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Western Scientists and International Collaborators Find New Way to Study Near-Earth Asteroids
LONDON, Ontario, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- Western University issued the following news:
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Remarkable encounter during 2022 Niagara fireball event leads to discovery of tiniest asteroid known
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By Jeff Renaud
In an international study led by Western University and Lowell Observatory, scientists describe a pioneering, integrative approach for studying near-Earth asteroids based largely on a November 2022 fireball event that dropped meteorites in the Niagara region.
The space scientists determined the composition and size of Asteroid 2022 WJ1 (WJ1) before it fractured upon entering Earth's
... Show Full Article
LONDON, Ontario, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- Western University issued the following news:
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Remarkable encounter during 2022 Niagara fireball event leads to discovery of tiniest asteroid known
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By Jeff Renaud
In an international study led by Western University and Lowell Observatory, scientists describe a pioneering, integrative approach for studying near-Earth asteroids based largely on a November 2022 fireball event that dropped meteorites in the Niagara region.
The space scientists determined the composition and size of Asteroid 2022 WJ1 (WJ1) before it fractured upon entering Earth'satmosphere by comparing Arizona-based telescopic observations to video captured by Western's Southern Ontario Meteor Network cameras of the fireball - an unusually bright meteor - on Nov. 19, 2022.
The study, published today in The Planetary Science Journal, is significant not only because it reveals key details about WJ1, the smallest asteroid in space to be characterized to date, but also for establishing the methodology for studying other space objects that impact Earth. This is the first time telescope observation and camera captures have been used to study the same space object.
The size of WJ1 was determined with the 4.3-meter Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) in Arizona. Observations from the LDT show the surface of WJ1 was rich in silica, meaning it had a medium-to-high albedo (reflected light). Astronomers use the reflected light to calculate the diameter, which was in the range of 40 to 60 cm (16 to 27 inches), making it the smallest asteroid on record.
"This is only the sixth asteroid discovered before impact," said Denis Vida, Western physics and astronomy adjunct professor.
"Our new approach, discovering an asteroid through space observation and then subsequently observing it with cameras from the ground, allowed us to confirm that our estimates match well to estimates derived using a completely different approach."
Combining two techniques
Using Western's meteor camera network, Western space scientists captured the asteroid as it entered the atmosphere above London, Ont. ending near St. Catharines, Ont. Modelling based on Western's fireball observations gives the same initial diameter and composition estimate of the asteroid as was found by LDT. The fireball network and telescopic methods also tightly agree on the determination of WJ1's orbit prior to its arrival on Earth.
"This is only the second time that an asteroid has been meaningfully characterized with telescopes prior to it impacting the Earth," said Teddy Kareta, postdoctoral associate, Lowell Observatory.
"It's a testament to our good luck and preparation, but it's also due to the community that cares about keeping the Earth safe from these impactors learning to work together better."
The telescopic and fireball camera data both suggest WJ1 fits into the S-chondrite category of astronomical objects, which are stony bodies rich in silica (thus the "S" designation). They are among the oldest bodies in the solar system and comprise the most common type of meteorite to hit Earth.
"This first-ever comparison between telescopic and fireball camera data is extremely exciting, and means we'll be able to characterize the next asteroid to impact the Earth in even better detail," said Kareta.
Likely, not all WJ1's fragments burned up in Earth's atmosphere. While initial meteorite searches and some Niagara region residents have searched for meteorite pieces, none have been found so far. Much of the predicted fall area is underwater in Lake Ontario. For the fall area on land, there are no plans to do any further official searching.
"Two years on, any meteorites that fell on land will have blended in with the landscape," said Phil McCausland, a Western Earth sciences adjunct professor and Meteor Physics Group researcher.
"That said, there are people in the area who are searching and know what to look for. We may still get lucky and find a meteorite or two from this fall in the coming months and years."
A fortuitous path
WJ1 was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Ariz. in November 2022. Soon after, astronomers predicted the object would impact Earth within three hours. This offered just enough time for scientists to telescopically observe the object while it was still in space. It also gave astronomers time to gather the asteroid's precise position and motion to refine its orbit.
Together, those factors allowed for a more accurate determination of where the asteroid would enter Earth's atmosphere - over the Great Lakes, on the border of the U.S. and Canada. The predicted impact site proved fortuitous, falling right in the middle of Western's network of meteor-observing cameras in the same region.
