Research for a Reason - January e-Newsletter

NSF data again shines national research spotlight on UL Lafayette
 

The National Science Foundation’s annual index of research and development spending contains a bevy of good news for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

According to NSF’s 2021 Higher Education Research and Development, or HERD, Survey, UL Lafayette:

Is, for the second consecutive time, the seventh-best university in the United States for research that’s funded through partnerships with business and industry.
Is ranked 93rd among public research universities for R&D funding, maintaining its place among the nation’s top 100 public research universities. UL Lafayette achieved the status based on 2020 HERD data.
Secured $65 million in federal R&D funding, the most in University history.
Is ranked 135th overall on the HERD  Survey, placing it among the top 21% of the 647 universities the index includes.
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UL Lafayette Researcher Finds Answers to Origins of Most Diverse Fish Fauna on Earth

 

  Recent research by Dr. James Albert, professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, sought to understand the origins of the megadiversity of freshwater fish fauna in South America. What he and his colleagues discovered is that abrupt increases of species evolution coincided in time and place with major mountain uplifts and river re-arrangements. The research by Prof. Albert and colleagues across the country was published earlier this month in the journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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University Plays Role in Clean Hydrogen Hub Application

 

Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas recently received approval to submit a full application for a HALO Hydrogen Hub for the development, production and use of hydrogen as fuel and manufacturing feedstock.

 

The U.S. Department of Energy encouraged the states’ governors to submit an application on behalf of their tri-state partnership. This is the second phase of DOE’s application process. The first was an initial broad concept pitch made last fall.

 

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is one of several universities in Louisiana playing a major role in this initiative, thanks to its position as a global leader in both alternative and traditional energies, said Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, UL Lafayette’s vice president for Research, Innovation and Economic Development. READ MORE

 

 

 

Testing Epoxy Polymers

JaCaleb Smith spent his summer in the lab with Dr. Dilip DePan, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, testing mechanisms that improve the shelf life of epoxy polymers. 

He gained research experience working with various nanoparticles such as halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), natural clay (MMT), and graphene nanoscrolls dispersed in epoxy resin. He also used UV light stabilizers within these nanofillers, and studied the photo-stability of the epoxies.

Smith was in the UL System's first cohort of R.F. Lewis Scholars – a program to enhance the educational experiences of exemplary Black male students. The program focuses on academics, social advancement, and community service.

He is a chemical engineering major from Destrehan, La.

Finding the Missing

Social media has become the new "Milk Carton Campaign" for missing persons cases; however research suggests that biases found in traditional news coverage persist in the social media realm.

Dr. Michelle Jeanis and students Sarah Smith and Lindsey Warren co-authored a study about this last Fall. Their findings: Facebook's boost post feature significantly increases engagement and recovery of missing persons and is correlated to social media engagement. Their study was published in one of the top 10 criminology journals in the U.S. – the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

This project involved Jeanis' undergraduate research lab, SPRUCE@UL, in collaboration with the non-profit organization RAMP (Resource Association for Missing People), which was founded by UL Lafayette alum, Charlene Schunick.  READ MORE

 

 

Featured Center

 

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Public Policy Center

A partnership between the College of Liberal Arts and the Edith Garland Dupré Library, the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center focuses on the public policy areas championed by Governor Blanco during her 25-year career in state government. These issues included education, poverty and economic opportunity, criminal justice reform, health and healthcare, the coast and environment, and governmental ethics.

The Blanco Center aims to provide policymakers and the public with the information necessary to improve lives and communities across Louisiana. With this in mind, a special interest of the center is promoting and expanding the role of women in politics, and providing training for community leaders and elected officials. LEARN MORE

 

New Research Program on Economic & Environmental Resilience

 

The Blanco Public Policy Center introduced a new research program on Economic and Environmental Resilience. Dr. Anna Osland, the Center's new Associate Director of Research, will lead the new research program.

This new research program will delve deeply into research and policy issues critical to Louisiana. While examining the nexus between economic and environmental issues, the program will add focus to their complex relationships and evaluate how they impact individual, community, and state-level resilience. Against a challenging economic backdrop, Louisiana is at the leading edge of responding to environmental challenges and lessons learned here will help chart a course for communities elsewhere dealing with similar challenges. READ MORE

 

Upcoming Webinar

The Office of the Vice President of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development will be hosting a webinar for researchers interested in learning more about “Interdisciplinary Research and Funding Opportunities in the Social Sciences”.

Dr. Christine Mallinson of UMBC will discuss benefits and challenges for pursuing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and funding mechanisms that are well suited to support it. She will discuss how her own interdisciplinary work has led to collaborations with scholars in linguistics, language sciences, education, data science, and information systems, including two current projects supported by the National Science Foundation’s Build & Broaden and EAGER programs.

 

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2023

Time: 11:00 am CST

Location: Virtual Zoom Platform

Register in advance by clicking here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

 

Questions: Email research@louisiana.edu