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Extreme Bacteria for Organic Veggies

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vegetablesA Clemson University research scientist has obtained a patent for a way to make organic fertilizer that could revolutionize the organic produce industry and put it on a level playing field with conventional crops.

Brian Ward is an organic vegetable specialist at Clemson’s Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston.

The limited potency, precision and consistency of organic fertilizers has long hindered organic vegetable production. But Brian Ward, an organic vegetable specialist at Clemson’s Coastal Research and Education Center, has developed a method for using “extreme bacteria” isolated from the stomachs of cattle to produce an organic fertilizer so rich with ammonium that it rivals synthetic fertilizers.

The hyper-ammonia-producing — or HAP — bacteria break down proteins that bind nitrogen to ammonia significantly faster than any other known bacteria, which allows ammonium nitrate to be produced in vast amounts at an accelerated rate.

“Ultimately, if we start to get the fertilizer commercialized, producers would be able to fertilize organic crops and have the yield comparable to conventional produce without the lag time of existing organic produce,” Ward said.

Making the process all the more innovative, unlike synthetic fertilizer, it does not require the use of fossil fuels, meaning it’s also an environmentally friendly technology.

“Two percent of the world’s energy is devoted to making ammonium fertilizer,” Ward said. “This does it organically, so there would be a huge cost savings.”

The patent itself describes methods for producing ammonia and ammonium in accordance with strict organic farming certification standards. Ward’s patent also describes specifications for creating a bioreactor for creating the chemical reaction needed to produce the super-potent organic fertilizer.

Organic fertilizer’s effectiveness depends on how active bacteria are in the soil. Ward’s process overcomes that obstacle through the use of the “extreme bacteria” to effectively activate the nitrogen in the soil.

With the patent for the process in place, Ward’s goal is to increase its output to a level between 1,000 to 10,000 liters.

“Once it’s proven on that level, then it’s feasible to go to 100,000 liters,” he said. “And once you have it at 100,000 liters, then it’s on a mass-production level.”

At that point, the process would produce a liquid fertilizer that could be fed through drip lines for irrigation for more precise use of a completely organic fertilizer comparable to synthetic ammonium.

Clemson professor and Extension vegetable specialist Richard Hassell agreed Ward’s process has the capacity to revolutionize the organic produce industry by providing growers with an unprecedented level of consistency in an organic fertilizer.

Most people have likely seen traditional synthetic fertilizers in home and garden stores labeled with three numbers on the bag to represent the primary nutrients — nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). For example, a bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer contains 10 percent nitrogen, 10 percent phosphate and 10 percent potash.

“With Brian’s process, he can produce an organic, liquid fertilizer with the same consistency, in the same ratios, in that product,” Hassell said. “It’s very concentrated, and he can produce the exact same amount of the nutrients involved every time.”

An anaerobic bioreactor is used as the first stage in a two-stage process toward organic ammonium nitrate production by breaking down protein-bound nitrogen to ammonia with hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria.

For Hassell, who directs vegetable research at the Coastal REC, Ward’s patent epitomizes the center’s mission and is a feather in the cap for Clemson University’s research efforts.

“Brian is a very determined scientist, and he set out to come up with this and tried all kinds of things, and like with all scientists, stumbled on to this through many, many tests and many trials and was able to come up with process, which is an amazing thing,” Hassell said.

While the potential of the patent could revolutionize the organic produce industry, it was a long time in the making. Specializing in organic vegetable research at the Coastal REC, Ward was challenged by a mentor to prove organic production was healthier, cleaner and capable of comparable production to conventional agriculture.

“I said, ‘I can’t do it because the fertilizers you use are like comparing apples and oranges,’” he said. “One can readily absorb nitrogen in the soil, and the other takes time and the soil for it to happen.”

But undeterred, Ward’s research led him to identifying the HAP bacteria, and a network of colleagues eventually led him to a U.S. Department of Agriculture research facility at Texas A&M University, hoping to obtain a pure culture of the HAP bacteria from a cow’s stomach.

