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WINTER 2012

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The 2012 Idaho NSF EPSCoR & Idaho NASA EPSCoR Annual Meeting was held October 2nd-3rd at The Grove Hotel in downtown Boise, Idaho. This marked the first year both Idaho NSF EPSCoR and Idaho NASA EPSCoR joined together to provide a unique experience for attendees. The meeting centered around agency engagement for climate science and management. Students from Idaho’s colleges and universities also presented their research to conference participants. Speakers included Idaho EPSCoR faculty as well invited presenters. Below is an overview of presentations:

• Tim Personius, Deputy Director, PNW Branch, Bureau of Reclamation

• Von Walden, University of Idaho, PNW Climate Science Meeting Summary

• Mike Pellant, Bureau of Land Management, Climate Change Challenges on Public Lands in the Great Basin

Annual Idaho EPSCoR Meeting Highlights

L-R: Dr. Laird Noh, Dr. Alex Punnoose, Tina Punnoose, Dr. Jean’ne Shreeve

Message from the DirectorIt has been just over a year since Idaho hosted the 22nd National NSF EPSCoR Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. As we look back on the event, there is much that could be said. But here we want to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the Program Committee, Idaho EPSCoR staff, and dozens of others who made this outcome-oriented conference possible. The independent evaluator, Dr. Rose Shaw of Metrica, did an outstanding job of quantifying the lasting impact based on her post-event survey of participants this summer, about nine months after the event. How did this Conference influence people most? Here are just a few of the things she found:

• 90% communicated at least some of what they learned at the National Conference to others on their own EPSCoR teams.

• 87% communicated at least some of what they learned with others in their States.

• 85% reported that one or more ideas from the Conference had made at least some difference in one or more of their State EPSCoR programs.

• 75% reported that one or more ideas from the Conference made at least some difference in their State’s EPSCoR research.

“From a variety of angles, these respondents identified their new grasp and appreciation of the EPSCoR program – its scope and significance for scientific research and for helping the states to meet their science and technology goals; the expansion of their communication and

collaboration networks; and the validation of their time and effort spent on research as lasting effects of their conference experience. Individuals mentioned how they had been impacted personally, citing co-writing new proposals across jurisdictions; looking for ways to better utilize and incorporate STEM students into research activities between universities; exploring new ways to work and collaborate with state legislators; addressing locally the challenge of getting more students into STEM degree programs and careers; grasping the strategic issues behind NSF and EPSCoR program diversity and proposal instructions/requirements; and gaining increased confidence in peer interaction and presentation of scientific research.”

For Idaho, this Conference will always be a defining event that clearly demonstrated the important contributions that EPSCoR Jurisdictions are making to the National research agenda. It was also an opportunity for over 400 people from across the US to experience why Idaho is such a wonderful place to live and work.

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Annual Idaho EPSCoR Meeting continued from page 1

Dr. Alex Punnoose Receives the 2012 Jean’ne M. Shreeve NSF EPSCoR Research Excellence AwardBoise State University Distinguished Professor of Physics Dr. Alex Punnoose was selected as the recipient of the 2012 Jean’ne M. Shreeve NSF EPSCoR Research Excellence Award.

The award was established to recognize the accomplishments of a faculty member at Boise State University, Idaho State University, the University of Idaho, or other state institution of higher education who has actively participated in the NSF EPSCoR program and whose research career has been propelled by NSF EPSCoR in Idaho.

This is the second time the award has been made; Jean’ne M. Shreeve was the first recipient in 2011. The award, which includes a plaque and $5,000, was presented at a lunch during the Idaho EPSCoR Annual Meeting at the Grove Hotel on October 3, 2012.

Punnoose’s major areas of research focus on nanotechnology and include nanoparticle-based cancer and antibacterial therapies, spintronics, nanotoxicology and nanosensors. Beyond his own department, he has served on graduate thesis committees and won

Idaho EPSCoR Collaborates with the Northwest Knowledge Network (NKN) in Release of New Data PortalIdaho EPSCoR has helped stimulate new data management leadership within the region through creation of the Northwest Knowledge Network (NKN). The NKN is a data management system that provides researchers, educators, and the public with storage, retrieval, and protection services across the data lifecycle. NKN partners include several University of Idaho departments and offices; universities in Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, and Washington; the Idaho National Laboratory, and several state and federal agencies. The NKN provides a range of research data backup, archival storage, management, secure sharing, public access, support tools, high performance computing, and support staff services.

