Weekly Newsletter

April 5, 2021

Dear colleagues-

Thank you to all who attended the DPDL presentation by Dr. Diana Wall on Monday.

In addition, please take a brief survey about where you conduct research. We are gathering this info to create a map on our website highlighting the international breadth of our affiliates' research. We also want to create some ‘buzz’ for Earth Day (and April 28th’s Purdue Day of Giving).

Research shout-outs this week to affiliates Johnathon Day (HTM), quoted in several new articles on post-pandemic tourism; Pat Zollner (FNR) and Zhao Ma (FNR) weighing in on black vultures and newly birthed cattle, and Jacob Ricker-Gilbert (Ag Econ) talking about crop storage in light of climate change.

Please also encourage your students to check out the second issue for the semester of Earth Today, our undergraduate newsletter, that highlights offerings in the School of Health and Human Sciences.

Also, congratulations to two doctoral students, Janell Jett and Henry Seeger for receiving prestigious Sloan Post-Doctoral Fellowships for work on social science and the New Carbon Economy.

More on all of these items below.

Upcoming SRA Events

Water Challenges SRA Open Meeting

Wednesday April 7 | 3:00 - 4:30 PM

The C4E Water Challenges Signature Research Area will be hosting an open meeting on research in the Great Lakes, taking place next Wednesday, April 7. All are welcome to attend. If you are interested in joining, please email Sara McMillan.

Response Requested: Earth Day 2021

Earth Day is fast approaching and this year we want to highlight all the exciting places near and far where our affiliates are doing research.

We hope you'll please take a moment and complete this very brief questionnaire so that we can begin gathering locations and creating an interactive map on which to showcase them all.

Please submit your responses as soon as possible so that we can have the map ready in time for Earth Day on April 22.

Other Events of Interest

Urban Transformations Seminar Series

Wednesday April 7 | 12:00 PM

Center affiliates and Civil Engineering professors Suresh Rao and Satish Ukkusuri have organized a virtual lecture series on the effects of rapid urbanization titled "Urban Transformations and Regional Resilience”.

The ninth installment in the series will take place, featuring Mark Barthelemy, research director at the Institute of Theoretical Physics (IPhT) in Saclay. His lecture is titled "Solving Zipf: The Growth Equation of Cities".

Register to attend.

Purdue Political Science Lecture - Dr. Ramiro Berardo

Tuesday April 27 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM EDT

Dr. Berardo will be discussing his latest paper, Uncovering the polycentric nature of water quality governance: Evidence from Ohio’s Nonpoint Source Implementation Strategic Plans. Join the event here.

Recent News

Two Purdue Doctoral Students Win Prestigious Sloan Post-Doctoral Fellowships to Study the New Carbon Economy
Center for the Environment | April 2021

Janell Jett (Political Science) and Henry Seeger (Communication) have recently been awarded Sloan Post-doctoral Fellowships to study aspects of the New Carbon Economy through Purdue’s Center of the Environment as supported through a collaboration with the A.E. Sloan Foundation and the multi-university network of the New Carbon Economy Consortium’s (NCEC).

New problems arise for crop storage as planet gets warmer
ABC News | March 2021

Center affiliate Jake Ricker-Gilbert (Ag Econ), who has worked in several African nations including Malawi and Tanzania, discusses issues that farmers face in Sub-Saharan Africa in this recent article on global crop storage issues in the face of climate change. Read the article here.

Purdue Asks Livestock Producers for Help Studying Losses due to Black Vultures
Hoosier Ag Today | April 2021

C4E affiliate Pat Zollner (FNR) is lending his expertise, in collaboration with Zhao Ma (FNR), on the impact black vultures are having on cattle producers in Indiana. While the vultures play an important role, they can also cause harm to young cattle and disrupt ag processes. Read more about the effort here.

The New Overtourism Debate
Travel Weekly | March 2021

C4E affiliate Jonathon Day (HTM) shares his expertise on the ongoing but less-emphasized issue of "overtourism", in which certain locales suffer from the sheer amount of travel to their destination. The global covid-19 pandemic was in some ways a relief to these places, but they are bracing for tourism numbers to rapidly rise again. Read more.

Opportunity for Purdue-led Conference on Water Issues During Pandemic Building Closures

Center affiliates Andrew Whelton (CE, EEE) and Caitlin Proctor (ABE, EEE) are planning a summer event: Building Water SLAM – Stagnation, Legionella, and Metals, as a conclusion to their NSF EAGER project effort. The event will take place July 7-9 and will be free and open to the public. They are currently accepting abstracts with preference given to projects on water quality issues during building closures spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstracts should be 200-500 words, submitted at this link by May 1, 2021. Oral presentations will be short (15 minutes), and a virtual poster session might be offered. Student and postdoc presentations are encouraged, and student presentation awards are planned.

Please reach out to Caitlin Proctor with any questions.

Issue 5 of Earth Today, our monthly environmental newsletter for Purdue undergraduates, is out now. This month features a glance at the newly introduced Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences (OEHS) undergraduate program in the College of Health Science, undergrad research opportunities, and some upcoming events open to students.

Faculty are encouraged to forward the link to their students.

Funding Opportunities

COVID-19 Funding Opportunities – This list is updated frequently.

NSF Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD)
The GOLD Program supports the mission of achieving greater and more systemic diversity by creating a network of champions who can generate greater implementation of evidence-based best practices and resources to promote belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (BAJEDI) throughout the geoscience education, research enterprise and workforce. Supported projects will research and develop the complex interplay of environmental context, personal traits, and motivating factors that must be considered in creating BAJEDI champions and supporting efforts that make the geosciences welcoming to all. Deadline: On-going

EPA Measurement and Monitoring Methods for Air Toxics and Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Atmosphere
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking applications proposing research to advance measurement and monitoring methods for air toxics and contaminants of emerging concern in the atmosphere. Specifically, this RFA seeks research that will provide: 1. advancements in measurement techniques for real time, continuous measurements of concentrations with minimum detection limits below background concentrations or health risk-based thresholds; and 2. advancements in stationary or mobile near source measurement methods for quantifying emission rates of fugitive emissions. An Early Career track is also offered. Deadline: June 2

Notice of Intent to Publish: DOE-NETL Advanced Coal Waste Processing: Production of Coal-Enhanced Filaments or Resins for Advanced Manufacturing and Research and Development of Coal-Derived Graphite

DOE ARPA-E RFI on Manufacturing Carbon Negative Materials to Reduce Embodied Emissions in Buildings

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