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Green research by green researchers
A group of LSU faculty members has received $450,000 from the National Academy of Sciences to support undergraduate research and creative projects to benefit Gulf Coast communities.
The money will be used to make the Gulf Renaissance Scholars Program, an expansion of an existing undergraduate research program at LSU. The program will focus on recruiting undergraduates interested in projects that protect and support coastal communities, ecosystems and industries.
Linda Hooper-Bùi, a professor of environmental science, will direct the program.
“Many of the challenges facing the Gulf region also amplify global issues,” Hooper-Bùi said. “We see this as an opportunity for transdisciplinary work, meaning not just interdisciplinary – involving all our different colleges and schools and offering the opportunity to see something through different lenses – but involving communities, from the sea to our sandy beaches, to the marshes and salt marshes.”
The program will start with 25 students, with the goal of growing to 100 in the third year. Each student is eligible for up to $6,000 in support each year.
University leaders are hopeful the program helps keep economically disadvantaged students enrolled in school.
Nicholls budgeted $100K for the geomatics program
The Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors has made a $100,000 gift to the Nicholls State University geomatics department.
Esra Tekdal Yilmaz, head of Nicholls’ Department of Applied Sciences and professor of geomatics, said the money will be used to hire a full-time faculty member to teach surveying and mapping.
Nicholls is the only school in Louisiana that offers a four-year geomatics program.
Giving the nurse teacher to meet the shortage of 5-state
LSU’s medical school in New Orleans received $3 million from the the US Department of Health and Human Services to improve health and care equity in rural and medically underserved communities in five states.
The grant, one of 10 federal health officials awarded, will be used to create a Clinical Nurse Educator Academy to meet nursing needs in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Leanne Fowler, Program Director of Nurse Practitioner Programs at LSU Health Sciences New Orleans, said increasing the number of nurse educators will help address the shortage of nurses in underserved areas.
The country is in a nursing shortage exacerbated by the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is now thousands of open nursing positions in Louisiana.
A closer look at wetland methane emissions
Xavier University of Louisiana chemistry professor Samrat Dutta received a grant from the National Science Foundation to fund methane emission research.
Dutta’s research will focus on the wetlands surrounding Lake Pontchartrain. The area contains one of the largest forests on the Gulf Coast. The research aims to show how wetland methane emissions are mixed with human methane emissions, the latter of which experts say causes 25% of global warming and climate change
“Since 2006, there has been an abnormal increase in methane in the atmosphere. Wetlands have been shown to play a role in its rise, but no one is sure how much,” Dutta said in an announcement from Xavier. “The idea is to study the emissions and their local connections so we can have a better idea about the wetlands surrounding Lake Pontchartrain and their contribution to our environment.”
Part of the grant will pay for a portable infrared device that collects data on methane in the soil, which will be shared with Xavier faculty.
Dutta believes his research will contribute to the state’s future environmental strategy.
“As there are plans to dredge Lake Pontchartrain by 2050, this research is relevant to Louisiana and could have an immediate impact on policy makers,” said Dutta.
