Principal Investigator: Environmental Stewardship through Discovery Centennial Challenge: Engaging Minority youth in resource preservation. To: National Leadership Council of the National Park Service (Prospectus proposal). This project is in development and focuses on engaging young scientists with the national parks as a tool to promote stewardship of the parks. As the National Park Service approaches its 100th anniversary, the parks face many challenges—one of which is how the next generation approaches wilderness values and resource conservation. By partnering with advance technologies laboratories, we are exploring interesting developments such as power gaming as a tool to resource stewardship and other cutting edge ideas.
Principal Investigator with G. Kyle, and K. Langdon.. Environmental Stewardship through Discovery. Accepted but under revision with the National Park Foundation. This project ties technology and science to the stewardship of parks through a series of field experiences. Students will work with advanced technologies to discover the micro-fauna of Big Thicket Preserve and address issues such as climate change, historical reconstructions of the biota of the area, and impacts of oil and gas activities.
Co-Investigator with G. Kyle et al. Storm Hazard Analyst. National Park Service Fee Demonstration Funds. This project examines the impacts of storm events on national parks along the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Peninsula using GIS modeling and census data. This project developed out of similar work on the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on natural resources in Jean Lafitte and Gulf Islands National Parks.
Principal Investigator. All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory at Big Thicket National Preserve. This project is under the Discover Life in America (WWW.DLIA.org) project to inventory species diversity at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other sites around the US. The project focuses on the discovery of the less charismatic fauna in protected areas using a combination of taxonomists and citizen scientists. Students work with both citizen scientists and professional instructors in a quest to discover the biological diversity with a unique preserve.
