e.e.r.c.: Highlights and Initiatives: March

	Energy, Environment and Resources Center The University of Tennessee Highlights and Initiatives
March 2002 - April 2002 Energy, Environment and Resources Center Jack Barkenbus, Executive Director Center For Clean Products and Clean Technologies Gary A. Davis, Director Office of Communications and Publications David Brill, Director Center for Geography and Environmental Education Rosalyn McKeown-Ice, Director Oak Ridge Technology Research and Development Program Sheila Webster, Director Systems Development Institute Donald Alvic, Director Pro-Dialogue Mary R. English and David L. Feldman, Directors Water Resources Research Center Tim Gangaware, Associate Director _______________ Highlights and Initiatives is written and edited by Constance Griffith <cbgriffith@utk.edu>. For more information call Gail Farris at 865-974-4251 or write to EERC, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134. Visit our Web site at: http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/	National News. In April, Senior Research Scientist David Feldman testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment (Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure). Feldman offered testimony regarding proposals for a national Water Resources Development Act 2002. His recommendations are based on the Southeast Water Supply Roundtable, a broad stakeholder effort among southeastern states that addressed water management and precursor to Tennessee’s Interbasin Water Transfer Act of 2000. In addition, Feldman published “Tennessee’s Inter-basin Water Transfer Act: A Changing Water Policy Agenda” in Water Policy: The Journal of the World Water Council 3, 2001. Projects. Senior Research Associate Jack Geibig, Research Scientist Maria Socolof, and others are performing life-cycle assessments of various lead-based and lead-free solders. Researchers hope the results of this study, funded by the U.S. EPA and two trade associations—the IPC (an association connecting electronics industries) and the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)—will lead to environmentally sound choices for electronic equipment. Currently, lead-based solders are used to attach components to circuit boards; this study will examine the environmental impacts of these and alternative solders in electronic products. Manufacturers helping to fund the project through the IPC and EIA include Agilent Technologies, Cookson Electronics, Delphi-Delco, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, International Sematech, Pitney Bowes, Rockwell-Collins, and Thomson Consumer Electronics. Gary Davis, director of EERC’s Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies, and Research Associate Jonathan Overly have recently completed a report on single-use plates and bowls for Green Seal, an independent product certifier. The researchers reviewed environmental data for disposable plates and bowls, prepared a summary background report, and developed a standard for such foodware. Companies can review the standard and then submit products, along with production information, to Green Seal for evaluation. By providing certification for eligible products, Green Seal helps industry provide quality products while reducing environmental impacts associated with their manufacture, use, and disposal. Award. At the campus honors banquet in April, UT Provost Loren Crabtree presented a UT “Citation for Professional Promise” award to graduate student Pedro Sanhueza. Sanhueza, a WMREI-stipend recipient and Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the award based on his grades and professional activities such as publishing and presenting papers. Honors. At the campus honors banquet in April, Provost Loren Crabtree presented a UT “Citation for Professional Promise” award to graduate student Pedro Sanhueza. Sanhueza, who received a graduate research stipend from EERC affiliate the Waste Management Research and Education Institute, is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Sanhueza won the award based on his grades and professional activities. Jack Geibig received his master’s degree in Environmental Engineering this past semester. Professors Bruce Robinson and Chris Cox, Civil and Environmental Engineering, served as Geibig’s coadvisors. After completing his coursework, Geibig also