Award Data

Our assertion is that intensive tillage methods have destroyed the viability of our croplands over the last one half century. In order to maintain the ability of these lands to grow crops, we have used and over-used chemical fertilizers which pose an ongoing environmental threat to our air and waterways. The benefits of conservation tillage methods are widely known, however the time to successfull ...

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are being targeted for many military and commercial applications due to their light weight and high temperature stability. Their deployment is hampered by limited environmental durability. The Navy, under the JSF program, is evaluating a high performance CMC for an exhaust nozzle component. The CMC suffers from environmental degradation, primarily due to hot cor ...

Every year natural and man-caused disturbances (wildfire, construction of highways and facilities, mining, noxious weeds infestation, and overgrazing) damage and destroy millions of hectares of native vegetation. These vast disturbances require restoration and federal entities emphasize the use of native plant materials. Without restorative intervention, land recovery may take decades, leaving eco ...

Solutions to help overcome the present limitations in conducting prescribed burning could help land managers in their efforts to accomplish needed fuels reduction in the forests. Opportunities exist for developing improvements in the methods and materials used in the ground-based ignition of prescribed fires. Improved ignition techniques could enable managers to conduct burns at times where weathe ...

Water is the essence of life. Few will disagree that it is a resource that must be protected for the well-being of all: plant and animal. Millions of holes have been and are being drilled in the earth to search for water, uranium, oil and gas, and coal-bed methane. Many thousands of these holes are mid-depth (500-4500 feet) and fill with water if the drills penetrate one or more aquifers. When the ...

VAM inoculum is commonly specified for large-scale plant production contracts throughout the United States, including revegetation efforts associated with fire rehabilitation, mine reclamation, conservation plantings, contaminated site cleanup, and other activities. These activities represent a continuous expenditure of public and private funds worth several hundred-million dollars annually. A maj ...

Current systems for acquiring and accessing rangeland health data are inadequate to meet the needs of an increasingly complex management process that requires public accountability. Traditional field-based data acquisition, such as visual assessment, quadrat, and point frame methods are highly subjective, time consuming or too costly to practically apply over large land management units. While the ...

Potentially valuable livestock feed in the form of yard waste is taking up limited and costly landfill space. This project examines the viability of using these yard waste materials as a feed source for livestock.

: The development of cost-effective manufacturing technique for PMN-PT based piezoelectric single crystals with enhanced capabilities is critical to the achievement of the new generation of acoustic transduction devices. In Phase I, feasibility of the novel technique was demonstrated. The objective of this research project is to continue development of reducing the manufacturing costs for large-si ...

Aerial firefighting is a dangerous and demanding business, which is evidenced by the numerous loss of life during the "fire season". Millions of dollars worth of equipment has been destroyed in the fight to protect people and valuable natural resources from the devastation of wildfires. Due to the recent reduction in the large fixed wing air tanker fleet there has been an increased demand placed o ...