Beginning with this edition, several new or ongoing research projects from the list of New Grants and Contracts will be highlighted offering a descriptive summary (rather than just the project title) of the research to be performed. Titles are important but it is our intent to show the need or practical use for the study. Often, research is interdisciplinary between one or more science disciplines. Sometimes, a funding agency may fund different components of one project (or a continuing project) through separate grants. Sometimes, several institutions are collaborating on a project. Rarely, is a project a stand-alone entity that is funded once and then forgotten. It often takes a lifetime or more for a project to come to fruition. For instance, finding a cure for a disease, testing a new drug, or building oyster reefs. Some projects will be on-going as long as there is water in the ocean or Chesapeake Bay, ice in the Arctic, fish in the sea, and plant life.

To be a scientist, one must be a detective of sorts and have patience because payoffs are often slow in coming.

An outline of the scientific method

So, why become a scientist? There are a million reasons, each person with her/his own thoughts. Here is what some of our scientists said:

• To contribute to mankind;
• To try and prove a theory that no one else before could;
• To figure out 'why' and 'how';
• Became fascinated with chemistry (or physics, biology, etc) in high school;
• To 'know' the unknown and figure out how things work;
• To have the freedom to investigate the things I found interesting;
• Always loved experimenting and exploring the natural world;
• Loved learning new things;
• Was inspired by a teacher who showed enthusiasm, interest and dedication to the science.

Long-Term Ecological Research on Vegetation Changes on Hog Island, part of the NSF Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research Site (a continuation of earlier grants).

Principle Investigator (P.I.) Frank P. Day, Professor, Biological Sciences

Summary:

Plant communities on coastal barrier island dunes can undergo succession but they are also subject to abrupt changes. At the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, these changes are believed to be controlled by changes in the position of free surfaces (land, sea, and fresh groundwater). Aboveground plant biomass along a chronosequence of dunes on Hog Island (part of the VCR-LTER site) is being quantified to look for patterns that may relate to the position of the free surfaces (particularly groundwater). Permanent vegetation plots have been monitored since 1992 to quantify plant community responses of different age dunes on a coastal barrier island to nitrogen addition and changes in the free surfaces.

This project provides positions for a graduate student and an undergraduate assistant.

Research on the long-term effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on plant communities at Kennedy Space Center Florida (renewed funding)

P.I. Frank Day, Professor, Biological Sciences

Summary:

The effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 on plant production has been extensively studied in aboveground vegetation. However, the belowground system has been largely overlooked. It is possible that a substantial portion of the carbon missing from current global models is being sequestered belowground. Fine roots are of central importance in nutrient and water uptake, and an increase in fine root biomass could result in a plant extending its foraging to a larger volume of soil or foraging in a given volume more efficiently. Results from the Florida study to date show that substantial increases in fine root abundance occur under elevated CO2 in the early years of exposure, but this treatment effect dissipates after two to three years. These early increases alone may be of sufficient magnitude to account for substantial amounts of additional sequestered carbon for this system. More carbon could be sequestered in large woody components of the plants (stems and large roots). Ground penetrating radar may provide a means of quantifying total root mass and evaluating root architecture. Our contribution to the continuation of the Florida study consists of continued monitoring of fine root dynamics and several new initiatives to address specific gaps in our knowledge of the belowground response to elevated CO2 and to refine our estimates of root contributions to the ecosystem carbon budget.

This project provides positions for two graduate students and an undergraduate assistant.

Digital Library Grid

P.I. Kurt Maly, Eminent Scholar and Chair, Computer Science
Co-P.I. Michael Nelson, Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Co-P.I. Mohammad Zubair, Professor, Computer Science

Summary:

If three Old Dominion University computer science professors have their way, general Web users will be able to access a research paper, a technical report, an image of a great painting or a performance of a musical piece in just a few seconds from thousands of libraries all over the world. Currently, most digital libraries use different, non-interoperable technologies, making searches time-consuming and less accessible to the majority of Internet users and researchers. (See separate "Deep Web" article for more details about this project).

This project provides positions for at least five graduate students.

The Detection and Study of Harmful Algae

P.I. Harold Marshall, Emeritus Professor, Department of Biological Sciences.
Co-P.I. Perry Duncan, Department of Psychology.

Summary:

Funded by the Virginia Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, this study emphasizes the detection, surveillance, and laboratory study of potentially toxin producing algae in Virginia tributaries and Chesapeake Bay. These algae may pose a health risk to humans that consume shellfish containing these algae and their toxins, or are exposed to waters containing these toxins. Scanning electron microscopic analysis, life cycle studies, and the environmental relationships of these algae are conducted. These studies also include establishing cultures of the toxin producing species, with their toxins subsequently concentrated by Dr. Andrew Gordon and provided to Dr. Duncan who conducts behavioral studies regarding animals exposed to these toxins. Two technicians, one graduate research assistant and two hourly students are supported by this funding.

Localization of Light in High-Density Ultracold Atomic Gases

P. I. Mark D. Havey, Professor, Department of Physics

Summary:

When a wave excitation propagates in a strongly scattering medium, the transmission and scattering properties of the medium can be dominated by multiple scattering. In general, the description of energy transport in such media, which include a wide range of materials such as aerosols, turbid liquids, and disordered solids, is made assuming incoherent transport of the intensity of the wave. Wave transport, however, in which the phase of the wave is partially maintained even after multiple scattering events, is frequently important, and coherent transport has been observed for many wave types and in a variety of materials and environments including solids, liquids and quite recently in ultracold atomic gases. The universality of the essential physical description is remarkable, and is largely independent of whether, for example, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, or waves in the solid earth are considered. Further, an extraordinary range of physical systems, ranging from ultracold atomic gases, to disordered lasing media, to the earth as a whole, and sharing only a common feature of disorder on a scale sufficient for multiple scattering, display similar phenomena.

The National Science Foundation has recently funded a project, Localization of Light in High-density Ultracold Atomic Vapors, to study long-lived combined states of light and matter in ultracold atomic gases. In atomic gas samples with temperatures typically much lower than 1/000 of a degree above absolute zero, the atoms are nearly stationary, and disorder arises from the locations of the atoms in the sample. When the atom density is high enough, this disorder can lead to freezing, for a relatively long time, the transport of light energy inside the ultracold sample. Potential applications of this new localized state may be found in development of novel gyroscopes or optical information storage for quantum computers.

Other stories in Research News Section..
Computer Science Professors To Develop Free Search Engine For "DEEP" Web
New Grant and Contract Awards
ODU Scientist Among Researchers Studying Effects of Hurricanes on Ocean Plants
Professor Creates Nanoprobe to Inhibit Growth of Virulent Bacteria

Phyllis Brown, Editor
College of Sciences Newsletter
SciNews@odu.edu
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