Science and Technology

UA's Megdal Elected President of National Institute
By Jessica Schlievert in Campus News, Science and Technology

Sharon B. Megdal, director of the UA Water Resources Research Center, WRRC, has been elected president of the National Institutes for Water Resources, NIWR. 

Effective in October, Megdal will serve as president-elect for a one-year term, after which she will serve as president for a year.

"It is an honor to represent the Arizona WRRC at NIWR," said Megdal, whose duties as president-elect include planning and presiding over the organization's 2014 annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

"This is a great opportunity to work in a leadership role within an important network of water research and information transfer centers across the country," Megdal said. "Our work helps build an understanding of real-world water challenges while developing solutions to them."

Megdal is the C.W. and Modene Neely Endowed Professor in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and also holds the titles Distinguished Outreach Professor and professor in the department of soil, water and environmental science.

NIWR is a national organization of Water Resources Research Institutes established under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964.

Its 54 member institutes – one located in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam – work closely with the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, and other partners to carry out their mission of objective research and communication of information on issues relating to the nation's water supplies.

NIWR provides a national platform for researching efficient and responsible water resource management and water quality, infrastructure, technology and policy. The member institutes also provide scientific and engineering education opportunities to help create a skilled workforce able to create and maintain sustainable management of water resources.

"I look forward to working with my NIWR colleagues, the USGS and others as I assume the responsibilities of president-elect,” Megdal said. "Our nation is facing critical water challenges that NIWR will play a key role in addressing. We will be considering all aspects of emerging and long-term problems within our water systems, including institutional and technological issues, which calls for an understanding of local cultures, physical conditions and regional socioeconomics."

Megdal sits on NIWR's board and has served as a member since 2004, when she was named director of the UA's WRRC. She has also been elected to the Board of Directors for the Universities Council on Water Resources and serves on the Board of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District.

Her current water resource projects emphasize achieving water policy goals within institutional structures and include: comparative evaluation of water management, policy and governance in water-scarce regions; meeting the water needs of the environment; groundwater management; water pricing; and transboundary aquifer assessment. She holds a PhD in Economics from Princeton University.

The WRRC is a unit within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and promotes understanding of critical state and regional water management and policy issues through research, community outreach and public education.

Contact: Jessica Schlievert, WRRC Communications Specialist: 520-621-1472; jessica2@cals.arizona.edu

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Faculty, Science

UA Students Present Client-Driven Inventions
By University Communications | in Science and Technology, Teaching and Students

A life-like robotic fish, a lightweight mammal GPS tracker, a hybrid rocket engine test stand and a competitive autonomous underwater vehicle were among about 60 projects presented by several hundred UA engineering students during last week's Engineering Design Day.

UA students developed a life-like robotic fish that could be used mainly for entertainment.

During the 11th annual premier showcase of student design, more than 300 engineering students presented their senior capstone projects, which were supported and sponsored by UA faculty, clubs and also those in industry.

Organized and sponsored by the College of Engineering's Interdisciplinary Design Program, the event also is co-sponsored by Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems. 

Students were up for prize money.

The design team that produced a robotic fish earned this year's first-place prize for Best Overall Design at $1,000.

"This year's quality of projects was outstanding," said Robert Laity, who does marketing for the robotic fish's sponsoring company, MediaMation Inc., and who was one of the team's mentors. "This team was incredible. They worked together really well and produced an excellent product."

Yasmine Straka of mechanical engineering presents her team's high-force damper test, which won the Best Physical Implementation of an Analytically Driven Design award at $500.

The design team members on the project were UA seniors Yi-Chieh Chen of industrial engineering, Mohamed Khairy of electrical engineering, Robbie Laity of electrical engineering, Hannah Grant of optical engineering, Charles Leichner of computer engineering and Clayton Stewart of mechanical engineering.

At $750, second place in Best Overall Design went to the portable thermal optical test chamber for aerospace technologies, which was sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratories.

All told, cash prizes for this year's awards totalled $11,400.

And much like the first and second prize winners, many of the year-long, client-driven Engineering Design Day projects are only steps away from the consumer market or industry use. 

College Dean Jeff Goldberg described the event as "an exciting time that validates all the work we have done with the students during the preceding four years. What I like about it is that it's a warm-up. These students are about to go out into industry and do this for real. It massively increases their chances of being successful in the next project."

One team created a portable weather chamber to simulate the effectiveness of Gore products. The team members, all UA seniors studying either mechanical engineering or electrical engineering, are (left to right) Bradley Williams, Micah Kurtz, Zachary Anderson, Parker Dunbar and Gladys Amaya. (Photo credit: Beatriz Verugo/UANews)

Other projects included an environmentally sustainable hydroponic barley fodder system, which won the Innovation in Engineering Award at $1,000 and was sponsored by Bosque Engineering LLC. It is on its way to helping feed a herd of about 30 alpacas.

A disposable, low-power blood glucose meter, sponsored by Texas Instruments, won a number of awards, including Best Team Leadership at $250 and Most Innovative Systems Integration at $500. If the product goes to market, it could one day give people with diabetes another way to track their blood glucose levels via mobile devices.

