data by Light Detection Results will be communicated regularly with network of monitoring sites extends from and Ranging (LIDAR) measurements. the Christina Basin Water Quality Manage- uplands to inland waters and from inland “e Christina River Basin is already ment Committee, which includes represen- waters to the coastal zone and covers the tatives from 15 federal, state and local one of the best-studied watersheds of its range of human uses within the watershed. size in the nation, with more than 40 years environmental resource agencies and hosts ese niche regions will provide the stu- of research conducted by the Stroud Water an annual series of public workshops to iden- dents involved in the program with valu- Research Center and governmental agen- tify the science needs of policy makers. Addi- able multi-scale field training. cies,” says lead investigator Donald Sparks, tionally, the Stroud Water Research Center S. Hallock du Pont Chair of Soil and Envi- Cutting-edge technologies are being maintains four full-time staff to translate ronmental Chemistry and director of the used for real-time gathering of hydrological, research into educational programs for stu- Delaware Environmental Institute at UD. physical and chemical data at spatial scales dents, teachers and citizen/conservation “But answering the big questions of earth ranging from the landscape to the molecular groups. — Beth Chajes and Tracey Bryant 23 Evan KrapEEvan With about half the world’s population dwelling within 100 kilometers (60 mi) of a coast, few changes wrought by a warming climate will have as great an impact on so many as sea-level rise. If the commonly accepted prediction of a one-meter (3.28 ft) rise by the end of the century occurs, entire island nations may be lost and millions of people forced to adapt or relocate. At the University of Delaware, researchers are developing monitoring and modeling tools and pursuing ethical studies to aid policy makers locally and internationally in making the tough decisions driven by the rising tide.

“Time and tide wait for no man.” — Geoﬀrey Chaucer

DEOS, a coastal monitoring system for Delaware

Delaware lies in “Delaware has probably the best instru- KrapEEvan one of the most vul- mented and observed environment of any nerable areas of the state in the country,” says Dan Leathers, United States when co-director of DEOS and professor in the it comes to sea-level Department of Geography. “Our station rise. With the lowest density is much greater than other states mean elevation of that have more area to cover.” any state in the DEOS personnel worked with DGS nation, much of colleagues to put together a system that uses Delaware is already tidal surge prediction data from the National prone to flooding Dan Leathers Weather Service in a statistical model that from coastal storms, outputs potential inundation levels for a given and any amount of sea-level rise would be community in a web-based mapping and data expected to exacerbate this problem. visualization system. Aer a major storm in May 2008 le one person dead and many homeless along the “e system can predict tide heights Delaware Bay coast of Kent County, the about five days in advance and warn Delaware Department of Natural Resources community leaders and first responders and Environmental Control turned to the of an impending flood event,” Leathers Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) and the says. “Our website provides forecasts, Delaware Environmental Observing System maps to show inundated areas, and (DEOS), both based at UD, for help in es- cross-sections of evacuation routes so tablishing a coastal flood monitoring system. that people will know how deep water will likely be on the roads.” DEOS consists of 40 observation plat- forms around the state that monitor weather, Learn more at www.deos.udel.edu. atmospheric and near-surface soil conditions Two new satellite receivers installed at UD and makes the data available to users in real in august 2010 collect information time. rough the DEOS Alerts System, sub- on a large swath of the globe — scribers can request notification when param- from the middle of the atlantic to the center of north america, eters of their choice cross certain thresholds. and from Cuba to newfoundland. 24 about half of the land area of Bangladesh would be flooded if sea level rises by one meter. Modeling the saltwater invasion Evan KrapEEvan How will rising sea level affect the quality of groundwater and surface water that millions of people rely on for drinking? In a study funded by the World Bank, Holly Michael, assistant professor in the Department of Geologi- cal Sciences, is looking at water resources in Bangladesh, a low-lying and densely populated nation where an estimated 15 million people over 17,000 square kilometers (6,563 sq mi) could be displaced by a one-meter rise in sea level. As Michael explains, saltwater can intrude into freshwater resources in several ways, most notably by overtopping surface and near-surface waters as sea level and storm surges reach farther and farther upland, and by lateral intrusion into deeper groundwater beneath coastal lands. Using water quality and rock formation data from 20,000 coastal wells collected from the government of Bangladesh and international aid agencies, Michael has developed a simu- Bangladesh lation model based on past changes ranks in sea level that predicts how the freshwater-saltwater interface in 7th coastal groundwater will respond in world to rising sea level, as well as how population fast those changes could be expected to occur. holly Michael is researching the vulnerability of drinking-water “What our model indicates is that over- supplies to coastal sea-level rise

topping is a more immediate threat to water re- MiChaELhoLLy in Bangladesh as part of a World sources in Bangladesh because it will happen faster, on the Bank study. order of decades to a couple hundred years,” Michael says. Bangladesh is among the “Lateral intrusion at the level of the deeper wells will likely world’s poorest countries. happen at a much slower pace, perhaps over thousands of The average per capita income years. With similar data, we can extend these methodologies was $1,500 in 2009. to other locations, including Delaware.”

Who let the toxins out? specializes in analyzing contaminants would be in the water if a site Another potential risk of sea-level rise the behavior and toxic- were flooded with seawater. He can then go is the inundation of industrial coastal ity of chemicals such as on to predict the toxicity of these chemicals areas that harbor toxic chemicals in the PCBs in aquatic sedi- for organisms. His methods have been used soil. By changing the chemistry around ments and in the water to analyze sediments affected by the recent soil particles, which then become aquatic column. He notes that Gulf oil spill. sediments, saltwater may help release toxins can behave quite “By combining information about what these contaminants from the soil and differently depending is present in the soil, the physical properties make them more available to organisms on the type of of the tides and currents, and the chemistry that swim in or drink the water or eat sediment. of the water, we can provide risk assessments other organisms that do. Di Toro’s to the policy people whose job is to manage Dominic Di Toro, Edward C. Davis models enable the risk,” Di Toro says. “For example, they Professor of Civil and Environmental him to predict may consider dredging and relocating toxic Engineering and member of the what the result- sediments. e question for them becomes,

National Academy of Engineering, KRAPEEVAN ing levels of ‘Is it worth it?’” 25 The Maldives is setting aside tourism revenue to purchase a new homeland if necessary. Small islands face rising threat

nowhere will the eﬀects of sea-level rise be felt like the world’s 51 small island nations. on these small, low-lying land masses and coral atolls, facing sea-level rise is a matter of survival — and is already a reality. Countries such as Kiribati in the south paciﬁc are experiencing major erosion and damages to infrastructure and property due to higher than usual tides and storm surges. Their potable water supplies and farmland are being contaminated by saltwater. Kiribati and places like it may one day even become completely inundated. The government of the Maldives announced it is setting aside tourism revenue to purchase a new homeland if necessary.

“small island states are the most threatened by climate change and Biliana Cicin-Sain, director of the Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy, they typically lack sufficient resources to carry out needed adaptation and President Anote Tong of Kiribati. Photo copyright Marlene Awaad. and mitigation measures,” says Biliana Cicin-sain, co-chair of the UD- housed Global Forum on oceans, Coasts, and islands. The Global Forum also co-organized oceans Day at the December Cicin-sain and her colleagues at the Global Forum are working to 2009 UnFCCC meeting in Copenhagen. That event brought together give the threatened nations a stronger voice in the development of 320 leaders from 40 countries, representing governments, U.n. agen- international climate change policy. cies, non-governmental organizations, the scientific community and “We provide vital forums for high-level leaders and experts to address industry to focus on the direct link between climate change, ocean the major policy issues affecting oceans, and especially small-island health and human well-being. developing nations,” says Cicin-sain, who also is the director of UD’s “oceans Day participants agreed that there is a need to craft an Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine policy. integrated oceans and coasts program within the UnFCCC by 2013 emphasizing, for example, that there should be sufficient funding to For example, Cicin-sain and her team drafted sets of policy briefs to support island communities needing to adapt to climate change,” says provide information and perspectives on oceans and climate change Cicin-sain, who is planning the event for the 2010 UnFCCC meeting in for participants at the May 2009 World ocean Conference in Manado, Cancún, Mexico. indonesia, as well as those involved in the climate negotiations of the United nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UnFCCC). The island nations could certainly use the help. Their economies and livelihoods — fishing, tourism, and other activities that rely on a healthy sea — are already threatened by other effects of climate change. For in- stance, warming ocean temperatures and other related impacts threaten sensitive coral reefs, which support marine ecosystems. and paradoxically, these countries collectively generate less than 1.3 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. yet they face the threat of their homelands disappearing entirely as a result of climate change while receiving limited attention at international climate negotiations. “This effect, known as the ‘Climate Divide,’ has been a major theme in climate change policy,” Cicin-sain notes. A 3.5-meter (11 ft) concrete wall helps to protect Maléa, the capital city of the Maldives, from the sea. Learn more about the issues surrounding small island nations at www.oceanclimate.org and www.islandsfirst.org. — Elizabeth Boyle

tion, has provided seed funding for two ton University, are using the Biblical parable Weighty Decisions studies to explore these issues. of the Good Samaritan as a basis for explor- With problems such as flooding, contami- Kevin Adkin received his bachelor’s ing the obligation of scientists and engineers nation of drinking water and loss of land im- degree in geography at UD and then entered to use their knowledge to help people who pending, and with resources for dealing with UD’s School of Urban Affairs and Public Pol- are most vulnerable to sea-level rise. these issues limited, government officials will icy for graduate study. He is using his seed Even in a worst-case scenario, sea-level face significant ethical dilemmas. Which areas grant to support his dissertation work, which rise is likely to occur at a gradual pace that and which citizens will receive help in adapting focuses specifically on the needs of the South- should give communities time to plan a to the changes driven by sea-level rise? Will re- bridge community — one of Wilmington’s response. As Chaucer noted, however, sources be used to remediate habitat loss or to poorest neighborhoods with a number of “Time and tide wait for no man.” UD re- protect personal property? brownfields located nearby — in the eventu- searchers are determined to help their e Delaware Experimental Program ality of sea-level rise. state and other communities around the to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), In addition, Matt Oliver, assistant professor world prepare wisely for the future. supported by the National Science Founda- of oceanography, and a colleague from Prince- — Beth Chajes 26  WHAT CAN

YOU DO? anDrEasMUEnChoW Illustrations by UD Coast Day 2009 visitors

HUNGRY TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT? here’s some food Greenland glacier calves for thought. Eating less meat is healthier overall, lowering cholesterol and the huge ice island risk of heart disease, diabetes and various cancers. But did you know that reducing your meat consump- A University of flowing for more than two years. It could also tion also can help the environment? Delaware researcher keep all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 Meat composes only 14% of what captured headlines days,” Muenchow said. people eat, yet its production is estimated to account for nearly one-fifth around the world e island has since broken into two large of global greenhouse gas emissions. when he reported that pieces, which entered Nares Strait, a deep a kilogram of beef produces 19 kilo- an “ice island” four waterway between northern Greenland and grams of carbon dioxide, while a kilo- times the size of Canada where, since 2003, a UD ocean and gram of potatoes has a carbon cost of Manhattan had calved ice observing array has been maintained by only 280 grams. from Greenland’s Muenchow with collaborators in Oregon, Petermann Glacier. British Columbia and England. "COOL IT" IN THE SHOWER e last time the Andreas Muenchow “In Nares Strait, the ice island encountered if a family of four Arctic lost such a large real islands much smaller in size and broke into taking 10-min. showers chunk of ice was in 1962. smaller pieces as it was propelled south by the each day lowers their “In the early morning hours of August 5, prevailing ocean currents. ese pieces will water temperature to 2010, an ice island four times the size of likely follow along the coasts of Baffin Island 75°F in the warmer six Manhattan was born in northern Greenland,” and Labrador, to reach the Atlantic within the months of the year, they will save next two years,” Muenchow said. approximately $68 per person, total- said Andreas Muenchow, associate professor ing $272 per year. Cooler showers can of physical ocean science and engineering in e last time such a massive ice island boost health, too — improving blood UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environ- formed was in 1962 when Canada’s Ward Hunt circulation vital to cardiovascular ment. Muenchow’s research in Nares Strait, Ice Shelf calved a 230-square-mile island, strength, increasing the virus-fighting between Greenland and Canada, is supported smaller pieces of which became lodged between white blood cells in the immune sys- by the National Science Foundation. real islands in Nares Strait. e ice island was tem, stimulating the source of non- Satellite imagery of this remote area at 81°N the largest piece of ice to break off Petermann adrenaline, a brain chemical that may Glacier since the Polaris Expedition of 1871. help alleviate depression, and closing latitude and 61°W longitude, about 620 miles pores for more attractive skin and hair. south of the North Pole, revealed that Peter- mann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 43- GIVE AND GET MORE GREEN mile-long floating ice-shelf. The average Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Serv- american throws ice discovered the ice island within hours aer away 68 pounds NASA’s MODIS-Aqua satellite took the data anDrEasMUEnChoW of used clothing on Aug. 5, at 4:20 EDT, Muenchow said. ese annually, adding raw data were downloaded, processed and ana- a whopping 2 quadrillion pounds of lyzed at UD in near real-time as part of Muen- clothing to landfills each year. Donate rather than dispose of good clothes chow’s NSF research. (and toys). Giving to a qualified charita- Petermann Glacier, the parent of the new ble organization may also warrant a ice island, is one of the two largest remaining charitable contribution deduction glaciers in Greenland that terminate in floating against your income tax (provided shelves. e glacier connects the great Green- deductions are documented). The land ice sheet directly with the ocean. actual cost of the gift is reduced by your tax savings. For example, the e new ice island had an area of at least actual cost of a $100 donation for 100 square miles and a thickness up to half the someone in the 35% tax bracket is height of the Empire State Building. only $65 ($100–$35 tax savings). “e fresh water stored in this ice island — Emily Houghton could keep the Delaware or Hudson rivers 27 t takes hundreds of years for some environmental effects to become fully real- In the field at Iized. It’s a domino effect, meaning that what we do in this day and age will affect generations hundreds of years from now. Hence, what University of Delaware scientists are witnessing from their research in TOOLIK the Alaskan tundra today near Toolik Field Station (TFS), about 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle, is the result of a succes- sion of environmental changes that began FIELD taking place hundreds of years ago. STATION, ALASKA “We have seen major changes in how the microbes A tundra ecosystem and its are behaving,” effects on global warming says Hanson.