The Idaho EPSCoR Data Portal developed under the Track 1 Research Infrastructure Improvement grant was created by the NKN. NKN is in the beta-testing stages of this on-line data portal that users may access using a secure password and acknowledging their acceptance of the Beta Test Agreement. Mr. Greg Gollberg and Dr. Luke Sheneman serve as NKN contacts and work to ensure that emerging CI challenges

Dr. Aaron Thomas, Idaho NASA EPSCoR and Space Grant Director, gives opening statements.

Janice Ferguson, full-time teacher from the Idaho Falls School District 91, chats with Bill Ebener from College of Southern Idaho.

• Ron Abramovich, USDA NRCS, What Makes Your Basin Flow? Increase in Climate Variability Increases the Need to Apply Sound Science to Improve Water Supply Predictions for Water Managers and Users

• Dave Tuthill, Idaho Water Engineering, Opportunities for Science to Inform Watershed Solutions in the Boise River Basin

• Dick Johnson, USDA NRCS, Applying Climatological and Weather Science to NRCS Models, Accuracy in developing Risk in Resource Assessment

• Helen Harrington, IDWR, Idaho Water Planning and Management in Response to Potential Changes in Water Supply and Demand

• Jim Bartolino, Idaho Water Science Center, United States Geological Survey

• Paul Gessler, University of Idaho, Cyberinfrastructure Strategic Action Plan for Idaho Universities

• Luke Sheneman, University of Idaho, EPSCoR Data Portal• Colden Baxter, Idaho State University, Linking Hydroclimatology

to Ecology • John Abatzoglou and Von Walden, University of Idaho, Idaho

Climate and Water Year Seasonal Outlook • Bruce Finney and Mark Shapley, Idaho State University,

Paleoclimate and Contemporary Climate Change Research • Kelly Cobourn and Scott Lowe, Boise State University, Linking

Hydroclimatology to Socioeconomics• Karla Bradley-Eitel, McCall Outdoor Science School, Carrie

Green, Idaho State University, and Tracie Bent, Idaho State Board of Education, Workforce Development/Education and Outreach STEM initiatives

joint research grants with faculty across disciplines. He is the recipient of the 2007 Foundation Scholar Award for Research. Punnoose received his Ph.D. and M.S. in physics from Aligarh University, India, and his B.S. in physics from the Mahatma Gandhi University, India.

*article provided by Kathleen Tuck, BSU Campus News

Dr. Alex Punnoose

Ayodeji Arogundade, UI Graduate Student and member of UI National Society of Black Engineers, explains his research poster.

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will provide Idaho EPSCoR and other NKN partners with opportunities to “lead on behalf of the research and outreach enterprise.”

Specifically, the NKN seeks to provide data management services that address changes in cross-disciplinary research data sets’ demand and supply. Such demand and supply changes are motivated and influenced by several factors. Recent government mandates compel researchers seeking grant funding to include data management plans in their submitted grant proposals and to make their compiled data accessible. The general public has expressed an increased desire for data access. Technological advances that permit massive data collection directly affect data demand and supply. Moreover, public institutions and researchers are increasingly dedicated to ensuring research data sets are interoperable so that they may be of greatest usefulness in models, applications, and tools that assist decision makers in making informed judgments that address “real-world” issues.

To achieve these goals – which are consistent with those of EPSCoR and other major research initiatives – the NKN’s mission focuses upon making “research data more accessible, comprehensible, usable and secure for data providers and data users, and to facilitate data usage across the disciplines by promoting commonly accepted policies, standards, and protocols; facilitating the application of modeling, mining, simulation and visualization tools; and supplying data and computing services that are adaptive to changing data storage and management needs.”

