CEE Faculty Awarded EPSCoR Seed Grants

Editor's Note: This article was adapted from an article by Tracey Bryant that appeared in UDaily on Jan. 2, 2007.

Prof. C.P. Huang (right) and graduate student Minghua Li display test tubes containing carbon nanotubes, or CNTs, in solution. The test tubes represent a range of exposure to an oxidizing agent, with the greatest exposure times resulting in more dispersal of the CNTs and thus a darker solution.

C. P. Huang, Donald C. Phillips Professor, and Pei Chiu, Associate Professor, have been awarded grants from the Delaware Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), a statewide effort based at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.

Established by the National Science Foundation and the State of Delaware in 2005, the Delaware EPSCoR program seeks to advance the state's research and development capabilities in biotechnology and the biosciences through partnerships involving the state's higher education institutions, including the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Delaware Technical and Community College, and Wesley College, as well as industry and government.

Huang is working with Thomas Beebe Jr., Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Donald Sparks, S. Hallock du Pont Chair of Plant and Soil Sciences, to study the effects of ozone, ultraviolet light, and ultrasound on carbon nanotubes. These tiny tubes are among the most common materials used in microelectronics. The scientists will investigate the tubes' ability to adsorb toxic contaminants, as well as any effects that the oxidation of the tubes may have on aquatic organisms including bacteria, algae, and zooplankton.

Chiu will collaborate with Doug Doren, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, to test the chemical reactivity of nano-sized particles of black carbon, such as soot. A variety of pollutants can attach and react on these microscopic bits of carbon, which are released during the burning of fossil fuels and of trees and other plant material during deforestation. Thus, black-carbon particles can play a pivotal role in the transport and fate of a number of land and aquatic pollutants.

According to Stephen Borleske, manager of the Delaware EPSCoR program, “The purpose of the Delaware EPSCoR seed grants is to catalyze new interdisciplinary partnerships in basic research areas that help us understand the scientific basis of key environmental problems in Delaware. As these projects develop, we hope to expand these partnerships to include local industry and government agencies like DNREC and EPA to translate basic science into solutions to Delaware problems.”

The two projects are among eleven studies on topics ranging from a plant that can decontaminate soil of a toxic metal to a computer model for predicting the effects of fluctuating low-oxygen conditions on juvenile fish in Delaware's Inland Bays. A total of $460,000 in seed grants was awarded in the program for research over the next year.