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June 15, 2005
Idaho Universities Receive $9
Million Federal Grant To Boost Water Research In State
Geosciences professor Jim McNamara measures the depth and velocity of
water in Dry Creek north of Boise. A $9 million federal grant includes
funding to expand the Dry Creek Watershed Hydrologic Research Site.
click above to see image full size
A $9 million federally funded research program announced today will
bolster Idaho’s ability to study critical water and aquaculture issues.
Leaders of the Idaho Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research announced the new grant during a meeting of the Governor’s
Science and Technology Advisory Council in Moscow.
“This funding will contribute significantly to Idaho’s existing
expertise in water research and help Idaho universities become more
competitive in attracting future support for their scientists,” said
Doyle Jacklin, the Post Falls businessman who leads the statewide Idaho
EPSCoR committee.
“The fact that this is a multi-university award is good for the state,”
Jacklin added. “The all-encompassing subject of water that this grant
will explore is of paramount importance in Idaho.”
The Research Infrastructure Improvement grant will build on Idaho’s
existing water research strengths, Jacklin added.
The committee received word late last week that Idaho had won the
three-year, $9 million National Science Foundation grant. Researchers at
Boise State University, University of Idaho and Idaho State University
will share the funding.
The funding will support expanded computer analysis tools to address
water issues and research on nitrogen and carbon cycles in Idaho
landscapes, stream ecology, aquaculture and environmental nano-scale
sensors.
At Boise State, the grant will fund a new Water Quality Laboratory to
support hydrologic research, said geosciences professor Jim McNamara.
McNamara and Boise State civil engineering professor Molly Gribb are
co-principal investigators for Boise State’s share of the grant.
In addition, the funds will provide two years of support for a new Boise
State hydrologic sciences faculty position in civil engineering, the
expansion of the Dry Creek Watershed Hydrologic Research Site in the
Boise Foothills and the expansion of Boise Stateąs Soils Properties
Laboratory. Also, Boise State physics professor Alex Punnoose will
collaborate with researchers at the University of Idaho to develop
nanoscale sensors for water-related studies.
“This statewide grant will help provide the infrastructure to undertake
important interdisciplinary research,” McNamara said. “It also
significantly enhances our capabilities to train graduate students.”
New computer capabilities for the UI Ecohydraulics Laboratory at the
Idaho Water Center in Boise will benefit scientists throughout the
state, said Jean’ne Shreeve, the Idaho EPSCoR Program director and UI
chemistry professor.
The Idaho program was one of four nationally that was fully funded,
Shreeve said. Nevada, South Carolina and Kentucky were the other states
receiving full funding from among the 13 that submitted proposals.
Idaho’s wealth of watershed research remains largely untapped by
scientists elsewhere and will gain visibility with the new projects. The
state’s leadership in aquaculture and agricultural water research was
another asset that helped land the funding.
The grant also reflects the state’s desire to support a growing
high-tech industry and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s desire to expand Idaho
universities’ scientific expertise in select areas.
Other aspects of the grant include establishing closer scientific ties
with Idaho’s American Indian tribes and the Columbia River Inter-tribal
Fish Commission by expanding existing public outreach and education
efforts. In addition, the grant will support programs to educate the
general public and legislators about benefits from Idaho research.
Since the Idaho EPSCoR program won its first major National Science
Foundation grant in 1989, the state’s scientists have received some $112
million in direct funding through the program and related funding
totaling an additional $74 million, Jacklin said.
The new grant will establish an Idaho Experimental Watershed Network
that will draw together scientists from all three public universities.
Scientists from UI will monitor Mica Creek in northern Idaho, ISU will
monitor the Portneuf River in southeastern Idaho and Boise State will
monitor Dry Creek in southwestern Idaho. Future cooperative watershed
monitoring efforts by UI and BSU researchers will add Reynolds Creek in
southwestern Idaho to the network.
Boise State scientists will focus on:
• Creating a Water Quality Laboratory under the direction of geosciences
professor Shawn Benner to support the Idaho Experimental Watershed
Network monitoring. The lab will become the only such facility in
southwestern Idaho.
• Understanding the way moisture moves from mountain sources such as
snowpack to streams and groundwater. The project will aid understanding
of how carbon and nitrogen cycles operate in watersheds. The project
will also aid Boise State efforts to integrate research and education.
• Developing technologies to make better measures of soil properties and
other geologic and biologic materials that influence hydrologic
pathways. The project will foster collaboration between scientists and
engineers for better solutions to water resource problems.
UI scientists will focus on:
• Developing an information technology system at the Idaho Water Center
to aid statewide data processing, analysis, exchange and outreach.
Students and teachers in school districts near each experimental
watershed will aid researchers in data collection and use data in their
statistics, biology and earth science courses.
• Expanding international collaboration with European and Latin American
water scientists. UI is among a dozen universities and research centers
in six nations that have signed on for research collaborations and
student exchanges.
• Investigating how carbon and water flows are linked in Idaho’s forests
as part of an international effort to understand how those flows vary as
the landscape and climate changes.
• Exploring fish physiology and genomics to build on Idaho’s existing
aquaculture expertise. The work will further understanding of how fish
adapt to various environments through genetics.
• Capitalizing on Idaho nanotechnology expertise to develop and test
portable and ultra-sensitive environmental sensors that could track
chemicals such as pesticides or microorganisms such as E. coli or
Giardia in the state’s waters
ISU scientists will focus on:
• Studying how streams and rivers carry carbon from watersheds and the
ways human activity may affect the global carbon cycle. Changes in land
use and agricultural and industrial activities can greatly influence
carbon and nutrient flows in streams.
Contact: Jim McNamara, Department of Geosciences
(208) 426-1354,
jmcnamar@boisestate.edu
Media Contact: Janelle Brown, communications and marketing, (208)
426-1790, jbrown2@boisestate.edu
The Office of Communications and Marketing - Boise State University
1910 University Drive - Education Building, #726 - Boise Idaho
83725-1030
208-426-1577
(fax)208-426-4001
email newservices@boisestate.edu
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Geosciences
professor Jim McNamara measures the depth and velocity
of water in Dry Creek north of Boise. A $9 million
federal grant includes funding to expand the Dry Creek
Watershed Hydrologic Research Site.
click above to see image full size
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