“I eventually brought them back to my lab and ultimately was able to get the bacteria growing and maximize their ability to make ammonium,” he said.

Ward engineered a bioreactor in his lab at the Coastal REC and used it to create a reaction that releases four products: ammonium, butyrate, acetate and nearly pure carbon, similar to coal.

He was able to use the ammonium released to produce a liquid fertilizer that could be fed through drip lines as a precision organic fertilizer.

But working out the science was just the first step toward getting the patent. Ward contacted the Clemson University Research Foundation in 2006 about its Technology Transfer program, which refers to the process of moving technology out of the laboratory and into commercial markets.

CURF applied for the patent on Ward’s behalf in 2006, but the innovation had to overcome a series of legal hurdles, most notably meeting the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s conditions for patentability in regard to nonobvious subject matter.

After a decade-long fight, Ward finally got the word last fall the patent could move forward.

“That was such an awesome feeling after 11 years of battling, but I never gave up hope,” he said. “The Clemson University Research Foundation supported me for 11 years with the legal issues in obtaining this patent. They had faith in the potential technology and so that’s why they supported me through the fees that it took to patent it.”

A Gut Feeling about Type 1 Diabetes

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The result of the pairing, along with chemistry graduate student Anthony Santilli and undergraduate genetics major and student-athlete Elizabeth Dawson, is a recent study in the journal ACS Chemical Biology, which details the use of a small molecule to slow the growth of a specific genus of bacteria, called Bacteroides, in the gut microbiome. The technique is a novel diversion from existing treatment strategies that target the gut microbiome, in that it holds the potential to edit specific types of bacteria in the gut without harming other microbes that are present.

The connection between the microbiome – our own personal collection of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses – and human health is one that has been gaining steam over the last few decades. Supported by numerous studies that implicate the microbiome in chronic diseases, immunity, digestion and even feelings of depression and anxiety, it appears that our bodies’ microbes serve a variety of important functions that are only just being realized.

The Bacteroides genus is no exception. The researchers’ interest in this specific strain of bacteria developed for two reasons, marked first by Bacteroides’ well-defined job in the gut microbiome. The bacteria have an intricate collection of enzymes that are responsible for the breakdown of complex carbohydrates, specifically that of starches. Knowing precisely how the bacteria function made it easier for the researchers to develop hypotheses on how to manipulate the Bacteroides system.

But the second reason considers a peculiar link between Bacteroides and Type 1 diabetes, a chronic disorder in which the pancreas produces little to no insulin.

“We know there are certain genetic risk factors associated with Type 1, but not everybody with those risk factors develops the disease and not everybody with Type 1 has those risk factors,” Kristi said. “When you combine that with the significant increase in the diagnosis of Type 1 over the past two decades, researchers are starting to look at environmental factors – something in our diet or maybe something like C-sections versus vaginal births or antibiotic use in infants. What has changed to cause an increase in the rate of Type 1?”

One study in particular – the TEDDY study – is tracking babies from birth to age 15 to determine which environmental triggers cause children to develop Type 1 diabetes. Most notably to the researchers, the TEDDY study has shown a marked increase

Carpathian newt (Lissotriton montandoni) isolated on white

An Uncanny Ability to Beat the Heat

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Clemson University associate professor Michael Sears (left) and Ph.D. graduate Eric Riddell examine a salamander found next to a mountain trail near Highlands, North Carolina.

The plethora of salamanders living in the southern Appalachian Mountains might be in less danger from the effects of global warming than previously believed, according to new research published in Science Advances.

The global hotspot for these fascinating amphibians is home to 10 percent of salamander diversity, a staggering figure that is rivaled nowhere else on Earth. But current predictions indicate that 70 to 85 percent of this moist and humid habitat will become unsuitable for salamanders by 2080 due to rising temperatures caused by climate change.

However, research by Clemson University scientists Eric Riddell and Michael Sears suggests that previous studies might have overestimated the extinction risk by largely ignoring the capability of salamanders to alter their behavior and physiology. Riddell and Sears project that plasticity — an individual’s capacity to change how it responds to the environment— will reduce extinction risk by up to 72 percent, especially in the core ranges.

