Current Research Projects Funded by the NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium and EPSCoR Program

Faculty Research

Improving Drought Prediction for Nebraska Using Landsat and ENVISAT Satellite Data
V. K. Boken, Department of Geography and Earth Science
The University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE 68849

Project Description

Nebraska contributes billions of dollars to the national economy every year. This contribution, however, declines in drought years when agricultural production in the state is substantially reduced. As a result, both Nebraskan farmers and the grain exporting industries suffer heavy economic losses.
The proposed research examines the strength of the relationship between the timing of corn sowing and Landsat-derived NDVI data, and between the ENVISAT data and the snow-cover or soil moisture availability prior to corn sowing. The study of such relationships will help develop satellite data- based variables to be used for improving corn-yield and drought prediction for Nebraska. With improved prediction, farmers would be able to adopt drought mitigating measures in time and the industries would be able to make better economic decisions, thus optimizing profits.

 

STARBASE Nebraska, Inc. Teacher Training Workshop
Diane Bartels, President, STARBASE Nebraska Inc.
1801 Mindoro Dr.; Lincoln, NE 68506

Project Description

STARBASE Nebraska, Inc. will hold a teacher training workshop in the fall of 2008. It will be a four hour event from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. at one of the Lincoln Public Schools facilities. The training will be a collaborative effort among STARBASE Nebraska, Inc., STARBASE Nebraska, NASA Resource Center, Lincoln Public Schools, Civil Air Patrol, Lincoln Community Learning Centers, and the lead agencies of the Lincoln CLCs (Lincoln Parks & Recreation, Family Service, Lincoln YMCA, the Clyde Malone Center, and Heartland Big Brothers Big Sisters). This workshop will train Lincoln Public Schools and Lincoln Community Learning Center personnel the course content of a seven session, after school/middle school aviation and space club. Our mission is to provide, in primarily Title 1 schools, innovative educational opportunities to youth and teachers that will increase motivation, develop skills, and impart knowledge through the study of aviation and space exploration. We hope to create an ongoing, sustainable club that promotes student interest and learning in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Developing a Vineyard-Suitability Map for Five Counties in Southeast Nebraska Using a Geographic Information System and Aircraft/Satellite Imagery
Donald C. Rundquist, CALMIT, School of Natural Resources, UNL

Project Description

In order to assist potential grape producers in Nebraska with decision-making regarding whether or not to begin vineyard development, it would be useful to have proper reference material as to the types of landscapes considered productive. In an effort to produce such reference material, we propose to consider the various types of data that are important with regard to grape production; for example, soils (permeability / water-holding capacity, mineralization), topography (elevation, slope, aspect), microclimates (date of last frost, winter minimums, summer maximums), and historic land uses. All of these, and selected other considerations, define a vineyard’s “terroir,” the French word describing the “character” of a wine that is associated with the “place.” Thus, Geography (place) is the critical factor in the character of wine. Objectives are to: 1) develop a prototype geographic information system (GIS) with associated output map product(s) that constitute a relatively high spatial resolution digital dataset highlighting specific lands in Southeast Nebraska that lend themselves to vineyard development.; and 2) develop a model to aid potential producers in selecting particular grape cultivars that are suited for the “vineyard lands” that are identified in #1. The ultimate goal is to provide the tools to facilitate further development of alternative crops in Nebraska, thus diversifying the state’s agricultural base with a high-value crop of long duration. The addition of vineyards, in turn, encourages development of new businesses, whether for grape juice, jellies and jams, or wineries.

Modular Robot for Space Exploration Tasks
Carl Nelson, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UN L

Project Description

This project focuses on development of a new modular robot suitable for unstructured environments such as those encountered in space exploration. It will be characterized by flexibility to adapt its configuration to suit various tasks. Existing modular, self-reconfigurable robots have some important limitation when considering space applications. These include limited dexterity and range of motion of individual modules and the size, shape, and weight of individual modules. For space applications, modular robots should provide large dexterity and workspace using a slim, low-weight design. Based on the limitation of current technology for space robotics, the objectives of the project are to design and prototype a unit-modular robot with (1) heightened dexterity through and increased number of DOF, and (2) a slim design in terms of both weight and space (occupied volume).

Nebraska Educators Aerospace Training (NEAT) Program
Evan Killeen, Strategic Air and Space Museum
Ashland, NE

Project Description

In conjunction with the 'Clayton Anderson: Heartland Astronaut' program, the Museum will start the Nebraska Educators Aerospace Training (NEAT) Program. The Strategic Air & Space Museum will select 22 teachers from Nebraska to participate in the program from November 2007-June 2008. Made possible by a lead gift from the Raikes Family Foundation, NEAT will provide teachers with the tools necessary to create enthusiasm in their classrooms about the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) areas of study.

