Past News
Purdue Pugwash conference to focus on climate and society
April 5, 2018
The 2018 Purdue Student Pugwash Midwest Regional Conference will examine the social and ethical dimensions relating to climate change and society. The two-day conference, titled “Climate Change: How to Sustain our Future,” will open at 6 p.m. on April 13 in Purdue Memorial Union West Faculty Lounge. Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m. On April 14, the conference will continue at 8:30 a.m. in Stewart Center, Room 279. Winona LaDuke, Native American environmentalist and political activist, will be the keynote speaker. Other speakers include Jeffrey Dukes, director of Purdue Climate Change Research Center and professor of forestry and natural resources and biological sciences, and Manjana Milkoreit, a Purdue assistant professor of political science.
Prevention of Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Child Refugees and Other Susceptible Populations
March 30, 2018
The toxicity of lead and its effects on child neurodevelopment have been well documented for decades. The dramatic decrease in average blood lead levels in the United States over the past several decades is an undeniable public health achievement. Over the same period it has been recognized that, unfortunately, there is no safe level of lead exposure. The continued presence of lead in water pipes, paint, and soils results in continued elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) among children, particularly those of lower socioeconomic status. Globally, many nations are still using lead in industrial processes, gasoline, paint, or consumer products. Thus, lead exposure remains an important health concern in the United States and globally.
Prevention of Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Child Refugees and Other Susceptible Populations
Weather Generator Effectiveness in Capturing Climate Extremes
March 27, 2018
Weather generators are increasingly used in environmental, water resources, and agricultural applications. Given their potential, it is important that weather generators be evaluated, particularly with respect to their ability to capture extreme events. This study was aimed at evaluating weather generator representation of climate extremes with a focus on LARS-WG applied to three stations in the Western Lake Erie Basin, U.S. Generally, LARS-WG captured the number of days with precipitation greater than 50.8 mm (2 in. and 101.6 mm (4 in), 7-day wet sequences, and wet and dry sequences relatively well.
Weather Generator Effectiveness in Capturing Climate Extremes
Position Announcement: Director, Center for the Environment, Discovery Park, Purdue University
March 23, 2018
Purdue University seeks an individual with vision and demonstrated leadership skills to guide an innovative team of scholars as the Director of the Center for the Environment in Discovery Park on the West Lafayette, Indiana campus.
Interplays of Sustainability, Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation
March 22, 2018
This chapter analyzes the complex interplays between and among sustainability, resilience, adaptation and transformation, key paradigms and analytical concepts that have emerged from the human-environmental interactions, social-ecological systems, and global environmental change literatures. Specifically, this chapter provides a summary of how these key paradigms and analytical concepts have evolved over time and synthesizes current debates about their interplays. Our findings reveal certain theoretical synergies between and among sustainability, resilience, adaptation and transformation, as well as epistemological tensions and practical tradeoffs when actions are taken to promote ostensibly desirable attributes of social-ecological systems through on-the-ground actions.
Interplays of Sustainability, Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation
Making Waves: New Developments in Toxicology With the Zebrafish
March 21, 2018
The laboratory zebrafish (Danio rerio) is now an accepted model in toxicologic research. The zebrafish model fills a niche between in vitro models and mammalian biomedical models. The developmental characteristics of the small fish are strategically being used by scientists to study topics ranging from high-throughput toxicity screens to toxicity in multi- and transgenerational studies.
Making Waves: New Developments in Toxicology With the Zebrafish
Role of Tertiary Amines in Enhancing Trihalomethane and Haloacetic Acid Formation During Chlorination of Aromatic Compounds and a Natural Organic Matter Extract
March 14, 2018
Tertiary amines are prevalent in waters due to anthropogenic inputs and are known to enhance organic compound degradation while increasing disinfection by-product (DBP) formation, via the strong chlorinating agent, R3N-Cl+. This study explored how tertiary amines can enhance trihalomethane (THM) and haloacetic acid (HAA) formation when various aromatic compounds (salicylic acid (SA), phenol (PHE) and resorcinol (RES)) and Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA) are chlorinated.
Role of Tertiary Amines in Enhancing Trihalomethane and Haloacetic Acid Formation During Chlorination of Aromatic Compounds and a Natural Organic Matter Extract
Tree taxa and pyrolysis temperature interact to control pyrogenic organic matter induced native soil organic carbon priming
March 5, 2018
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038071718300221
Tree taxa and pyrolysis temperature interact to control pyrogenic organic matter induced native soil organic carbon priming
Estimating drain flow from measured water table depth in layered soils under free and controlled drainage
March 2, 2018
Long records of continuous drain flow are important for quantifying annual and seasonal changes in the subsurface drainage flow from drained agricultural land. Missing data due to equipment malfunction and other challenges have limited conclusions that can be made about annual flow and thus nutrient loads from field studies, including assessments of the effect of controlled drainage. Water table depth data may be available during gaps in flow data, providing a basis for filling missing drain flow data; therefore, the overall goal of this study was to examine the potential to estimate drain flow using water table observations.
Estimating drain flow from measured water table depth in layered soils under free and controlled drainage
Surveying managers to inform a regionally relevant invasive Phragmites australis control research program
March 2, 2018
Managers of invasive species consider the peer-reviewed literature only moderately helpful for guiding their management programs. Though this “knowing-doing gap” has been well-described, there have been few efforts to guide scientists in how to develop useful and usable science. Here we demonstrate how a comprehensive survey of managers (representing 42 wetland management units across the Great Salt Lake watershed) can highlight management practices and challenges (here for the widespread invasive plant, Phragmites australis, a recent and aggressive invader in this region) to ultimately inform a research program.
Surveying managers to inform a regionally relevant invasive Phragmites australis control research program