Magazine Focuses on Sustainability Research

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Designing landscapes, creating efficient power sources, developing better business practices, examining human impact on small creatures – through these and other projects, University of Arkansas researchers work to create a better world for the long term. The work of these faculty and others is showcased in the spring 2008 issue of Research Frontiers.

“Being a sustainable university means that as we educate new generations of leaders, conduct the research that makes our lives better and reach out to the communities of Arkansas and beyond, we do not compromise future generations,” says John A. White, chancellor and Distinguished Professor of industrial engineering.

In addition to the articles in the magazine, Research Frontiers on the Web features new videos that show research being conducted on an Arctic Lake in northern Canada and among the ruins of an ancient city in Petra, Jordan. Geosciences professor Sonja Hausmann and an international team of colleagues traveled to Lake Pingualuit in the northernmost part of Quebec, Canada, to study the environment of the pristine lake and learn more about past climates based on tiny creatures called diatoms. Another geosciences professor, Tom Paradise, has spent more than 20 years in Petra, Jordan, studying the impacts of weathering and tourism on this unique World Heritage Site carved out of sandstone cliffs.

Web site visitors will also be able to visit the artwork featured at Crafting Content: Ceramics Symposium 2008, through video and interviews with the symposium organizer, art professor Jeannie Hulen.

In addition, visitors to the Web site also can read the feature articles on sustainability research at the university. Researchers Jerry King, holder of the Ansel and Virginia Condray Endowed Professorship in Chemical Separations; Ed Clausen, holder of the Ray C. Adam Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering; and Julie Carrier, associate professor of chemical engineering, are using environmentally friendly chemical extraction processes to extract antioxidants from foods and create value-added products from biofuels. Clausen also is working with Buddy Babcock, professor of chemical engineering, and Michael Popp, associate professor of agricultural economics, to create biodiesel fuel from chicken fat.

Three electrical engineering professors, Juan Carlos Balda, Roy McCann and Hameed Naseem, are examining different ways to make electric energy more efficient and accessible. And Greg Thoma, who holds the Bates Teaching Professorship in chemical engineering, is working with the university’s Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies to create decision-support tools for stakeholders in the Fayetteville Shale Play to minimize the environmental impact of companies mining for natural gases.

Sustainability issues don’t only affect the environment – they also can affect a company’s bottom line. Terry Tremwel, research director of the Supply Chain Management Research Center, explains why and how businesses are embracing this movement.

While the word sustainability is a relatively new buzzword, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted began using sustainable practices in his work more than 100 years ago, according to Fran Beatty, landscape architecture professor and department chair. Beatty and colleagues Mark Boyer, Carl Smith and Steve Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, use landscapes to channel water in sustainable ways, through cities, across roofs and in streams and neighborhoods.

Sustainability affects more than the future of humankind; it also affects the creatures that live in the environments used by people. Michelle Evans-White, assistant professor of biological sciences, studies the biodiversity of macroinvertebrates, such as snails, clams and mayflies, as an indicator of stream health.