UD’s Tom Hanson, associate professor of marine biosciences and biological sciences, and Barbara Campbell, assistant professor of marine biosciences, have been studying the effects of global warming on this “arctic prairie.” e TFS, which is part of the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Re- search network, is operated by the Univer- sity of Alaska Fairbanks for scientists around the world. Hanson and Campbell are working in collaboration with scientists Michelle Mack and Ted Schuur at the University of Florida. eir project, funded by the National Sci- ence Foundation, seeks to understand how changes in temperature and nitrogen deposi- tion in different soil layers of the tundra have affected this fragile ecosystem. Toolik Field Station encompasses 87,000 acres in the northern In their study, nitrogen was added to foothills of Alaska’s Brooks plots on a yearly basis for 20 years, mim- Mountain Range. It has been a icking what is happening naturally over a major location for scientific re- longer period. eir work will enable them search in the Arctic since 1975. 28 From May 26 to July 17, the sun never sets at Toolik Field station in the alaskan arctic.

to determine if other tundra ecosystems that has been observed in many tundra will be similarly affected by global warming. sites. Both are greenhouse gases. “Understanding how changes in “e soil freezes seasonally to become climate affect microbial populations will rock solid,” says Hanson. “It thaws in the refine predictions of how stored carbon late spring to early summer. But what’s KarEn rossMassLEr will behave relative to existing trends in relatively new is that increased nitrogen global change,” says Campbell. “Changes seems to be increasing microbial activity found in this study may also reflect past and soil carbon loss. We are studying the climate change events, helping scientists to DNA of the organisms responsible for understand the geological record.” breaking down plant detritus and soil carbon to see if the same microbes are just more active now, or if different types of Changing microbial activity microbes occur in these more active soils.” Tundra soil, like that at TFS, is a large Hanson and Campbell have used a reserve of carbon derived from plants. high-throughput sequencing technique In fact, this soil is not granular, but rather called pyrosequencing to analyze the an amalgamation of dead plant leaves, DNA extracted from the soil samples. Campbell says. Because it is so cold much of the year, these dead plant leaves “We used a novel method to identify be- and detritus are not broken down, but tween 5,000 to 10,000 microbes per sample instead accumulate. by sequencing a short fragment of DNA Barbara Campbell, assistant professor of present in all organisms,” says Campbell. marine biosciences, records soil data during However, climate change in the form summer field work in the alaskan tundra about “is allowed us to get a snapshot of the 150 miles north of the arctic Circle. of increased temperature or increased ni- microbial community in the soil samples.” trogen input to the soil appears to increase the breakdown of plant material and the ese snapshots were compared between plots exposed to nitrogen and soils exposed to nitrogen. is profiling of loss of soil carbon. is breakdown is samples will allow scientists to identify carried out primarily by soil microbes, control plots with no added nitrogen. Microbial community function — what microbial DNA and functional markers leading to the that can then be identified in other tundra release of car- types of carbon the microbes degraded — also was measured. microbial communities to signal that this bon dioxide same process — the loss of tundra soil e results, published in the journal and methane carbon — may be occurring there as well. En-ironmental Microbiology, indicate that nitrogen additions changed both microbial “e goal of this research is to under- community structure and function in the stand the role of microbes in this process, so

About a hundred researchers each summer pursue projects in the tundra ecosystem at Toolik Field Station in the Alaskan arctic. Here, the UD team is shown collecting soil samples for microbial analysis.

ToM hansonToM 29 Perils of thawing permafrost: e CALM before the storm? Frederick (Fritz) Nelson, professor of geography, learned early on that a

firearm is handy for dealing KaThy F. aTKinsonKaThy F. The UD team at the arctic Circle in the with inquisitive bears while summer of 2009. doing field research on Alaska’s remote North we can better document where and how fast Slope. e “Slope,” as carbon is being leaked from the tundra,” says Alaskans call it, is the region Hanson. “is will help us predict the fu- extending from the north- ture of other tundras around the world.” ern foothills of the Brooks rough their work, Hanson and Range to the Arctic Ocean. Campbell have already seen indications that e North Slope is a vast in- change has occurred in the soil samples clined plain festooned with from Alaska. e next step is to study the striking geometric patterns mechanism of the microbes and how it con- such as ice-wedge polygons, tributes to the soil carbon loss — and to frost boils and thaw lakes. recognize what functions are being lost as is tundra ecosystem is well. Hanson will be working on this home to caribou, bears, arc- during a visit to the DSMZ, the German tic foxes and muskoxen. It is Collection of Microorganisms and Cell also home to the oil fields of Cultures (www.dsmz.de), in Braunschweig, Prudhoe Bay and the town Germany, where he will be trying to culture of Barrow, the northern- relevant microbes from the Toolik tundra. Frederick (Fritz) nelson has been a driving force behind the development most community in the “We have seen major changes in how the of the international Circumpolar active Layer Monitoring (CaLM) network United States, on the shores for observing and measuring changes in permafrost. microbes are behaving,” he says. “e func- of the Arctic Ocean. Inhab- tions seem to be different as well, leading us This figure represents the thaw depth of the “active layer,” the soil that lies above the permafrost and to believe there is a correlation between the freezes and thaws each year, for a 1 km x 1 km area near Barrow, alaska, in august 2010. The yellow and change in the microbial community’s struc- red represent the largest active layer depths. The x and y axes represent the geographic coordinates of ture and the change in function.” the plot. The z axis depicts the depth of thaw in centimeters. Figure courtesy of CaLM network. It’s clear from this research, as well as other reports, Hanson says, that nature’s carbon footprint has increased because the human carbon footprint has increased. e world is changing, as some of our most beautiful natural phenomena degenerate — and this is one more great reason we should continue down the path of becoming more Earth friendly. “A lot of studies indicate that if we made some changes today, and reduced our carbon footprint by 50 percent, we might see some significant, positive, changes in the environment in 50 to 100 years at the earliest. It’s going to take that long,” says Hanson. It’s a domino effect. — Laura Crozier 30 The permafrost regions incorporate more than one-fifth of the world’s land surface. ited mostly by Iñupiat people, Barrow is on the front lines of a changing climate. Permafrost is any part of the ground (soil, rock, ice, humus) that remains at or below 0°C (32°F) continuously for two or more years. Nelson and his team are studying the dynamics of the“active layer,” the layer of ground between the surface and the permafrost, which freezes and thaws each year. An authority on permafrost, Nelson has made the trip to northern Alaska nearly every year since the late 1970s. He has been a driving force behind the development of the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) network, established in the early 1990s and now consist- ing of nearly 200 sites in 15 countries. e network is producing a long-term record of permafrost behavior that is used to document the response of permafrost to climatic “drivers” and to evaluate the performance of climate models. The permafrost regions incorporate more than one-fifth of the world’s land surface. The Circumpolar active Layer Monitoring (CaLM) network, comprising nearly 200 sites in 15 countries, is observing and measuring changes in the active layer and shallow permafrost. The majority of the sites are in the arctic.

On the North Slope, permafrost extends “While permafrost isn’t necessarily an from a few inches below the surface to depths impediment to human occupation of the of up to 2,000 feet. During their fieldwork, world’s cold regions, all bets are off when Nelson and his team collect data on soil and ice is involved,” Nelson notes. “Changes of air temperature, conduct field experiments, temperature at the ground surface — monitor active layer depth and processes, whether induced by human activity or a and obtain soil cores to examine ice content. warming climate — may trigger melting of ey have been at the forefront of applying the subsurface ice, which in turn leads to new technologies, including three-dimen- decreased volume and uneven subsidence sional ground-penetrating radar, differential of the ground surface. ice-wedge polygons form at cracks in the tundra GPS, and LIDAR, to examine the structure where water has frozen and exerted its force on and dynamics of near-surface permafrost. “If permafrost degrades over large the surrounding soil. This view was produced by Warming temperatures in the polar re- regions, as climate simulations indicate the CaLM network on the Barrow Environmental will be the case,” Nelson says, “liberation observatory in august 2010 using ground- gions could lead to thicker active layers, based LiDar (Light Detection and ranging), which could change the moisture and plant of organic carbon stored in the shallow a remote sensing tool that works by detecting communities on the surface and destabilize permafrost in the form of methane and the delay in time between when a wave of light the ice-rich permafrost through the process carbon dioxide could make a very signifi- is emitted and when it is received, providing of “thaw settlement,” causing damage to cant contribution to further warming of precise ground-level readings. image courtesy of UnavCo, Boulder, Colo. roads, houses and other structures. the climate.” — Tracey Bryant Fritz nelson (far left) and col- e CALM network’s observatories are leagues anna Klene (University distributed throughout the Arctic, parts of of Montana) and nikolay shiklomanov (George Washington Antarctica, and several mountain ranges in University) with their permafrost the mid-latitudes. Nelson has received fund- monitoring gear at a field site ing continuously for both Alaskan fieldwork near Toolik Lake, where nelson and administration of the international has worked since the late 1970s. Both Klene and shiklomanov CALM network since the mid-1990s hold doctorates from UD. primarily from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.

31 e largest oil spill in history: UD scientists respond

Soon aer the Deepwater Horizon spill tooth pattern and scans the ocean interior occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, a group of for traces of oil. Together with satellite public and private organizations — includ- data, the glider allowed scientists to track ing the University of Delaware and the ocean currents, and therefore, where the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI) — oil might be traveling. came together to assist in “is information helped the cleanup. “is effort to us determine where we e institutions joined facilitate real-time needed to focus cleanup the Deepwater Horizon efforts,” said Oliver, who is Response and were tasked monitoring of an assistant professor of with employing the best events in the oceanography in the College techniques to clean up the of Earth, Ocean, and Envi- spill while trying to save Gulf is an example ronment. the wildlife affected. of how the DBI in- e work was made pos- UD’s contribution to frastructure can be sible through funding by the effort, led by oceanog- the National Oceanic and rapher Matt Oliver, was to effectively directed.” Atmospheric Administration help the team understand — Kelvin Lee, DBI director (NOAA), NASA, and where the oil might travel through the Delaware Sea next and establish the Grant program at UD. baseline characteristics of the ecosystem UD’s autonomous underwater vehicle before the oil moved in. took part in two missions, one in June that Oliver and his UD colleagues helped lasted about 26 days, and one in late with the processing of real-time data, as well July and early August, which lasted about as the deployment of an autonomous under- that long. water vehicle called a Slocum Elec- LisaTossEy Halfway through its second mission, tric Glider. e glider is a remotely the glider hadn’t seen any evidence of oil operated robot that swims a saw- in the locations off west Florida where it was launched. It had, however, mapped out the location of phytoplankton in the area. Knowing the density of the microscopic plants that form the basis of the food web is important, Oliver said, because if they get wiped out by oil it would have effects throughout the food web. “is glider effort gave us the best scientific picture of the West Florida Shelf that we’ve ever seen,” he said. e data Oliver and his team collected was analyzed through a cluster of computers housed at DBI. ese computers use the institute’s powerful cyber-infrastructure to calculate data based on input from UD’s oceanographer Matt oliver is shown in the Global visualization Lab at UD’s Lewes campus with an team of researchers. ese data streams autonomous underwater vehicle called a slocum Electric Glider. The glider is a remotely operated were visualized in real-time at the Global robot that swims a sawtooth pattern and scans the ocean interior for traces of oil.

32 When viewed on the large flat-panel Tv screens in UD’s Global visualization Lab and navigated with a 3-D mouse, Gulf spill data are seen with such high resolution and detail that viewing the image feels more like a high- KaThy F. aTKinsonKaThy F. flying helicopter ride. projected in light blue is the Gulf spill in June and UD’s glider deployments monitoring for oil off Florida.

