Yearly report for the Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences Institute, 2012-2013
The purpose of the Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences Institute (EPSSI) is to enable its members to
offer programs and to pursue research opportunities that are beyond the scope of individual
departments. The Charter1 for the Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences Institute states that the Institute
will:
•
Contribute to startup funds to support new faculty.
•
Provide funding for postdoctoral scholars.
•
Support and oversee the graduate program in Atmospheric Sciences.
•
Recruit and support graduate students.
•
Support multi-PI proposals.
EPSSI's activities in fiscal year 2012-13 are aligned with those stated above as follows:
•
The Institute contributed $11,000 this year to startup for a new faculty member in Geology.
•
The Institute has spent $19,047 to support graduate students (tuition and stipend) in this fiscal
year.
•
As indicated in last year's report, the Institute committed funds (as required cost share) for
support of a postdoctoral scholar working on the Cloud Chamber MRI. EPSSI has also
committed funds for postdoctoral support for projects in GMES and SFRES. Total expenditures
in support of postdoctoral scholars for this fiscal year is $34,650.
•
In addition to the postdoc support noted above, the Institute has also contributed $25,000
toward renovation of Dow 105, where the cloud chamber facility will be housed.
•
EPSSI coordinates one of the longest running, most successful seminar series on campus – the
Remote Sensing Seminar. In fiscal year 2012-13, the Institute spent $13,216 on the seminar
series. See Appendix A for a list of the seminar speakers.
Facts and Figures, Specific to Fiscal Year 2012-2013
EPSSI's revenues through the first three quarters of this fiscal year totaled $413,940. (Fourth quarter
revenue was not available as of July 9.)
There were 41 awarded grants (not counting REF grants) affiliated with EPSSI in this fiscal year. See
Appendix B for a complete list.
In fiscal year 2012-13, 14 EPSSI affiliated grants were submitted. See Appendix C for a complete list.
There are 12 graduate students in the Atmospheric Sciences program, which EPSSI oversees. There
were 10 applications to the Atmospheric Sciences program this year.
1 www.epssi.mtu.edu/EPSSI_RSI_Charter.pdf
1
Appendix A: Seminar Speakers, Fall 20122
Speaker
Affiliation
Andres Diaz
Universidad de Costa Rica
Patrick Haertel
Yale University
Sumit Kumar
Michigan Tech
Guy Brassuer
Climate Service Center—Germany
Bin Tan
NASA-GSFC
Luke Van Roekel
Northland College
Annmarie G. Carlton
Rutgers
Matt Haney
USGS-Alaska Volcano Observatory
Barbara Ervens
CIRES/NOAA
Rajul Pandya
Spark – UCAR Science Education
Andrei Abelev
Naval Research Laboratory
Andrea Vander Woude
Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems
Research
Matt Alvarado
Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.
2 See www.epssi.mtu.edu/seminar/index.html for titles and abstracts.
2
Appendix B: Awarded proposals affiliated with EPSSI, 2012-2013
Principal Investigator Funding agency Project title
MITEP: A model for improving earth science education
Baltensperger/Rose
NSF
nationwide
Cantrell
NSF
Measurement of Ice Nuclei in the Contact Mode
Carn
NASA
A-Train Volcano Observatory (ATVO)
Validation of OMI L2 sulfur dioxide retrievals over
Carn
NASA
volcanic and anthropogenic sources
CDI-type II proposal: Vhub: Collaborative research:
Carn
NSF
Cyberinfrastructure for volcano eruption hazards modeling
and simulation
A combined EOS data and GEOS chem modeling study of
Carn
U of Neb
the direct radiative forcing volcanic sulfate aerosols
Continuation of long-term sulfur dioxide EDR with the NPP
Carn
U of Md
ozone mapping and profiler suite nadir mapper
FNR Multi-decadal sulfur dioxide climatology from
Carn
NASA
satellite instrumennts
Collaborative research: synthesis of existing and new
Doskey
NSF
observations of air-snowpack exchanges to assess the arctic
tropospheric ozone budget
FFC Fuel csumption and carbon cycling in northern
Falkowski/Levin
NASA
peatland ecosystems: Understanding vulnerability to
burning fuel
PIRE: Remote sensing for hazard mitigation and resource
Gierke
NSF
protection in Pacific Latin America
Volcanic hazards and remote sensing in Pacific Latin
Gierke
NSF
America: San Jose, Costa Rica: January/February, 2011
Collab Pro: Personnel support for the construction and
Huentemeyer
NSF
commissioning of thegamma-ray observatory
Determine invasion status and ecological effects of an
Kerfoot
NPS
exotic zooplakter in several Great Lakes area parks
Kostinski
NSF
Stochastic aspects of physical and radar meteorology
A study of biomass-burning and anthropogenic impacts on
arctic tropospheric chemistry using measurements at
Kramer
NASA
Summit, Greenland as part of the POLARCAT International
Polar Year project
MRI: Development of a photoacoustic light absorption and
Mazzoleni, C
Nev Sys Ed
albedospectrometer for the characterization of aerosol
radiative transfer in the solar spectrum
The radiative role free tropospheric aerosols and marine
Mazzoleni, C
USDOE
clouds
Mazzoleni, C.