The few hours of advance warning about the asteroid impact allowed several members of the Western Meteor Physics Group and Western's Institute for Earth and Space Exploration time to drive and find clear weather to watch the incoming object, the first time in history that observers were alerted to see a natural fireball.
Western physics and astronomy professor Paul Wiegert, a co-author on the study, was alerted early enough to see the fireball around 3:30 a.m.
"I watched from Brescia Hill on the Western campus. Though cold and windy, the hill had a clear view to the east, where I expected to see only a distant flash. Then the fireball suddenly appeared, passing almost overhead. It was easily visible between broken clouds and noticeably orange-red," Wiegert said following the event.
The LDT, stationed near Flagstaff, Ariz., was ideal for telescope viewing. Its capacity for rapid and stable tracking meant it could keep up with small and fast-moving near-Earth asteroids. Kareta, who just happened to be scheduled to observe with the LDT that night, imaged the asteroid with his team for about one hour before it was lost in the shadow of Earth.
"At the time that we lost the asteroid - when it got too dim to be seen in our images - we had the telescope moving at five degrees per second to try to keep up with it. That's fast enough that most other telescopes would have had to give up considerably earlier," said Kareta.
"It's tremendously fortuitous that this asteroid happened to fly over Arizona's dark skies at night before burning up over Western's excellent camera network. It's hard to imagine better circumstances to do this kind of research."
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JOURNAL: Planetary Science Journal https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad8b22
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Original text here: https://news.westernu.ca/2024/11/niagara-fireball/
University of Vermont: Earliest Fish-Trapping Facility in Central America Discovered in Maya Lowlands
BURLINGTON, Vermont, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- The University of Vermont issued the following news:
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Wetland investigations uncover network of pre-Columbian linear channels and ponds in Belize
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By Joshua Brown
A team of archaeologists from the University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, and others have discovered a large-scale pre-Columbian fish-trapping facility. Located in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest inland wetland in Belize, the team dated the construction of these fisheries canals to the Late Archaic period (2000-1900 BCE), pre-dating Amazonian examples
... Show Full Article
BURLINGTON, Vermont, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- The University of Vermont issued the following news:
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Wetland investigations uncover network of pre-Columbian linear channels and ponds in Belize
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By Joshua Brown
A team of archaeologists from the University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, and others have discovered a large-scale pre-Columbian fish-trapping facility. Located in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest inland wetland in Belize, the team dated the construction of these fisheries canals to the Late Archaic period (2000-1900 BCE), pre-dating Amazonian examplesby a thousand years or more.
"It seems likely that the canals allowed for annual fish harvests and social gatherings, which would have encouraged people to return to this area year after year and congregate for longer periods of time," said Marieka Brouwer Burg, professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont and co-director of the Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) project.
"Such intensive investments in the landscape may have led ultimately to the development of the complex society characteristic of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization," Brouwer Burg said, "which subsequently occurred in this area by around 1200 BCE."
The network of canals was designed to channel annual flood waters into ponds for fish trapping, said Eleanor Harrison-Buck, professor of anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, director of the BREA project, and lead author on the new study. "[The fisheries] would have yielded enough fish to feed as many as 15,000 people year-round, conservatively," Harrison-Buck said. "The dates indicate that the fisheries were initially constructed by Late Archaic hunter-gatherer-fishers and continued to be used by their Formative Maya descendants (approximately 2000 BCE to 200 CE). For Mesoamerica in general, we tend to regard agricultural production as the engine of civilization, but this study tells us that it wasn't just agriculture--it was also potential mass harvesting of aquatic species."
Published in the journal Science Advances, the research used 26 radiocarbon dates from test excavation sites in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, which indicate that such landscape-scale wetland enhancements may have been an adaptive response to long-term climate disturbance recorded in Mesoamerica between 2200 and 1900 BCE.
"The early dates for the canals surprised us initially because we all assumed these massive constructions were built by the ancient Maya living in the nearby city centers," said Harrison-Buck. "However, after running numerous radiocarbon dates, it became clear they were built much earlier."