Adding to the Professoriate in IdahoStrong, interdisciplinary collaborations with Idaho faculty facilitated assistant professor Keith Reinhardt’s recent transition from a post-doctoral position at Idaho State University (ISU) to that of full-time faculty as an assistant professor of Plant Physiological Ecology in ISU’s Department of Biological Sciences. Dr. Reinhardt credits the collegial connections he established working with ISU faculty and other Idaho faculty while completing his post-doctoral tenure as a motivating factor in his decision

to remain in Idaho. Dr. Reinhardt notes, “I really valued my new connections and research potential with these colleagues. Also, the incredible natural-science research opportunities within Idaho greatly appeal to me!”

Dr. Reinhardt’s current research projects largely focus on manipulative climate-change experiments, and his interdisciplinary ecohydrological research interests and academic background directly align with Idaho EPSCoR Water Resources in a Changing Climate research emphases. Ecohydrology investigates how vegetation affects hydrological flow paths both directly and indirectly and is still an emerging research area. Dr. Reinhardt’s Idaho-based research is showing that changes in precipitation seasonal timing are at least as important as changes in precipitation amount, and these changes are further modified by other factors such as soil depth and texture. Ultimately, Dr. Reinhardt’s research goals include developing the concept of “ecohydrological niches” for plants in semi-arid systems, which reframes the standard temperature-precipitation “bioclimatic envelopes” model commonly used to model changes in plant species distributions.

Dr. Keith Reinhart

During summer 2012, Dr. Reinhardt began a project that investigates environmental constraints upon sagebrush regeneration. Specifically, the project seeks to identify which environmental parameters (e.g., temperature regimes and hydroclimate) or biotic factors (e.g., vegetative competition or facilitation; herbivory) limit sagebrush seedling survival. Additionally, the project seeks to address how sagebrush seedling “recruitment” will respond to climate change. A transect of four research sites that span from Great Teton National Park to the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area combines existing EPSCoR research sites with newly-established sites. The transect spans the Snake River Plain, and encompasses high-elevation, cool sites to low-elevation, warm sites. Some of the research sites house on-going, climate-change manipulation experiments. The research transect expanse and experimental breadth will permit Dr. Reinhardt and his colleagues to investigate shrub reproduction-capacity and seedling establishment-success across a large climate gradient.

Dr. Reinhardt’s research is timely as semi-arid shrub ecosystems occupy nearly a third of the world’s land area. Semi-arid shrub ecosystems provide multiple “services,” including water storage, biodiversity, and habitat and food for endangered and endemic animal species, and rangeland expanses that are huge in spatial scale and important to human populations. Reliance upon local shrubland ecosystem services is increasing as human populations expand into regions that were previously sparsely occupied, as has been the case in the state of Idaho. Recent studies predict semi-arid shrublands potentially may serve as carbon sinks, and as such, will help mitigate increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

To understand ecosystem responses to changes in hydroclimate, Dr. Reinhardt routinely collaborates with multiple Idaho EPSCoR faculty researchers, including Dr. Kathleen Lohse (ISU, soil biogeochemistry); Dr. Marie-Anne deGraaff (BSU, ecosystem ecology); Dr. Sarah Godsey (ISU, hydrology); and Dr. Matt Germino (formerly ISU now at USGS, ecosystem ecology). Dr. Reinhardt’s collaborative research efforts will help predict how vast sagebrush landscapes react to climate change and such changes fundamentally impact human populations.

THE PEOPLE OF IDAHO EPSCOR

Idaho Faculty Provide Leadership to Major Regional Initiative

Remaining dedicated to collaborative ecosystem services conservation research, Idaho State University Professor Matt Germino has transitioned from a regular faculty appointment to serving as the supervisory research ecologist and scientist for the Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) managed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. The Great Basin LCC is one of twenty-two LCCs that have been formed nationwide

as a result of the September 2009 Department of Interior Secretarial Order 3289 that also established eight regional Climate Science

Dr. Matt Germino

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People of Idaho EPSCoR, continued from page 3

Centers (CSC), which are regional hubs of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center. The Great Basin LCC is directed by Ms. Linda Kelly of the Bureau of Land Management and operates upon a stakeholder steering committee partnership premise that permits LCC collaborators to generate consensus on prioritizing land management issues and information needs. According to Dr. Germino, the LCCs “promote forward looking analyses of our landscape, particularly with respect to understanding and adapting to climate shifts as they overlay on shifting disturbances and land uses.”

