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Black Hills State University Research News Even as the water is being pumped from the former Homestake Mine, the Center for the Conservation of Biological Resources (CCBR) at Black Hills State University, is taking an active role by conducting genetic analysis of microbes found in water samples taken from the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL). Jake Miller, a pre-medicine student from Pierre, along with Dr. Cynthia Anderson, associate director of the CCBR, are sequencing bacterial and archaeal clones of samples taken from the former Homestake Gold Mine. The research will try to identify new microorganisms from samples of the water at the 1,000-foot level, the 3,000-foot level and the 4,850-foot level. In the CCBR lab, Miller and Anderson compare the genetic sequences of the samples to known organisms searching for undiscovered organisms. The genetic analysis, which will continue through the next few months, is part of a research project by Dr. Sookie Bang from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Results from this study are expected in about a year. |
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DSU Professor Receives Grant A
Dakota State University associate professor in computer information
systems has received a grant for at least $45,000 from National Security
Agency's Department of Information Assurance Scholarship Program.
NSA, which protects all classified information stored or sent through U.S. government equipment, hires professionals who make sure government systems remain impenetrable.
DSU
increases grant funding |
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April R&D Funding More Than $1 Million at School of Mines
School of Mines researchers and professors received more than $1 million in research and development funding during April 2008.
The awards are funding research in departments across campus. Some research is basic, and is designed to create new knowledge or to add to the literature on a given topic. Other research is applied, and is meant to produce real-world products. The School of Mines has placed an emphasis on applied research to benefit the state, region and nation.
The School of Mines , an engineering and science university in Rapid City , is home to several research institutions and centers, and plans are underway to expand the number of graduate degrees and to enhance the technology-transfer process.
The School of Mines boasts a solid research program. During the 2007 fiscal year, researchers and professors received more than $17.1 million in 72 awards from federal and state agencies, from corporations and from direct Congressional appropriations. Since 2001, the School of Mines has received nearly $80 million in Congressional appropriations for research and development.
School of Mines Successful in EPSCoR CompetitionThe project “Lattice-Mismatched III-V Epilayers for High-Efficiency Photovoltaics” has been chosen as one of 12 projects selected for funding by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) in fiscal year 2008.
The project, led by principal investigator Dr. Scott Ahrenkiel, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology physics professor, will study the management of defects in lattice-mismatched materials. According to Ahrenkiel, the project will seek to develop greater control of defect generation in multilayer thin-film materials used for the direct conversion of sunlight into electrical energy.
The DOE will invest up to $5.2 million in the 12 projects. In an effort to ensure America remains the world leader in scientific research and innovation, universities selected will pair with a DOE national laboratory to maximize expertise. The School of Mines will pair with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Space Grant Consortium Receives Grant The South Dakota Space Grant Consortium will receive an additional $177,000 to support a new research and education partnership involving the School of Mines, Oglala Lakota College and Dakota State University. NASA's Consortium Development Competition was open to the 17 Non-Designated Consortia, representing states that currently receive the lowest levels of NASA research and development funding. NASA selected five proposals for funding including the SDSGC project.
The SDSGC project is “A Proposal to Increase Minority Participation in Higher Education in STEM Disciplines Responsive to NASA needs – A Multi-Institution Effort.” The program will directly coordinate with programs currently conducted at the School of Mines that provide research and educational experiences to American Indian high school and college students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines and with programs at Dakota State University (DSU) that promote increased participation of women in STEM disciplines.
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SDSU historian: Cookbooks show recipe for social change
BROOKINGS , S.D. — A South Dakota State University history professor's ongoing study of cookbooks finds something spicy simmering in the 18th century: A slow recipe for social change.
Professor April Brooks came across copies of a once-popular cookbook while doing research in London : “The Whole Duty of a Woman, or A Guide to the Female Sex.” It was first published in 1695 and remained in print at least through 1835.
“It starts with a morality essay but it's actually a cookbook, which I found a really odd combination,” Brooks said. Though published in England , it was imported to America as well, and the number of copies that remain suggests it was widely used.