Wetland resilience
Sediment samples were collected along the walls of the excavation units and sequenced for specific elements, such as nitrogen and carbon, to look for environmental changes over time. The sediment showed a strong tropical forest dominance during that period and no evidence of crop cultivation, specifically maize. Along with a lack of any pollen from domesticated crops, there were not any signs of ditched and drained agricultural fields in the immediate area dating to that time. The data gathered suggests the distinctive long linear zigzag channels served primarily as large-scale fish-trapping facilities.
"Wetlands have always been a critical ecosystem for humans across the globe," said Samantha Krause, a co-author on the new study and professor at Texas State University. "Knowing how to manage wetland resources responsibly is essential for the continued resilience of these ecosystems both in the past and today. The Archaic hunter-gatherer-fishers knew how to protect their resources and use them in a way that could sustain these habitats, not exhaust them, which explains their long-lasting occupation in this area."
With the support of the local community, the team plans to return to Crooked Tree to investigate a larger sample of these landscape-scale modifications that they have identified across a broad area of northern Belize, hoping to more fully understand the complexity of human-wetland interactions in the past.
UVM anthropologist Katie Bailey was a co-author on the new study, providing expertise on pollen analysis. Other co-authors include Mark Willis, department of archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia; and Angelina Perrotti, Palynology & Environmental Archaeology Research Lab; Monona, Wisconsin.
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JOURNAL: Science Advances https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adq1444
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Original text here: https://www.uvm.edu/news/story/earliest-fish-trapping-facility-central-america-discovered-maya-lowlands
La Trobe University: Students Develop Forward-Thinking Solutions
MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 23 -- La Trobe University issued the following news release on Nov. 22, 2024:
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In a rapidly changing world, experts have warned regional centres may get left behind if businesses fail to foster innovation.
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This week, the talented minds of 13 La Trobe University students were put to the test as they aimed to solve the barriers preventing Albury organisations from embracing a culture of innovation.
Domestic and international students from La Trobe's Bundoora and Albury-Wodonga campuses identified factors such as time and resource constraints that hindered
... Show Full Article
MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 23 -- La Trobe University issued the following news release on Nov. 22, 2024:
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In a rapidly changing world, experts have warned regional centres may get left behind if businesses fail to foster innovation.
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This week, the talented minds of 13 La Trobe University students were put to the test as they aimed to solve the barriers preventing Albury organisations from embracing a culture of innovation.
Domestic and international students from La Trobe's Bundoora and Albury-Wodonga campuses identified factors such as time and resource constraints that hinderedbusinesses from leveraging opportunities in rural communities.
This was all part of La Trobe Rural Health School's annual five-day Rural Innovation Sprint, in partnership with Albury City Council and the University's Innovation and Entrepreneurship team.
The Sprint provided students from diverse fields across IT, finance, analytics, health, veterinary science and psychology a platform to work closely on real-world problems with three regional businesses including Mercy Connect, Align Work Health and Formulae Compounding Pharmacists.
Dr Guinever Threlkeld, Albury-Wodonga Head of Campus, said La Trobe was proud of its strong connections with local industry and shared commitments to innovation.
"This year's Sprint attracted highly qualified students, many with tech and health expertise. Exposing these students to regional opportunities, like those in Albury, is crucial to highlighting the potential for innovation," Dr Threlkeld said.
"Students engaged in a structured process using design, prototyping and testing to develop tangible solutions. They're now equipped with the skills needed to work on real projects that have measurable outcomes, while leaving a lasting impact on Albury businesses and the broader community."
Albury was an ideal case study for this Sprint due to its existing creativity and innovation, exemplified by annual events such as the Winter Solstice's approach to creating a meaningful moment.
"AlburyCity is proud to be part of this initiative, partnering with La Trobe University and local businesses to foster innovation within our community and create a unique opportunity for cross-sector collaboration," said Mayor Kevin Mack.
Caroline Cummins, CEO of Mercy Connect, expressed her enthusiasm for participating in an initiative that is aligned with the core values of the not-for-profit organisation.
"We believe that collaboration is key to driving innovation and creating solutions for real-world challenges," Caroline said.
"By harnessing the knowledge and ideas of students, we aim to not only push the boundaries of what's possible but also contribute to a sustainable, outcomes-focused future."
