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Campus NewsStorm chasers complete successfulMay term field courseacross Great Plains. During the2010 three-week May summer term,eight students from WKU’s MeteorologyProgram set their sights onsevere and often tornadic thunderstormsacross the Great Plains. Whatthey brought back with them wasnothing short of success.The goal for Dr. Josh Durkee’sinaugural Field Methods in WeatherAnalysis and Forecasting class atWKU was to be able to accuratelypredict the precise locations of severeconvective storms, and then drive tothe threat area of interest in time toWKU has student exchangeagreement with university inTaiwan. WKU has a new studentexchange agreement with NationalChung Hsing University inTaichung, Taiwan. The new agreementenables students from bothuniversities to study during semesterand summer terms, and is open tostudents in any area of study.More WKU Newshttp://wkunews.wordpress.comverify their forecasts — an extremelydifficult and tiring task.Dr. Durkee and his group traveledacross 14 states (Kentucky, Tennessee,Mississippi, Arkansas,Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska,Wyoming, Montana, NorthDakota, South Dakota, Oklahomaand Texas) from May 20 to June 3and racked up a total of 17 tornadotouchdowns (in five states) across the8,009-mile trek (a distance similar todriving from Bowling Green, Ky., toAnchorage, Alaska, and back).View their blog entries andphotos from their journeyat http://fastforecast.blogspot.comWKU education facultymember elected vice presidentof national organization.Dr. John Moore, Associate Professorin WKU’s School of Teacher Education,has been elected Vice Presidentof the National Council for the SocialStudies (NCSS). Dr. Moore willbe NCSS Vice President for 2010-11, President-Elect for 2011-12,President for 2012-2013, and immediatePast President for 2013-2014.WKU receives $455,856NSF/Gates Grant for projectin Africa. WKU’s Biology Department,in cooperation with WKU’sDepartment of Engineering and theDepartment of Veterinary Anatomyand Physiology at the University ofNairobi, was awarded a competitiveresearch grant of $455,856 from thefirst collaborative funding programshared by the National ScienceFoundation and the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation.This program, Basic Research toEnable Agricultural Development(BREAD), was initiated to fund developmentof imaginative possible mechanismsto increase yield for smallfarmholders in developing countries.WKU’s project is titled Developmentof Automated Systems to IncreaseCrop Yield by ReducingGroup Foraging Intensity by CropPests. The researchers will developsystems to leverage evolved responsesto biological stimuli to disruptforaging behaviors in herdanimals such as African buffalo, bushpigs and elephants, all of which aremajor agents of crop loss in sub-SaharanAfrica.WKU is the only non-Ph.D.-granting institution to serve as lead inthe charter year of this program. Morethan 130 U.S. institutions in 45 states,partnering with more than 200 institutionsin 68 countries, submitted proposalsfor the inaugural competition.The NSF awarded 15 grants to 42institutions in 17 states plus internationalcollaborators in Kenya, SouthAfrica, Malawi, Australia, Colombia,Mexico, Switzerland, Denmark, Pakistan,India, Papua New Guinea andthe United Kingdom.www.alumni.wku.edu | WKU SPIRIT | 7