passed his licensing examination and received his Tennessee Professional Engineer’s license. Subterranean Science UT** Each Highlights and Initiatives page presents an in-depth look at one of EERC’s projects or activities. This edition focuses on a recent workshop where students gained experience in field-laboratory logistics and research deep within South Africa’s gold mines. Subterranean Science A field trip to South Africa teaches students that a trip down into the darkness can be the best way to appreciate the light of science. PULL QUOTE: By engaging undergraduate minority students in unique and multidisciplinary research, Pfiffner and Davis hope to recruit more students into the engineering, biological, and environmental sciences. By Kris Christen “It was a real adventure, and I loved the fact that we were getting away from the lab and actually getting dirty for science,” says Jonesta Nolan, a senior majoring in chemistry at the University of Tennessee (UT). Nolan was one of 13 undergraduate students (five Americans and eight South Africans) who participated in a five-day field laboratory workshop held in South Africa last December. The workshop, part of an ongoing U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) project to study life in the extreme environment of South Africa’s gold mines, was organized and coordinated in part by EERC affiliate the Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) to provide undergraduate minority students in the United States and “previously disadvantaged” students in South Africa with experience in field laboratory logistics and research. “What we’re primarily looking for is whether or not organisms are down there, what they are, what they do, and whether they have any special metabolic processes that could be of interest in terms of bio-mining or enzymes for biotechnological developments,” says Susan Pfiffner, a research assistant professor in UT’s Department of Microbiology. One idea is to isolate genetic material, either from environmental samples or isolated bacteria, that is able to withstand high pHs and high temperatures, says Kim Davis, WMREI’s assistant director. “From there, we might genetically modify other bacteria using these DNA strands or use enzymes from these bacteria in microbiological processes.” In this way, various waste streams could be eliminated from manufacturing and mining processes. Before they entered the Beatrix gold mine near Bloemfontein, students donned protective gear and weighted themselves down with an array of sampling equipment. After hiking to their study site, the students collected fissure water from flowing boreholes and gathered biofilms and rock, air, and gas samples for further analysis. Students performed some tests on the spot, checking for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, sulfide, iron, chloride, and ammonia concentrations. “Spot-testing helps you get a quick check on the geochemistry that’s going on in your water sample, which gives you an idea of how to culture the organisms later,” Pfiffner says. Once back in the lab, the students spent the rest of their time conducting various microbial and molecular analyses for bacteria in the samples, trying to get an idea of which organisms were present and their abundance. After performing the analyses, they wrote lab reports describing what they did, the materials and methods they used, and their results. By engaging undergraduate minority students in such unique and multidisciplinary research, Pfiffner and Davis hope to recruit more students into the engineering, biological, and environmental sciences. The researchers are applying for another NSF grant to expand the workshop to a six- to eight-week summer session that offers course credit. They also hope to develop an undergraduate exchange program that would bring South African students to the United States. *** For more information, contact Kim Davis, WMREI, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, or call 865-974-1847; or Susan Pfiffner, Center for Biomarker Analysis, The University of Tennessee, 10515 Research Drive, Suite 300, Knoxville, TN 37932-2575, or call 865-974-8031.
The EERC conducts analytical, unbiased, and multidisciplinary research designed to promote real-world solutions to problems in the fields of energy, environment, technology, and economic development.

