User:Jhunt47/USU/Research
Research and environmentalism[edit]
Utah State University is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a research university with "high research activity."[1] It received a record $187 million in research awards during the 2010 fiscal year, a 29 percent increase over the previous year.[2] In addition to its faculty and graduate work, the university strongly emphasizes the importance of undergraduate research. USU's Undergraduate Research program recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, making it one of the oldest such organizations in the nation.[3]
Along with the University of Utah, USU is an anchor in the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) program, which is aimed at optimizing the university and region's most marketable strengths with the goal of bolstering Utah's high-tech economy. Nine USTAR teams currently perform research at Utah State.
Notable research centers based at USU include the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Energy Dynamics Laboratory, Utah Water Research Laboratory, Center for High Performance Computing, Utah Climate Center, Center for Advanced Nutrition, Center for the School of the Future, National Aquatic Monitoring Center, Intermountain Center for River Rehabilitation and Restoration, Mountain West Center for Regional Studies, and Utah Botanical Center, among others.
List of research and environmental impacts[edit]
| Year | Title | Field | Notes | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Transgenic Goats | Agriculture | In July of 2011, USU professor Randy Lewis made headlines for his transgenic goats, the milk of which contains spider silk. | [4] |
| 2010 | FreeWays to Fuel | Agriculture | Dallas Hanks, a doctoral student, has initiated a program at the university called FreeWays to Fuel, which is growing oilseed crops for biodiesel in previously unused municipal land such as highway roadsides. Hanks estimates that in the U.S., 10 million acres (40,000 km2) of such unused land exists—land which generally serves no other purpose and currently costs tax dollars to maintain. Early yields from the crops are promising, and the program has spread to other land-grant universities across the nation. He has a goal to produce 50 million US gallons (190,000 m3) of biofuel in five years. | [5] |
| 2010 | Example | Science | Research efforts are underway to produce a cost-competitive bio-diesel from algae. Lance Seefeldt and other professors formed the Biofuels Program at Energy Dynamics Laboratory to develop new and emerging technologies that will produce methane, biodiesel, hydrogen and alcohols from renewable, carbon-dioxide-neutral energy sources, such as consumer and agricultural waste and sunlight. | [6] |
| 2005 | Example | Science | In 2005, chemist Alexander Boldyrev and colleague Lai-Sheng Wang discovered inorganic aromaticity, a property in chemistry that was initially thought to occur only in organic material. Recently, Boldyrev and Wang made another breakthrough and discovered antiaromaticity, which was a featured article in the April 24 issue of Science magazine. | Example |
| 2003 | Idaho Gem | Agriculture | A team of USU and University of Idaho researchers were the first in the world to successfully clone an equine. The baby mule, named Idaho Gem, was born May 4, 2003. | |
| Example | Example | Example | Example | Example |
- Thanks to the Get Away Special (GAS) team sponsored by the Department of Physics, Utah State has placed more student experiments into space than any educational institution in the world.[7]
- In reaction to recent massive oil spills and the EPA's creation of the Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan (SPCC), USU has created its own SPCC with a detailed map of locations, oil types, quantities and containment specifications. The plan maps all possible outfalls from oil storage locations that may impact the waters of the United States.
- On January 15, 2010, the university received ownership of the $30 million-plus Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter outside of Park City. The center consists of a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) land trust and a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2), state-of-the-art facility dedicated to environmental education. The preserve protects critical wetland and foothill terrain in the heart of one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, and the EcoCenter, completed in 2009, is a multi-use facility with space for educational and community activities. The facility is LEED Platinum Certified, the highest standard for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.[8]
- Utah State University promotes the OpenCourseWare (OCW) Project (open and free university courses) and is developing an open content management system for OCW called eduCommons. This open source content management system is one of the important technology projects in the MIT OpenCourseWare Initiative. eduCommons aids in the creation of OCW sites and has already been adopted by several universities for this purpose.
- ^ "Carnegie Classifications: Utah State University". Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ "Utah State University Reports Record Research Funding". Utah State University. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "Utah State University Undergraduate Research Program Celebrates 35 Years of Hands-On Learning". Utah State University. 26 February 2010. Retrieved 22 March2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Fattah, Geoffrey. "A web of possibilities: Utah researcher uses goats to make one of the strongest known substances". Deseret News. Retrieved 03 September 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Passey, Brian (2010-05-10). "Student's idea turns roadsides into biodiesel cash cropland". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
- ^ "Pond Scum: Fueling Our Future?". Physorg.com. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
- ^ "Back in Flight: Aggie GAS Team to Ride NASA's 'Vomit Comet'". Utah State Today. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
- ^ Vitale, Tim. "Swaner Preserve & EcoCenter Makes Largest Gift in USU's History". Utah State Today. Utah State University. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
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