While a professor at ISU, Dr. Germino’s research focused upon sagebrush rangelands, which are one of the most endangered yet widespread North American ecosystem types. His work with EPSCoR faculty and other colleagues demonstrated that a given site’s condition and restoration prospects are strongly controlled by how the site fits into the surrounding landscape. This landscape impact understanding is integral to Great Basin LCC management. To help implement effective, regional-level management planning, the Great Basin LCC will assist with summarizing and interpreting Rapid Ecological Assessments (REAs) that are done by the Bureau of Land Management; make management plan recommendations; and identify information and research needs.

OUTREACH AND EDUCATION

College of Southern Idaho Takes Teachers to Craters of the Moon

The College of Southern Idaho (CSI) in conjunction with Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve was recently awarded a Park Teacher grant from the National Park Foundation (NPF). The focus of the Park Teacher grant is to develop Place Based Inquiry Learning curriculum, which can be provided to teachers to encourage them to bring their students to Craters of the Moon on Place Based Learning expeditions. The field trips are designed so that students can gather research data and review data gathered by other classes. Activities involve forming and testing hypotheses; gathering, analyzing, graphing data from their own field measurements; and using inference, observation, and critical thinking to gain some enduring understanding of how life can survive in an extreme environment.

With support from Idaho EPSCoR, CSI was able to recruit and provide scholarships for 10 teachers to participate in a 1 credit CSI class. Teachers were paired with a CSI student (pre-service teacher) or a

Semi-arid shrub ecosystems occupy nearly a third of the world’s land area.

Idaho will give research presentations or engage in an “Ignite”-style panel discussion regarding opportunities to connect EPSCoR biometeorology instrumentation transects to land management needs, with an emphasis upon upland areas.

Great Basin LCC research findings and publications are increasingly being used in federally-funded, post-fire, rangeland vegetation restoration programs. From an adaptive resource management perspective, Great Basin LCC stakeholder groups, including elected officials, federal agency and business industry representatives, university researchers, and Native American tribal communities, are also integral to promoting resilient landscapes. Dr. Germino notes that engaging stakeholder groups “on the science and practice of adapting management to the salient, sweeping changes across our landscapes is the [Great Basin LCC’s] main, broad impact.”

Great Basin LLC Boundary

REA analysis is guided by management questions that investigate how areas and species with high ecological value, termed conservation elements, respond to change agents. Within the Great Basin LCC, sagebrush habitats and dependent species are primary conservation elements as fire, climate, invasive plant, and development change agents all impact the landscape’s resistance and resilience. The central Great Basin REA contains over 900 GIS/Map analyses that have been produced for 7 soil types; 26 different ecosystem types; and over 350 plant and animal species. Dr. Germino’s broad plant-soil-climate interaction expertise will help to identify how Great Basin LCC management objectives may be realized.

In his current role as a U.S. Geological Service scientist, Dr. Germino has greater ability to participate in and direct collaborative research efforts that include EPSCoR Tri-State Consortium faculty. To this end, Dr. Germino is helping to plan the second annual meeting of the Great Basin Consortium that will be held in Boise, Idaho, from January 14 – 16, 2013. Invited faculty from Nevada and

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Jo Dodds, teacher from theTwin Falls School District along with some of her students participate in the Place Based Discovery Learning at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Doug Owen, far right, is a Geologist and Education Specialist as well as Research Coordinator for the Naturalist Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

high school student enrolled in EDUC 203, and were given 15 hours of training on use of various measurement devices. Teachers were also required to take their students on a day long Place Based learning Activity at Craters of the Moon National Park. They received funding to help defray the cost of the field trip. Teachers and students used the equipment, explored caves and interacted with Craters of the Moon field guides. In addition to the “hands on” field trip, students follow up by creating posters, and in one particular class, each student will write a creative story about a plant, animal or bug that is new to Craters.

