2010 CREST Annual Report - Alabama A&M University

Final Report: 0420541Final Report for Period: 08/2009 - 07/2010 Submitted on: 09/07/2010Principal Investigator: Wang, Yong . Award ID: 0420541Organization: Alabama A&M UniversitySubmitted By:Wang, Yong - Principal InvestigatorTitle:CREST Center for Forest Ecosystems Assessment (CFEA)Senior PersonnelName: Zipf, AllanWorked for more than 160 Hours:NoProject ParticipantsContribution to Project:Dr. Zipf died shortly after the submission of the proposal. The project office was informed of his untimely death.Name: Wang, YongWorked for more than 160 Hours:YesContribution to Project:Dr. Wang is a PI on subproject II the fauna. He is leading the avian study as well as the herpeto-fauna study funded by the USDAForest Service. He assists in the statistical design and implementation of the project.Name: Senwo, ZacharyWorked for more than 160 Hours:YesContribution to Project:Dr. Senwo is working on the Soils subproject III. He is conducting a study of the soil microbiological community in collaborationwith Dr. Elica Moss (Objectives 1-3).Name: Wang, YongWorked for more than 160 Hours:YesContribution to Project:Dr. Wang is the Co-PI of the initial CREST-CFEA proposal, and was given the responsibility of serving as PI and Center Directorin March 2007. He has been coordinating the Center functions and managing the budgets. On behalf of CREST-CFEA, he workedon several initiatives during the past year. (1) Established a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site at AAMU withthe financial support from NSF and AAMU. This new initiative involved co-PIs of the CREST-CFEA and faculty members acrossthe Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Science (NRES). (2) Collaboration with the North Alabama Center forEducational Excellence (NACEE), a private organization working to increase the minority participation in STEM fields, to recruithigh school students to participate CREST related research activities. A supplement proposal submitted to NSF to fund twominority high school students to join the summer research programs has been awarded. (3) A supplement proposal in collaborationwith the Chemistry Department of AAMU to initiate the research of 'Effects of Forest Land Cover Changes on the CarbonDynamics in Ambient Air and Soil in the Bankhead National Forest' was submitted to NSF. (4) Initiation of research on the plantinvasion by working with faculty members and research staff of the CREST-CFEA to submit a proposal 'Effect of ForestManagement on the Establishment of Invasive Plants (Paulownia and Ailanthus) in the Cumberland Plateau and Mountain Region'to USDA CSREES. (5) Enhancement of recruitment effort by collaborating with the recruitment director of the School ofAgricultural and Environmental Science (SAES) to submitted a proposal of 'Developing Online Dual Credit Partnerships andRecruiting for 21st Century Professionals in Food and Agricultural Science' to CSREES' Capacity Building Grant. (6) Workedwith partners from Bankhead National Forest, a private consultant, and other organizations on establishing a research andeducation center at Bankhead National Forest. (7) Worked with NSF Program Director and University and School administratorsto resolve CREST-CFEA budget issues related to the unexpected faculty staff salary, benefits, and transportation cost increase. Dr. Wang is also in charge of the herpetofaunal and avian research of the subproject II. As a biometrician, Dr. Wang assistedthe faculty and students in research design and statistical analyses. Dr. Wang's four graduate students (Zachary Felix, Ph.D., JohnCarpenter, MS., Florence Chan, MS., and Jill Wick, MS) successfully completed their research projects and degree programs andgraduated in 2008. Most of these students and their research activities were funded by external funds, but benefited fromCREST-CFEA directly or indirectly. All these students are now hired by other universities and organizations working on theirPage 1 of 58