G-Vis Lab provides gee-whiz view of the environment

UD’s Global visualization (G-vis) Lab uses Google Earth to view real-time data streams on everything from ocean temperature and currents to the movement of ships in Delaware Bay — all at once. The data come from a wide variety of sources, including satellites, autonomous underwater vehicles, and floating buoys, and are pulled into Google Earth via KML files, special file types that let you see geographic data. When viewed on the lab’s flat-screen Tvs and navigated with a 3-D mouse, the Visualization Lab on the Hugh R. Sharp Google Earth globe and any data illustrated on it are seen with such high resolution and great Campus in Lewes, Del. detail that viewing the image feels more like a high-flying helicopter ride. e G-Vis Lab, as it is known, uses not only is it incredibly impressive to see in action, the technology represents a new way Google Earth to view many real-time data for oceanographers to see a wide variety of real-time data all in one spot and in a standardized streams all at once on a large collection of format that anyone with Google Earth and the right KML files can use. flat-screen TVs. The technology provides a completely new sense of the ocean, said the lab’s creator, Matt “e interactive display of the G-Vis oliver, assistant professor of oceanography. brought all this data into one spot so we “oftentimes you’re out on a boat and you wonder what it is that you’re missing. When could make intelligent decisions about you’re out there you feel so small,” oliver said. “This technology really allows you to see the where the glider should go next for large scales of the ocean unfold in front of you.” sampling,” Oliver said. oliver is part of a larger cooperative effort between multiple universities and institutions working on the visualization project, including the Mid-atlantic regional Coastal ocean ob- “is effort to facilitate real-time mon- serving system, rutgers University and nasa’s Jet propulsion Lab. The endeavor is funded by itoring of events in the Gulf was an exam- the office of naval research, nasa, the national science Foundation, the national oceanic and ple of how the DBI infrastructure can be atmospheric administration, and Delaware sea Grant, among others. effectively directed to support faculty Besides its current use in oil spill cleanup efforts, scientists foresee far-reaching applications research, interact with other institutions for the technology, from studying the health of coral reefs, to the salinity of Delaware Bay, to and help reduce the environmental impact how climate change has affected habitats on the West antarctic peninsula. of the leak,” said Kelvin Lee, DBI director. Graduate students Matt Grossi and Erick Geiger are working with oliver on files that will UD is one of several university part- allow researchers to see new types of geographic data, even view real-time tracks of electroni- ners involved with the Integrated Ocean cally tagged penguins. — Elizabeth Boyle Observing System (IOOS), which coor- dinated the creation of the Deepwater Horizon Response. — Laura Crozier and Elizabeth Boyle

33 Prof ’s work critical to predicting oil’s toxic effects Like most of us, Dom Di Toro cringes many chemicals.” e issue is further com- an approach that enables the toxicity of non- when he sees photos of oil-slicked pelicans plicated by the fact that the chemicals ionic chemicals in sediments to be predicted in the Gulf of Mexico and tar balls in the in volved are combined into mixtures, sug- mathematically using only chemical meas- shore’s sugary sand. But he’s just as worried gesting the potential for incremental toxicity. urements. e procedure is now an EPA by what he can’t see —the toxic effects of oil However, all oil compounds are narcotic methodology that is being applied to help on the water and sediment environments. chemicals — that is, they all exert their toxi- establish baseline information about condi- “It’s easy to see the direct, or physical, city by the same mechanism, Di Toro says. tions in the Gulf and to assess changes in effects,” Di Toro says, “while the chemical eir similar mode of action means that those conditions as the spill progresses. effects tend to be invisible. However, what’s their toxicities can be added using a method Di Toro and his colleagues have also going on below the surface can be just as called toxic units, and it also means that 30 carried out studies to determine the effect devastating as the oil slicks that we can see or 40 compounds — rather than 10,000 — of weathering on the toxicity of oil compo- on the surface.” can be measured to provide a fairly accurate nents. Common wisdom would suggest that Di Toro, the Edward C. Davis Professor picture of what is happening. because lighter compounds are less toxic in UD’s Department of Civil and Environ- “Just how clean is clean?” Di Toro asks. than heavier components of oil and evapo- mental Engineering, is an expert in water “At what level of concentration do you have rate more quickly, toxicity would increase quality and sediment quality criteria models to remediate the water or sediment that has over time. But it turns out that the heavier for organic chemicals, metals and mixtures. come in contact with it?” is is the central compounds are so much less soluble in water that the overall toxicity of water that is in e Environmental Protection Agency problem in assessing damages caused by the contact with oil actually decreases over time. (EPA) relies on researchers like him to help spill, and the problem that water and sedi- develop methodologies for predicting toxic- ment quality criteria are designed to answer. “Quantity is everything in this business,” ity so that criteria for water and sediment Sediment, an area of particular interest to Di Toro says. “Zero concentration is a mean- quality can be developed. Such criteria are Di Toro, comprises an ecosystem in itself, ingless idea in an industrial society. e fact used to assess risk and guide cleanup efforts. with the oil’s toxins affecting not only the is that contaminants are in our environment. What matters is the amount and their bio- “At first glance, it would seem that it is organisms dwelling in the sediment, but also availability — whether there is enough to difficult to determine just how toxic oil is,” the creatures who feed on them. harm us or the wildlife or the plant life. In Di Toro says. “Petroleum is made up of tens Di Toro and his research group have toxicology, the dose makes the poison.” of thousands of hydrocarbons, and it’s not developed a procedure for deriving equilib- feasible to perform toxicity tests on that rium partitioning sediment benchmarks, — Diane Kukich

“...What’s going on below the surface can be just as devastating as the oil slicks that we can see on the surface.” — Dom Di Toro

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico ranks as the largest marine oil spill in history. The U.S. government estimates that about 4.9 million barrels of oil were released, of which about 800,000 barrels have been captured by containment eﬀorts. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Oﬃcer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley

34 Presidential disaster declarations

on the rise, national expert says aMBrE aLExanDEr

e Loma Prieta and Northridge earth- crease in the number of presidential quakes, the terrorist attacks on the World declarations of major disaster or Trade Center and the Pentagon, and emergency over time. In 1953, 13 Hurricane Katrina are among the most were issued; by mid-year 2010, 60 memorable disasters of the past several had already been granted. e two decades, but they represent just a fraction of highest years so far have been 1996 the events that have triggered presidential and 2008, with 75 each. declarations of disaster since the first one e reason for this increase is was issued in 1953. highly debated, according to Sylves. Richard Sylves, professor of political sci- “Some scholars claim that most dec- ence and a national expert on presidential larations are issued for political rea- disaster declarations, has long been fasci- sons,” he says, “though few suggest nated by the intersection of political and that turndowns of governor requests governmental institutions with the phenom- for them are politically motivated. enon of “disaster.” Declarations are almost always is- “I believe that how a national govern- sued for ‘real’ events, but homeland ment addresses disaster says a great deal security concerns now are part of the about the politics, policy, governance and family of declarations, and some political culture of that country,” he says. are issued on the grounds of terror- rick sylves, UD professor of political science, stands near White “Presidential disaster declarations are ism vulnerability for events such Clay Creek in newark, Del. in 1999, a state of disaster was called ‘shock absorbers’ that help us cope with as inaugurations.” in Delaware when hurricane Floyd significantly altered the and recover from incidents as extraordinary course of the creek and caused extensive flooding. Only about one in four guber- as Katrina and the 9/11 attacks and as com- paratively mundane as flooding, storms and natorial requests is turned down “Delaware benefits from being geospa- other calamities that temporarily overwhelm currently, and governors are highly moti- tially small, making it a smaller target for localities throughout the nation.” vated to seek presidential declarations, as the many disaster-inducing phenomena,” he economic implications of most disasters and With the assistance of David Racca, says. “However, the state has many more emergencies are daunting. policy scientist in UD’s Center for Applied vulnerabilities than people think.” Demography and Survey, Sylves created a Federal assistance gained through “Delaware has undergone a significant website called “All About Presidential Disas- declarations helps pay for the rebuilding degree of deforestation owing largely to de- ter Declarations.” Funded by the non-profit of disaster-ravaged public infrastructure velopment, and this allows more rainwater Public Entity Risk Institute, the site enables such as bridges, roads, airports, stadiums, runoff and snow melt, which results in more users to build tables of information about government buildings and essential public flooding. e state also bears the threat of presidentially declared disasters in every service organizations. hurricane damage and suffers from the ef- U.S. state and territory plus the District of “Individuals also benefit via a basket of fects of sea-level rise as saltwater penetrates Columbia. Users can also extract data down key benefits,” Sylves says, “including emer- further inland every year, jeopardizing wet- to the county level. gency repairs to homes, housing aid and land environmental resources and public e site is used for a broad array of appli- public sheltering, unemployment relief, re- water supplies.” cations, from emergency management, grant construction aid and emergency medical Sylves’ extensive knowledge of presiden- applications, and risk studies to presidential costs. A core purpose of federal disaster re- tial declarations of disaster is documented studies and climate science, seismic, socio- lief is to restore communities, to the extent in four books, including his most recent, logical, economic and geographic research. possible, to their pre-disaster conditions and Disaster Policy and Politics, published by “People in other nations also visit the site to implement improvements likely to miti- Congressional Quarterly Press in 2008. to compare U.S. disaster histories with those gate or prevent similar disasters and damage e book offers a contextual history of of their own countries,” Sylves says, “and I in the future.” disaster policy and politics, discusses global oen hear from journalists seeking informa- Delaware has had only 13 disaster decla- issues and influences, explores the politics of tion about recent and historic disasters.” rations since 1953, with none between planning and funding for the next disaster While there are some dips and peaks in 1965 and 1992. But Sylves warns against and provides a window into the future of the data, the overall trend has been an in- complacency. emergency management. — Diane Kukich 35 “irty years aer its inception, the Undergraduate Research Program continues Discovery learning comes of age to provide intentional opportunities for students to deepen their knowledge and discover Today, three decades aer it began, UD’s nationally answers to many important societal and disciplinary questions. With the mentoring of out- recognized Undergraduate Research Program engages standing faculty, the walls dividing student from professor begin to evaporate and col- about 700 undergraduate students each year at the fron- leagues in pursuit of knowledge emerge,” says tiers of discovery. ey work closely with faculty advisers Lynnette Overby, professor and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and across all disciplines on research and creative activities Experiential Learning. ranging from cancer studies to literary compositions. With a background in both the arts and sciences, Overby has had a multi- faceted career as an administrator, educator, researcher and choreographer. Since she joined the UD faculty in 2008, her goal has been to build on “the wonderful program of undergraduate research that has been in place, and also to become involved with

Kathy F. atKinson F. Kathy societal and community concerns, many of which overlap with academic pursuits.” With the support of the Office of the Provost, she plans to create additional opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct research and creative activities, including interdisciplinary and global projects. In compiling a history of UD’s Under- graduate Research Program working with program coordinator Meg Meiman and Prof. Joan Bennett, who retired as the program’s director in 2007, Overby found that UD’s program is one of the first — if not the first — in the nation. “e first manifestations of undergraduate research at UD were undergraduate student theses, the first written in 1897 by a student in mechanical engineering,” she says. en in 1936, the University awarded the first Degrees with Distinction. To obtain this honor, undergraduates were expected to become involved with both creating original knowledge and documenting this knowledge in a thesis. Students in chemistry, English, mathematics, biology and physiology were the first recipients. By the late 1970s, the University was awarding increasing numbers of Degrees with Distinction and thus decided to expand the idea of involving undergraduates in the creation of new knowledge. Instead of just having a few highly motivated students work in the lab with individual professors, Lynnette Overby directs UD’s why not make research part of the larger Office of Undergraduate Research education available at the University of and Experiential Learning. Delaware? us, the University Honors 36 “e experience I gained with UD senior Matt Oleksiak (left) research and writing in the in the lab with his adviser, Undergraduate Research Program Prof. S. Ismat Shah. at the University of Delaware ambre alexander helped me tremendously in graduate school and law school. Also, research and writing have been an important part of my legal and judicial jobs. e skills I learned, and the opportunities I had to work on them as an undergraduate researcher, have been invaluable throughout my career.” — Leonard Stark although he had always loved chem- Judge, U.S. District Court Welcome to the istry, matt oleksiak wanted to enter a for the District of Delaware more specialized field of study. When (B.A., Honors-Political Science; B.S. with incredible world of applying to colleges, he saw that fewer Distinction, Economics; M.A., European Medieval schools offered a chemical engineering and Modern History, UD, 1991; Rhodes Scholar) shrinking technology major and decided to take a risk, hoping this major would prove to be the right choice. drawn to the University’s superior program, oleksiak enrolled as a chemical engineering Program and, shortly thereaer, the Under- major at Ud. now approaching his senior year, oleksiak’s choice was clearly the right one. graduate Research Program, were born. through Ud’s Undergraduate research Program, oleksiak is exploring techniques to assist in the world’s never-ending quest for shrinking technology. Funded by the national science Foun- At the 30th anniversary celebration in dation’s nanotechnology Undergraduate education (nUe) Program, oleksiak is one of a three- May, Overby and her colleagues welcomed person team researching the synthesis and characterization of iron platinum nanoparticles in a students, program alumni, faculty and boron nitride matrix. Under the advisement of Prof. s. ismat shah, oleksiak and Ud graduate stu- friends to a weekend of events, including a dent G. hassnain Jaffari are investigating the use of iron platinum particles with the potential for special symposium. application in hard drives. e three keynote speakers were all pro- all the information stored on your computer, cell phone, iPod, etc., is saved to a hard drive. gram alumni. Chiara Sabina graduated from therefore, it only makes sense that smaller hard drives must first be created in order to produce UD in 2000 with an Honors degree in psy- smaller technological devices. hard drives are made up of magnetic particles that act as storage chology and Spanish studies and is now an units called “bits.” each bit has a magnetic spin arranging it in an up or down direction. the compi- assistant professor of social sciences at Penn- lation of numerous bits makes up each file of data stored. sylvania State University. to successfully construct a smaller hard drive, oleksiak must shrink particle sizes to the nanoscale while maintaining separate magnetic regions (up and down spins). this task may sound Joseph Salvatore, who received an simple, but it is difficult when “you are forcing something to bypass what would be more favorable Honors degree in history from UD in 1995, naturally and kind of make it do what you want,” oleksiak says. often when particle sizes are re- is now a playwright and director based in duced to the nanoscale, normal ambient temperatures are enough to cause fluctuations in the Manhattan and also the artistic/education magnetic spins. these fluctuations randomize the magnetic spins of the particles, ruining data director for Learning Stages, an award- stored on the hard drive. winning, nonprofit theater company in to achieve the size and stability he is looking for, oleksiak turned to iron platinum particles. New Jersey dedicated to providing artistic iron platinum has a high anisotropy constant, meaning that the energy required to change the opportunities for children and young adults. magnetic spin of the particles is very high. iron platinum particles are more stable and thus less And Charles Bergquist, who received an likely to be affected by surrounding thermal energy. the stability of iron platinum particles will hopefully allow oleksiak to decrease their size significantly and maintain their magnetic spins, Honors degree in chemistry from UD in enabling efficient smaller technological devices. 1996, is the director and contributing producer of National Public Radio’s Talk of the a major resource used by many, if not all, people and important industries such as health care, defense, education and more, computers have become an essential part of everyday life. Nation: Science Friday. “We live in the age of technology with so many different applications that require computers, e focus of Sabina’s talk was how under- hard drives and information storage,” says oleksiak. and in a field where smaller is better, his graduate researchers can use science to work research is extremely important. on social problems. “While I came to college nearing the end of his undergraduate studies, oleksiak plans to attend graduate school to pur- knowing that I wanted to do good, sue his doctorate in chemical engineering. it was here at UD where I first started really Unafraid to experiment in the lab and in life, oleksiak offers words to live by, saying, “even bad understanding some of these problems results can be successful. if you think something’s going to work and you prove that it doesn’t, that and how we can use the tools of science to is also good.” — Emily Houghton address them,” Sabina said. 37 Matt Kinservik, professor and chairperson of English (left), leader divided the research among and student Brion Abel exam- the team’s members, with each ine books in the University student taking a particular book Library’s Special Collections. or aspect of the subject matter to examine. e team members, including the faculty researcher, met regularly, shared ideas, focused and re-focused their research topics and sometimes did fieldwork together. “It was a much less solitary way to do research, and the collaborations were very effective,” Kinservik says of his own two projects that used this new model. His research involved book history, while other faculty members worked on topics involving journalism, composition and English education. e first of Kinservik’s projects concerned a group of Irish radicals around 1800, with the