RESULTS FROM PRIOR SUPPORT

Aquaculture Research Institute’s Hagerman Laboratory Upgrades Internet Connectivity with Idaho EPSCoR Support

Pictured here is the transition tower that was installed at UI’s Hagerman Laboratory as part of the EPSCoR Track 2 Research Infrastructure Improvement internet connectivity upgrade.

When the University of Idaho’s Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station’s new administrative and laboratory building was being built in 2006, fiber optic cable was installed throughout the building and extended to other buildings and laboratories on site. However, at the time, the only option to connect to the internet was through conventional phone connections (bundled T-1 lines). This provided a maximum of 3 Mbps of bandwidth that was insufficient to support increasing personnel, video conferencing and other demands. In addition, reliability was an issue.

In 2009, Idaho EPSCoR received funding to improve internet connectivity at remote University research locations. The Hagerman Station was one of the University sites eligible for an internet connection upgrade based on its needs and condition of its existing system. The Hagerman team evaluated various available options, settling on a wireless system provided by One Wave Networks as the most cost-effective and reliable platform.

Installation of a transmission tower was completed in fall of 2011, and connection was made to the existing fiber optic network at the Hagerman facility. The system transmits the signal from the Hagerman Station to another tower on a nearby ridge and then to Boise where it links into the Idaho Regional Optical Network (IRON) for final connection inside the University of Idaho secured network. As a result, the Hagerman Station, located 460 miles from the Moscow campus, is essentially on campus as far as the network is concerned.

Supported by a new routed network at Hagerman, the new system increased to 300 Mbps, a 100 fold increase in capacity and data transfer speed. The system now supports stable and real-time video conferencing as well as large data transfers associated with population genetics studies conducted with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission at Hagerman. The increased capacity will support the newly obtained Illumina High-Seq analyzer to provide state-of-the-art capability for future genetic research.

According to Dr. Ronald W. Hardy, Director of the Aquaculture Research Institute,“the main value of the new setup is associated with the Illumina High-Seq analyzer. This device generates tremendous quantities of data that must be sent elsewhere for storage and/or analysis. Our previous connection could not handle this. This machine is unique in Idaho (including UI campus) and no one in the region has of yet used a machine this sophisticated in fisheries.”

Dr. Hardy further explains, “The information from the Illumina sequencer is used to measure gene expression and other things associated with salmon and steelhead population genetics. The data it generates is ultimately used to manage the fisheries in the Columbia River basin, assess productivity of watersheds, streams, etc., plus a host of other things. The application of this technology is not limited to fisheries management. We also are designing studies to use it to characterize whole genomic gene expression in our rainbow trout selection program to identify genes responsible for improved performance of selected trout lines when fed all plant-protein feeds. This pertains to sustainability of aquaculture worldwide. We have recently developed a joint project (under review still) with Norwegian scientists to use our technology to improve their salmon aquaculture industry.”

The investment by Idaho EPSCoR also resulted in an unplanned benefit for the western Magic Valley community. The new tower constructed by One Wave Networks also made high speed internet available to the local area, and numerous local businesses and families now enjoy new internet connectivity that previously was unavailable.

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COLLABORATIONS

EPSCoR Faculty Lead LiDAR Software and Algorithm Development

The Idaho LiDAR Consortium (ILC) is an outcome of the dynamic activity associated with LiDAR data in the State of Idaho and Idaho’s

participation in the IdahoView program. The ILC’s informal group of partners from education, local, state, and federal government, and private industry, share a common goal of fostering collaboration and data sharing. The ILC focuses on data sharing of terrestrial, airborne, and satellite LiDAR data. This website can be used as a starting point for identifying where LiDAR data have been collected and communication about future LiDAR data collects in the State of Idaho. The website also hosts a wealth of information about LiDAR publications and analysis tools.

The Idaho LiDAR Consortium website (http://www.idaholidar.org) currently provides a gateway to LiDAR data and information in the state. A total of 19 users (4 from private sectors, 4 from federal agencies, 1 state agency and 10 from universities) have registered in the website. During Year 4 of the Idaho EPSCoR Program, new updates were posted to Google Code repository as an open source project (http://code.google.com/p/bcal-lidar-tools). This is expected to increase wider participation by the open source science community in developing and testing of the tools.