“When scientists make predictions about extinction, we often have to work with what we have,” said Riddell, who recently received his Ph.D. in biological sciences at Clemson and is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. “This means that we use Big Data and advanced statistical software to understand what might happen in the future, but our research has shown that salamanders have some tricks up their sleeves that are only apparent upon making direct observations in nature and in the laboratory.”

In their paper “Plasticity reveals hidden resistance to extinction under climate change in the global hotspot of salamander diversity,” Riddell and Sears report that salamanders exhibit a remarkable capacity to respond to stressful temperatures. When the scientists used these responses to predict extinction risk, they found that the overall salamander population probably is in better shape than feared.

“This is one of the first papers that has exclusively looked at plasticity in this sense. We’re telling you that our new predictions are nowhere near as dire as earlier predictions. In this part of the world, this is a particularly big deal,” said Sears, an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at Clemson. “We can now say more accurately what might occur if climatic conditions continue to deteriorate.”

During a recent visit to the mountains near Highlands, North Carolina, Riddell and Sears searched for salamanders alongside murky paths lined with dripping trees and furry moss. It was near dusk and the mostly nocturnal species was just beginning to stir. But the scientists had no trouble locating several dozen of the lizard-like amphibians.

No one really knows how many salamanders reside in the southern Appalachians. However, it is estimated that the salamanders inhabiting just a square mile of forest would have a combined biomass of 2,500 to 5,000 pounds, which is impressive when you consider that many salamanders weigh about as much as a teaspoon of sugar.

“On the nights when I was surveying for salamanders, I could look down and find them sitting on top of my boots. I had to pay special attention to every step I took,” said Riddell, who conducted onsite and laboratory research during his five years under Sears’ mentorship.

“Some of our best estimates suggest that salamanders outweigh all other vertebrates in the forest,” he said. “If you put all the bears on one side of a scale and all the salamanders on the other, the salamanders would weigh more. Most people don’t realize how abundant salamanders are because people don’t do much hiking in the dark.”

Salamanders eat tons and tons of insects, making them a fundamental conduit of nutrient and energy flow throughout the forested mountains. Riddell and Sears studied seven species within the Plethodon jordani complex of salamanders, some of the most abundant species in the southern Appalachians. These salamanders are lungless and absorb oxygen through their skin, which they do most effectively when their skin is moist. This is one of the main reasons that the evaporative effects of global warming are an increasing threat to their survival.

“Salamanders have been in the region for millions of years, evens tens of millions. Yet, detailed genetic studies of geographic variation suggest that they have not moved around very much,” said David Wake, curator of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. “During the past 2 million years, the southern Appalachians have experienced some dramatic incidents of climate change. So how did the salamanders handle it? And how will they handle the accelerated climate change that most scientists accept as a near certainty?”

Wake said that Riddell and Sears have opened a new perspective on this problem, showing that lungless salamanders like Plethodon jordani have considerable acclimation ability.

“This suggests to me that these organisms hunker down and essentially shelter in place in the face of changing climates,” said Wake, who is one of one of the world’s leading experts on salamander diversity. “In short, they are able to adjust their physiology much more than we previously thought, and this perhaps accounts for much of their ability to deal with climate change — not by running away, but by using their abilities to adjust through time.”

Funding for the acclimation experiments was provided by the National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant Program (grant number 1601485). The Highlands (N.C.) Biological Station provided additional opportunities to collect data through its Grant-in-Aid program.

 

 

Shooter

Mass Shootings: Implications for Students, Schools, Society

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Antonis Katsiyannis, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Special Education at Clemson University.

 

A study compiled by a group of researchers has found the recent killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida was not an isolated occurrence, but part of a deadly epidemic. The study, published in Springer’s Journal of Child and Family Studies, reviews the history of mass school shootings in the U.S., and researchers have found some alarming trends.

“In less than 18 years, we have already seen more deaths related to school shootings than in the whole 20th century,” said Antonis Katsiyannis, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Special Education at Clemson University and lead author of the study. “One alarming trend is that the overwhelming majority of 21st-century shooters were adolescents, suggesting that it is now easier for them to access guns, and that they more frequently suffer from mental health issues or limited conflict resolution skills.”