Kathy F. atKinson F. Kathy research focused on learning details of the time the men spent in exile in the United States. One of the radicals, Groundbreaking English project Archibald Hamilton Rowan, ended up in Delaware, and while conducting research gives undergraduate researchers at the Historical Society of Delaware, the UD students discovered boxes of letters Hamilton Rowan had written that had new view of the humanities never before been published. When Matt Kinservik looked at the “Our department discussed this, and we “ere was so much material that we common perception of humanities research, asked: How can humanities scholars mentor decided to focus just on him,” Kinservik says. he says he saw a fairly dull picture of a undergraduates and involve them in the way “ere was plenty to keep the students busy.” scholar toiling alone in a library for years, we do research?” he says. “It seems that e project went on to include a trip to poring over materials and eventually produc- all people usually see is the result of our Ireland for further research by Kinservik and ing a book. research — a book or article. e whole then-undergraduate English majors Brion By contrast, when the professor and process of how we did the research mystifies Abel and Alice Lippincott. e three have chairperson of English at UD looked at people, especially undergraduates, because written an article about their findings, to be accounts of scientific research, he oen saw we don’t share enough of that.” published in the magazine History Ireland. pairs or groups of people working together, With the support of a Transforming “is research project was a great experi- actively engaged in their laboratory and dis- Undergraduate Education grant from the ence, a life-changing experience for me,” says cussing their findings. Even the photos that College of Arts and Sciences, some English Abel, who graduated in 2010 and is working accompanied these accounts were different, department faculty members tried a new for a year while exploring graduate pro- he noticed. Test tubes and beakers in the lab approach, taking their cue from the physical grams. “It really changed my view of research contained colorful liquids, while the dust sciences. ey set up some projects through and made me want to go to grad school.” jacket of the humanities professor’s book the University’s longstanding tradition of un- With the team members dividing up the oen seemed muted. dergraduate research and modeled them on a boxes of documents and then sharing their Kinservik decided something should team-based and laboratory-based method. findings, everyone benefited from hearing change, starting with the way undergradu- Teams of students, some also including other perspectives and insights, Abel says, ates learn about research. graduate students, were formed under the describing their meetings as “massive brain- faculty member’s direction. en, the faculty storming sessions.” e experience of talking

38 to one another also “helped us learn to write for a wider audience,” he says. Pre-vet student Kinservik’s second research project using KraPeevan combats hoof the team model involved the common 18th-century practice of abridging books. disease in e students in that team looked at differ- dairy cattle ent works, or different categories of books, and spent a week in Los Angeles working in amanda lee Welch is one of four rare-book libraries. Ud undergrads in 2010 to receive the Goldwater scholarship recogniz- Undergraduate Sarah Gelotte took part ing exceptional students pursuing in the research, looking specifically at careers in science, mathematics, and abridgments of Bibles and other sacred texts. engineering. She says she joined the project, not only she also continues to excel as an because she wanted to learn to conduct Undergraduate research Program in-depth research but also because of its scholar. With funding from the pro- collaborative nature. gram and from the U.s. department “I think this was the most appealing of agriculture, Welch is conducting research on laminitis and sole ulcera- aspect for me — that I’d be able to explore tion in the bovine claw. these questions with a very small group of Amanda Lee Welch as a young girl, Welch always undergraduate and graduate students,” inspects the hoof of a cow dreamed of becoming a veterinar- Gelotte says. “When you’re working with in UD’s dairy herd with ian, and while most childhood peers, and in my case with individuals who Prof. Robert Dyer. dreams change with age, Welch’s have had experience with research before, never did. Currently an animal and it was easy to keep interested, inspired and food sciences major, Welch chose really hone in on the questions that I wanted the pre-veterinary program at the University of delaware because, she says, “it is more directly to research personally.” focused on animals, providing the hands-on experience i was looking for.” Kinservik says he and other faculty Working at the University of Pennsylvania’s new bolton Center in Kennett square, Pa., members consider the experiment with the starting at the age of 15, Welch was introduced to dr. Jim orsini, an associate professor studying laminitis in horses. an avid horseback rider with her eye on becoming a veterinarian, team-based model a success and are seeking Welch was very interested in his research. additional grant funds so that future projects can also include travel if needed. “Part “i had seen cases of laminitis in horses before, and it is tragic. i wanted to help find a solu- tion to the problem. that is when dr. orsini introduced me to dr. dyer, who was conducting of what made the experience so special for similar research with dairy cattle. i began working in his lab at Ud,” says Welch. students was the fieldwork,” he says. “Work- Under the advisement of dyer, Welch is working with fellow undergrad Caitlin Gromley ing in a group, in a library surrounded by and grad student trista reeder researching sole ulceration in the bovine claw. her study other researchers, really gives students a new focuses on the distribution of involucrin, a structural protein of the cytoskeleton and cornified view of the humanities.”— Ann Manser envelope, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCna), a protein expressed in the cell nucleus during the synthesis phase of the cell cycle, in normal and ulcerated bovine sole regions. an increase in PCna expression appears to be associated with marked changes in the intensity and pattern of involucrin staining across the suprabasal layers of keratinocytes of ulcerated epidermis. lameness from claw horn lesions is the second most important health problem prevalent in dairy cows behind mastitis, an infection in the udders. Ulcerated soles are a direct result of hemorrhagic trauma to the cow’s hoof, a disease that Welch and many others believe may be related to the cow’s diet. Previously grass-grazing animals, dairy cattle now receive rations of grains and corn, which can severely disturb their digestive systems. similar to diabetic foot ulcers in humans, dairy cows are developing painful ulcers as a result of this new diet high in sugars and carbohydrates. sole ulcers greatly decrease the welfare of the animal, and if left untreated, result in afflicted animals being sepa- rated from the herd and sent to slaughter. the number of dairy cattle affected by sole ulcers has caused great economic losses for dairy farmers; on average, each case will cost a dairy producer $627. Welch’s study of the bovine sole aims to characterize the changes that occur in hoof ulcers in dairy cows that may lead to further understanding the disease, opening doors to establish treatments to help improve the life of the animals and the U.s. dairy industry. as a senior nearing the end of her undergraduate work, Welch plans to attend a research- Undergraduate researcher Sarah Gelotte examined abridg- based veterinary school to study disease pathogenesis for biomedical applications in pursuit ments of Bibles such as this one, from the University’s Special Collections. The author, Wilbur Owen Sypherd, was a profes- of a combined Ph.d. and doctorate in veterinary medicine. — Emily Houghton sor of English at UD (1906–1947) and University president 39 from 1944 to 1946. Sypherd Residence Hall is named for him. Historian shows that recycling is an idea that’s coming around (again)

Today’s focus on environmental sustain- my research made me especially aware,” she ability may seem to be a modern concept, says. “Environmental history is a field that but such key elements as recycling, reusing had been developing; people were really and repurposing are actually recycled them- thinking about it as a separate focus. For me, selves from 19th-century American life, the creation of American consumer culture according to historian Susan Strasser. was a subject that led to the idea of recycling and reuse. ey’re all very much tied together.” In fact, says the Richards Chair of Ameri- can History at UD, U.S. households pro- Waste and Want examined two facets of duced almost no trash before the 1890s. American consumer culture before about Instead, families took old clothing apart and 1890 — what Strasser calls the “tremendous made new garments from the fabric, re- focus on reuse within households” and what susan strasser, richards Chair of american history paired broken tools or utensils, and turned today would be called “post-consumer recy- over scraps of useless leather or rags to ped- cling” in which unusable bits of materials In addition to her research, Strasser were returned to factories. e unwilling- dlers, who in turn sold them to factories for teaches classes in American and global envi- ness to waste anything was so prevalent, in reuse as raw materials. ronmental history. fact, that Strasser says even when municipal- Strasser explored the consumer, tech- Strasser’s interest in envi- nological and economic changes that ronmental history is just one replaced that culture with today’s “...For me, the creation example of the emerging field throwaway society in a 1999 book, of American consumer of study known as environ- Waste and Want: A Social History culture was a subject that mental humanities, in which of Trash. It was her third book and led to the idea of recycling the traditional focus of environmental studies — physical the first to be generally seen as and reuse. They’re all very focused on environmental history. sciences and public policy — much tied together.” is expanded to include his- Her first two books, written in tory, English, languages and — Susan Strasser the 1980s, explored the history of other humanities. At UD, housework and then the rise of advertis- other humanities faculty ing and mass marketing of consumer goods ities first began offering trash disposal, they members dealing with envi- in America. Waste and Want, she says, was a ronmental issues include Eve Buckley, assis- natural next step in her research. paid employees to sort through the material and remove anything useful before the true tant professor of history who specializes in “My books have gotten attention in dif- waste was burned or dumped. Brazil, and McKay Jenkins, Tilghman Profes- ferent sub-fields of history — the history of sor of English, whose newest project is a book Strasser found that, as America shied to women, or technology, or environmental is- about toxic chemicals in consumer goods. a consumer culture at the same time that sues — but to me, they’re all about the same large factories grew up and mass marketing Ann Ardis, senior associate dean for the thing,” she says.“Each one led into the other.” began, today’s cycle of waste production and humanities in the College of Arts and Sci- Strasser recalls that as she was researching disposal got under way. ences and director of UD’s Interdisciplinary her first two books in the 1980s, the news “I realized that the era of profligacy that I Humanities Research Center, says the Uni- was filled with accounts of environmental was born into wasn’t really all that old,” she versity has created a new faculty position in disasters: the 1984 leak of poison gas from says. “at was fascinating to grapple with. environmental humanities. An interdiscipli- an industrial plant in Bhopal, India, that You tend to think that things have always nary search committee will work during the killed thousands; the 1986 nuclear plant been the way they are now, but in fact, it 2010–11 academic year to fill the position accident at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union turns out that they used to be very different.” by September 2011. that caused widespread contamination; and Her latest research also relates to the “is will be a truly interdisciplinary po- the so-called “garbage barge,” which le environment, as she works on a book to be sition,” Ardis says. “Our hope is that this per- New York with over 3,000 tons of trash in called A Historical Herbal, an account of the son will not only teach courses in different 1987 and ended up traveling up and down commerce and culture of medicinal herbs, departments, or even different colleges, but the East Coast seeking a willing disposal site. many of which became endangered or less will also help build programs and collabora- “All of us were getting more environmen- plentiful as they were overcollected or lost tions across campus in this important new tally aware during that decade, and I think their habitat through development. area.” — Ann Manser 40 a major pollutant of the Chesapeake Bay. David Hansen, associate professor of soil and environ- UD works to improve water quality mental quality and Cooperative Extension spe- at its doorstep and 10,000 miles away cialist for nutrient management, also presented. “Our international collaboration is rewarding — we’re using our years of research and e University of Delaware has long been a leader in improving water extension experience on nutrient management in Delaware and Pennsyl- quality locally. Now UD is involved in water-quality efforts 10,000 miles vania to contribute to solutions to China’s serious agri-environmental away, in China, through a unique research partnership. Nonpoint pollu- problems,” Sims says. “At the same time, our Chinese colleagues are visit- tion of ground- and surface water is a growing concern in China, particu- ing with us regularly to learn about the practices and policies we’re work- larly as that nation’s economy expands and agricultural activities intensify. ing on to protect water quality locally.” “Collaborating with state and industry partners, we’ve made signifi- Hansen illustrates that point. While an eager participant in the UD- cant progress in helping provide Delaware’s farmers with ‘best manage- China collaboration, his topic at the Beijing conference —“environmen- ment practices’ that can optimize crop production while minimizing the tal regulations affecting agriculture in the Chesapeake Bay watershed” — impact on the environment of the fertilizer and manure nutrients essen- reflects his longstanding commitment to protecting local water quality. tial for crop growth,” says Tom Sims, deputy dean of the College of Agri- culture and Natural Resources (CANR) and T.A. Baker Professor of Soil Hansen and Greg Binford, associate professor of plant and soil sci- and Environmental Chemistry. ences, develop and conduct all of the nutrient management training re- “Now we’re moving into exciting new territory as we extend our reach quired for growers under Dela ware law. Hansen also is the extension internationally to collaborate with Chinese researchers in the develop- water quality coordinator and sustainable agriculture research and educa- ment of solutions to their country’s pressing environmental issues.” tion coordinator, as well as Delaware’s representative to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee and chair of UD’s nutrient management efforts have been recognized globally and the program’s Nutrient Subcommittee. He is helping to cra policy that led to an agreement in 2008 with China Agricultural University (CAU) will impact the Chesapeake for generations to come, while maintaining and the University of Pennsylvania Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, to participate in joint research and an active research program related to nitrogen and phosphorous manage- exchange activities. ment in production agriculture. Since 2009, UD has hosted Prof. Fanghao Wang, a visiting CAU sci- Binford recently won a $550,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wild- entist who studies nutrient management in animal production. He has life Service to develop a nutrient management program that will result in been conducting research at UD with Sims, as well as at the University of less nitrogen leaving cornfields and entering Chesapeake Bay. e key, he Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., where he has says, is to revise plans currently used by growers so there is a mechanism in worked with project co-leader Prof. Zhengxia Dou. She is renowned for place that allows for an evaluation at the end of the season. her work on nutrient management in dairy production. “UD’s nutrient management team is craing innovative solutions in “Here in the U.S., there are so many opportunities to study nutrient pursuit of improved environmental quality here in Delaware and on the management with some of the top research scientists in the field,” Wang other side of the globe,” notes Sims. “eir efforts provide critical benefits says. “I have been able to attend demonstrations with extension profes- to agriculture while protecting the environment.” — Margo McDonough sionals and attend national meetings that will all help me as a scientist in China.” Wang also published his research in the U.S., one of his goals. In August 2009, a delegation from CAU vis- ited UD for a whirlwind week that included a joint scientific workshop and tours of a Sussex poultry farm, Perdue’s Agri-recycle manufacturing plant, the New Bolton Center, and UD’s Carvel Research and Education Center in Georgetown. is past July, four CAU researchers arrived for a five-week visit that featured discussions on possible research collaborations with UD faculty and their colleagues at Penn State, Purdue and the University of Maryland. CAU and UD also joined Wageningen Univer- sity and Research Centre of the Netherlands to host the ird International Workshop on Nutri-

ent Management Technology and Policy in danielle QUiGley Beijing. Sims presented a keynote talk on the From left, Robert Emerson, Weifeng Zhang, visiting scientist from China Agricultural University, Tom Sims, deputy chemistry and management of soil phosphorus, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Anna Stoops, New Castle County agricultural extension educator, discuss nutrient management practices during a visit to Emerson’s dairy farm in Middletown, Del. 41 View of Wilmington, Del., near the location of Prof. Murray Johnston’s pollution studies.