Since its inception in 2022, Sprint Coordinator Dr Brad Hodge has led more than seven successful cohorts of students to generate actionable ideas and solutions to regional-specific problems.
Dr Hodge said this Sprint had highlighted the huge potential for innovation, despite often limited resources in regional areas compared with urban communities, and the importance of a mindset shift to unleashing this potential.
"The real barrier isn't a lack of creativity; it's overcoming the fear of failure," Dr Hodge said.
"We need to create an environment where people are empowered to take risks and failure is seen as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than a setback.
"With the right mindset and support, regional centres like Albury-Wodonga can build on their established resilience and innovative cultures for a sustainable future."
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Original text here: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2024/release/students-develop-forward-thinking-solutions
DC Advanced Law Students Use Virtual Reality to Gain Essential De-Escalation Practice
OSHAWA, Ontario, Nov. 23 -- Durham College issued the following news:
Durham College (DC) Advanced Law Enforcement and Investigations students are using an innovative and interactive way to practice their crisis de-escalation techniques thanks to a new virtual reality (VR) scenario program.
The program was designed to deepen students' communications skills by providing more real-time opportunities to practice the difficult scenarios they would face in the profession, said Program Coordinator Yvonne Armstrong, who was inspired to incorporate the new VR tools by both her own position on the Toronto
... Show Full Article
OSHAWA, Ontario, Nov. 23 -- Durham College issued the following news:
Durham College (DC) Advanced Law Enforcement and Investigations students are using an innovative and interactive way to practice their crisis de-escalation techniques thanks to a new virtual reality (VR) scenario program.
The program was designed to deepen students' communications skills by providing more real-time opportunities to practice the difficult scenarios they would face in the profession, said Program Coordinator Yvonne Armstrong, who was inspired to incorporate the new VR tools by both her own position on the TorontoPolice Services' Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Panel, as well as by recommendations from the Program Advisory Committee.
Christopher Patton is one of the 23 Advanced Law students who had the opportunity to try out the system first. He's now gone through dozens of scenarios, which last five to 10 minutes each and deal with everything from suicidal people to citizens with dementia to domestic violence. Patton says that one of his most memorable recent scenarios was a traffic stop where he practiced pulling an individual over and talking them down and making sure everything was under control.
"When you're in it, it feels real with the noises and traffic going by, you're looking at everything and there's a lot going on," he said. Already a graduate of the Police Foundations program, Patton says he's de-escalated similar situations on placement so appreciates how valuable the training can be.
Patton also gains a lot by watching his classmates go through their scenarios (students interacting with the scenario wear VR headsets but the rest of the class can follow along by watching a screen projection). The space is set in a 10 x 10 metre perimeter with cameras 360 degrees around the user, so users can look all around when using the headset.
"You get to see a different perspective when other people answer. Everyone approaches scenes a little differently, so it shows you that difference," says Patton.
Armstrong unfolds the scenario in real time on the headset, advancing the scene based on students' responses and even starting over if they get stuck, which is part of the benefit. "It's a safe environment--it allows for the student in the scenario to stop, start and reset, and for students watching to also learn from the feedback," said Armstrong. She says it's a great opportunity to expand students' communications practice, an essential employability skill.
"I don't expect perfect responses, but I always say, 'let's talk, let's think about the questions you should ask,'" she said, noting that while some students may have a bit of experience, others have never done this sort of exercise. "For them, it's really a shock, and in real life, you can't stand and freeze. Hopefully, this provides some skills and situations."
Patton agrees: "This is your time to make mistakes, where you're allowed to mess up, versus on the job."
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Original text here: https://durhamcollege.ca/new-notable/dc-students-use-virtual-reality-to-practice-de-escalation
Cranfield Part of Consortium Awarded More Than Pound Sterling2.5 Million for Net Zero Research
CRANFIELD, England, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- Cranfield University issued the following news release:
Cranfield University is part of a consortium, led by the University of Gloucestershire, that has received over pound sterling2.5 million in joint funding from UK Research and Innovation, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The project - called the LUNZ Footprint - is part of the larger Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People (LUNZ) programme that is supporting research with Government, research organisations and industry to achieve
... Show Full Article
CRANFIELD, England, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- Cranfield University issued the following news release:
Cranfield University is part of a consortium, led by the University of Gloucestershire, that has received over pound sterling2.5 million in joint funding from UK Research and Innovation, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The project - called the LUNZ Footprint - is part of the larger Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People (LUNZ) programme that is supporting research with Government, research organisations and industry to achievethe Government's target of net zero by 2050.