During the 20th century, mass school shootings killed 55 people and injured 260 others at schools especially in America’s Western region. Most of the 25 shooters involved were white males who acted alone, and only nine were diagnosed as suffering from mental illnesses at the time. Sixty percent of shooters were between 11 and 18 years old.

The authors explain that such violence can be mitigated through deliberate and sensible policy and legislative actions. These include expanded background checks of potential gun owners and a ban on assault weapons.

Mental health issues among adolescent students and adults should also be addressed more thoroughly. School personnel should also implement tiered models of support and school-based mental health services to support students’ social, emotional, and behavioral well-being and prevent school violence.

“Preventative efforts not only require policy and legislative action but increased and targeted funding across federal, state, local and private sectors,” Katsiyannis added.

A shooting is defined as a “mass shooting” when four or more people are killed (excluding the shooter). Sporadic school shootings have occurred at various points in the history of the US. For example, in 1940 a junior high school principal killed six adults including the school’s district business manager. No similar mass shootings occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. However, school shootings have been steadily increasing since 1979. Overall, the death toll from mass school shootings was 12 in the 1980s and 36 in the 1990s.

Since the start of the 21st century there have already been 13 incidents involving lone shooters; they have killed 66 people and injured 81 others.

Carpathian newt (Lissotriton montandoni) isolated on white

More Research Updates

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Shooter

Mass Shootings: Implications for Students, Schools, Society

Since the start of the 21st century, 66 people have died and 81 have been injured in 13 incidents involving lone shooters at schools.

That’s more deaths related to school shootings than in the whole 20th century, said education professor Antonis Katsiyannis, lead author of a new study published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies that reviews the history of mass school shootings in the U.S. and uncovers some trends:

“One alarming trend is that the overwhelming majority of 21st-century shooters were adolescents, suggesting that it is now easier for them to access guns and that they more frequently suffer from mental health issues or limited conflict resolution skills.”

Carpathian newt (Lissotriton montandoni) isolated on white

 

Beat the Heat

Salamanders have an uncanny ability to alter their behavior and physiology in a way that makes them less susceptible to global warming than previously feared, according to new research authored by Clemson University scientists and published in Science Advances.

Studying salamanders in the southern Appalachian Mountains, a global hotspot for these fascinating amphibians, Michael Sears, associate professor of biological sciences, and Eric Riddell, who earned his doctorate in biological sciences from Clemson in 2018, project that plasticity — an individual’s capacity to change how it responds to the environment — will reduce extinction risk by up to 72 percent, especially in the core ranges. Previous predictions estimated 70 to 85 percent of this moist and humid habitat would become unsuitable for salamanders by 2080 due to rising temperatures caused by climate change. “We can now say more accurately what might occur if climatic conditions continue to deteriorate,” Sears said.

vegetablesExtreme Bacteria and Organic Veggies

Recently patented organic fertilizer developed at Clemson could rival its synthetic counterparts and provide a big boost for organic vegetable production.

The limited potency, precision and consistency of organic fertilizers has long hindered organic vegetable production. But Brian Ward, an organic vegetable specialist at Clemson’s Coastal Research and Education Center, has developed a method for using “extreme bacteria” isolated from the stomachs of cattle to produce an organic fertilizer so rich with ammonium that it rivals synthetic fertilizers.

Gut Feeling

Numerous studies have implicated the gut microbiome — our own personal collection of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses — in chronic diseases, immunity, digestion and even feelings of depression and anxiety.

Now, Clemson husband and wife researchers Dan and Kristi Whitehead, in a recent publication in the journal ACS Chemical Biology, have detailed the use of a small molecule to slow the growth of a specific genus of bacteria in the gut microbiome called Bacteroides, which has a peculiar link to Type 1 diabetes.