Also, a portable incubator for antimicrobial susceptibility testing in resource-limited areas won Best Design Documentation at $750. The incubator could one day help physicians rapidly and cost-effectively identify the best antibiotics for treating various bacterial infections.

Among the project sponsors were Airtronics Inc., BAE Systems B/E Aerospace, Boeing, Bosque Engineering, Caterpillar, Continental Automotive Systems, General Electric, Honeywell, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Texas Instruments, Tucson Embedded Systems, Ventana Medical Systems and W.L. Gore and Associates.

"Our sponsors are really figuring out what makes the best types of projects," said Ara Arabyan, UA professor of mechanical engineering and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Program, which organizes Engineering Design Day.

To learn more about the Engineering Design Day Projects, read "Nothing Fishy About Success of UA Engineering Design Day 2013" on the College of Engineering's site.

Contributors to this article are Beatriz Verdugo and La Monica Everett-Haynes of University Communications and Karina Barrentine and Pete Brown of the College of Engineering.

Students build a turbine engine to understand and improve its performance. Team members are UA seniors (left to right) Jonathan Taylor of systems engineering and Gustavo Torres, Andy Nguyen and Jonas Adua, all of them of engineering management.

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Students, Research, Outreach

Why Do Desert Plants Look That Way?

By La Monica Everett-Haynes in Science and Technology, Teaching and Students

Saguaro National Park in Arizona. (Photo credit: Hugh Mason, via Wikipedia)

What is a Ferocactus?

Why do cactus plants sometimes have both flowers and thorns and, during the immense summer heat, why do some drop their leaves and branches while others retain water?

And why do weeds seem, at times, to grow annoyingly in abundance?

"One man's weed is another man's glory," said Jim Malusa, a principal research specialist in the UA School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

The Sonoran Desert seems, at times, full of contradictions. It is marked by a season of tremendous heat during which nightfall can result in freezing temperatures, wildly variant landscapes and thorny, spiny plants that live near others that produce gentle flowers and succulent fruits.

Do you wonder why? Malusa has the answers.

"There are desert plants that are long lived because they spend much of the time dozing," he said. “They're not growing, not reproducing – they're simply waiting for better times."

But Malusa does not want to give up all the answers. There is a course for that.

Malusa is offering Ecology 414/514, "Plants of the Desert," during the UA's Summer Session II, and the class is open to undergraduate and graduate students.

The course serves as a general introduction to plant ecology with a focus on desert regions in the southwest, specifically the Sonoran, Mojave or Chihuahuan deserts.

In the course, students learn about vegetative and flower structure, invasive species, plant adaptations, plant physiology and the use of desert plants for culinary and medicinal purposes, among other things. Also, while learning about plant classification, students will produce a plant collection of their choosing.

"You can learn some plants by heart, but you need to know how to identify them," Malusa said, noting that students also will engage in lectures and field trips, with optional field trips to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Mount Lemmon.

"The act of collecting and writing allow you to have a closer look," he added.

The course began in 1950 under direction of the late UA professor Robert Hoshaw, who introduced the course on the main campus after it has been taught through the UA Extension.

"Hoshaw brought it to campus because he in fact liked desert plants, despite specializing in algae," said Malusa, who first met Hoshaw while a UA undergraduate in the late 1970s.

Dune buckwheat in the sands near Yuma, Arizona. (Photo credit: Jim Malusa)

So, why should you sign up?

Malusa said the course is not designed for strict botanists, but individuals who are interested in learning about the very environment in which they live. And good news: No prerequisites are required.

So, if you have ever taken a trip up Mount Lemmon and do not understand why the landscape changed drastically within a few hundred feet in elevation or if are curious about why the Sonoran Desert is so distinctive, consider signing up with Malusa.

And FYI: Don't tell Malusa, but a type of Ferocactus is shown below. 

Contact: Jim Malusa at 520-621-6424 or malusa@email.arizona.edu.

The flower of a fishhook barrel cactus, also known as Ferocactus wislizeni. (Photo credit: Susan Lynn Peterson via Wikipedia).

Tags:
Science, Outreach, Education, Faculty, Research

New Book Outlines Unique Challenges Climate Instability Poses to Southwest
By UA Institute of the Environment | in Science and Technology

In an era of increasing climate instability, the southwestern region in the United States faces strained water resources, greater prevalence of tree-killing pests and potentially significant alterations of agricultural infrastructure.

Such threats and challenges, as well as others, are detailed a new book, "Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States," published by Island Press. The book is a landmark study that includes major contributions from 13 UA scientists and is edited by University climate expert Gregg Garfin and colleagues from across the UA campus.

A hotter future is projected for the southwestern region of the United States – a region stretching from the California coast to the plains of eastern Colorado and New Mexico – and future heat and changes in precipitation will present challenges for managing natural resources, water, infrastructure and threats to human health.

“According to our research, we are already witnessing the effects of climate change on snowmelt, and increased temperatures are strongly associated with increased wildfire risk, extensive forest mortality, and longer, more severe heat waves,” said Garfin, the book’s chief editor.