Research shows that much of Delaware’s air pollution is generated beyond the state’s borders. JON COX e search for solutions to air pollution office desk on wheels, has been used in air One-of-a-kind device sweeps air-quality research forward quality assessments in Delaware and Califor- nia so far. It provides measurements of parti- Understand this: Murray Johnston particles — where they come from and how cle size and composition, which the UD doesn’t want the air to be polluted. In fact, they change over time, and then help to de- researchers combine with environmental he’s a pollution fighter. vise strategies to mitigate the harmful ones. data such as temperature, rainfall, wind But Johnston does find infinitely fasci- Aer all, the air we breathe is more than speed and direction, and solar radiation, to nating the chemistry of volcanic dust to the just oxygen. It’s actually 78% nitrogen and understand how nanoparticles form and tantalizing aroma of grilling burgers swirling 21% oxygen, with the remaining 1% com- grow in the atmosphere. in the air. posed of carbon dioxide, traces of helium, e risks posed by ambient nanoparticles “Atmospheric chemists look at the world in neon, and other gases, and a potpourri of to human health and the environment are a different way than most people,” says the pro- microscopic contaminants, even minuscule not well understood. However, there is con- fessor of chemistry and biochemistry at UD. amounts of gasoline from filling your vehi- cern about these super-small particles be- cle’s tank. “When the air is very clean, it’s pretty cause their chemistry differs considerably boring for us. When it’s polluted, it’s really Just how small are nanoparticles? A from larger particles and their size enables interesting from a chemistry perspective,” single hair has a diameter of about 100,000 them to penetrate the lungs more deeply and Johnston says. “at gives us a lot to look at.” nano me ters. e particles that Johnston enter the bloodstream. Johnston and his research group of bud- and his group are studying are less than Epidemiological studies recently have ding analytical and atmospheric chemists 50 nanometers in size. Most are smaller shown a strong correlation between particu- want to know more about microscopic parti- than 25 nanometers. late air pollution levels, lung and heart cles suspended in the air — particles contain- To analyze them, Johnston and his team diseases, various cancers and mortality. ing a vast assortment of materials — sand invented the nano-aerosol mass spectrome- However, these adverse effects appear to be and dirt, sea salt, lead and other metals, soot, ter (NAMS), an instrument that can trap dependent on a number of factors such as toxins and more. ey especially want to and then analyze nanoparticles in real time. genetics, existing disease, exposure patterns learn about the smallest of these — nano- e one-of-a-kind instrument, the size of an and particle chemical composition. 42 Learn more about the NAMS and its nanoparticle studies at www.udel.edu/chem/johnston/. 

e state of Delaware, through the Dela- Many of the compounds that make “Proximity to a roadway determines how ware Department of Natural Resources and airborne particles are actually blown to many nanoparticles and other pollutants Environmental Control (DNREC), has Delaware from other places such as the you’re breathing in — the first 100 meters is been monitoring airborne particles for Ohio River valley, Philadelphia and Balti- especially important. In southern California, some time, and Johnston has been a collabo- more, according to DNREC. a lot of people live within 100 meters of a rator on a number of the research initiatives. freeway. I thought about that when we were “Reducing air pollution in Delaware is a out there because our hotel was right by In a 2009 study of urban air, funded by real challenge because much of the state’s air the non-profit Health Effects Institute and one,” Johnston says. “I think of this now pollution is generated beyond its borders,” the Environmental Protection Agency, when I see housing developments springing Johnston notes. “In a 2005 study we made in Johnston and his team trucked the NAMS up in our area along major highways.” Wilmington incollaboration with DNREC, to a monitoring site near the intersection of — Tracey Bryant long distance pollution Justison Street and Martin Luther King sources accounted for Boulevard in downtown Wilmington, Del. about 40% of airborne par- eir primary goal was to determine how many nanoparticles are emitted from motor ticulate matter, with the re- vehicles compared to other sources. mainder from local sources such as motor vehicles and anks in part to the NAMS, which industrial activity along the provides a minute-by-minute snapshot of air Delaware River.” quality, the researchers found that during peak driving times, almost half the nano- Johnston’s team

particles come from vehicles that are recently shipped the stopped at the intersection and then acceler- NAMS to Los Angeles ate, producing a burst in emissions. for a study of roadway Some vehicles emit up to 30 times more pollutants. He says that nanoparticles than others,” Johnston notes. research has made him “Most of the emissions are from a few vehi- very conscious of his dis- The vertical spikes in this graph of particle size and concentration vs. time in Wilmington, Del., represent the high concentration of nanoparticles emitted cles, so if you can identify those vehicles, tance from highways. by individual vehicles after stopping at a stoplight and then accelerating. you’ll get a lot of bang for the buck. Another idea is to time our traﬃc lights diﬀerently so that there’s not so much

stop-and-go traﬃc at ATKINSON F. KATHY major intersections when, for example, students are walking to school.” Sunlight also plays a role in nanoparticle formation. Ozone gas, a major component of “smog,” is formed on hot, sunny days when energy from the sun reacts with the volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in industrial emissions and motor vehicle exhaust. Ozone itself is a health hazard, but it can also react with other chemicals in air to produce nanoparticles. Prof. Murray Johnston (right), and doctoral students Wiley Hall (seated) and Ross Pennington work with the nano-aerosol mass spectrometer (NAMS) they invented to trap and analyze nanoparticles. 43 Native Son Ecologist Doug Tallamy wants you to landscape for butterﬂies, birds and a better life Photos by Doug Tallamy

ing on the impact of alien Armed with a shovel, Doug Tallamy, plants on herbivorous insects, most chair of UD’s Department of of which are specialists that feed on only a 92% Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, few different plant species. of most home If an insect has adapted to a native plant, landscapes is is leading a new American revolution, the general thinking among scientists had lawn — a desert and he wants you to join him. been that the insect should be able to adapt for wildlife to that plant’s close relatives. All you need to do in autumn, and the stately English ivy border- “However, we’ve found that there is still is plant one native tree ing your home may look lush and attractive, a significant loss of abundance of insects or shrub in your yard ironically these alien species are contributing in that situation — around a 50% loss,” — perhaps an oak or willow tree, to the ecosystem’s demise, he notes. Tallamy says. And if there is not a close a blueberry or cranberry bush. Why are non-native plants so damaging relative, then there is a 75% loss in that It’s not hard to do, it to the ecosystem? e simple answer is that insect’s abundance.” doesn’t cost much and the insects — the primary food of birds — Alien plants are rapidly replacing native paybacks, Tallamy says, will be cannot, or will not, eat this unfamiliar ones across North America because the immediate. Caterpillars will vegetation. Programmed by eons of evolu- non-natives typically outcompete native begin feeding on these native tion, many insects don’t even recognize plants, and homeowners oen unknowingly plants, and then birds will dis- alien plants as potential food, he says. are planting non-natives in their yards. cover the caterpillars and start Tallamy recently completed a National In a study of randomly selected homes snapping them up. Add more Science Foundation research project focus- in suburban developments built from native plants, and your re- wards will be even greater, as a richer web of life springs forth. “When plants bring life into your yard, it’s instant gratification,” Tallamy says. “It’s especially critical for kids to understand the linkages. By putting native plants in your yard, you can make those connections for the future stewards of our planet.” Although that Bradford Grouping native plants such as these river birches provides pear tree with its snowy good habitat and lots of bird spring blooms, the burning food in the form of insects. bush with its flame-red leaves 44 the oak tree, national tree of the U.s., supports over 500 species of butterflies and moths.

1990–2005 in New Castle County, Del., e list was born from and neighboring Chester County, Pa., exhaustive searches of the Tallamy and his colleagues have found that scientific literature by 92% of the landscapable area around those Kimberley Shropshire on ambre alexander homes is lawn, which is akin to a desert in Tallamy’s research staff. terms of wildlife habitat. On the remaining “I’m not saying to rip out 8% of landscapable area, 75% of the plant non-native plants and start species are non-natives, and 83% of the total over from scratch,” he says. number of trees, shrubs and flowers are “However, when a non- non-natives, offering very little in the native plant dies on your way of food for insects or birds. property, replace it with a native one. If you replace alien species with native Put Life Back into woody plants, you’ll be put- Your Landscape ting a lot more life into that landscape. Plants dictate the “We largely have a barren life that can live there.” landscape. But it doesn’t have to be that way,” Tallamy says, in Based on all of the pre- his office in Townsend Hall in the College of sentations he’s given to gar- Doug Tallamy is Agriculture and Natural Resources. den clubs and homeowners’ championing the associations across the use of native plants Covering his desk are research proposals in the landscape. United States, and in media and speaking invitations for national sym- interviews with the posia to local garden clubs, while a nearby New to National table holds an assortment of jars containing York Times Public Radio, Tallamy says water samples from a wetland he’s helping to that most people don’t real- create in a former cow pasture on UD’s Farm. ize how critical their choice Tallamy also encourages people to think “We can landscape in ways that support of landscaping is to the life around them. differently about their lawns. Open your door insects and birds and other life,” he says. “It’s But once they understand the connections on any Saturday morning in suburbia during especially easy to do in sub- and the importance summer, and you’ll hear America mowing. urban areas. It may be of native plants, they “Instead of carving out small corners of harder to do in places like are eager to take action the lawn where you want to plant a tree or a Manhattan, but even there, in their yards and few shrubs or a flower bed, we need to re- it’s not impossible.” communities. verse that thinking. Consider the trees, Tallamy spells it all out A few concerns and shrubs and flower beds as taking up the in his award-winning book, myths are easily dis- majority of the area, and the lawn as the Bringing Nature Home: pelled, he says. path that connects them,” he advises. “You’ll How Native Plants Sustain “People should not save energy and increase biodiversity. Wildlife in Our Gardens worry, for example, (Timber Press, 2007). “People want managed, beautiful land- about being overrun Enhanced with full-color scapes that are alive, and native plants are the with insects if they images, the book covers key,” Tallamy notes. “We just need to make plant native species. everything from the vital the new status symbol the number of hum- Our research does not new role of the surburban gar- mingbirds you see on your property versus bear that out,” Tallamy notes. den, to gardening for insect diver- your well-manicured lawn!” sity. It also includes a list of the top woody ere also is a misperception that a na- Although Tallamy is smiling as he speaks, plants (see page 46) for supporting one of tive landscape may look “raggedy” or lack there also is a strong sense of urgency behind the largest orders of insects — Lepidoptera, the beauty of ornamental plants from dis- his words. tant lands, but well-designed native gardens more commonly known as butterflies and “It’s very clear to me that in my 30 years can be indistinguishable from gardens domi- moths. e oak tree ranks at the very top, in academia, this work is the most important nated by aliens, he says. providing habitat for some 534 species. thing I have done,” he says. — Tracey Bryant

45 Top 10 OAK Family: Fagaceae Genus: Quercus The mighty oak supports 534 species of butterflies/moths, and its acorns feed deer, 1 turkeys, bear, squirrels, even wood ducks. There are 80 oak species in North America.

WILLOW BLUEBERRY, Family: Salicaceae CRANBERRY 2 Genus: Salix Family: Ericaceae 7 Genus: Vaccinium With 97 willow species in north america, there are lots to choose Underused in ornamental plant- from. they support some of the ings, they host butterﬂies/moths showiest butterﬂies, e.g., viceroys. and nourish birds and mammals.

CHERRY, PLUM MAPLE Family: Rosaceae Family: Aceraceae 3 Genus: Prunus Genus: Acer 8 native plums and wild cherries, since the demise of the american including black cherry, choke- chestnut, maples have expanded cherry, and pin cherry, are excel- their role in the forest. they sup- lent sources of food for wildlife. port 285 lepidoptera species.

BIRCH ELM Family: Betulaceae Family: Ulmaceae 4 Genus: Betula Genus: Ulmus 9 birches support hundreds of intense breeding programs have butterﬂy/moth species, plus produced disease-resistant ameri- they produce seeds and ﬂower can elms. a few caterpillars eat buds that feed a variety of birds, nothing else and look like its leaves. from songbirds to turkeys.

POPLAR PINE Family: Salicaceae Family: Pinaceae 5 Genus: Populus Genus: Pinus 10 lepidoptera love these fast-growing despite their resins and terpenes, trees. they harbor 7 giant silk moth, pine needles are a favorite food 7 sphinx moth, 77 noctuid (noctur- of 203 species of butterﬂies/ nal moth) and 10 butterﬂy species. moths in eastern forests.

CRABAPPLE This hornworm is the larva of the hummingbird sphinx Family: Rosaceae moth. The “horn” near its tail is harmless. The adult moth looks 6 Genus: Malus like a hummingbird and feeds on ﬂowers with lots of nectar. there are only four native species of crabapples in the U.s. the fruits From doug tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants are favorites of birds, deer and Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens (timber Press, 2007) other wildlife.

