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Austin Peay State University has received a grant of more than $1.78 million to build safe rooms in the basements of the new residence halls now under construction on Drane Street. Of the total funds awarded, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) contributed more than $1.5 million, supported with an additional $250,000 from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). APSU matched an additional $250,000 toward the $2 million project. The safe rooms are designed to protect students from the threats of inclement weather, such as strong winds and tornados. "Emergency preparedness is more important than ever," said Jim Bassham, director of TEMA. "APSU is taking the lead in making its campus safer and we hope more organizations follow its example." Al Westerman, director of facilities planning and projects at APSU, said the three safe rooms will hold a maximum of 1,400 students. “These safe rooms will provide greater safety for our students when we are faced with tornados and high winds,” he said. The safe rooms will be built to FEMA standards and to withstand winds up to 250 mph, according to the award letter from the TEMA.

The Austin Peay Campus Police Department recently was awarded $5000 from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office. The Governor’s Highway Safety Office provides grants to programs which are designed to reduce the number of fatalities, injuries, and related economic losses resulting from traffic crashes on Tennessee’s roadways. It helps with programs in the following areas: alcohol countermeasures, youth alcohol and traffic safety, occupant protection (seatbelt and child passenger safety), police traffic services,traffic records,EMS,safe communities, pedestrian safety, pupil transportation, roadway safety, and motorcycle safety. Sgt. Georganna Genthner wrote the grant and has been with the Austin Peay State University Campus Police since 2008.

Clarksville-Montgomery County E-911 Emergency Communications Center recently awarded a $37,000 contract to the Austin Peay State University (APSU) GIS Center to bring the GIS data used by the dispatch center into National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and Tennessee Information for Public Safety (TIPS) Standards. This project is in preparation for the deployment of the Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911) system that will utilize Emergency Service Number zones (ESN Zones). Structure point and center line road GIS data is used for routing emergency responders when a 911 call is received at the dispatch center to identify the location of the call. Dispatchers use the ESN Zones to ensure the correct and most relevant emergency service provider is sent to the caller’s location. The data will be part of a state-wide seamless GIS data coverage for the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board. For more information, please contact the APSU GIS Center via email at  catellierd@apsu.edu.

Dr. Jeff Lebkuecher, Professor of Biology, was awarded a $78,800 contract from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to study the impacts of water pollution on algae and other microscopic organisms. The objectives of the project include: (1) develop standardized methods for state researchers to evaluate the impacts of pollution in Tennessee rivers, (2) assess the effects of water pollution in the Red River Watershed, and (3) engage APSU biology students in research to provide training and experience with biological monitoring. Biological monitoring is an essential method to characterize and quantify the influences of pollution because chemical analyses do not reveal impacts on ecological integrity. The research will give APSU students the opportunity to learn how to assess the influences of pollutants on aquatic organisms and develop watershed management plans to improve the health of aquatic environments.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Austin Peay State University a $1.8 million grant to continue funding the successful Educational Opportunity Center (EOC). The EOC received funding for five years (2011 – 2016) for $373,614 per grant year. The EOC funding falls under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and is part of the TRiO Programs. The program is designed to assist low-income adults in entering college by helping them to overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to higher education. Two-thirds of the adults served in the program must come from low-income families, where neither parent graduated from college. The grant received a perfect score of 117 out of 117 possible points. Of significance, were the full bonus points received for the competitive priority in addressing the needs of the military-connected students, veterans, active duty, and spouses of active-duty service members. The EOC at Austin Peay has been in existence since 1988, serving adult residents of Montgomery, Stewart, and Christian Counties. With this award, EOC now serves Houston County. During the past 23 years, EOC has provided educational assistance, financial aid, and career information to over 34,500 adults who have wished to pursue further education after high school. The program has collaborated with numerous community agencies and organizations in order to fulfill its mission of assisting adults who wish to pursue higher education in the area. For more information, contact John Johnson, EOC Director.

Dr. Justin Oelgoetz, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy was recently awarded a $25,000 grant to computationally model non-precious catalysts by the TNSCORE program, a statewide network funded by National Science Foundation $20 million EpSCORE Track I Grant. This grant was in the form of one of the first batch of three Research Opportunity Awards, designed to stimulate collaboration between primarily undergraduate institutions and research institutions. This work is part of the batteries and energy storage thrust (Thrust 2), headed by Dr. Tom Zawodzinski in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.  Dr. Oelgoetz has been modeling the spectra of various proposed compounds and structures as an aide in determining the detailed structure and properties of currently synthesized and tested compounds.  His work will feed back into the work of groups developing non-precious catalysts with the intention of increasing their efficiency.  Eventually electrodes using these these non-precious catalysts could replace much more expensive platinum based electrodes. This would result in significantly cheaper fuel cells, making them more cost effective for consumer applications such as cars as well as for large scale power generation.  For more information on the TNSCORE program see https://tnepscor.tennessee.edu/.