 

Conference Explores Lincoln’s Unfinished Work

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Clemson University hosted more than 40 renowned historians at the Lincoln’s Unfinished Work conference Nov. 28-Dec. 1. Over those four days, an array of scholars spoke on panels and delivered papers on a range of topics including Abraham Lincoln’s sense of humor, reassessments of Reconstruction, the evolution of the Constitution, civil rights, voting rights and how we acknowledge difficult histories.

The conference was organized by Vernon Burton, the Judge Matthew J. Perry Jr. Distinguished Professor of History at Clemson and author of The Age of Lincoln.

It was vital to Burton, a national authority on the history of the South, that all sessions be open to the public, free to all attendees and held on the main campus at Clemson.

“We sweep our history under the rug. We don’t want to deal with it,” Burton said. He asks us all to look more honestly at our past — here at Clemson, in the South and across the country. “Only then can we move forward and do better,” Burton said.

Lincoln’s Unfinished Work began with opening addresses by Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Foner and Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy, who described the gathering as “an intellectual feast.”

The diverse and distinguished field of presenters included Richard Carwardine, Catherine Clinton, Steven Hahn, Darlene Clark Hine, Thavolia Glymph and Heather Cox Richardson. Visiting historians were joined by Clemson faculty, including  J. Drew Lanham and Rhondda Robinson Thomas.

The conference included a workshop for public school teachers on how to teach about the history of race relations. Burton also made it possible for high school students from the SC Rural NextGen, a rural youth advocacy group, to attend.

Videos of Lincoln’s Unfinished Work sessions are posted on the website, clemson.edu/lincoln, and a published volume of papers is planned.

 

New Dimension in Stroke Treatment

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In an extension of research published a month ago in Nature Methods, a novel hybrid approach performed by researchers from Clemson University’s department of physics and astronomy and Stony Brook University has revealed a 3-D structure of a protein fragment that could serve as a drug target in treating stroke patients.

The protein called “postsynaptic density protein of 95 kDa (PSD-95)” is positioned on neurons in the brain that are receiving chemical messages – neurotransmitters – from adjacent neurons. By recruiting receptors and other helper proteins, PSD-95 works to maintain the integrity of neural connections over time, thereby facilitating neural communication, learning and memory.

PSD-95 consists of five parts, or domains, that each play a different role in the protein’s overall function. Two of these domains, called PDZ-1 and PDZ-2, have been shown to influence symptoms associated with ischemic stroke, such as paralysis or speech impairment.

“One of the ideas that has been postulated in the literature is to create a multivalent drug that targets both PDZ domains because they’re very similar in nature. If you can block the PDZ domains from binding particular proteins or enzymes, you can reduce the debilitating effects of a stroke,” said Hugo Sanabria, lead author on the study.

The challenge, however, is that it’s nearly impossible to design a drug inhibitor without first knowing the exact structure of the PDZ domains of PSD-95. It would be like driving across the country without having a map of the United States.

“The biological functions of biomolecules are determined by their structures, so we need detailed structural and dynamic insights of PDZ-1 and -2 to help better understand their functional roles and aid in the design of novel inhibitors,” said Feng Ding, Sanabria’s colleague here at Clemson.

A handful of approaches exists to render the structure of biomolecules. But in the case of PSD-95, each approach – NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) – delivered a different structural model. The researchers’ collaborator at Stony Brook University, associate professor Mark Bowen in the department of physiology and biophysics, established a partnership with Sanabria on this project after he uncovered one of the inconsistent structural models of the PSD-95 fragment.

Sanabria’s lab addressed this discrepancy by first modeling the PSD-95 fragment using FRET, an approach that identifies possible configurations of biomolecules. Under this method, Sanabria attached two light-sensitive molecules, called chromophores, at two differing positions on the PSD-95 fragment. He then uncovered the distance between the chromophores by visualizing the fragment under a microscope. This was repeated multiple times from different attaching points.

“For the modeling aspect, FRET gives you distances between chromophores, but that’s not enough to fill all of the geometrical restraints of the molecule, so we have to rely on something else, some other methodology. That’s where Professor Ding comes into play,” Sanabria said.

