Award Data

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a synthetic chemical which does not occur naturally in the environment,it has been used in many commercial applications. A number of scientific findings since the late 1990's have elevated PFOAs to the category of great environmental concern beacuse of its persistence, and the potential for bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Effective environmental and health pr ...

Up until the early twentieth century, several commodity chemicals were produced by the pyrolysis of hardwoods (e.g., methanol, acetic acid, acetone) or the extraction of softwoods (turpentine, terpenes, rosins, pitches, and tars). The expected long term increase in petroleum and natural gas prices will cause a gradual but steady return to biomass feedstocks over the next several decades. Other dri ...

Small businesses are the bedrock of the American economy. To bring economic development to rural America, these regions must have more effective tools for attracting and retaining the businesses that will provide the jobs and investment these communities need to thrive. The proposal seeks to apply an existing technology, Geographic Information Systems, on a proven platform, DecisionTree, in an inn ...

Basic science discoveries have led to the development of a series of human biotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of cancer and HIV as well as many other diseases. Currently there are over 400 drugs in clinical trials just for the first two diseases. The current biotherapeutics' manufacturing platforms have not kept pace resulting in a dramatic rise in treatment cost and more importantly unmet the ...

Recreation trails are a key component of the social, economic and health of rural communities. People with mobility impairments are often excluded from trails, shared-use paths, parks and other public areas where barriers are erected to prevent access by motorized trail vehicles (MTVs), to control livestock or wildlife, as an access point in a fenced area, or for a variety of other reasons. Many p ...

Overabundance of fiber from young trees derived from first thinnings with little or no market is a serious problem for the timber industry as well as private landowners. Because of this, many private landowners fail to conduct appropriate timber management which in turn causes reductions in stand volume, increased risk of insect and/or disease from reduced stand vigor, reduced browse for wildlife ...

Removal and disposal of agricultural mulch films made from polyethylene requires large expenditures of time and money, and creates excessive demand for landfill space. The purpose of this project is to create agricultural mulch films from renewable resources that can be incorporated into the soil for disposal rather than being landfilled.

The waste of unprocessed vegetable matter from normal harvesting can be used to create feeds for livestock and the pulp can be used to produce methanol for fuel. We feel that we should use all resources to their fullest potential. To create a refined machine that will allow the field processing of current waste products into viable feed and fuel products.

Embryos with predetermined sex will obviously double the female calving efficiency in dairy industry. The ultimate goal of the project is to development an efficient system for the large scale production of sex predetermined cattle embryos using several emerging technologies including sperm sorting by flow cytometry, IVF and rapid-cooling cryopreservation (vitrification) of embryos. Through Phase ...

Farms are faced with increasing problems managing manure from animal operations. Alternate innovative methods to deal with the handling and distribution of the manure solids materials and nutrients are needed to allow farms to economically comply with increased regulations. The purpose of this project is to further the development of a concept to utilize farm animal waste material in a manner that ...