Through the NEAT program, educators will attend six sessions in Nebraska as well as a seventh session trip to Johnson Space Center. The schedule consists of the Following:

Session 1: November 17, 2007
Opening of ‘Clayton Anderson: Heartland Astronaut’ exhibit/Introduction to program & curriculum

Session 2: December 8, 2007
Tour inside Strategic Air & Space Museum aircraft including KC-97, C-47, C-119, HU-16

Session 3: February 9, 2008 or March 29, 2008 (1/2 class at a time)
EVA Training at Heartland Scuba Center (perform 3 simulated missions underwater)

Session 4: March 8, 2008
Speaker Astronaut Clay Anderson, Special tour of the Space Exhibit
Full Dome show at the UNL Planetarium with Jack Dunn Planetarium Director
Tour of the UNL Robotics Lab with Shane Farritor

Session 5: April 12, 2008
Speaker Dr. Ed Schmidt at Mead Observatory-Evening Session

Session 6: May 3, 2008
Speaker Astronaut Brian Duffy
Museum’s Space Day

Final Session: June 9-13, 2008
Trip to Johnson Space Center

Yet to be scheduled
Fly on the KC-135 on a refueling mission

 

The program will culminate in a trip to Johnson Space Center where teachers will participate in a behind-the-scenes tour of JSC, and have the opportunity to meet astronauts such as Clayton Anderson.

Participating teachers will be given lesson plans after each session that they can utilize to implement STEM activities into their classroom curriculum. The hands-on experiences at the UNL Planetarium Lab, the UNL Robotics Lab, Heartland Scuba Center, and Johnson Space Center will support the credibility of the teacher's lesson plans, increasing the likelihood that they will use such lessons in their classrooms.


Improved Classification for Coastal Wetland Mapping using AISA Hyperspectral Imagery in the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve
John Schalles, Creighton University
Omaha, NE

Project Description

In pervious work, AISA imagery was collected at Apalachicola Bay, FL (2002 and 2006), ACE Basin, SC and Grand Bay, MS (2003), Delaware Bay (2004). Chesapeake Bay (2005), and Sapelo Island, Georgia (2006). This summer imagery will be collected in the new Mission-Aransas NERR on the central Texas Coast. The upcoming work involves a collaboration of myself with CALMIT-UNL, where I am a Faculty Fellow, and faculty and students at Texas A&M University (3 campuses), City College of New York, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, the research scientists at Mission-Aransas NERR and the adjacent University of Texas Marine Institute at Port Aransas, Texas.The research involves student training and three integrated components, extending over a nine to ten week period. In June, I will work with selected student researchers to train them on various field and laboratory methods. Close range, spectroscopy measurements of water reflectance on Carter Lake, Lake Manawa, and Missouri River will be made using a dual Ocean Optics USB2000 system. In situ measures of water transparency and vertical profiles of PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) light intensity, temperature, specific conductance(as a measure of salinity), and dissolved oxygen and pH (to identify metabolic zones) will be collected at each station. Water samples from the euphotic zone (near surface and at depths equivalent to active constituents (OACs): chlorophyll and accessory pigments, organic and inorganic fractions of the total suspended matter (TSM), nepleometric turbidy, and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorbance spectra. In July, our research group will travel to coastal Texas and work from the University of Texas Marine Institute at Port Aransas, Texas for two weeks of field survey work coincident with acquiring AISA Eagle imagery for 3 subprojects: remote estimation of water column OACs, community mapping and biomass sampling in salt marsh and black mangrove plant communities, and seagrass community studies. Our team will work with others on each of these projects. The third research component involves follow up work in August and the subsequent academic semesters, to analyze the Texas field data and use this data in conjunction with the AISDA hyperspectral imagery to produce classification maps. We will use ENVI and ARC GIS software to attempt to construct maps of the distributions of chlorophyll and total suspended solids in open water habitats and species-level and plant biomass maps of the vegetation communities.