The LUNZ Footprint will develop a ''To Zero Fifty' Greenhouse Gas Accounting Living Lab' which aims to develop and evaluate a scalable, auditable, farm- and food-level greenhouse gas accounting framework for UK land use to sustainably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project brings together industry and academia, led by the University of Gloucestershire and including Cranfield University, the University of Aberdeen, Harper Adams University and Scotland's Rural College joining with commercial entities Savills, Farm Carbon Toolkit, Agrecalc and the Cool Farm Alliance.
This project is important because the tools currently used by farms to identify and understand their greenhouse gas emissions can provide different outputs. Finding a way for the farming and food sector to accurately and reliably measure and interpret greenhouse gas production and emissions is an important step in the journey to net zero. The project will also consider the costs, benefits and trade-offs of different ways of verifying farm-level accounts, and the social, economic, food production, and environmental impacts of scaling greenhouse gas accounting in the UK.
Professor Paul Burgess, who is leading the Cranfield team, commented: "If the UK is going to achieve net zero it will require a multi-faceted approach, but one of the key elements is accurately tracking greenhouse gas emissions.
"Measuring emissions is a vital starting point from which you can quantify whether actions you're taking are making a difference. This framework will help the farming and food sector understand where they're starting from and how management changes can help to reduce net emissions."
Cranfield is also involved in another of the LUNZ projects, called 'LUNZ Justlanz', involving Professor Jack Hannam, Professor of Pedology at Cranfield Environment Centre.
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Original text here: https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/press/news-2024/cranfield-part-of-consortium-awarded-more-than-2-million-for-net-zero-research
13th Annual Innovate UNO Symposium Showcases Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- The University of New Orleans issued the following news release:
The University of New Orleans' 13th annual Innovate UNO symposium--a showcase of independent research, scholarly and creative activities--concluded its two-day showcase this week. The event is organized by the Office of Research.
Over the course of the event, 78 presentations were delivered, involving nearly 150 presenters, co-presenters and judges. Presenters included UNO students, faculty, and staff from every discipline. This was the 7th year it has been open to all students, faculty
... Show Full Article
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- The University of New Orleans issued the following news release:
The University of New Orleans' 13th annual Innovate UNO symposium--a showcase of independent research, scholarly and creative activities--concluded its two-day showcase this week. The event is organized by the Office of Research.
Over the course of the event, 78 presentations were delivered, involving nearly 150 presenters, co-presenters and judges. Presenters included UNO students, faculty, and staff from every discipline. This was the 7th year it has been open to all students, facultyand staff--and the second year it included an Innovate UNO Art Gallery hosted after-hours in the UNO Fine Arts Gallery.
The presentations were evaluated by 30 volunteer judges including UNO faculty, staff, and graduate students. The best-ranked presentations were awarded a total of $3,000 by the Office of Research. Both undergraduate and graduate students were awarded prizes. Winners advance to compete in the University of Louisiana System Academic Summit, which will be held April 10-11, 2025 at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.
Undergraduate Winners
Oral
In the Oral category, students present for 15 minutes on any topic. They were judged on concept, approach, and presentation. The top four winners will be invited to the ULS Academic Summit.
* First Place, $200
Ella Mayfield
Title: Learn, Grow, Resist: Uncovering Patterns of Resistance Among Enslaved Children
Mentor: Mary Niall Mitchell
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* Second Place, $100
Samuel Roy
Title: Developing an Accessible Approach to Drone Design
Mentor: Kendal Leftwich
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* Additional Winners
Mark Kostjuhin
Title: A Frequency Analysis of the Wave Response by the UNO Towing Tank Wavebreak
Mentor: Kendal Leftwich and Ryan Thiel
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Juliana Falanga
Title: Pathological Demand Avoidance: How Classroom Teachers Can Provide Support to Students with PDA Profiles
Mentor: Paul Bole and Ashleigh Pelafigue
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Poster Presentations
In the Poster category, students presented for an hour and a half on a topic in any discipline. They were judged on concept, approach, and presentation. The top five winners will be invited to the ULS Academic Summit.