The Felix G. Woodward Library has been selected as one of 200 libraries in the U.S. to host a traveling panel exhibition created and funded by the National Constitution Center, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Library Association.  Using the U.S. Constitution as its cohesive thread, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” offers a fresh and innovative perspective on the Civil War that brings into focus the constitutional crises at the heart of this great conflict.  The exhibition identifies three crises—the secession of the Southern states, slavery, and wartime civil liberties—and explores how Lincoln sought to meet these political and constitutional challenges. The exhibition will tour throughout the United States from September 2011 through May 2015, and each library will host the exhibition for a period of six weeks. Each site will host public humanities programs related to the exhibition and will be awarded a grant of $750 to provide a reception, purchase marketing materials, etc.  APSU faculty members from the Departments of History and Philosophy, Political Science, Languages and Literature, Music, and Theatre and Dance will participate as program presenters.  The program is co-sponsored by the Felix G. Woodward Library and the Wilbur N. Daniel African American Cultural Center.

Dr. Carol Baskauf, Professor of Biology, was recently awarded a $10,000 contract from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to study the population genetics of a federally endangered plant species (Braun’s rock-cress) using microsatellites.  She has been able to pursue these investigations as part of an APSU awarded faculty development leave during which she was working with new molecular methods for use in future research projects.  Braun’s rock-cress is a rare plant that is endemic to Tennessee and Kentucky, being found in only a few sites in middle Tennessee and in north-central Kentucky.  Previous TDEC funded research carried out by Dr. Baskauf’s graduate student, Nacole Jinks, had indicated that this species was very unusual in having almost no genetic variability at allozyme genes.  Because microsatellites tend to be much more variable genetic markers than allozymes, the use of microsatellites in the current study will provide better resolution of the genetic variability and population genetic structure for this rare plant – information that can aid in conservation management plans for the species.  Preliminary results using microsatellites and chloroplast genetic data indicate that Tennessee populations are genetically differentiated from Kentucky populations, and that even populations within Tennessee have genetic differences at microsatellite markers.

Gov. Bill Haslam (from left), APSU Provost Dr. Tristan Denley, Dr. Richard Rhoda (Executive director of Tennessee Higher Education Commission), and Stan Jones (President of Complete College America) announce Tennessee as the recipient of a $1 million Complete Innovation Challenge grant July 25 in Nashville. Austin Peay State University will be the key leader in Tennessee to help other colleges and universities with a nationwide challenge to impact degree completion in higher education with the help of a $1 million Completion Innovation Challenge grant. In July 2010, the National Governors Association adopted Complete College America’s metrics as part of its Complete to Compete initiative. All 50 states competed for $1 million grants to fuel reform in college completion. Gov. Bill Haslam formally announced July 25 that Tennessee is one of 10 states to receive the $1 million, 18-month implementation grant funded by Complete College America with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Grants were awarded to states that produced the best plans to develop and deploy innovative, statewide strategies designed to increase college completion. One of the centerpieces of Tennessee’s grant proposal was a new initiative introduced at APSU in April 2011. Dr. Tristan Denley, APSU’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, developed a Course Recommendation System that helps pair students with courses that best their talents and programs of study. Using what has come to be known as the Netflix Effect, the system provides each student with personalized recommendations based on their academic transcript. Since its debut, the tool has gained national attention in higher education circles because of its abilities to help students stay on track to graduation. With the support of the grant, Denley will lead a team that will work to further refine the innovation. He also will work with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to develop the system so that it can be deployed statewide to help boost the state’s higher education graduation rates among community colleges and four-year institutions.

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has announced that Dr. Ann Assad, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and Dr. Lauren Wells, Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, have been awarded $138,202 to conduct a STEM Professional Development Project through First to the Top. The goal of their program, Momentum: Building Capacity for Change through Connections, is to increase student achievement in mathematics by increasing elementary teachers’ capacity to teach mathematics in a STEM-centered environment. In daylong workshops teachers will solve problems, plan for teaching, and share student work.  Project staff will provide online support as well as online sessions targeted at specific content. Participants will be provided with extensive materials to support their own learning as well as their classroom teaching and will attend a weeklong academy in June 2012. Both content and pedagogy will be addressed in the workshop, and STEM activities will be integrated throughout. Children’s literature will provide the catalyst for engaging the participants in problem solving. Support will continue throughout the fall of 2012.

Dr. Linda A. Sitton, Director for the Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA) grant housed at APSU, was awarded $325,055 for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The APSU-TECTA site is one of nine sites in the state and pays tuition for students seeking the state and national credentials, and degrees in early childhood. Eligible students must be employed in licensed child care facilities in Benton, Dickson, Henry, Houston, Humphries, Montgomery, Robertson, or Stewart counties. TECTA represents the first statewide early childhood training and professional recognition system in the nation administered by higher education to include orientation training through advanced degree programs. The TECTA statewide training system is based upon the belief that early childhood education personnel need professional knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care for young children. The primary goal is improving the quality of early childhood education by providing articulated preparation programs. TECTA classes involve child care providers, higher education, professional associations, state agencies, the business community, and parents.