National News. In April, Senior Research Scientist David Feldman testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment (Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure). Feldman offered testimony regarding proposals for a national Water Resources Development Act 2002. His recommendations are based on the Southeast Water Supply Roundtable, a broad stakeholder effort among southeastern states that addressed water management and precursor to Tennessee’s Interbasin Water Transfer Act of 2000. In addition, Feldman published “Tennessee’s Inter-basin Water Transfer Act: A Changing Water Policy Agenda” in Water Policy: The Journal of the World Water Council 3, 2001.

Projects. Senior Research Associate Jack Geibig, Research Scientist Maria Socolof, and others are performing life-cycle assessments of various lead-based and lead-free solders. Researchers hope the results of this study, funded by the U.S. EPA and two trade associations—the IPC (an association connecting electronics industries) and the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)—will lead to environmentally sound choices for electronic equipment. Currently, lead-based solders are used to attach components to circuit boards; this study will examine the environmental impacts of these and alternative solders in electronic products. Manufacturers helping to fund the project through the IPC and EIA include Agilent Technologies, Cookson Electronics, Delphi-Delco, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, International Sematech, Pitney Bowes, Rockwell-Collins, and Thomson Consumer Electronics.

Gary Davis, director of EERC’s Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies, and Research Associate Jonathan Overly have recently completed a report on single-use plates and bowls for Green Seal, an independent product certifier. The researchers reviewed environmental data for disposable plates and bowls, prepared a summary background report, and developed a standard for such foodware. Companies can review the standard and then submit products, along with production information, to Green Seal for evaluation. By providing certification for eligible products, Green Seal helps industry provide quality products while reducing environmental impacts associated with their manufacture, use, and disposal.

Award. At the campus honors banquet in April, UT Provost Loren Crabtree presented a UT “Citation for Professional Promise” award to graduate student Pedro Sanhueza. Sanhueza, a WMREI-stipend recipient and Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the award based on his grades and professional activities such as publishing and presenting papers.

Honors. At the campus honors banquet in April, Provost Loren Crabtree presented a UT “Citation for Professional Promise” award to graduate student Pedro Sanhueza. Sanhueza, who received a graduate research stipend from EERC affiliate the Waste Management Research and Education Institute, is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Sanhueza won the award based on his grades and professional activities.

Jack Geibig received his master’s degree in Environmental Engineering this past semester. Professors Bruce Robinson and Chris Cox, Civil and Environmental Engineering, served as Geibig’s coadvisors. After completing his coursework, Geibig also passed his licensing examination and received his Tennessee Professional Engineer’s license.

Subterranean Science

UT** Each Highlights and Initiatives page presents an in-depth look at one of EERC’s projects or activities. This edition focuses on a recent workshop where students gained experience in field-laboratory logistics and research deep within South Africa’s gold mines.

A field trip to South Africa teaches students that a trip down into the darkness can be the best way to appreciate the light of science.

PULL QUOTE: By engaging undergraduate minority students in unique and multidisciplinary research, Pfiffner and Davis hope to recruit more students into the engineering, biological, and environmental sciences.

“It was a real adventure, and I loved the fact that we were getting away from the lab and actually getting dirty for science,” says Jonesta Nolan, a senior majoring in chemistry at the University of Tennessee (UT).

Nolan was one of 13 undergraduate students (five Americans and eight South Africans) who participated in a five-day field laboratory workshop held in South Africa last December. The workshop, part of an ongoing U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) project to study life in the extreme environment of South Africa’s gold mines, was organized and coordinated in part by EERC affiliate the Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) to provide undergraduate minority students in the United States and “previously disadvantaged” students in South Africa with experience in field laboratory logistics and research.

“What we’re primarily looking for is whether or not organisms are down there, what they are, what they do, and whether they have any special metabolic processes that could be of interest in terms of bio-mining or enzymes for biotechnological developments,” says Susan Pfiffner, a research assistant professor in UT’s Department of Microbiology.

One idea is to isolate genetic material, either from environmental samples or isolated bacteria, that is able to withstand high pHs and high temperatures, says Kim Davis, WMREI’s assistant director. “From there, we might genetically modify other bacteria using these DNA strands or use enzymes from these bacteria in microbiological processes.” In this way, various waste streams could be eliminated from manufacturing and mining processes.

Before they entered the Beatrix gold mine near Bloemfontein, students donned protective gear and weighted themselves down with an array of sampling equipment. After hiking to their study site, the students collected fissure water from flowing boreholes and gathered biofilms and rock, air, and gas samples for further analysis. Students performed some tests on the spot, checking for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, sulfide, iron, chloride, and ammonia concentrations.

“Spot-testing helps you get a quick check on the geochemistry that’s going on in your water sample, which gives you an idea of how to culture the organisms later,” Pfiffner says. Once back in the lab, the students spent the rest of their time conducting various microbial and molecular analyses for bacteria in the samples, trying to get an idea of which organisms were present and their abundance. After performing the analyses, they wrote lab reports describing what they did, the materials and methods they used, and their results.

By engaging undergraduate minority students in such unique and multidisciplinary research, Pfiffner and Davis hope to recruit more students into the engineering, biological, and environmental sciences. The researchers are applying for another NSF grant to expand the workshop to a six- to eight-week summer session that offers course credit. They also hope to develop an undergraduate exchange program that would bring South African students to the United States.

Energy, Environment and Resources Center

The University of Tennessee

Highlights and Initiatives