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* First Place, $200
Ed Osborn
Title: Sensitivity and Extraction: Finding PAH in Marine Tissue with QuEChERS and GCMS
Mentor: Phoebe Zito
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* Second Place, $100
Terry Lyles
Collaborators: Jacy Haynes, An Vu, Same'r Lane and Mia Wright
Title: Nature's blowtorch: The evolution of Cytochrome P450 genes in the fly family Drosophilidae
Mentor: Joel Atallah
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* Additional Winners
Hillary Hernandez
Title: Comparing Fouling Community Development in Two Saline Environments Along Louisiana's Coast
Mentor: Erin Cox
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Abigail Sire
Co-presenters: Catherine Adeola, Noah Bartel, Jalen Rainey, Stephen Toth
Title: Vieux on Krewe Eyewear: Which advertisement will incentivize Consumers to purchase Krewe Sunglasses
Mentor: Kyeong Sam Min
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Walker Reisman
Title: Frequency and patterns of plastic nurdles in Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) stomach contents across the Louisiana coast
Mentor: Martin O'Connell
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Visual Arts
In the Visual Arts category, students present for 15 minutes on a work of art. They were judged on creativity, technique, and enthusiasm. The top five winners will be invited to the ULS Academic Summit.
* First Place, $200
Colby Adriano
Title: A Bath Without You
Mentor: Paige Devries and Madeline Kelly
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* Second Place, $100
Nicholas Hutson
Title: Conversations About Death
Mentor: Tony Campbell
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* Additional Winners
Vlad Jones
Title: Portrait of a guy
Mentor: Paige Devries
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* Cameron Boni
Title: Red Growth
Mentor: Daniel Rule
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* Cameron Boni
Title: Interconnected
Mentor: Paige Devries and Madeline Kelly
Film
In the Film category, students present a film or documentary they have made. They were judged on concept, approach, and presentation. The winner was also invited to the ULS Academic Summit.
* First Place, $200
Avery Arnold
Title: Hey It's Me Again
Mentor: Katie Garagiola
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Privateer Choice
Symposium attendees may vote for their favorite presentations. Privateer Choice awards were given to the student presenters who received the most votes from our Privateer community.
* Winner, $50
Abigail Dietz
Category: Poster
Title: Analysis of Fingerprint Composition and Classification in Multiples by FTIR-ATR Spectroscopy
Mentor: Phoebe Zito
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Graduate Winners
Oral
In the Oral category, students present for 15 minutes on any topic. They were judged on concept, approach, and presentation.
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* First Place, $200
Emily Mailhos
Title: Assessing the Reproductive Ecology of the Federally Threatened Gopher Tortoise in Louisiana
Mentor: Rachel Clostio
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* Second Place, $100
Ariel Alonso
Title: Effects of Acoustic Disturbance on the Auditory System of Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus)
Mentor: Kelly Boyle
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Poster Presentations
In the Poster category, students presented for an hour and a half on a topic in any discipline. They were judged on concept, approach, and presentation.
* First Place, $200
Yahminiy Ganesh
Title: Fighting Invasion Through Aquafeed: Exploring the Quality and Performance of Invasive Carp Products in Farmed Catfish Diets
Mentor: Phoebe Zito
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* Second Place, $100
Chadiska Pascal
Title: Light Induced Transformation of 6PPD-Quinone from Tire Wear Particles under Simulated Southeastern Louisiana Aquatic Environments
Mentor: David Podgorski
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Visual Arts
In the Visual Arts category, students present for 15 minutes on a work of art. They were judged on creativity, technique, and enthusiasm.
* First Place, $200
Anika Ofori
Title: The Art of Being Present
Mentor: David Gladstone
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Privateer Choice
Symposium attendees may vote for their favorite presentations. Privateer Choice awards were given to the student presenters who received the most votes from our Privateer community.
* Winner, $50
Fahime Abbasinohoji
Category: Poster
Title: Utilizing Sponges as Bioindicators: Assessing Water Quality in Louisiana
Mentor: Mary Miller and Phoebe Zito
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Engagement Awards
Most-Named Mentor
The Most-Named Mentor award goes to the UNO staff or faculty member who mentored the most student presenters at InnovateUNO. This was the third year that the Office of Research has presented this award.
