June 15, 2005 Idaho Universities Receive $9 Million Federal Grant To Boost Water Research In StateA $9 million federally funded research program announced today will bolster Idaho’s ability to study critical water and aquaculture issues. Leaders of the Idaho Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research announced the new grant during a meeting of the Governor’s Science and Technology Advisory Council in Moscow. “This funding will contribute significantly to Idaho’s existing expertise in water research and help Idaho universities become more competitive in attracting future support for their scientists,” said Doyle Jacklin, the Post Falls businessman who leads the statewide Idaho EPSCoR committee. “The fact that this is a multi-university award is good for the state,” Jacklin added. “The all-encompassing subject of water that this grant will explore is of paramount importance in Idaho.” The Research Infrastructure Improvement grant will build on Idaho’s existing water research strengths, Jacklin added. The committee received word late last week that Idaho had won the three-year, $9 million National Science Foundation grant. Researchers at Boise State University, University of Idaho and Idaho State University will share the funding. The funding will support expanded computer analysis tools to address water issues and research on nitrogen and carbon cycles in Idaho landscapes, stream ecology, aquaculture and environmental nano-scale sensors. At Boise State, the grant will fund a new Water Quality Laboratory to support hydrologic research, said geosciences professor Jim McNamara. McNamara and Boise State civil engineering professor Molly Gribb are co-principal investigators for Boise State’s share of the grant. In addition, the funds will provide two years of support for a new Boise State hydrologic sciences faculty position in civil engineering, the expansion of the Dry Creek Watershed Hydrologic Research Site in the Boise Foothills and the expansion of Boise State¹s Soils Properties Laboratory. Also, Boise State physics professor Alex Punnoose will collaborate with researchers at the University of Idaho to develop nanoscale sensors for water-related studies. “This statewide grant will help provide the infrastructure to undertake important interdisciplinary research,” McNamara said. “It also significantly enhances our capabilities to train graduate students.” New computer capabilities for the UI Ecohydraulics Laboratory at the Idaho Water Center in Boise will benefit scientists throughout the state, said Jean’ne Shreeve, the Idaho EPSCoR Program director and UI chemistry professor. The Idaho program was one of four nationally that was fully funded, Shreeve said. Nevada, South Carolina and Kentucky were the other states receiving full funding from among the 13 that submitted proposals. Idaho’s wealth of watershed research remains largely untapped by scientists elsewhere and will gain visibility with the new projects. The state’s leadership in aquaculture and agricultural water research was another asset that helped land the funding. The grant also reflects the state’s desire to support a growing high-tech industry and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s desire to expand Idaho universities’ scientific expertise in select areas. Other aspects of the grant include establishing closer scientific ties with Idaho’s American Indian tribes and the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission by expanding existing public outreach and education efforts. In addition, the grant will support programs to educate the general public and legislators about benefits from Idaho research. Since the Idaho EPSCoR program won its first major National Science Foundation grant in 1989, the state’s scientists have received some $112 million in direct funding through the program and related funding totaling an additional $74 million, Jacklin said. The new grant will establish an Idaho Experimental Watershed Network that will draw together scientists from all three public universities. Scientists from UI will monitor Mica Creek in northern Idaho, ISU will monitor the Portneuf River in southeastern Idaho and Boise State will monitor Dry Creek in southwestern Idaho. Future cooperative watershed monitoring efforts by UI and BSU researchers will add Reynolds Creek in southwestern Idaho to the network. Boise State scientists will focus on: • Creating a Water Quality Laboratory under the direction of geosciences professor Shawn Benner to support the Idaho Experimental Watershed Network monitoring. The lab will become the only such facility in southwestern Idaho. • Understanding the way moisture moves from mountain sources such as snowpack to streams and groundwater. The project will aid understanding of how carbon and nitrogen cycles operate in watersheds. The project will also aid Boise State efforts to integrate research and education. • Developing technologies to make better measures of soil properties and other geologic and biologic materials that influence hydrologic pathways. The project will foster collaboration between scientists and engineers for better solutions to water resource problems. UI scientists will focus on: • Developing an information technology system at the Idaho Water Center to aid statewide data processing, analysis, exchange and outreach. Students and teachers in school districts near each experimental watershed will aid researchers in data collection and use data in their statistics, biology and earth science courses. • Expanding international collaboration with European and Latin American water scientists. UI is among a dozen universities and research centers in six nations that have signed on for research collaborations and student exchanges. • Investigating how carbon and water flows are linked in Idaho’s forests as part of an international effort to understand how those flows vary as the landscape and climate changes. • Exploring fish physiology and genomics to build on Idaho’s existing aquaculture expertise. The work will further understanding of how fish adapt to various environments through genetics. • Capitalizing on Idaho nanotechnology expertise to develop and test portable and ultra-sensitive environmental sensors that could track chemicals such as pesticides or microorganisms such as E. coli or Giardia in the state’s waters ISU scientists will focus on: • Studying how streams and rivers carry carbon from watersheds and the ways human activity may affect the global carbon cycle. Changes in land use and agricultural and industrial activities can greatly influence carbon and nutrient flows in streams. Contact: Jim McNamara, Department of Geosciences (208) 426-1354, jmcnamar@boisestate.edu Media Contact: Janelle Brown, communications and marketing, (208) 426-1790,
jbrown2@boisestate.edu
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