Dr. Matthew Kenney, Director of the Presidents Emerging Leaders Program, Marissa Chandler, Director of TRiO Student Support Services, Tina Rousselot de Saint Céran, Coordinator of International Education, and Alexandra Howard, Assistant Director for Student Life & Leadership, were recently awarded a TBR Access & Diversity Grant in the amount of $71,500.  Their proposal, entitled “APSU Goes Global,” will enable different groups of Austin Peay students to participate in an innovative alternative spring break trip over each of the next three academic years. Their long-term goal is for this project to extend beyond the initial grant period.  Participating students will enroll in a special course in the spring semester that will focus on leadership and development issues. This course will have an associated service-learning component that will require students to complete one or more service projects in a foreign country during spring break. In addition, APSU will provide study-abroad scholarships to juniors in the President’s Emerging Leaders Program. It is expected that 10 students will participate in “APSU Goes Global” in the spring of 2012, 12 in the spring of 2013, and 15 in the spring of 2014.  This exciting program will combine service and scholarship in an international context that would otherwise be inaccessible to students because of cost and time constraints. An anticipated benefits of this program will be higher retention and graduation rates for participating students.

Dr. Christopher Gentry, Asst. Prof. of Geography in the Department of Geosciences and colleagues from ISU, UT, and Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research were recently awarded a $275,000 grant from the Geography and Spatial Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation. This collaborative research effort, entitled “An International Professional-Development Workshop in Dendrochronology: North American Dendroecological Fieldweek (NADEF)”, will help to continue a summer educational field course for students, scientists, and professionals interested in tree-ring analysis through 2015. The North American Dendroecological Fieldweek is a 9-day long, intensive learning experience that provides field and laboratory experience to novice, intermediate, and advanced dendrochronologists (scientists who uses tree rings to examine the natural and anthropogenic environments). During each fieldweek a wide range of topics are examined (climate, fire history, successional dynamics, insect outbreaks, etc.) under the direction of group leaders which are among the top scientists in the field. Each year the NADEF is held in a different location throughout the United States and has also been held in Canada and Mexico. Dr. Gentry is the director of the Biogeography, Environment, and Tree-ring Laboratory (BETR Lab) at APSU. He currently has students working on a funded project to examine the effect of thinning on radial growth of ponderosa pine at Mount Rushmore National Monument. For more information on specific research projects or the BETR Lab, visit http://www.apsu.edu/BETRLab.

The GIS Center at Austin Peay State University was recently awarded a contract of over $300,000 from SERRI, the Southeast Region Research Initiative. SERRI is a Homeland Security program designed to assist local and regional leaders in developing the tools required to mitigate damage. The program, managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), will work with students, professors, and members of the GIS Center. They will be collaborating on the Disaster Management and Recovery Kit project, or DMARK, a new application for mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers. This application has the capacity to revolutionize disaster mitigation efforts. Lab tested in April 2010, DMARK underwent a practical application a month later during the 2010 flood. Montgomery County officials were able to collect initial damage assessments and get the information tabulated by the time others were able to start filing traditional damage assessments. Mike Wilson, GIS Director, will be specifically looking to streamline existing uses for DMARK as well as expanding the capabilities of the software in even more directions. The updated application is being investigated for use by the Department of Homeland Security, and is hoped to be useful in expediting damage mitigation efforts. The project will provide opportunities to train students in programming and establish relationships with both local and federal agencies, and upon conclusion, GIS Center will be participating in multiple field tests.

Dr. Dwayne Estes, Associate Professor in the Center of Excellence for Field Biology, was recently awarded two contracts totaling over $275,000 from URS Corporation (Austin, Texas), a subcontractor for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). Estes, along with Dr. Joey Shaw (UT-Chattanooga) and colleagues from UT Knoxville, will conduct an intensive botanical survey in the Ocoee River Gorge, Polk County, Tennessee. During the study, they will survey plant communities, search for and monitor populations of threatened and endangered plant species, and conduct a floristic inventory of the Ocoee Gorge, an area that may harbor as many as 1,200 plant species. With the assistance of APSU GIS Center director Mike Wilson and his staff, they will map the finds into a GIS database.  Their findings will be used in the preparation of an environmental impact study which will assess potential impacts to the vegetation of the gorge from planned improvements to US Highway 64 or development of alternative highway corridors just north of the gorge. Estes, along with graduate and undergraduate students, will work closely with officials from the US Forest Service (Cherokee National Forest), US Fish and Wildlife Service, TN Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Valley Authority, and TDOT. This project will provide an extraordinary opportunity to train students in field botany and ecology techniques and will help them to establish important relationships with state and federal agencies. At the conclusion of this project, the team will present their findings at the 2011 Tennessee Academy of Science annual meeting and at the 2012 Association of Southeastern Biologists Conference. They plan to publish their findings in Castanea, the Journal of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.