Ding leads a computational biophysics lab at Clemson University where he uses computer software to gauge how biomolecules look, move and function. His approach to modeling utilizes a computer simulation known as discrete molecular dynamics (DMD) that maps the landscape of a biomolecule, predicting the trajectories of proteins as they fold and interact with other molecules. The subsequent simulation can be played back like a movie, helping researchers visualize protein behaviors over time.

“If you do traditional molecular simulations, typically you’re going to sample a very tiny region of the space, particularly for larger molecules, so you’re not going to have a good overview of how the entire molecule will look even in physiological conditions,” Sanabria said. “Discrete molecular dynamics is a much faster and less computationally expensive way to accurately and rapidly sample the conformational space of proteins.”

To do it, Sanabria first obtained a set of distances by measuring PSD-95 with FRET. In that experiment, Sanabria had 10 samples of the PSD-95 fragment that each were rendering different distances and three common shapes – or conformations – of PSD-95 were observed. Yet, without a DMD simulation, there was no way for the researchers to know which distance corresponded to which conformation of the fragment. So they input each possible distance against each possible shape and let the simulation do the rest.

“Once we did the first simulation, we saw that there were three main states that PDZ-1 and -2 were taking. One showed very close contact between the two, one showed a set of intermediate contact and one had no contact whatsoever,” Ding said.

The researchers then ran a DMD simulation again without considering the FRET distances to confirm that the three observed states exist in nature and are not simply a fluke imposed by the FRET distances. They further probed the structures by looking at the way that individual amino acids, which constitute the PDZ domains, bond to one another. From these analyses, Ding, Bowen and Sanabria were able to confirm that the PDZ domains take on two out of the three observed states in the DMD simulation – that with some contact and that with no contact whatsoever.

“Now, we have two potential targets for engineering new drugs that will be more efficient than the ones that are currently available,” Sanabria said. “The outlook for stroke patients is promising.”

Without discrete molecular dynamics, which can capture conformational changes that occur on the microsecond timescale, these two states would have been missed as they were in past studies.

“Most of the people doing FRET-guided structural modeling are working with a rigid molecule, like DNA. If you have a rigid molecule, it’s easy to model – you have only a single state to capture. You can assign the FRET distances and there’s really no problem,” Sanabria said. “In this case, we surpassed this approach in many ways.”

In future studies, the team is looking to analyze the potential for the PSD-95 fragment to auto-inhibit itself based on the fragment’s own structure.

The team’s paper, titled “Identifying weak interdomain interactions that stabilize the supertertiary structure of the N-terminal tandem PDZ domains of PSD-95,” was published in September in Nature Communications. The work reported in this release was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and National Science Foundation under award No. 2R01MH081923-11A1. The researchers are wholly responsible for the content of this study, of which the funder had no input.

Trudy Mackay Leads New Center for Human Genetics

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Groundbreaking geneticist Trudy Mackay joined Clemson in 2018 as director of the University’s Center for Human Genetics and is building a team of researchers working to significantly advance our understanding of genetic disorders.

Mackay, whose numerous accolades include being a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society, received the prestigious 2018 Dawson Prize in Genetics at Trinity College in November.

“This opportunity fits well with my own research and provides a unique opportunity to collaborate with fellow geneticists who are studying important diseases that affect human behavior and communication,” said Mackay, who also holds the Self Family Endowed Chair in Human Genetics in Clemson’s Department of Genetics and Biochemistry.

The Center for Human Genetics is housed in Self Regional Hall, a facility nestled within the sprawling campus of the Greenwood Genetic Center, which has a long history of clinical and research excellence in the field of medical genetics and of caring for families impacted by genetic disease and birth defects.

Mackay is joined at Clemson by her husband, Robert Anholt, who has been named a Provost’s Distinguished Professor in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry. Anholt will also have a leadership role in the College of Science as the director of Faculty Excellence Initiatives.

 

OTHER NOTABLE NAMES THAT JOINED CLEMSON UNIVERSITY IN 2018 INCLUDE:

Mark Johnson, former director of the Advanced Manufacturing Office in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, became the founding director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and the Thomas F. Hash ’69 SmartState Endowed Chair in Sustainable Development.