“It was kind of like ‘The Joy of Cooking' or ‘The Fannie Farmer Cookbook' of the 18th century,” Brooks said. “It supposedly is not the most successfully sold cookbook of the 18th century, but it's definitely near the top of the list because it was reproduced so many times.” SDSU professor: Homestake experiments could start in 2012
BROOKINGS , S.D. — The initial suite of deep underground science experiments in the former Homestake Gold Mine could start in 2012 or 2013.
South Dakota State University assistant professor Robert McTaggart said that's the timeline scientists were looking at when they met in Lead in April to began planning a grant application to support the engineering design of the experiments.
The National Science Foundation announced in July 2007 that Homestake will be the site for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory, or DUSEL. The lab is now being formally called the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or simply the Sanford Lab, in honor of philanthropist T. Denny Sanford's contribution to the laboratory.
McTaggart, a particle physicist at SDSU, said crucial physics and engineering experiments will take place in the deeper levels of the mine, with the first developments taking place at the 4,850-foot level. The rock of the mine will help shield experiments from cosmic rays that can interfere with physics experiments. SDSU research: Making electricity by mimicking plants
BROOKINGS, S.D. — Trying to mimic the way leaves convert sunlight to energy can lead to better ways of making electricity.
Assistant professor Brian Logue in South Dakota State University's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry said that's one focus of his research. South Dakota EPSCoR, the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, funds Logue's project. The EPSCoR program is designed to strengthen research and education in science and engineering.
Logue's work is included in an EPSCoR grant of $6.75 million for collaborative work involving researchers at SDSU, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and the University of South Dakota. Logue is one of several researchers focusing on research infrastructure in Photo Active Nanoscale Systems (PANS). The main purpose is developing photovoltaics, or devices that will directly convert light to electricity. Learn more about PANS at a South Dakota EPSCoR Web site, http://www.sdepscor.org/NEW%20PANS/PANS.html .
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USD - Spring Research Newsletter Physical Chemistry Professor at The U Nets NSF Grant VERMILLION, S.D. -- A professor at The University of South Dakota was instrumental in securing a large grant that will help pay for an instrument of science that will support several innovative research projects at The U. Ranjit T. Koodali, Ph.D., an assistant professor of physical chemistry at USD, recently learned that his project, “MRI: Acquisition of a Powder X-ray Diffractometer for Materials Chemistry Research and Education at The University of South Dakota” will receive a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will help pay for a new powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD) for the department of chemistry at The U. The amount of the NSF grant is $163,000 and will be payable over the next three years. Koodali said the purchase of an XRD will aid chemistry education and research projects at USD ranging from inorganic synthesis of nanostructured materials, mechanistic investigations, oxidation catalysis and luminescence upconversion to environmental remediation. “X-ray diffraction has become a popular technique for the analysis of a wide range of materials that include metals, plastics, minerals, pharmaceuticals and ceramics, to name just a few,” Koodali explained. “The acquisition of a powder XRD is critical to the overall growth of the chemistry department, particularly to the success of the new Ph.D. program in materials chemistry.” With the new XRD, The University of South Dakota will be the only institution in the state of South Dakota to have two state-of-the-art X-ray diffractometers: a powder XRD and a single crystalXRD, which was recently installed at The U. Koodali also served as project director when the chemistry department acquired a liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer through a similar major research instrument NSF grant in 2006.
Professor of Biology at The U Awarded $1.8 Million Grant for Groundbreaking Evolution ResearchThe National Science Foundation awarded Dr. Paula Mabee, professor of biology at The University of South Dakota, a highly competitive grant to pursue research in evolutionary biology. Mabee will use the grant, scheduled for $1.8 million over three years, to try to answer important questions regarding the development of organisms over time. Her goal is to discover previously unknown connections between evolutionary change, genes and the developmental processes in which the genes play a role. “It represents a new and forward-looking move for evolutionary studies, and I am really excited by the opportunity,” said Mabee.
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