Three UW-Whitewater professors receive NASA Wisconsin Space Grants
Released: November 24, 2008
More than $17,000 from the NASA Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium (WSGC) will help fund research to study Earth from modern, recent and ancient aspects on a global scale, by three University of Wisconsin-Whitewater geography and geology professors, Rex Hanger, Tom Jeffery and Sonya Larocque.
“We are very proud of our strong geography department,” said Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences Mary Pinkerton. “The success of Rex, Tom and Sonya in securing outside funding to support their research provides further evidence of the high quality of their work.”
Assistant Professor Thomas Jeffery received WSGC’s Aerospace Outreach Grant for his research, “Earthview: From photos to science.” The Aerospace Outreach Program provides planning grants and supplemental grants for new or ongoing projects which have space-related content. Jeffery’s project will provide students and teachers with the knowledge and tools necessary to transition from a simple, but effective use of Google Earth imagery to a more complex and rigorous science involved with satellite image analysis.
“My proposal will engage middle and high school students in the science of remote sensing,” Jeffery said. “Remotely sensed satellite images have become common place in society, ranging from nightly weather broadcasts to the hobby of scanning Google Earth to look at your own home, the Vatican, the Kremlin or the Grand Canyon. This grant will be used to educate these students as to why and how satellite imagery is a major source of information, beyond just the entertainment value.”
Department Chair Rex Hanger and Assistant Professor Sonya Larocque both received WSGC’s Research Infrastructure Grant. The Research Infrastructure Program provides support to faculty and research staff from WSGC universities and colleges seeking to initiate a new research program, and from WSGC industrial affiliates to establish a space-related research program.
Hanger’s project, “Geochemical signature of the Permian-Triassic boundary section, Pine Forest Range, Northwest Nevada,” examines areas of the Pine Forest Range in northwestern Nevada that contains sediments and fossils that were deposited during the end of the Permian Era about 250 million years ago.
“Even though I’m studying ancient rocks, fossils and events that happened more than 250 million years ago, there is still relevance to humans and our future on Earth,” said Hanger. The rocks represent a unique time frame when more than 95 percent of all species went extinct. It was the closest our planet has ever come to actually “wiping its slate clean.” “This was all happening during a period of intense global warming associated with increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean. As such, it is a lesson how today’s human-induced global warming could affect all life on Earth,” he added.
Hanger took four students, Rhiannon LaVine, J. Michael Lau, Adric Preuschl and Shannon Erb, to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada in Sept. This desert is one of the few places in North America where these ancient rocks can be found. The collections are now being studied in Hanger’s lab on campus.
Larocque’s research, “Analysis of spatial and temporal climate variability in Wisconsin using dendroclimatic records,” will analyze past climate cycles and rates of climate change, to determine how current changes in temperature and precipitation may affect humans.
“As we try to predict the potential impacts of climate change on human-related aspects such as economic activities, human health and resources, it is important to recognize and better understand climatic variability,” said Larocque. “The goal is to develop a comprehensive framework upon which we can design a climate rescue plan. Ultimately, building on this knowledge is my small contribution to our long-term survival and the preservation of our quality of life,” added Larocque.
- Ashley Jones,jonesac08@uww.edu
