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Environmental Science and Design Research Institute

2022 Biodesign Challenge Group Members

Two significant environmental issues our nation faces today include invasive plant species and a lack of sustainable materials. Invasive plant species are detrimental to host environments for multiple reasons. ѿappstudents are working to turn invasive plant species into a sustainable material that can help protect the environment through the 2022 Biodesign Challenge, a course and national competition to create sustainable solutions to real world problems.

Grind2Energy System

The central component of the Grind2Energy systems at ѿappUniversity are larger versions of the in-sink garbage disposals found in many homes. The difference is that at Kent State, these units aren’t disposing of food waste, but processing it with a purpose - as the first part of a highly sustainable innovation that creates energy and high-grade fertilizer.

ѿappMagazine
Timothy Gallagher, PhD, and Allyson “Allie” Tessin, PhD

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Environmental Science and Design Research Institute
A plant leaf being measured with a ruler

If you see Alicia Costello in your area, give her a wave!

Environmental Science and Design Research Institute

Five elite KSU students, from diverse backgrounds, are competing at the Biodesign Challenge international summit with their cutting-edge product.

Geography Students at Kent State

Scott Sheridan, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Geography, in the College of Arts and Sciences at ѿappUniversity, was recently selected to become an inaugural American Geophysical Union (AGU) LANDInG (Leadership Academy and Network for Diversity and Inclusion in the Geosciences) Academy Fellow.

Grass after first frost

Many wonder if climate change is the reason we’ve had 'weather whiplash' or day-to-day dramatic changes from hot to cold or cold to hot. As a climate scientist, Cameron Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State, gets asked this question a lot. Looking beyond just the average temperatures and statistical means, he decided to take a more analytical look at weather whiplash and add to a growing body of climate change literature examining temperature variability trends.

An aspen woodland/sagebrush shrubland ecotone. Photo by Tim Assal

Timothy Assal, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Geography, was awarded a grant as a co-principal investigator on a multi-institutional project, “Vulnerability of lower-ecotone aspen forests to altered fire regimes and climate dynamics in the northern Great Basin” (a three-year $299,842 total award with $89,600 going to Kent State), which is funded by the . This collaboration includes the United States Geological Survey in Boise, Idaho, Utah State University, and the United States Bureau of Land Management.

The image on the left features a computer scientist coding with code in the background and the image on the right is of a scientist researching with a vaccine in the background.

Kent State's Jonathan Maletic, Ph.D., in the Department of Computer Science and Tara Smith, Ph.D., in the College of Public Health are the winners of the 2021 Faculty Outstanding Research and Scholarship Awards (ORSAs). The ORSAs recognize the hard work and dedication of faculty members who have been with ѿappfor more than 10 years. Read more about the winners and how they display the highest levels of scholarship.

Environmental Science and Design Research Institute
Picture of Chihuahuan Desert landscape

Researchers from ѿappUniversity and the University of New Mexico determined how nitrogen-fixing plants and soil microbes contribute to the overall nitrogen availability in the Chihuahuan desert in New Mexico.