GPS Connections for the STEM Classroom
Dr. Neal Grandgenett & Dr. Paul Clark, College of Education
University of Nebraska at Omaha

Project Description

This project is developing, testing, and refining a set of 10 geocaching related lessons for the teachers and students using Global Positioning System devices (GPS). These lessons will connect to STEM education standards (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and will be field tested by volunteer teachers within the context of UNO mathematics and science graduate coursework and then distributed in a small publication packet (with supporting website) to all school level mathematics and science supervisors within the schools in the Omaha Public Schools. Selected teachers will also test and refine these materials with the OPS classes. The geocaching sites will include the Henry Doorly Zoo and the UNO campus. Science topics involved in the activities include longitude/latitude, geo-referencing data, mapping biomes, tracking animals (amphibian crisis), satellite imagery (ground truthing). Math topics include measuring distances, orienteering, distance rate time, angles, distances, and triangulation. Technology topics include, photo-tagging, Google mash-ups, creating kmz/kml files, gpsies.com jetphoto server, and handheld technologies.


Probing the Fundamental Nature of Broad Absorption Line Quasars with Spectra fromt he Spitzer Space Telescope
Jack Gabel, Ph D. , Creighton University
Omaha, NE

Project Description

In this project, we will use infrared spectra from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to test competing models of energetic mass outflows in quasars. Quasars are among the most energetic objects in the Universe and are powered by mass accretion onto supermassive blackholes in galactic nuclei. Optical, UV and X-ray spectra reveal broad, blueshifted absorption lines in 10 – 20% of quasars (BALQSOs), indicating they are driving high-velocity outflows from their nuclei. Two competing models for BALQSOs have been presented: the “orientation model” posits that BALs exist in all quasars, but are seen in only a fraction because of the anisotropic geometric structure of quasars, while in the “evolution model” BALs represent a special phase in the evolutionary sequence of quasars. Resolving the fundamental nature of BALQSOs and their relation to the general quasar population has important consequences for understanding how outflows form, how blackholes evolve, and how quasars affect their galactic environment. Using IR spectra in the growing Spitzer quasar database, we will do a detailed comparison of the continuum and emission-line spectral features to test for signatures of the competing models for BAL systems.


Dark Matter in Non-Standard Cosmologies
Gintaras K. Duda , Ph D. , Creighton University
Omaha, NE

Project Description

In a recent report, the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies identified eleven key questions facing science. Of these eleven questions the first and foremost was the simple question ``What is the dark matter?''. Supersymmetry, which extends the standard model of particle physics, provides a natural candidate for dark matter, the neutralino. However, it is critical for the relic abundance of neutralinos to match the experimental observations of the dark abundance in our galaxy and universe overall. Unfortunately, models for the neutralino produce either too much or not enough dark matter; the relic density is very parameter dependent. Non-standard cosmologies which include a late decaying scalar field can generically produce neutralinos with just the right density to be the dark matter. Limits on supersymmetric theories with neutralino dark matter from direct and indirect detection experiments can place limits on the scalar field parameters, thereby placing constraints on high energy theories motivated by string theory and other schemes. This allows cosmological physics to be probed when the universe is less than one minute old; in contrast, although studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with satellites such a COBE and WMAP has yielded a wealth of new information about the cosmos, the CMB probes the universe at an age of 100,000-300,000 years old. This work will study the effects of a late decaying scalar field on the relic density of neutralinos and what can be learned from current direct and indirect detection limits.

Variation in Clock and Pain Gene Expression in InBred Strains of Mice
Natalie Rasmussen , Ph D. , University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE

Project Description

Although there is strong support for the conclusion that both temporal and genetic factors influence pain and gene expression, the extent to which these factors interact in affecting pain responses and gene expression in humans and mice has not been established. My long-term goal is to understand genetic or individual variation in circadian pain responses and gene expression rhythms, in order that individualized treatment of pain strategies ultimately can be developed. In a previous study, treatment mice were exposed to a painful stimulus, a pain response was measured, and gene expression was analyzed. The objective of this proposal, which is the next step toward attaining our long-term goal, is to determine the contribution of genetic or individual variation to the modulation of circadian gene expression in control mice. The central hypothesis is that genetic or strain differences in mice will selectively modulate the circadian parameters of pain responses and gene expression. The central hypothesis will be tested and the objective of this application achieved by pursuing the following specific aim: 1. to determine if there are differences in gene expression in genetically distinct inbred mouse strains. In the proposed experiment, 48, 8-week old, male mice of the following strains will be used: C57BL/6J and DBA/2J ( n = 24/strain). The mice will be maintained on a 12:12 light/dark cycle (lights on at 0600). The mice will be acclimated to their environment for 1 week prior to exposure to an unheated hot-plate. Exposure to the hot-plate timed for the dark phase will be performed under dim red light. Food and water will be available ad libitum. After exposure to an unheated hot-plate, brain tissue will be obtained for gene expression analysis. It is hoped that the results of the proposed work leads to the development or refinement of an improved method to administer analgesics with reduced adverse effects. The expected contribution will be significant, because it will assist in the future development of an algorithm for the individualized administration of analgesics to optimize the beneficial effects of analgesics and decrease the adverse effects throughout a 24-hour-day.