46 UD entomologist pose the weevil to various plants over several Judy Hough-Goldstein weeks and see what happened,” she says. with her nemesis,

mile-a-minute weed atKinson F. Kathy Although some insects are generalists that (Persicaria perfoliata), feed on multiple species of plants, most in- and below, the tiny sects are specialists, linked by evolution to weevil that’s curbing it. only one or two host species. “Plants can produce hundreds of toxic chemicals, so the insects that depend on these plants need to be very in tune with them to be able to thrive,” she says. A telling clue is where an insect lays its eggs. e researchers found that these weevils, only as large as half a grain of rice, lay eggs on mile-a-minute weed, but not on other plants. e larval stage of the weevils feed inside the stems, while the adults bore holes in the leaves. Although the weevil will never eradicate mile-a-minute weed, the long-snouted insect can definitely curb it. At a test site on Pea Patch Island in Delaware Bay, location of a Civil War prison and one of the East Coast’s largest heron rookeries, the weevil has reduced the infestation by half in only two years. Yet other members of the ecosystem are aiding the weed’s spread. Deer and birds eat Can a weevil put the brakes the tart berries and disperse the seeds. Resource managers in Massachusetts con- on a speeding weed? tacted Hough-Goldstein about using the weevil to put the brakes on a growing infestation in an area with rare and endangered plants. Like Burma Shave advertisements, a series However, a natural nemesis — the of signs along the Pennsylvania Turnpike Asiatic weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes — is Although scientific models have shown once read: “You can go, A mile a minute, now coming on the scene, aer extensive test- that the Asiatic weevil will have naturally ex- But there is, No future in it.” ing by Hough-Goldstein and her students. panded its range to New England in 30 years, e weevils were introduced in Delaware in resource managers there won’t have to wait At the University of Delaware, entomolo- 2004 as part of a biological control program. that long. e New Jersey Department of gist Judy Hough-Goldstein is working to slow down a different speeder: mile-a-minute weed. e research began in 1999 when the U.S. Agriculture is rearing the weevils and recently Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest sent some to Massachusetts for the first time. Although this prickly vine with triangular Service contacted Hough-Goldstein to see if leaves and iridescent blue berries doesn’t grow e unsung heroes in the research are her she would be interested in doing the tests to graduate students, Hough-Goldstein says. as fast as its name implies, it can branch out a determine if the Asiatic weevil is host-specific good 20 feet a season in the Mid-Atlantic re- Over the past decade, they’ve grown hundreds to mile-a-minute weed in the United States, of plants in the greenhouse and insects in the gion, the professor of entomology says. And just as it is in China. She became the first re- lab, conducted multiple tests in the lab and the weed is rapidly invading new territory. searcher in the world to test and obtain a per- field, documented the extent of the weevils’ Since arriving in the 1930s at a nursery in mit to release the weevil as a control agent for stem boring and defoliation, and helped to Stewartstown, Pa., mixed in with holly seeds the weed. Today, her lab is still the only one in report the results to scientists and the public. from Japan, mile-a-minute weed has spread to the United States — and one of only a hand- 10 states and the District of Columbia. ful in the world — attempting to control the “is work is really a credit to them,” she Also known as “Asiatic tear-thumb” due to invasive plant through biological means. says of the high-stakes effort. its sharp spines, this weed plagues forests and She notes that Ding Jianqing, a collabora- “Mile-a-minute weed could infest a high meadows, parks, orchards, roadsides and tor at Wuhan Botanical Gardens in China, has percentage of the United States and Canada,” rights of way, climbing over everything in its been critical to the study, as well as the USDA she notes. “Although this is not a silver bullet, path. Seedlings, shrubs and trees are com- Beneficial Insect Research Laboratory and its the signs are positive that this weevil will pletely enshrouded, rising up like topiary sta- quarantine facilities near her lab at the College help put infested areas back into ecological lagmites from a field of green. e weed ofAgriculture and Natural Resources. balance.” — Tracey Bryant blocks sunlight from reaching the vegetation, “If the weevil switches hosts, it’s likely to weakening and in some cases killing it. be a close relative. So our mission was to ex- 47 first person Tricia Wachtendorf is an associate professor of sociology and the associate director for the Disaster Research Center (DRC), the first center in the world focused on the social science aspects of disaster. She writes about the center’s quick-response work, in which faculty and students are sometimes among the first researchers in the field aer a disaster. DRC was founded at the Ohio State University in 1963 and moved to the University of Delaware in 1985.

On September 11, 2001, I gathered with Often that means mobilizing to the im- Some of this early groundwork set the colleagues in a media room at UD watching pact zone. After the Haiti earthquake, Susan stage for subsequent DRC trips to Haiti, the terrorist attacks unfold. We deployed to Brink, a DRC and civil engineering graduate Dominican Republic and Florida. It was on New York City two days later. student, was the first of us to arrive in Port these trips that civil engineering professor On December 26th, 2004, I was vacation- au Prince. But Haiti was hard-hit, and it took Rachel Davidson found that confusion about ing in Hawaii consulting by email with re- several weeks for her to get there. Our inter- land-title rights is a significant impediment searchers about the Indian Ocean tsunami. ests, however, include other areas associated in recovery; Manuel Torres, a recent doctoral We deployed to India and Sri Lanka in less with the response. graduate in sociology, noted the importance than one month. On January 20, 2010, I deployed to of existing relationships between organizations helping victims coming to the U.S.; and On January 12, 2010, I was at home scour- Florida. From there, I documented the work Lucia Velotti, a doctoral student in public ing the Internet, looking for news about Haiti at donation warehouses, observed earth- policy, observed that food distribution ef- earthquake relief provisions. We deployed quake victims arriving at Orlando Interna- forts were focused on temporary camps and the first of several teams often ignored the needs of one week later. those outside the camps. We may be at work, DRC bases its decisions to on vacation, or at home, deploy on whether or not we but for researchers who feel we are well suited for the study disaster events, the research. Are we conducting initial hours are critical. other research in the area? Much transpires in the Does our center do research first hours, days, weeks, on themes emerging as signif- and months after a icant in the particular event? disaster. As disaster Tricia Wachtendorf outside a Do we have relationships that researchers, we try to faith-based donation depot in Miami. will facilitate entrée in the record those activities be- area? Sometimes it comes fore information is lost. down to studying what ap- Responders sometimes fail to document tional Airport and sat in on a planning pears to be a watershed event, like the Haiti what they do as they turn their attention to meeting for the Haiti Earthquake Relief Task earthquake. While faculty members secure urgent tasks. Helpers move on. The environ- force where many attendees were part of funding, obtain approvals for human sub- ment changes, and memories fade under the Haitian diaspora. jects research, and seek out contacts in the stressful circumstances. The sooner disaster At the same time, Jenniffer Santos- area, the students at DRC often do much of researchers can get on the ground and begin Hernandez, doctoral candidate in sociology, the logistics work. From gathering develop- documenting response activities, the better traveled to the Dominican Republic to docu- ing news, to finding accommodations and chance we have to learn about what went ment its role as a gateway for relief efforts. putting together supplies, the students take right and what could be improved. a very hands-on role. Our resource coordina-

48 $1.1 billion has been collected in the U.S. for Haitian relief eﬀorts among 23 charities.

A hospital at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic receives earthquake survivors.

tor gathers literature related to the event. trips in the 1960s and 70s went on to direct Our administrative staff sets in place mecha- other top disaster research centers and head nisms for us to travel on a moment’s notice. up major programs that fund disaster stud- Teamwork is essential to prepare and posi- ies. More recently, our graduates have be- tion researchers in the field quickly. come the young leaders of the research field This research has had visible impacts. For and have also taken positions in such organ- example, what we learned from our recent izations as FEMA. Findings from these recon- reconnaissance research following the Indian HAITI naissance trips make their way into UD Ocean tsunami and the 2008 China earth- classrooms, sometimes the same semester quake is already included in training material Port-au-Prince in which the disaster occurred. distributed by the Federal Emergency Man- Advance theory, train the next genera- agement Agency (FEMA). Léogâne tion of researchers and bring new knowl- DRC researchers also are called upon edge into the classroom. Underlying all the dozens of times each year to disseminate our collaborative work, however, is an attempt findings directly to national and international On Jan. 12, 2010, a catastrophic to make a real difference. Sure, disasters are emergency response organizations. During 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck “social occasions” to study behavior, but they are foremost occasions to learn and help our observations in New York City after 9/11, Haiti. The epicenter was near the I was pleasantly surprised to hear a key ameliorate their impacts in the future. When decision-maker note the work of a former town of Léogâne, 16 miles west we can take knowledge gleaned in the im- DRC graduate in his description of emergent of Port-au-Prince, the Caribbean mediate aftermath and talk to practition- ers, policy makers or even to the public organizations he was encountering during nation’s capital. As this issue goes the disaster response. through a radio interview about its to press, only 2% of the rubble implications, we use that opportu- Our work is as much about learning from nity to be first in the field to strive disasters as it is about teaching the next from the quake has been cleared. to help make communities more generation of disaster researchers. The grad- disaster resilient. uate students who led DRC quick-response

49 Year in Golinkoff wins lifetime achievement award in developmental psychology [ FACULTY HONORS ] Roberta Golinkoff, Review H. Rodney Sharp Professor in UD’s University of Delaware scholars have won recognition at School of Education, said it was a mo- home and abroad during the past year. UD’s distinguished ment of shock when faculty includes Guggenheim Fellows, Fulbright Fellows, she found out she and members of the National Academy of Sciences, was the 2011 recipient of the American National Academy of Engineering, and Nobel Prize-winning Psychological Asso- ciation’s Urie Bron- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to name only a few. Roberta Golinkoff fenbrenner Award, Here is a selection of honors from the past year. which recognizes a lifetime contribution to developmental psychology in the service of science and society. As a co-founder of the Head Start Program, Bronfenbrenner was tireless in his work to support children Kirchman receives UD’s highest faculty honor and families. “I was speechless,” said Golinkoff. “I was David Kirchman, Maxwell P. and Mildred H. Harrington Professor of Marine his teaching assistant in graduate school at Biosciences in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, won the 2010 Francis Cornell University. Now I have the award Alison Award, the University’s highest faculty honor. that bears his name.” Established by the Board of Trustees in 1978, the award is given to a faculty Golinkoff and collaborator Kathy Hirsh- member who has made notable contributions in his or her field of study and who Pasek, a professor at Temple University, best characterizes the “scholar-schoolmaster,” as exemplified by the Rev. Dr. Francis were both recipients of the award. The two Alison, who in 1743 founded the institution that is now the University of Delaware. have worked together for 30 years on stud- The honor includes a $10,000 prize and membership in the Alison Society. ies of preschool children, including how On the UD faculty since 1986, Kirchman developed the method that scientists kids learn language and the importance of use to measure the rates at which bacteria grow in the ocean. His research has David Kirchman play and playful learning in children’s lives. taken him from Delaware Bay to the waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group within the American Society of Microbiology, the world’s oldest and largest life-science organization.

Signorielli honored for research on broadcast media Elson leads blue-ribbon panel in corporate governance study Nancy Signorielli, professor of communication and director of UD’s master’s program in communication, Charles Elson, Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair and direc- received the 2010 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) tor of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Distinguished Scholar Award for significant contributions Governance in the Lerner College of Business and to research and scholarship involving broadcast and elec- Economics, is leading a nonpartisan expert group to tronic media. study the roles of boards of directors in corporate BEA is the professional association for professors, industry governance and generate a report containing find- Nancy Signorielli professionals and graduate students who are interested in ings and recommendations on board practices. teaching and research related to electronic media and multimedia enterprises. The study is funded by a grant from the There are currently more than 1,500 individual and institutional members. Rockefeller Foundation, which was co-awarded to Charles Elson Signorielli has conducted research on images in the media and how they are the University of Delaware and to the Columbia Univer- related to people’s conceptions of social reality (cultivation analysis) for the past sity Graduate School of Business, whose efforts were led by Glenn Hubbard, 40 years. An original member of the Cultural Indicators Research Team at the Uni- dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics and former versity of Pennsylvania’s Annenburg School for Communication, she published chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. one of the first (and frequently cited) studies of characterizations on television. The group, co-chaired by Elson and Hubbard, was put together with Frank Current work includes examining portrayals of aging, sex roles, occupations, mi- Zarb, former chairman and CEO of Smith Barney, NASDAQ and “Energy Czar” norities and violence on prime-time network television and children’s programs. in the Ford Administration. The blue-ribbon panel includes Paul O’Neill, sen- She has written or edited seven books, including Violence in the Media: A Refer- ior adviser and consultant to The Blackstone Group and former secretary of ence Handbook (ABC-CLIO, 2005), published more than 90 journal articles and the U.S. Treasury; William T. Allen, director of New York University’s Pollack book chapters, made over 150 presentations at invitational conferences, and Center for Law and Business and former chancellor of the Delaware Court of testified before Congress on television violence and its impact on children. Chancery; Damon Silvers, associate general counsel and head of corporate governance for the AFL-CIO; David Becker, Securities and Exchange Commis- sion (SEC) general counsel; and former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt. 50 Six UD faculty won awards in the Fulbright Program, the flagship international educational Fulbright winners forging global ties exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

Gonzalo arce, Charles ajay Manrai, professor of Beth MorlinG, associate jean Pfaelzer, professor DaviD PonG, professor of SuSan StraSSer, Richards Black Evans Professor of Elec- marketing and faculty direc- professor of psychology, is of English with appoint- history, received a 2009–2010 Professor of History, won a trical and Computer Engi- tor of graduate and execu- researching social support ments in the Women’s Stud- Fulbright Scholar grant to lec- Fulbright appointment as a neering, is the ﬁrst recipient tive programs in the Lerner on her Fulbright at Kyoto ies and East Asian programs, ture at the Chinese University senior lecturer in history at of the Fulbright-Nokia Distin- College of Business and Eco- University in Japan. She and has been awarded a Senior of Hong Kong and to serve as the Free University of Berlin guished Chair in Information nomics, won a Fulbright- Yukiko Uchida of the Kokoro Fulbright in Holland for a consultant for the reform of for spring 2011. She will join and Communications Tech- Nehru Research Scholar Research Center are studying spring 2011. Hosted by the Hong Kong’s higher educa- the Free University’s John F. nologies, funded by the Award for research in India in a phenomenon observed by American studies program at tion system. He worked part- Kennedy Institute for North Nokia Foundation and the spring 2011. Hosted by the other scholars, that in East the University of Utrecht, she time with the Hong Kong American Studies, where she Asian cultural contexts, will teach seminars on Asian General Education Initiative, will teach graduate and un- Finnish Fulbright Commis- Indian Institute of Manage- people are more reluctant to American culture and 19th- which consists of six other dergraduate courses in sion. He is working with ment in Hyderabad and the ask friends or family for help century women authors. She academic members and uni- American consumer culture Helsinki Univ ersity of Tech- Anand Group of Companies when under stress because also will use Dutch archives, versity administrators from and in global and American nology and Nokia Research in New Delhi, he will conduct they don’t want to burden from diaries to court and the United States. The group, environmental history, her Center on compressive sens- research on the similarities others with the obligation. maritime records, to com- known as “Team Fulbright,” specialties. She will also de- ing. This technology recovers and diﬀerences in the However, in European- plete her research on Muted is studying general educa- liver talks to academic and signals and images from far marketing strategies of American contexts, people Mutinies, a study of slave re- tion issues, especially the public audiences on subjects fewer data than traditional Indian companies, and tend to feel more comfort- bellions on ships transport- transition of the region’s drawn from her new book methods and has potential multinational companies able, perhaps because they ing kidnapped “coolies” from seven universities from project, A Historical Herbal: impacts in medical imaging with origins in both the think others are free to help China to work on Caribbean three-year colleges to four- Household Medicine in a to consumer electronics. U.S. and abroad. or not, by individual choice. sugar plantations. year colleges in 2012. Developing Consumer Culture.

