News

January 7, 2016 at 10:48 am

Five A&S Faculty Part of Innovation Grant to Monitor Fracking Impact

Five College of Arts & Sciences faculty are collaborators on a newly funded Ohio University Innovation Strategy project that will help monitor hydraulic fracturing and the water supply in Torch, OH.

Called the “Partnership for Digitally Connected Environmental Monitoring,” this project unites environmental science with journalism and public outreach initiatives. The planning grant will support environmental monitoring in Torch, Ohio, to measure the impact of hydraulic fracturing activities on the water supply. In addition, it will fund a website that will feature the environmental data and news reporting on the topic for citizens. The grant also will support a course for Ohio University students and a university/industry symposium.

Natalie Kruse of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs is the primary investigator. Collaborations from A&S include: Dr. Morgan Vis-Chiasson, Professor and Chair of Environmental & Plant Biology; Dr. Jared DeForest, Associate Professor of Environmental & Plant Biology; Dr. Amy Lynch, Assistant Professor of Geography; Dr. Dina Lopez, Professor and Chair of Geological Sciences; and Dr. Kelly Johnson, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences.

About the Innovation Strategy Program

The Vice President for Research and Creative Activity announced in January that five teams of Ohio University faculty and staff have received planning grants of up to $20,000 each in support of the Ohio University Innovation Strategy.

This group is the first in a series of anticipated award recipients from the program, which has been allocated $5 million this year to advance innovation in research, teaching and institutional operations at Ohio University. The institution also is considering the award of several large grants, as well as seed grants for proposals that can be developed further for future internal or extramural funding.

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