Climate change experts will deliver an overview of the book’s findings, including regional climate impacts, projected impacts and solutions for society on May 2 at 7 p.m. The event, "Climate Change in the Tucson Region: Sustainable Living or Abandoned Wasteland?," will be held at the UA's Center for Creative Photography, is free and open to the public.

Panelists include:

  • Garfin, the report's co-editor and a UA assistant professor and assistant extension specialist in climate, natural resources and policy, in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Ardeth Barnhart, program director for the UA Renewable Energy Network
  • Dan Cayan, a researcher for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • UA Provost Andrew Comrie
  • Diana Liverman, co-director for the UA Institute of the Environment
  • Glen MacDonald, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
  • Ken Seasholes, the Central Arizona Project's resource planning and analysis manager

The discussion will conclude with a question and answer session, and the event will be webcast live online.

The new book focuses on current climate conditions in the region, the environment of the past, what is projected to change over the 21st century and how this will impact ecosystems, water resources, agricultural production, energy supply and delivery, transportation and human health.

Also, the book stresses the choices and opportunities available to society in order to reduce the causes and effects of climate change in the region. It notes the steps governments, businesses, organizations and individuals are taking to improve energy efficiency, improve water supply reliability, decrease wildfire risk and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A consortium of researchers from the Southwest Climate Alliance coordinated the assessment; these scientists are affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment Program and the U.S. Department of the Interior Southwest Climate Science Center.

The book blends the contributions of 120 experts in climate science, economics, ecology, engineering, geography, hydrology, planning, resource management and other disciplines. Also, the book is one of 10 regional technical inputs to the 2013 National Climate Assessment released in draft form earlier this year.

Besides Garfin, UA contributors include Heidi E. Brown, Chris Castro, Karletta Chief, Andrew Comrie, George B. Frisvold, Christina Greene, Eric Holthaus, Angela Jardine, Diana Liverman, Jonathan Overpeck, Joellen Russell and Margaret Wilder. The researchers contributed to chapters on human health, extreme climate, tribal challenges, agriculture, sustainability and climate impacts on U.S. and Mexico border communities.

Contact: Gregg Garfin, deputy director for science translation and outreach for the UA Institute of the Environment, at 520-591-9543 or gmgarfin@email.arizona.edu.

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Faculty, Staff, Research, Outreach

Conference Spotlights Interdisciplinary Environmental Research
By University Communications in Science and Technology, Teaching and Students

“The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences is the place to be for world-class, interdisciplinary research in this field. EarthWeek is vivid proof of that claim," said Karl W. Flessa, director of the UA school.

Organized by graduate students from the five departments in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES), EarthWeek 2013 is a four-day conference designed to showcase the research of the school's undergraduate and graduate students

The event features 84 poster presentations, 82 oral presentations and invited keynote speakers and will be held April 9-12 and is free and open to the public, with the exception of one luncheon. EarthWeek 2013

"The talks and posters are great, the science is first-rate and, maybe best of all, the students pull the events together. They know that interdisciplinary, collaborative research is the future for research," Flessa said.

Craig Childs, a critically acclaimed nature, science and adventure writer, will deliver the EarthWeek 2013 Plenary Keynote Talk April 12 at 11 a.m. in the North Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center. A commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Childs has published more than one dozen books on nature, science and adventure, and his work covers a range of topics, including pre-Columbian archaeology, U.S. border issues and the last free-flowing rivers of Tibet and Patagonia.

Events include:

April 9: Tours of the new home of Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research will be held 10 a.m. to noon with talks scheduled 1-3 p.m. in the Bryant Bannister Tree-Ring Building, located near Highland Commons.

April 10: An El Dia del Agua keynote speaker, Maria Baier of the Sonoran Institute will provide a talk, “Hydrologists: Arizona’s Real Rainmakers." The luncheon requires registration and costs $35. To register, contact Erma Santander at ermasan@email.arizona.edu or 520-621-7120; also an El Dia del Agua keynote speaker Abe Springer of Northern Arizona University will present, “Watershed Investment Programs: Friend or Foe of Watershed Management and Science?” The talk will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the North Ballroom.

April 11: AIR keynote speaker F. Martin Ralph will present, at 3:30 p.m. in the Rincon Room, “Current and Emerging Directions in Atmospheric River Research and Applications” Ralph is of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Oceanic and Atmospheric Research/Earth System Research Laboratory.

April 12: The Geodaze keynote speaker David Montgomery of the University of Washington, will speak at 3 p.m. in the North Ballroom, presenting “Megafloods down the Tsangpo River Gorge, Eastern Tibet."

Additionally, posters and talks from the SEES member departments will be held at the Student Union Memorial Center April 10-12 with special sessions being held April 12, 8 a.m. to noon. Event and special session information is available online.

The UA School of Earth and Environmental Sciences is composed of the atmospheric sciences, geosciences, hydrology and water resources and soil, water and environmental science departments, and also the Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

Contacts: Kendra Murray, UA Department of Geosciences, at kemurray@email.arizona.edu, or Chris Guiterman, the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, at chguiterman@email.arizona.edu.

Tags:
Students, Research, Science, Outreach

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