A Prototype Astrobiology Module for Teaching Introductory Astronomy
Kevin Lee , Ph D. , University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

Project Description

We will develop a module of computer simulations and accompanying curricular materials focused on the habitable zones around planets. The module will be incorporated into the Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project (NAAP) – a well-known set of such materials that were funded by the National Science Foundation and are publicly available on the web. The existing NAAP user base should allow our astrobiology module to be used immediately in the astronomy community. This module will serve as a prototype to attract larger funding for the development of an entire suite of astrobiology modules,

Outreach Activities Focused on Infrared Astronomy

We have purchased a FLIR infrared camera and will be developing outreach presentations to be incorporated into the SEPPO (Science &Education Partnerships in Public Outreach) project. The SEPPO program mentors science and education students while they perform outreach activities in tandem. We hope to improve future collaboration between the two groups as participants realize the benefits of such collaboration at a formative time. Since the program began in August of 2006, 12 UNL students have participated in over 50 outreach events including observatory public nights, presentations at schools, museum science days, lectures at libraries, 4-H extension programs, and school fairs.

American Junior Academy of Sciences - Annual Meeting
Lee Brogie, Wayne Community Schools
Wayne, NE

Project Description

The American Junior Academy of Sciences (AJAS) is a national honor society for American Students who have completed exemplar scientific research projects while attending high school. AJAS meets annually during the American Association of the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) annual convention. This joint meeting of AJAS and AAAS gives high school science students a chance to share their research with their peers and gives them an opportunity to meet and discuss science topics with the leading scientists of our time. Attending AJAS/AAAS will allow me to expand my knowledge base of higher-level research. In addition, I will be able to attend presentations given by NASA scientists. These presentations will increase my space science knowledge base allowing me to expand learning opportunities that I create for students. I will also help to serve as a chaperone to the five Nebraska high school students that are attending this year’s meeting. The 2008 AJAS/AAAS meeting is being held in Boston, Massachusetts, February 13-17.

Can Sound Affect Walking Variability?
Jeffrey P. Kaipust and Nick Stergiou, HPER Biomechanics Lab, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE

Project Description

Variability can be described as the normal variations that occur in motor performance across multiple repetitions of a task. Differences in walking variability can be found in the elderly, specifically in Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease populations. Abnormal gait and changes in gait variability can limit functional ability, independence, and quality of life. Variability can be affected by age, weight, the environment, and the specific task. Mucis therapy has been reported to improve symptoms in people with Parkinson’s disease. Modest improvement also have been found in symptoms including motor coordination, speech, intelligibility and vocal intensity, bradykinesia (slow movement), emotional functions, activities of daily living and quality of life. For my internship project I plan to investigate how walking variability is affected by different sound conditions for healthy young adults, healthy elderly, and adults diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

PAD Effects on Walking
Erin Fosnaugh and Nick Stergiou, HPER Biomechanics Lab, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE

Project Description

During human movement, blood supplies the muscles with oxygen and nutrients for continued function. As the muscular demands increase, the amount of blood increases. Normal functioning arteries have the ability to dilate and allow the extra blood to flow. However, in the condition of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), the amount of blood cannot keep up with the demands due to atherosclerosis in the arteries of the legs. In our laboratory, PAD patients go thought walking evaluations before and after various interventions. Patients are first screened by physicians from the Department of Vascular Surgery at UNMC from whom the intervention of medication, surgery, or exercise is determines. The evaluation is based on data collected using high speed motion analysis cameras as patients walk across a force place and on a treadmill. The empirical data helps to show what effect PAD and the interventions have on a person’s movement during walking. For my internship I plan to study how this disease effects walking in both patients with PAD and healthy controls.

Interactive Learning in Remote Sensing Using Numerical Modeling and Scientific Visualization
Dr. Michael Bishop, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE

Project Description

Undergraduate and graduate education in environmental remote sensing requires effective teaching of the fundamentals of radiation transfer processes, information technology, digital image processing, and application domain knowledge. Commercial based software does not systematically incorporate numerical models of radiation transfer and sensor system response, or permit dynamic visualization of digital image processing techniques. This project will focus on designing and developing new scientific visualization programs that will be used to demonstrate spatial, spectral, and temporal dynamics of radiation transfer and digital image processing. Numerical modeling will serve as the foundation of the project, and software interactive capabilities and scientific visualization will permit students to explore and engage in interactive learning.