LiDAR processing software and algorithm development have been a core part of the effort. This has not only resulted in several innovations in LiDAR research and development, but has also further enhanced capability and collaborations amongst various EPSCoR and non-EPSCoR scientists for new research efforts. Some of the highlights of LiDAR algorithm development effort during the period of 2011-2012 include:

• Developed algorithm to detect individual trees using multi-resolution segmentation.

• Developed method to register airborne LiDAR and terrestrial laser scanning data.

• Developed method to normalize intensity and calibrate gain corrections.

• Algorithms for height filtering of lidar data.

• Algorithm slope-based surface matching of the LiDAR point cloud.

Since January 2011, different versions of the tools have been downloaded more than 4,400 times. During this period, the Google

Code site received more than 8,000 visitors and more than 38,000 page views. The website also has built a sizeable social media presence through Twitter account. The site received more than 4,600 visits during the period of June 2011-May 2012, 62% of which were from United States (see Figure), and the rest from other 89 countries.

Currently , 42% of the raw LiDAR data and 40% of derived products (raster DEM, hillshade, vegetation models, etc.) are available online through various channels such as Inside Idaho, Open Topography, USGS CLICK, and NOAA Digital Coast. The online availablity of raw LiDAR data and derived product will increase use of LiDAR in research and applications across various sectors in Idaho.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

McCall Outdoor Science School Earns ID21 Award for Innovative Teaching

Jr. High School girls measure water characteristics on Payette Lake as part of the Women Outdoors with Science (WOWS) program at MOSS.

MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) is one of six recipients of the ID21 Awards from the J.A. & K. Albertson Foundation for 2012. As one of the recipients from a pool of 167 nominees, MOSS will receive $50,000 and was honored at the foundation’s award ceremony on Oct. 16 at the Boise Egyptian Theater.

“This prestigious award from the J.A. and K. Albertson Foundation validates the excellence of the MOSS programs in achieving our goals of providing innovative learning opportunities for K-12 students,” said University of Idaho President M. Duane Nellis. “MOSS is one example of the university’s commitment to the advancement, sustainability and development of 21st century learning opportunities in STEM education in the state and beyond.”

The ID21 Awards are designed to discover and reward programs in Idaho that revolutionize how students learn. MOSS is recognized in the category for “challenging traditional education with creativity and innovation. Nominees in this category are required to establish that programs are innovative, empowering, successful, creative and sustainable.

“Receiving this grant is an affirmation of the innovative approaches we’re taking at MOSS to effectively engage students in science, engineering, technology and math,” said CNR Dean Kurt Pregitzer. “When we invest in Idaho’s students, we are investing in Idaho’s future – and our future is bright.”

“We challenge the traditional understanding of what science is, how it is practiced and who can participate,” said Greg Fizzell, MOSS program director. “Our vision is that when teachers and students are asked to describe science and the people involved in the profession, they talk about themselves.”

For more than 10 years, MOSS youth, AmeriCorps, teacher education and community programs have engaged more than 18,000 Idaho K-12 students and more than 100 U-Idaho graduate students and 2,000 adult learners in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

MOSS will use the ID21 Award funds to meet future programming

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needs and to continue the development of its master site plan, which will outline long-term operations on the McCall Field Campus.

“Considering that many sectors of Idaho’s economy, such as agriculture, manufacturing and health care services, require STEM-educated employees, there is overwhelming evidence supporting the importance of continuing STEM education,” said Fizzell.

Fizzell added that MOSS’s methods of introducing students to STEM through hands-on activities helps them see themselves as scientists. This, he said, will lead more young people to make future education and career choices in science and engineering, supporting the national effort to ensure that all U.S. students receive the skills and knowledge required for success in the 21st Century workforce.

The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation is a private family foundation committed to limitless learning opportunities for all Idahoans. Since 1997, the Foundation has invested more than $500 million to improve education in Idaho.