Former Georgia Tech professor and National Science Foundation program director Chris Paredis joined Clemson as the new BMW Endowed Chair in Systems Integration for Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).

Accomplished scholar and cybersecurity expert Sally A. McKee joined Clemson as the
C. Tycho Howle Chair in Collaborative Computing Environments.

Leslie Hossfeld, professor and head of the sociology department at Mississippi State University, joined Clemson as dean of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences.

Keith L. Belli, former head of the University of Tennessee’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, became dean of Clemson University’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.

Wendy York, former associate dean at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, became dean of Clemson University’s College of Business.

Christopher Cox, who has led university libraries in Iowa, Wisconsin and Washington, became dean of libraries.

 

Seven Clemson Faculty Win NSF CAREER Awards

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The world is flooded with information, and Sara Riggs wants to change the way it’s presented.

As a 2018 NSF CAREER Award winner, Riggs, an assistant professor of industrial engineering, is rethinking and re-engineering displays to better reflect real-world needs. By understanding how teams use displays, Riggs and her team will learn when and how to present information, whether it’s visually, with sound or through touch.

“This work will hopefully help environments that are becoming increasingly complex, such as aviation, the military and health care, where people not only deal with more information but also need to work seamlessly together in teams,” said Riggs.

CAREER Awards are a signature accolade for young scientists, intended to boost innovative research toward solutions for society. For the second year in a row, seven Clemson assistant professors received the awards.

“These are highly competitive grants awarded to the brightest young minds across the country,” said Tanju Karanfil, vice president for research. “NSF CAREER awards are catalysts for scientific discovery and help propel the careers of young faculty who are destined to do great things.”

THE OTHER SIX 2018 NSF CAREER AWARD WINNERS AT CLEMSON ARE:

Joshua Bostwick, assistant professor of mechanical engineering: Bostwick’s research aims to improve drug delivery by understanding the physical interaction between internal liquids and soft tissue. Doing so will help physicians determine the proper dosage for a variety of medications, such as aerosolized drugs used for premature infants or people with asthma. It could also lead to better designs of drugs for more effective and efficient delivery.

Leah Casabianca, assistant professor of chemistry: Casabianca is studying the interaction between nanoparticles and the body. Nanoparticles such as microplastics are becoming more common in the environment and in the food chain. By understanding what happens to them in the body, Casabianca hopes to head off diseases they may cause. To study nanoparticles, she and her team are developing new techniques for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging. Improving NMR could also improve the precision of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) used in clinical medicine.

Ethan Kung, assistant professor of mechanical engineering: Kung is creating a model for the human cardiovascular system that will predict how implantable devices (such as left ventricular assist devices in patients with heart failure) will interact with the body. A feedback loop will use computer simulation and a patient’s biological information to predict how a device will affect things like blood pressure and disease progression — information that will help physicians customize therapies.

Suyi Li, assistant professor of mechanical engineering: Li hopes to use principles of origami to create new building materials that either maintain their mechanical properties or become stronger/more enhanced when folded. Potential applications range from building materials that are both stiff and soft, so they absorb large vibrations, to robotic “skeletons” that stay strong when they shift shapes.

Xian Lu, assistant professor of physics and astronomy: Lu aims to predict how the Earth responds to the transfer of momentum and energy in the middle and upper atmosphere from weather events, which move energy upward into space, and from changes on the surface of the sun, which shifts energy toward the Earth. Such shifts can disrupt telecommunications, astronaut activities and even the power grid.

Hugo Sanabria, assistant professor of physics and astronomy: Sanabria’s work focuses on studying the structure, dynamics and function of a protein that modulates calcium. Calmodulin, as it’s called, is present in all eukaryotic cells and regulates vital functions such as heartbeat, muscle contraction, learning and memory. Although calmodulin is ubiquitous, Sanabria’s team aims to study modifications to the protein that likely alter the protein’s flexibility and three-dimensional structure. The obtained knowledge would explain how certain modifications regulate the way calmodulin interacts with intended target molecules.