NASA
FNR Swarup China Fellowship
Collaborative research: hygroscopic properties of aerosol
Mazzoleni, L
NSF
organics
Mazzoleni, L
NSF
Collaborative research: Chemical, physical and radiative
properties of North Atlantic free tropospheric aerosol after
3
Nitz
CO St U
Nitz
USDOE
Nitz/Fick
USDOE
Oommen
NSF
Owen
USDOE
Rose
US Ed
Shaw
USDOE
Shaw
Battelle
Shaw
NSF
Shaw
NSF
Shaw/Lu
NASA
Shaw
NASA
Smirnov
NSF
Smirnov
NSF
Smirnov
NSF
Smirnov
NSF
Waite
NSF
Waite
NSF
Waite
NSF
Wu
USEPA
long-range transport
Northern hemisphere Pierre Auger Observatory in Colorado
Recovery Act:Year 13 studies of high energy particle
astrophysics
Recovery Act:Year 14 studies of high energy particle
astrophysics
A crowdsourced knowledge base for the damage assessment
of extreme events3
The radiative role free tropospheric aerosols and marine
clouds
International geological master in volcanology and
geotechniques
Laboratory investigations of contact freezing and the
aerosol to ice crystal transformation process
Further Development of the HOLODEC 2 (Holographic
Detector for Clouds 2) Instrument
MRI: Development of a multiphase turbulent reaction
chamber for laboratory studies os atmospheric aerosol and
cloud processes
Laboratory and field studies of cloud-turbulence
interactions via digital holography
FNR Investigating the effect of solar activity during a grand
minimum on clouds
FNR Beals Fellowship
A Paleomagnetic and Geochronological Re-investigation of
the ~1.1 Ga Coldwell Complex: Implications for the
Reversal Asymmetry in Keweenawan Rocks
Paleointensity, morphology and stability of the proterozoic
geomagnetic field as recorded by mafic dikes ins India
CAREER: Reading magnetic fingerprints from deep time:
An insight into the geodynamo and early earth system
evolution
Early Career: Acquisition of a high sensitivity
superconducting rock magnetometer for paleomagnetic and
paleointensity research
An integrated analysis of seismicity, infrasound and highresolution SO2 measurements to determine te source of
low-frequency seismicity at Villarrica Volcano, Chile
CAREER: eruption dynamics from low-frequency
volcano_seismic signals
EAGER: The Feasibility of simulating of weak volcanic
shockwaves with analog modeling
Impacts of changes in use and land cover on US air quality:
development and application of an integrated-vegetationchemistry model
3 Proposal was submitted in 2011, and is not set to begin until July 1, but is included here so that it does not fall through
the cracks.
4
Wu
NSF
Wu
EPA
Collaborative research: Investigation of ozone
photochemistry in lower-FT continental outflow traveling
over the North Atlantic
Extreme Event Impacts
5
Appendix C: Proposals affiliated with EPSSI, submitted in 2012-2013
PI
Agency
Becker/Cantrell
US DOE
Cantrell
NASA
Carn
Syracuse U/NSF
Huentemeyer
NSF
Kramer/Wu/Owen
NSF
Mazzoleni, L.
NSF
Mazzoleni, C.
NSF
Mazzoleni, L./Doskey
NSF
Mazzoleni, C.
Boston College
Mazzoleni, C.
US DOE
Mouw4
U of NH
Nitz
Colorado U/US DOE
Shaw
US DOE
Waite
NSF
Title
Hitchhiking bacteria in the atmosphere:
Understanding how attachment to dust
particles affects the ice-nucleating activity of
bacteria in mixed-phase clouds
Mineral dust and biomass burning aerosol as a
source of contact ice nuclei in arctic mixed
phase clouds: constraints from laboratory
studies
Hazards SEES type 2: Density flow and
mixing dynamics in tectonically-active
enclosed basins: Hazard case studies in Lakes
Kivu and Malawi, East African Rift
CAREER: Diffuse and extended TeV gammaray emission in our Galaxy with HAWC
Observatory
The role of long-range transport and nitrogen
oxides in photochemical ozone production in
the Arctic
CAREER: Molecular-level investigation of
aqueous phase isoprene oxidation and cloud
processing
CAREER: Clouds, turbulence and mixing: A
remote sensing investigation within a cloud
chamber
MRI: Acquisition of an Orbitrap elite mass
spectrometer for multidisciplinary research
Laboratory studies of cloud particle
formation, mixing state and physicochemical
and optical properties of carbonaceous
aerosols
From detailed characterization of single
particle morphology and mixing state to
aerosol radiative forcing particle morphology
and mixing radiative impact and atmospheric
transport
Development of novel detection and
prediction algorithms for microcystis blooms
Influence of nucleation on ice microphysical
properties of mixed-phase stratiform clouds
Numerical and analog modeling of weak
volcanic shockwaves
4 This proposal was moved to GLRC.
6