*article provided by UI News and Events

UPCOMING EVENTSBecoming the Messenger, May 29-30, 2013, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho

National EPSCoR Conference, November 3-7, 2013, Nashville, Tennessee

Climate Change Science for Effective Resource Management and Public Policy in the Western United States, March 27-28, 2013, Las Vegas, Nevada

KUDOSNew EPSCoR-supported faculty members, Dr. Kelly Cobourn, Boise State University, and Dr. Kelly Wendland, University of Idaho, were recently selected as two of only ten recipients nationwide of NASA’s 2011 Land Cover Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Awards for early career scientists. NASA LCLUC research contributes toward the goals of the U.S. Global Climate Research Program (USGCRP) by providing critical scientific information about LCLUC-climate interactions and the consequences of land-cover and land-use change on environmental goods and services, the carbon and water cycles, and the management of natural resources.

Dr. Kelly WendlandDr. Wendland will study the impact of conservation approaches on land cover and ecosystem services in Central America. The research focuses on transboundary conservation areas in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor to test how national-level contextual factors, such as governance and economic conditions, affect conservation outcomes. Dr. Wendland will use program

evaluation methods to estimate the effect of protected areas, community-based forest management, and payments for ecosystem services programs on changes in land cover. Land cover will be measured using remote sensing analysis, and land cover changes will be linked to carbon and biodiversity outcomes in the corridor. Other members of the research team include Lee Vierling, Associate Professor at the University of Idaho, and research scientists at the

Center for Tropical Research and Education in Agriculture (CATIE) in Costa Rica.

Dr. Kelly CobournDr. Cobourn’s project uses remote sensing data collected by NASA to examine how agricultural producers in the Snake River Basin adapt to changing climatic and weather conditions, which are expected to alter the availability of water for irrigation. Because producers in the Snake River Basin are heavily dependent on irrigation, climate change is expected to have a significant impact on agricultural productivity,

the value of agricultural land, producers’ land-use decisions, and economic welfare throughout the region. This research explicitly considers whether and how water allocation institutions facilitate or impede the adaptation of producers to changing climatic signals. The results of the study will be used to determine the economic impacts of changing natural conditions on the region’s agricultural producers and to comment on how policy can facilitate adaptation, thereby supporting the long-run economic well-being of producers.

Dr. Von WaldenIdaho EPSCoR Senior Advisor Wins Multiple Awards: Dr. Von Walden, Senior Advisor for the Water Resources in a Changing Climate Idaho EPSCoR grant (Track 1) and associate professor in the Geography Department of the University of Idaho, was recently awarded The Presidential Mid-Career Award established in 2011-12 to acknowledge achievements made by gifted faculty who have demonstrated a commitment

to outstanding scholarship, teaching, and engagement. Dr. Walden was also awarded the Excellence Award in Research through the Office of Research & Economic Development designed to recognize significant research contributions that have received national or international recognition.

Disability Resources Available on Idaho EPSCoR WebsiteIdaho EPSCoR is committed to increasing the participation of students with disabilities in STEM fields. The Idaho STEM Pipeline (www.idahostem.org) features the program “DO-IT” (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) on its state-wide web portal in an effort to provide disability resources at a State level. To continue with this effort, Idaho EPSCoR also provides DO-IT resources for students, staff, and faculty to utilize to ensure student success.

The following DO-IT/AccessSTEM resources are available to help faculty, administrators, and staff create accessible environments, programs, and resources for students with disabilities and to help students with disabilities prepare for and succeed in college.

1) AccessSTEM/Do-It website (http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/)

2) How to Incorporate a Universal Design of Instruction in the College Classroom

3) Real Connections: Making Distance Learning Accessible to Everyone

4) Equal Access: Universal Design of Distance Learning

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Idaho EPSCoR875 Perimeter Dr MS 3029

Moscow, ID 83844-3029

*KBK865*

Several Idaho students won awards for presenting their research at the Idaho NSF EPSCoR Annual Meeting which was held on October 2-3, 2012 in Boise, Idaho. (L-R): Laird Noh, Idaho EPSCoR Committee member, Scott Havens (1st Place), Michael Poulos (2nd Place), Megan Kenworthy (Grand Prize winner), Doyle Jacklin, Idaho EPSCoR Committee Chair. More photos and conference highlights included inside.