* Dr. Vincent Xiaochuan Yu mentored six poster presentations
Three Minute Thesis Competition
* First place: Gazi Raihan, Ph.D. student in Engineering and Applied Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Title: "Sustainable Futures-Advanced Wind Turbine Blade Design by FSI and Machine Learning"
* Second place: Lydia DiPaola, MS student in Biological Sciences, Title: "Assessment of Lake Salvador Shoreline Dynamics to Support Restoration of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, Louisiana"
* Third place: Abdullah Naeem, MS student in Computer Science, Title: "Next Generation, AI Based Automatic Checkout System for Retail"
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Original text here: https://www.uno.edu/news/2024-11-22/13th-annual-innovate-uno-symposium-showcases-research-scholarly-and-creative-activity
$17.5 Million NSF Grant to Support UB's Crystallography Research at Premier X-Ray Synchrotron
BUFFALO, New York, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- The University at Buffalo (State University of New York) issued the following news release:
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Chemistry professor Jason Benedict is co-PI on the ChemMatCARS' beamline at the Advanced Photon Source
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University at Buffalo crystallographers will continue their research at the nation's premier X-ray synchrotron thanks to a $17.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
The funding will support the NSF ChemMatCARS team, led by the University of Chicago, and its use of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne
... Show Full Article
BUFFALO, New York, Nov. 23 (TNSres) -- The University at Buffalo (State University of New York) issued the following news release:
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Chemistry professor Jason Benedict is co-PI on the ChemMatCARS' beamline at the Advanced Photon Source
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University at Buffalo crystallographers will continue their research at the nation's premier X-ray synchrotron thanks to a $17.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
The funding will support the NSF ChemMatCARS team, led by the University of Chicago, and its use of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's ArgonneNational Laboratory. The funding, which lasts through August 2029, also represents a three-fold increase since the ChemMatCARS team began operations in 2002.
"I am tremendously excited not only for my team's research, because we're going to get to do some cutting-edge experiments that we've never ever been able to do before, but also for the many groups across the country and across the world that our beamline supports," says Jason Benedict, PhD, professor in the UB Department of Chemistry and a co-principal investigator on ChemMatCARS' advanced crystallography program.
ChemMatCARS operates Sector 15 of the APS, a 1.1-kilometer-long, ring-shaped particle accelerator whose ultrabright x-ray beams allow scientists to examine the atomic structure of everything from proteins to superconductors.
The APS is currently undergoing an $815 million upgrade that began last year. Once complete, the new synchrotron will generate X-ray beams that are up to 500 times brighter than they were before and should be the brightest X-ray synchrotron in the world.
ChemMatCARS has used the yearlong shutdown of the APS to construct a second beamline in its sector, funded by a prior NSF grant. It will provide transformative new capabilities, including small-molecule serial crystallography to study reversible and irreversible processes. This new method of crystallography involves taking millions of images of millions of crystals at different points of a chemical reaction.
"You initiate a reaction in the crystal and take a frame of data. Then you take another crystal, initiate the same reaction and take a frame of data two nanoseconds later, and so on. From this you can build up this picture and study irreversible, time-dependent processes," Benedict says.
The new beamline will also double the X-ray beam time available to the ChemMatCARS user community to do experiments. Benedict says upward of 200 groups are supported by the group's beamline, including historically Black colleges and other minority-serving institutions.
"We've started to do more outreach to these intuitions so our beamline can enable their science. We're trying our best to remove any barriers to cutting edge synchrotron science," Benedict says.
Once the APS upgrade is completed, Benedict's team plans to once again visit Argonne National Laboratory, located in Lemont, Illinois, two to three times a year to use the beamline.
"When you do these experiments, it changes your perspective on what is possible. We are constantly doing cutting-edge science that people did not think could be done," Benedict says.
The ChemMatCARS principal investigator and director is Matthew Tirrell, PhD, dean and Founding Pritzker Director of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.
Other co-PIs include Ka Yee C. Lee, PhD, executive vice president for strategic initiatives and David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago; Mark Schlossman, PhD, professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Theodore Betley, PhD, Erving Professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University.
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Original text here: https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2024/11/NSF-grant-X-ray-synchrotron.html