Binder-Macleod receives Three win National Science national physical therapy award Foundation Early Career Awards Stuart Binder-Macleod, Assistant professors John Siegel’s $412,000 grant is for Edward L. Ratledge Professor Cavazos and Stephen F. Siegel, researching the accuracy of sci- and chairperson of UD’s Depart- both in the Department of Com- entific software. ment of Physical Therapy, re- puter and Information Sciences, ceived the 2010 John H. P. Maley “We know that most soft- John Cavazos and Zhihao Zhuang in the Award for Outstanding Contri- ware is very ‘buggy,’ and the Department of Chemistry and butions to Leadership in Re- software written and used by Biochemistry are winners of the search by the American Physical scientists is no different in that National Science Foundation’s Therapy Association (APTA). regard,” Siegel says. “Defective Faculty Early Career Develop- software can lead to inaccurate The selection marked the ment Award. The prestigious results, invalid conclusions, and second year in a row that a UD award supports faculty early in Stuart Binder-Macleod in the worst case, loss of life.” physical therapy faculty mem- their careers who exemplify the ber has received the award. Lynn Snyder-Mackler, role of teacher-scholars. Zhuang’s five-year, $783,000 Alumni Distinguished Professor of Physical Therapy, award supports an integrated Cavazos is using his $416,709 won the award last year, making UD the first univer- research and outreach program grant to develop adaptive com- sity to have two recipients. Stephen Siegel focusing on the development pilers for multi-core computer of new chemical methods that Binder-Macleod is internationally known for his environments, freeing software efficiently bond ubiquitin, the research on muscle physiology and electrical stimula- developers from laborious so-called “kiss of death” protein, tion. He and his colleagues in physical therapy and hand-tuning of compilers and to proliferating cell nuclear mechanical engineering developed an innovative helping machines make fuller antigen (PCNA), a key protein technique to help people who have had strokes use of their performance capa- in DNA replication and repair. improve their walking. Known as FastFES, the treat- bilities. Compilers translate ap- He is exploring at the molec- ment combines two interventions: treadmill walking plications written by developers ular level how cells bypass at precise speeds designed to maximize walking effi- into the code that executes on damaged DNA in a process ciency, and functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the computer, and they trans- called translesion synthesis. leg muscles during treadmill walking to strengthen Zhihao Zhuang form, or optimize, applications weak muscles and improve gait mechanics. so they run more efficiently.

51 Year in Art history students garner top dissertation fellowships STUDENT HONORS Seven graduate students Review [ ] in art history have won fellowships supporting their Nearly 3,500 graduate students and more doctoral research focusing on American art. than 700 undergraduates are engaged in re- A highly competitive fel- search and creative projects at the University lowship from the National of Delaware. Highlighted here are national Gallery of Art’s Center for Ad- vanced Study in the Visual and international award winners selected from dozens Arts will enable Sarah across UD during the past year. We salute their excellence! Beetham to travel to Italy to study classical Roman art and architecture in preparation for her dissertation on 19th-century American sculpture. Melody Deusner, most recently a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, won a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University through the Terra Foundation for American Art. She is interested in the Aesthetic Move- ment, and the collectors who gave their works of art to museums. Catherine Holochwost and Kerry Roeder received Henry Luce Foundation/ American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Fellowships. Holochwost is exploring constructions of vision and multisensory eﬀects of landscape repre- sentation in 19th-century America, and Roeder is studying American comic strip artist Winsor McCay, who created such comics as “Little Nemo in Slumberland.” Nenette Luarca-Shoaf, whose dissertation is titled “The Mississippi River in Antebellum Visual Culture and Imagination,” holds the 2010–11 Barra Foundation Fellowship at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her research focuses on ways in UD’s Yamada awarded Japan’s top which maps, prints, and other widely available images constructed cultural ideas academic award for Ph.D. graduates about this region of U.S. national expansion between the 1830s and the Civil War.

Masahiro (Masa) Yamada, a doctoral candidate in linguistics Catherine Walsh won the Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellowship at the Metro- and cognitive science at the University of Delaware, has been politan Museum of Art. Her dissertation, “‘Tell Me a Story’: Narrative and Orality in awarded a three-year, postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Nineteenth-Century American Visual Culture,” examines the relationships between Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). the spoken or written story and the painted or printed image, exploring how images ‘told’ stories, and readers and viewers created stories from details in pictures. The fellowship is Japan’s most prestigious academic award Masahiro Yamada for Ph.D. graduates, providing a generous stipend, as well as Mary “Katie” Wood won a Patricia and Phillip Frost predoctoral fellowship at funding for incidental expenses such as research trips. Half of the fellowship period the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her dissertation examines Benjamin may be spent anywhere in the world the recipient wishes to conduct research. West’s sculptural pediment at London’s Royal Naval Hospital dedicated to the memory of Admiral Horatio Nelson, which Wood describes as “a significant ob- Yamada has been working on natural language expressions of reciprocity. For ex- ject that lies at the nexus of many critical political, cultural and economic im- ample, in English, the sentence “Romeo and Juliet love each other,” contains a recip- pulses circa 1812.” rocal situation: Romeo loves her, and Juliet loves him. Among the world’s languages this seemingly innocuous aspect of grammar has turned out to be enormously complex — a hybrid notion of many semantic aspects, such as plurality, event se- mantics, verb aspects, and pragmatic reasoning, Yamada notes. Health science student He is the second student from UD’s Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Sci- receives award of promise ence to win the JSPS fellowship. Yurie Hara, a 2006 doctoral graduate, landed a tenure-track position at the City University of Hong Kong after her fellowship. Shannon Whalen, who completed her bachelor of science degree in health and physical education at UD, received the Student Recognition Award from the Adapted Physical Activity Council. Recipients are selected on the basis of Melissa Institute scholarship showing exceptional promise as leaders, pro- supports research on bullying viding exceptional service to individuals with disabilities, and/or providing an inspiration Lydia Romano Barhight, a doctoral student in psychology, to others in the field of physical education, has received the 2010 Belfer-Aptman Scholars Award from Shannon Whalen (left) and therapeutic recreation, or related areas such as The Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment, Lauren Van His (right) aquatics or dance. based in Miami. Whalen collaborated with senior Lauren Van Hise on a service learning project The award, which includes a $2,000 grant to defray the costs of research, is de- to increase fitness levels in children with Asperger syndrome. Whalen began work- signed to further scientific knowledge in the field of violence prevention. ing at Perryville and Bainbridge elementary schools in Maryland in February. Barhight’s dissertation topic is “Children’s Psychological and Emotional Reac- tions to Witnessing Bullying.”

52 Six NSF fellowship winners pursuing graduate studies catalyst nanoparticles applied to speciﬁc reaction networks. He’s particularly interested in ammonia Six UD students have won highly scientists and engineers to identify drug targets decomposition as a potential source of hydrogen competitive National Science Founda- and develop novel therapeutics for individuals in fuel cells. tion Graduate Research Fellowships, which support with type II diabetes. Recent UD graduates Marco Bedolla and Karin three years of advanced study, including tuition, a Autumn Kidwell, a master’s student in engineer- Twardosz Burghardt also won fellowships. Bedolla, stipend and an allowance for international travel. ing in UD’s Center for Applied Coastal Research, is who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engi- Nicholas Brubaker, a doctoral student in mathe- studying the horizontal pressure gradients neering from UD, entered the doctoral program in matics, is studying mathematical models that are throughout the swash zone — the area where chemical engineering at the University of Wiscon- motivated by micro- and nano-electromechanical waves wash up and down the beach face. The re- sin in fall 2010. systems. sults will enable improved predictions of erosion Burghardt, who earned her bachelor’s degree in caused by storms and climate change. Scott Crown, a doctoral student in chemical en- wildlife conservation, is attending Yale University gineering, is working to understand lipid biosyn- Vassili Vorotnikov, doctoral student in chemical to pursue a doctorate in ecology. Both students thesis at the metabolic level, which would allow engineering, is studying multiscale modeling of were in UD’s Honors Program.

Marine policy students embark on capital experience Four UD students win prestigious Amardeep Dhanju and Caitlin Snyder, Goldwater scholarships graduate students in marine policy, are among 46 students from across the U.S. All four of the University of Delaware’s nominees were selected to receive presti- who are working in Washington, D.C., as gious Goldwater scholarships for the 2010–2011 academic year. The scholarship pro- Dean John A. Knauss Fellows. gram, honoring the late U.S. Sen. Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona, encourages The National Sea Grant College Pro- outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and en- gram in the National Oceanic and At- gineering. It covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 mospheric Administration sponsors the per year. fellowships, which the students began Amanda Lee Welch, a junior animal science major, is studying ulceration in the in February 2010. Amardeep Dhanju Caitlin Snyder bovine claw through the Undergraduate Research Program. She plans to attend a The program matches graduate students with host agencies in the legislative research-based veterinary school to pursue a combined doctor of veterinary medi- and executive branches of the federal government for year-long paid assignments. cine (DVM) and Ph.D. degree to explore disease etiology for biomedical applications. Dhanju is assisting with marine spatial planning at the Minerals Management Michael G. Napolitano, a senior biochemistry major and Honors Program student, Service, which manages the nation’s natural gas, oil, wind and other resources on has been conducting research on the evolution and emergence of pathogenic bac- the outer continental shelf. He is mapping areas suited for offshore wind energy, teria. He has his sights set on graduate school in biology and biochemistry, with a drawing on his UD experience. focus on evolutionary biology. As a liaison between the Congressional Affairs Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife After graduating from UD, Patrick Robert Devlin, a senior mathematical sciences Service and Congress, Snyder’s duties include preparing Fish and Wildlife officers major and Honors Program student, plans to pursue a doctorate in mathematics and for congressional testimony and keeping both entities up to date on each other’s become a professor. activities, and on ocean issues such as coral reef protection to sea otter recovery. Mark Clayton Weidman, a senior chemical engineering major and Honors Pro- gram student, will continue his research on fuel cell catalysis during his senior year. Then he wants to attend graduate school to earn his doctorate in alternative energy technology. He hopes to eventually lead a research group in industry or academia to “find effective, abundant and reliable catalysts for fuel cell technologies.” Brilliance of chemistry-biochemistry From left, Goldwater Scholars Patrick Robert Devlin, Mark Clayton Weidman, Amanda students recognized globally Lee Welch and Michael Napolitano. “Crystallography is a powerful tool that allows us to rationalize, predict and engineer certain physical properties of a given material,” says Bayrammurad Saparov. Saparov, a doctoral student in UD’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, won the prestigious 2010 Ludo Frevel Crystallog- raphy Scholarship Award from the International Centre for Diffraction Data. Named in honor of the founder of the scholarship fund, the award is given annually to aspiring crystallographers. Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Reyes, also a doctoral student in chemistry and biochemistry, received the Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Award at the 56th Inter- national Symposium and Exhibition of the American Vacuum Society in San Jose in November 2009. The award is the top honor given by the society to a graduate student. Rodriguez-Reyes is studying surface chemistry in both aqueous and ultra- high vacuum conditions for application in microelectronics, heterogeneous catalysis and other fields of surface science. 53 EVAN KRAPEEVAN Year in Prof connects war, which he developed, is widely acknowl- revenue and state building edged to be the best data collection tool Review [ UNIVERSITY BOOKS ] for measuring productivity, instructional In War, Revenue, costs and externally funded scholarship, A selection of books by UD authors and their publishing honors. and State-Building: with close to 600 four-year colleges and Financing the Develop- universities participating. ment of the American State (Cornell Univer- sity Press), Sheldon Three history-making women Pollack, professor and Ray’s book wins national honor come to life in Moses and the director of the Legal Monster and Miss Anne Studies Program at Meredith K. Ray, associate professor of Italian in UD’s Sheldon Pollack UD, reveals how war has In Moses and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, won the been a major catalyst for “revenue extrac- Monster and MIss Anne 2009 American Association for Italian Studies Book Prize in (University of Illinois tion.” It all began with the American Revolu- the “Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque” category for Writing Press), UD sociology tion, and the taxes on whiskey and tobacco, Gender in Women’s Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance. professor Carole C. land sales and tariffs that paid off war debt. In the award-winning book, published by the University Marks brings to life Then the Civil War brought the first in- of Toronto Press, Ray examines the collections of letters of a three history-making come tax (5% on incomes above $600 per women from ante- Meredith Ray diverse group of writers, year, graduated up to 10% for incomes over bellum Maryland. including a noblewoman, Carole C. Marks $10,000). Although that tax expired in a courtesan, an actress, a nun and a male writer “Moses” refers to Harriet Tubman, hailed 1872, an amendment to the U.S. Constitu- who used female pseudonyms. as “the Moses of her people,” who led slaves tion in 1913 permitted an income tax. Up to to freedom on the Underground Railroad Valeria Finucci, professor of Italian studies and $3,000 in income for single individuals was and later was a women’s suffragist. theater studies at Duke University, said: “Meredith exempted, and the tax rate on up to K. Ray makes the case for the importance of the $20,000 was only one percent. Because the The “Monster” is Patty Cannon, thief, genre of letter writing for women as she shows exemption was so high, only 2% of house- murderer and leader of a gang who kid- how difficult it was for intellectual women to holds paid income tax the first few years. napped free blacks and sold them back adopt a public persona. She also illustrates how into slavery. That changed dramatically with World popular it was at the time to ‘write like a woman,’ War II and the escalation in federal expendi- “Miss Anne” refers to Anna Ella Caroll, an to the point that even male authors wanted to tures from $9.6 billion in 1940 to $95 billion unmarried slaveholder who exerted her in- catch the wave. Brava!” in 1945. Today, the Internal Revenue Serv- fluence on legislators to keep Maryland in ice raises $2.5 trillion a year. the Union when others were clamoring for it to join the Confederacy.

