Austin College
AC-9: Academic Research

Baker, David, Physics, surface energy balance research Carr, Andrew, Chemistry, hazardous materials transport safety, pollutant remediation Ewing, Mari Elise, Environmental Studies, agricultural land use Gould, Stephanie, Chemistry, solar cell dyes Griffith, David, Business, pollution from local vs. multinational enterprises Kisselle, Keith, Bio & Env Studies, prairie restoration Nuckols, Danny, Economics, organic agriculture Reed, Kelynne, Biology, prairie restoration Schulze, Peter, Bio & Env Studies, ecosystem restoration & obstacles to environmental progress Smucker, Brad, Chemistry, solar cell dyes

The director of the Center for Environmental Studies used recent reports to the Center for Environmental Studies external Advisory Board and direct consultation with colleagues to confirm current, ongoing research projects. We do not include any staff in the tally of people involved in research, though a few staff members do occasionally assist with various aspects of research projects.

Dr. David Baker (physics), with students, installed new calibrated sensors at the Austin College weather station. George Diggs and his co-authors published the latest in their set of floras of Texas, The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas. This book and its predecessors also by Diggs are the sources for information on Texas plants, and are relied upon by people engaged in ecosystem restoration, sustainable ranch management, etc. Mari Elise Ewing (Environmental Studies) completed her Ph.D. dissertation on land use decisions of ranchers and farmers, Linking processes and patterns: Resilience and adaptive capacity on the High Plains. Wayne Meyer (Biology) and colleagues just completed research on grassland breeding birds’ use of agricultural and prairie plots. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses their conclusions to manage areas for breeding birds at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. Daniel Nuckols (Economics) is wrapping-up a 10 year study of Texas organic farming and ranching. He is Chairman of the Board for Holistic Management International, an organization that aids new and traditional/industrial farmers & ranchers transition into sustainable farm & ranch land management. Nuckols is also President of the Board of the newly formed non-profit, Council for Healthy Food Systems. Nuckols most research publication is "Blue-Green Agricultural Revolution," chapter 14 of The Next Economics: Global Cases in Energy, Environment, and Climate Change, Springer Press, 2013. Peter Schulze (Biology & Environmental Studies) is in consultation with publishers on a book draft tentatively titled Obstacles to Environmental Progress. The book addresses the immediate obstacles that typically block progress on particular environmental problems (http://www.austincollege.edu/peter-schulze/) Peter Schulze and alumna Sophie Higgs are in the early stages of drafting a publication on the progress of the first 15 years of the Sneed Prairie Restoration. Brad Smucker (Chemistry) presented the a paper on his research into photosensitive dyes for solar energy collection: “Luminescent building blocks for supramolecules from a bis-diimine platinum(II) dithiolene with exchangeable diimine ligands” Smucker, B. W.; Smith, J. B.*; Derry, P. J.* Pacifichem Meeting, Honolulu, HI, 2015. During the last three years has students have presented five posters on the same research project at various chemistry meetings.