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April 2015 New Electronics Lab for ATMO & NWI The CSC’s Dr. Jennifer Vanos, a professor in Atmospheric Science, is the co-­‐PI on a new electronics lab project Dr. Jennifer Vanos and Dr. Eric Bruning, both Assistant Professors of Atmospheric Sciences (ATMO) at TTU, are Co-­‐PIs on a project to create a new electronics research lab at the Reese Center. The purpose of the new lab is to increase building capacity for research equipment for them and their teams and to support cyber enabled innovation and capacity for fieldwork. The vision is a shared laboratory setting for “rapid load in/load-­‐out of transient projects.” The development of this lab will help build essential capacity at TTU for short-­‐term, small-­‐scale research projects by the National Wind Institute (NWI) and ATMO groups. The lab will provide a dedicated location for the development of new instrumentation, provide maintenance and storage space, and allow for full-­‐scale testing of emerging technology. The purchase of lab materials began in late April, and the lab is scheduled to be completed later this summer in August. Establishing this lab at the Reese Center provides Drs. Bruning and Vanos, as well as other researchers, with a stable and secure place for instrumentation, organization, programming, and storage that will benefit research efforts in multiple departments. Funded by NWI’s Discovery Grant, the lab will be located in existing space within the building currently housing the majority of the NWI and ATMO research equipment, including the debris cannon, Vortec, StickNets, and TTUKa radars. Dr. Bruning and Dr. Vanos will govern the use of lab space, which will include space for their research groups and for other ATMO and NWI researchers. Dr. Emily Powell is the new Communications & Outreach Coordinator for the South Central Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, where she will be managing their engagement and communications. She is a climate scientist with expertise in the areas of climate change, extreme events, and natural hazard m itigation. Prior to Texas Tech, she worked at Louisiana State University as a Research Fellow for the Coastal Sustainability Studio on the Louisiana Resiliency Assistance Program and for Louisiana Sea Grant on communicating the local impacts of sea level rise. Dr. Powell’s research has addressed climate extreme variability in the Southeast, socioeconomic impacts of changing flood risks and flood insurance rates,
and community preparedness for extreme events. She received her doctorate in Geography at LSU. Featured Publication: Grisham, B.A., P.K. Borsdorf, C.W. Boal, and K.K. Boydston, 2014: Nesting ecology and nest survival of lesser prairie-­‐chickens on the Southern High Plains of Texas. J Wildlife Mgmt. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.716
1 March Climate Science Seminar Speakers Dr. Joey Young Dr. John Barkdull Dr. Dustin Sweet Plant and Soil Sciences Texas Tech University “Turf Management Strategies to Mitigate Urban Heat Islands” Department of Political Science Texas Tech University “Adapting Political S cience to Climate Change” Department of Geosciences Texas Tech University “Pleistocene Climatic Conditions Archived in Paleosols of the Southern High Plains” The extent to which political scientists get Turf is defined as a community of grass plants involved in dealing with climate change is largely that form a continuous ground cover under dependent on the extent to which our world is frequent mowing and traffic. Turfgrass is the significantly affected. Currently many leaders largest irrigated crop in the US, covering 40.4 favor adaptation tactics to mitigation tactics, as million acres of land. Two of the main benefits, our infrastructure and finances are highly despite the demand for irrigation, are carbon dependent on fossil fuels, known contributors to sequestration and minimization of the urban climate change. The developed world also favors heat island effect. Turfgrass sequesters carbon adaptation as more climate change impacts currently affect the developing world. If because it is a perennial crop and not mitigation fails, adaptation will then be the cultivated. However, turfgrass does require forefront of political discussions. The tools of maintenance, which comes with emissions. political science will improve implementation of Evaporative cooling via transpiration is another adaptation measures. However, the more benefit. Dr. Young and his students are disruptive the effects of climate change are, the examining the extent of these benefits more the developed world will begin to call for currently at a research field in Lubbock. political consideration. May Seminar Speakers: Caleb Crow – “Getting Our House in Order: Reducing the Climate Impact of TTU through Sustainability” Brian Hirth – “Commercializing TTU Research to Optimize Global Wind Plant Performance” Alex Pearl – “The Tragedy of the Vital Commons” Other April Highlights: • In case you missed it, watch the CSC’s first ever Science by the Glass event with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/csc/news.php • Dr. Patricia Solis named a 2015 recipient of the O utstanding Support for Geography Education award! • Dr. Katharine Hayhoe received Headliner Award from the Association for Women in Communications • Good Housekeeping’s April issue includes article by Dr. Hayhoe, which President Obama posted to his Facebook and Twitter pages. Check it out: http://ofa.bo/g4hz “Like” us @ http://www.facebook.com/TTUClimateScienceCenter
Follow us @ http://www.twitter.com/TTUCSC | web: http://www.depts.ttu.edu 2 Geology provides us with a profound appreciate for “deep time.” Examining the state of soils from place to place both at the surface and far below the ground provides us with a significant amount of information about climate over millions of years. We know that CO2 deposits have fluctuated naturally over time, and that they are now at the highest maximum ever on Earth and rising. Using information about the location and the weathering ratios of materials, we can develop a framework of soils for an area as well as precipitation patterns. This allows for the creation of a summary of climate. CSC Featured Dataset The high-­‐resolution climate projections generated by the TTU CSC are now online as part o f the USGS GeoData Portal. They can be used to make interactive climate maps of a host of variables (shown: days per year with maximum temperatures above 90°F) http://goo.gl/OF49Ep