What
Building an effective interdisciplinary research team
winning federal funding: a lesson from the climate
change research in Tennessee
Who:
Dr. Yusheng (Chris) Liu, Associate Vice President for Research, PVAMU
Background
Dr. Liu joined PVAMU in July 2015 with more than two decades of experience in the field
of higher education and research in Asia, Europe and North America. He also has two-years
of direct experience as Program Director with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF),
where he co-managed two cross disciplinary programs with NSF BIOLOGICAL
SCIENCES and GEOSCIENCES. He had about 10-year experience as a biology faculty at
the University of Wisconsin (Stevens Point) and East Tennessee State University. Dr. Liu is
a paleo-biologist by training and has published over 70 peer-reviewed publications. He has
had extensive international research and grantsmanship experiences. He also serves as an
editorial member for Palaeontographica Abt. B Paläophytologie, an international peerreviewed journal founded in 1846 in Germany. At PVAMU, Dr. Liu helps with leading, assessing and managing research
programs and services that foster the increases productivity of multi-disciplinary research by providing academic and
administrative leadership for research of the land grant model of education.
When:
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Noon), Thursday, March 31, 2016
Where:
CAHS-CEP Auditorium
Abstract
A 7-million-year-old fossil site from northeast Tennessee has yielded well preserved plant and mammal remains,
demonstrating a unique combination of North American and Eurasian biota in a forest-woodland and a window for
understanding the terrestrial climate conditions in southeastern North America. Fossil vertebrates from the site support the
late Hemphillian Land Mammal Age (viz. ~ 7 million-year-ago). The site consists of about 40 m of dark colored sediment
of lacustrine origin, in which the top 4 m-thick fossiliferous laminated facies preserves excellent record of plant fossils,
represented by wood, seeds, leaves, and pollen grains. Forty-eight palynological samples from seven different test-pits were
analyzed. The pollen assemblage has a low to moderate diversity and is largely dominated by an oak-hickorypine assemblage (~ 90% of the pollen flora). Floristically, we have recognized at least 55 genera, representing more than 25
families of seed plants. Based on the nearest living counterpart comparisons, these fossils can be identified with certainty to
their specific modern genera. Therefore, the Coexistence Approach, a well-established quantitative paleoclimate
reconstruction method, was used to reconstruct the paleoclimate condition. Seven climatic parameters were quantitatively
calculated. The comparison clearly indicates that the southern Appalachians was under a climate quite different from the
modern; especially its winter was much warmer (above freezing), which could explain the occurrence of alligators and beaded
lizards in the fossil record. Furthermore, the much drier month (likely last fall to winter) in the past might be responsible to
intensive forest fires, which contribute the common occurrence of charcoals all over the site. In general, the paleoclimate in
the southern Appalachians appears much more seasonal than that of today.
Contact:
Ali Fares, Associate Director of Research (Interim) & Professor, CAHS-PVAMU
Phone: 936 261 5019, Email: AlFares@PVAMU.Edu