Spring 2011

In order to enhance environmental sciences research and activities at IU Bloomington, the IU Center for Research in Environmental Sciences (CRES) called for another round of proposals seeking research support and infrastructure for seminars, workshops, and travel. As with the previous two calls for proposals, this call was distributed, but not limited, to CRES affiliated members. Any IU Bloomington faculty member, postdoc, or graduate student interested in environmental sciences research was eligible to submit a proposal as long as a CRES affiliate on the IU Bloomington campus served as the PI. A PI on an ongoing CRES proposal was not eligible to apply as PI on a new proposal.

Five proposals requesting a total of $247,903 were received. The review committee selected the following three proposals for funding.

Funded research

• Temporal dynamics of volatile organic carbon (C) emissions from forest soils: In-situ measurements of the C we do not see (Stevens, Phillips), $26,000
• Using metagenomics and traditional ecological approaches to assess the effects of mycorrhizal fungal community dynamics on plant producitivity in warming boreal peatlands in Alaska (Bever, White, Schutte, Tang), $70,000
• Ecosystem effects of a keystone herbivore in Midwestern hardwood forests (Schultz, Shelton), $31,653

Funded workshops

No workshop proposals were submitted.

Fall 2009

In order to enhance environmental sciences research and activities at IU Bloomington, the IU Center for Research in Environmental Sciences (CRES) made available approximately $100,000 for research support and infrastructure for seminars, workshops, and travel. This second call for proposals was distributed, but not limited, to CRES affiliated members. Any IU Bloomington faculty member, postdoc, or graduate student interested in environmental sciences research was eligible to submit a proposal as long as at least one investigator was a CRES affiliate and on the IU Bloomington campus.

Thirteen proposals requesting a total of $239,713 were received. The review committee selected the following six (four research and two workshop) proposals for funding.

Funded research

• Establishment of Sycamore Creek as a CRES watershed research area (White, Royer, Picardal), $36,635.
• Red Queen Communities: Is the escape from enemies by invasive species only temporary? (Clay, Flory, Kleczewski), $20,000.
• The influence of institutional dynamics on urban tree canopy in Bloomington, Indiana: a new approach for a spatial analysis of sustainable urban forestry (Evans, Fischer, Mincey, Thurau), $18,700.
• Effects of habitat fragmentation on the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) in hardwood forest of different ages (Meretsky, Moore), $7,656.

Funded workshops

• Workshop: Climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in the Midwest (Pryor), $15,812.
• Workshop: Climate change, land-cover transformation, and infestations: confronting challenges to sustainable coffee production in Mexico and Central America (Tucker), $7,053.

Spring 2009

In order to enhance environmental sciences research and activities at IU Bloomington, the IU Center for Research in Environmental Sciences (CRES) made available approximately $100,000 for research support and infrastructure as well as approximately $50,000 for seminars, workshops, and travel. In February 2009 the call for proposals was distributed, but not limited, to CRES affiliated members. Any IU Bloomington faculty member, postdoctoral, or graduate student interested in environmental sciences research was eligible to submit a proposal as long as at least one investigator was a CRES affiliate and on the IU Bloomington campus.

Nine research proposals requesting a total of $191,800 were received. The five top-ranked proposals were selected for full or partial funding. Five proposals requesting funds for seminars, workshops, and travel were submitted. All five were fully funded.

Funded research

• Investigating temporal dynamic of autotrophic and heterotrophic components of soil respiration using reversible-girdling technique (PIs: C. Wayson, D. Dragoni), $30,465
• Plugging the IURTP into 21st century lake research: real-time meteorological and thermal instrumentation of University Lake (PI: S. Hall), $20,900
• Characterization of endophytic fungi of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) (PI: H. Reynolds), $10,000
• Decomposing spatio-temporal dynamics of carbon and water fluxes for improved understanding of ecosystem functions in a changing climate (PI: D. Dragoni), $14,205
• Examining the role of mycorrhizal associations in mediating carbon storage in southern Indiana forests (PIs: R. Phillips, T. Evans), $18,700

Funded seminars, workshops, and travel

• Workshop: Interdisciplinary approaches to research on human-environment interactions (E. Moran, E. Brondizio), $14,330
• Funding for Meghan Midgley to attend the 2nd Annual Summer Course on Flux Measurements and Advanced Modeling (M. Midgley, R. Phillips), $1,750
• Seminars: (1) Metal toxicogenomics related to human disease, metal biochemistry, and physiology and (2) Adaptive evolution to pollution stress, Environmental genomics (J. Shaw), $2,800
• Workshop: Implementation and further development of a hybrid analytic element--finite difference model for water availability assessment in the Great Lakes area (H. Haitjema), $2,000