All three women lived for a time on Higher-ed planning and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Although they assessment focus of book never met, their lives intertwined over the Michael Middaugh, intersecting and conflicting forces of race, associate provost for economics and gender that threatened to institutional effective- tear a nation apart. ness at UD, said he wrote Planning and Assessment in Higher Yagoda pens Memoir: A History Education: Demon- For a literary genre strating Institutional that traces its origins to Effectiveness (Jossey- Michael Middaugh Julius Caesar, the mem- Bass) because he saw a oir is still going strong, need for a book that spelled out how and Ben Yagoda, pro- schools could plan, achieve and substanti- fessor of English at UD, ate institutional effectiveness in today’s has some ideas why. educational world. In Memoir: A History “It is essentially a road map for educa- (Riverhead Books), Ben Yagoda tors,” Middaugh said. Yagoda offers both a sur- Noted John Cavanaugh, chancellor of vey of the genre’s most illustrious works, in- the Pennsylvania State System of Higher cluding the 5th-century classic, Confessions Education: “Only Michael Middaugh, the of Saint Augustine, while fast-forwarding to unquestioned national leader in this field, look at contemporary bestsellers such as could write such a lucid overview of how to Going Rogue, by former Alaska governor make institutional assessment and plan- and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. KATHY F. ATKINSON F. KATHY ning really work as a tool rather than as a Besides screening the good, the bad and tedious requirement.” the ugly of the genre, Yagoda examines the Middaugh cites UD extensively underlying reasons for America’s enduring in the book as an example of the self- fascination with the memoir. He also ad- assessment process and institutional dresses controversial issues such as hon- effectiveness. The Delaware Study of esty, accuracy, privacy and trust in memoir 54 Instructional Costs and Productivity, writing today. Although previously the domain of the From a social standpoint, Trask says the most eminent individuals in politics, science biggest issues surrounding globalization or business, these days almost anyone can deal with poverty and inequality. The crux “Selling Sounds” highlights write and publish a memoir, Yagoda says. of the debate is whether globalization music industry’s origins leads to more opportunities for people, or “I think there is a connection between David Suisman, associate professor of history, won the increasing inequality. For example, in the the popularity of reality shows, and talk 2010 Hagley Prize, awarded for the best new book in business West, the growing prevalence of women in shows, like ‘Oprah,’” he notes. “There seems history, for Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American the workplace is associated with the em- to be more of a hunger for something true Music (Harvard University Press). The book also was named a powerment of women, while in other areas or real, in a basic sense. The Internet also of the world, women may not receive the Choice “Outstanding Academic Title” of 2009 and is a finalist for an has made self-publishing a book pretty David Suisman same benefits as men, or they may face Award for Excellence of the Association of easy and not all that expensive.” risky work conditions. Recorded Sound Collections.

Trask says globalization also can provide Selling Sounds brings to light the origins of the modern music Stalin’s social order repression the tools for individuals to mobilize and industry, the publishers and promoters of sheet music in New highlighted in new book get their agenda heard worldwide, in order York City at the turn of the 20th century. Driven by entrepre- to benefit those who may need help. neurial zeal, they cultivated songwriters and developed formu- Policing Stalin’s las for light, catchy hit songs, exploited the new technologies Socialism: Repression of the phonograph and radio, and turned music into a mass- and Social Order in the Paul R. Jones, African-American produced, international commodity. Soviet Union, 1924–1953, art collector celebrated written by UD history Living Art, The professor David Shearer Life of Paul R. Jones, and published by the African American Letters of Thomas Eakins Yale University Press, is David Shearer Art Collector, cast new light on renowned artist one of the first books to chronicles the mul- emphasize the importance of social order The Paris Letters of Thomas Eakins (Princeton University Press), tifaceted life of the repression by Stalin’s Soviet regime in con- edited by William Innes Homer, H. Rodney Sharp Professor Emeritus visionary UD bene- trast to the traditional emphasis of histori- of Art History, casts new light on the renowned American artist. factor. The book is ans on political repression. Margaret Anderson written by Margaret and Neil Thomas The letters present a lively account of Eakins’ years in Paris — Based on his extensive examination of Andersen, Edward F. William Homer from his trip across the Atlantic and battles with bedbugs, to his new archival materials, author David and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Profes- art classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, his rowdy classmates, and his explorations of Shearer, UD associate professor of history, sor of Sociology, and Neil F. Thomas II, sen- the city and its art treasures. finds that most repression during the ior associate director in the Office of Stalinist dictatorship of the 1930s was Communications and Marketing. It was “Longtime Eakins biographer William Homer has edited these letters with illuminat- against marginal social groups such as published in September 2009 by the Uni- ing insight and contextual information,” said John Wilmerding, professor emeritus of petty criminals, deviant youth, sectarians versity of Delaware Press. Jones died four American art at Princeton. “Both the artist’s own observations and the unemployed. months later, on Jan. 27, 2010, in Atlanta, and the attendant commentary are likely to be indispensible for Shearer details informant networks, po- after a brief illness, but his legacy lives on. all future Eakins publications." lice registration systems, and widespread The Paul R. Jones Collection at UD is one Homer won a Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication police cleansing campaigns and surveil- of the oldest, largest and most complete Grant, administered by the College Art Association, to work on lance systems. Despite the combined work holdings of African American art in the the book. It won an award in the scholarly books category at the of the political and civil police, these efforts world. It includes works by such noted 2010 Bookbinders’ Guild of New York, New York Book Show, to cleanse society failed, setting the stage artists as Charles White, Herman "Kofi" which celebrates the fine art of bookmaking. for the massive purges that decimated the Bailey, David Driskell, Elizabeth Catlett, country in the late 1930s. Earl Hooks, Leo Twiggs, Stanley White, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, P. H. Polk, and Selma Burke, who created the image of China focus of book Book examines impact of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that appears on globalization on family life the dime. The Encyclopedia of Modern China, for which UD history professor David Pong served as editor-in-chief, won honorable mention in the Housed in Mechanical Hall, the collec- The world is experi- Dartmouth Award competition of the Reference and User Services tion is used in research and instruction, for encing a fundamental Association, a division of the American Library Association. The book is global restructuring of special symposia and leadership training, one of 11 titles honored as outstanding reference sources for 2010. social life, says Bahira so that students can understand its histori- Sherif Trask, professor cal, cultural and artistic significance. Works David Pong Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, a part of Gale, Cengage and associate chair of from the collection have been featured in Learning, the four-volume, illustrated work spans more than 2,000 pages and is available the Department of numerous public exhibitions since Jones in both print and eBook editions. The 940 entries, written by over 400 scholars around the Human Development made the gift to the University in 2001. world, provide information about the people, politics, eco- and Family Studies at UD. Bahira Trask “I knew I could sell the collection at its nomics, religion, philosophy, traditions, art and literature of Her newest book, Globalization and Fam- appreciated price and get myself a chauf- China, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present. ilies: Accelerated Systemic Social Change feur, a cook, a maid, and travel the world,” A review in Booklist said: “Both authoritative and highly (Springer), examines the linkages between Jones once said. “But I realized I wanted to accessible, this encyclopedia is strongly recommended for globalization and gender identities, work- do something with my collection that academic, public and high-school libraries.” family relationships, and conceptualiza- would have a lasting impact, both in my tions of children, youth and the elderly. lifetime and beyond.”

55 Who’s Who? KATHY F. ATKINSoNKATHY F. Can you match up the larva in the left column with its beautiful adult form in the right column? Special thanks to Prof. Doug Tallamy for the images!

I like maple, wild cherry and birch trees. I turn into North America’s largest native moth, with a wingspan up to six inches. MONARCH 1 Danaus plexippus

One of my favorite plants is sassafras trees, but that’s not all. My eyespots make me look like a snake to scare oﬀ predators, but I am harmless. CECROPIA 2 Hyalophora cecropia

I develop only on milkweed. When I grow up, you can tell I am a male by the spot behind the center of my wings, where I VICEROY release pheromones. 3 Limenitis archippus

I am a master of disguise, sticking pieces of the ﬂowers I’m eating on my back. I become a very lovely moth! SPICEBUSH 4 SWALLOWTAIL Papilio troilus

I feed on willows, poplars and cottonwoods. The butterﬂy I become exhibits Mullerian mimicry, in which two equally toxic species mimic each other for 5 WAVY-LINED EMERALD the beneﬁt of each. Synchlora aerata

Check out the answers below! Take the 4 — wavy-lineD eMeralD 5 — viceroy — 5 eMeralD wavy-lineD — 4

56 Monarch — 3 Swallowtail SPiceBuSh — 2 cecroPia — 1 challenge! ResearchUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE ISSN 2150-461X Volume 2 / Number 1 / 2010

KATHY F. ATKINSoNKATHY F. Colleges

u College of Agriculture and u College of Education Natural Resources and Human Development u College of Arts and Sciences u College of Engineering u Alfred Lerner College of u College of Health Sciences Business and Economics The University of Delaware community u College of Earth, Ocean, values both personal and academic and Environment freedom. All members of the campus community have the personal respon- sibility to promote an atmosphere of civility in which the free exchange of ideas and opinions can ﬂourish. We do so by learning from individual and Research Centers & Institutes collective diﬀerences and respecting every human being.

Agricultural Experimental Station Center for Remote Sensing To the extent permitted by applicable Applied Science & Engineering Laboratories Center for Research Development State and Federal laws, the University Art Conservation Laboratories at Winterthur Center for Spintronics and Biodetection of Delaware is committed to assuring equal opportunity to all persons and Avian Biosciences Center Center for the Study of Metals in the Environment does not discriminate on the basis Bartol Research Institute Center for Translational Cancer Research of race, creed, color, sex, age, religion, Elbert N. and Ann V. Carvel Research Christina River Basin Critical Zone Observatory national origin, veteran or handicapped & Education Center status, or gender identity and expres- Computer Architecture & Parallel Systems Lab sion, or sexual orientation in its educa- Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation Delaware Asteroseismic Research Center tional programs, activities, admissions, Center for Applied Coastal Research Delaware Biotechnology Institute or employment practices as required by Center for Applied Demography & Survey Research Title IX of the Educational Amendments Delaware Center for Transportation of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilita- Center for Archaeological Research Delaware Education Research tion Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology & Development Center Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable Center for Biomedical Engineering Research Delaware Environmental Institute statutes. The University of Delaware Center for Carbon-free Power Integration Delaware Geological Survey has designated Karen Mancini, Director of the Office of Disabilities Support Center for Catalytic Science & Technology Delaware Rehabilitation Institute Services, as its ADA/Section 504 Center for Climate and Land-Surface Change Delaware Sea Grant College Program Coordinator under Federal law. Center for Climatic Research Delaware Space Grant Program Inquiries concerning Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, Section 504 Center for Community Research & Service Delaware Water Resources Center compliance, campus accessibility, and Center for Composite Materials Disaster Research Center related issues should be referred to Center for Disabilities Studies Early Learning Center & Laboratory Preschool Karen Mancini (302-831-4643) in the Office of Disabilities Support Services. Center for Drug & Alcohol Studies Exelon Trading Center Inquiries concerning Title VII and Center for Economic Education & Entrepreneurship Halophyte Biotechnology Center Title IX compliance and related issues Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Institute for Global Studies should be referred to the Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Center for Environmental Genomics Institute for Public Administration Becki Fogerty (302-831-8063). Center for Fuel Cell Research Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education Center for Historic Architecture & Design Institute of Energy Conversion Check out University of Delaware Research online at www.udel.edu/ Center for Information & Institute of Soil and Environmental Quality Communications Sciences researchmagazine. For the latest Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center research news, visit the UD Research Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy Web site at www.udel.edu/research. Center for Managed Ecosystems OCEANIC — The Ocean Information Center Center for Material Culture Studies POSTMASTER: Small Business Development Center Send address changes to: Center for Molecular & Engineering University of Delaware Botanic Gardens Thermodynamics University of Delaware Research University of Delaware Energy Institute Center for Neutron Science Office of Communications and Marketing Water Resources Agency Academy Building Center for Political Communication 105 East Main St. John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance Center for Public Horticulture Newark, DE 19716-7201 UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Research PAID Permit No. 26 Newark, DE Office of Communications and Marketing University of Delaware e Academy Building Newark, DE 19716-7201 www.udel.edu/researchmagazine