Environmental Science and Design Research Institute

What was even more of a departure than taking classes remotely? Many summer research experiences were moved online this year as well. Fortunately, with creativity and an open mind, there are lots of opportunities to do important scientific research using online tools and data.

Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program Lead for Lake Erie and Aquatic Research Network (LEARN). The group will assess the effectiveness and future role of implemented and planned wetland restoration projects in partnership with the Ohio Division of Natural Resources (ODNR). This project is part of Governor Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio Initiative, a comprehensive, data-driven approach to improving Ohio’s water quality.

Recently, Joseph Ortiz, Ph.D., professor and assistant chair in the Department of Geology in Kent State University’s College of Arts and Science, partnered with Sir Roland Jackson, Ph.D., a historian of science at the Royal Institution and the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London, to co-author a paper assessing the experiments described in Eunice Foote’s papers from a detailed quantitative perspective and to place them in historical context. They point out the differences between her hypothesis and that of the modern greenhouse effect.

A team of Kent State students took home the Outstanding Science Award from the Biodesign Challenge Summit 2020 held in June.

Two Kent State University students, in the College of Arts and Sciences, were among 62 students from 50 different U.S. universities recently selected for funding by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program.

Joseph D. Ortiz, Ph.D., professor and assistant chair in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geology at Kent State University, recently authored a “News and Views” article in Nature Geoscience that discusses research carried out by another research team that reassessed the melt history and timing of the collapse of the Eurasian Ice Sheet Complex during the Last Deglaciation.