An Investigation of possible effects of global warming on forest fires in Kentucky from 1945 to 2004
Mentor: Dr. Jamiiru Luttamaguzi
ECSU-NAM Summer Institute at Elizabeth City State University

Abstract
This investigation seeks to find a relationship between the frequencies of forest fires with acreage burned affecting the state of Kentucky and the factors of global warming. Under global warming, we focus on the components climate change and precipitation rate in hopes of establishing this relationship. In delving deeper into the effects of forest fires, or wildfires, we explore a mathematical model offered as a solution to optimally contain these disasters while minimizing the costs of resources and eventually recovery.

Designing and Developing a Portal for the Polar Grid High Performance Computing System at Elizabeth City State University
Mentor: Jeff Wood
Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science, ECSU

Abstract
Polar Grid is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program funded partnership of Indiana University (IU) and Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) to acquire and deploy the computing infrastructure needed to investigate the urgent problems in glacial melting. The grid will be comprised of ruggedized laptops and computer clusters deployed in the field in the Polar Regions and two large scale computing clusters for detailed analysis in the U.S. – one to be installed at IU, and the other at ECSU. This installation will give ECSU a 5 Teraflop MSI High performance computing system, building on its distance education and undergraduate laboratory infrastructure to create tremendous outreach capabilities.

Accessing this computing cluster will entail the development of a grid portal to provide security, access to data, and the ability to process data along with education and outreach functions. Development of this portal will start with the documentation of terms, processes and software needed to develop a portal and understand what the grid is. The project will then progress to producing XML page structures to display processed data acquired during expeditions in Greenland and Antarctica. Another aspect will be the development of “IGoogle Gadgets” simulating the portal user environment and the process of converting that gadget into an RSS feed.

Younger Dryas Impact Study
Mentor: Dr. Malcolm LeCompte
Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science, ECSU

Abstract
The events precipitating the dramatic, millennial long climatic cooling known as the Younger Dryas, that occurred approximately 13,000 years ago remain a mystery. Recent evidence suggests an extraterrestrial impact on the Laurentide ice sheet may have provided the trigger for a massive influx of fresh glacial melt water theorized to have flooded the North Atlantic and shut down the Thermohaline circulation that moderates climate in the northern hemisphere.The apparent absence of an easily identified impact crater has focused the search for evidence of an impact on a search for extraterrestrial markers embedded in the Earth’s sedimentary record.

Association of an impact with coincident reduction in the numbers of megafauna species and human population of North America has suggested a strategy for the search for evidence of the impact. If an impact is responsible for initiating the onset of the Younger Dryas, the ultimate disappearance of megafauna species and the decline in human population, then the evidence should lie at the sedimentary boundary (YDB) separating the Younger Dryas from the preceding Bolling-Allerod at a depth corresponding to 12,900 years before present.

Some of these evidential markers (magnetic grains and spherules, charcoal, and glass-like carbon) was relatively easy to extract and identify while others (nanodiamonds and fullerenes) required great care, expensive instrumentation and considerable training. Fortunately, the vessels (carbon spherules) containing the more challenging markers were identified and extracted during the soil processing for magnetic spherules and charcoal. The research project also included an investigation of local paleo-lake depressions known to harbor impact markers and whose stratigraphy could have revealed a clearer understanding of the processes that shaped the coastal topography during the Younger Dryas. The research was carried out using a combination of Ground Penetrating RADAR (GPR) and sample coring to probe the subsurface deposits of selected depressions.

The Modeling of Beach Erosion and Shoreline Changes Supported by Prior Research Based on Video Image Processing in Duck, North Carolina
Mentor: Mr. Ernst Wilson
Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science, ECSU

Abstract
Climate change has affected the North Carolina coastal enviroments and coastal hazards have already taken place in the area. Significant adverse impacts in the form of frequent storms and higher rates of beach erosion have been registered, thus, making compelling the necessity of a current understanding of the vulnerability of coastal zones. We propose to study this vulnerability in Duck, North Carolina (location: Lat 36 10 57" N Long 75 45 05" W) utilizing the work of the Army Corps of Engineers at Duck, North Carolina at the Field Research Facility (FRF). Our interest in their work lies on the use of video imagery based techniques (researched, designed, experimented and developed by the Coastal Imaging Lab of Oregon State University) implimented for the capture and understanding of changes of near shore morphology since beaches are continuoulsy changing from geological materials (sands, dead and/or bleached corals...etc) shifted by waves, tides, and currents moving sediments and eroding shorelines; this phenomenon carries very challenging, above all devastating outcomes on coastal communities. We are most interested in the intolerant and dramatic periods of storms and hurricanes (when sediment transport is more energetic [Stockdon and Holman, 2000] and shoreline changes are more rapid) associated with extended could cover when satellite fails to produce images of events occurring during those times.

Traveling Back to the Moon with NASA’s Digital Learning Network
Mentor: Caryn Long, DLN Assistant Manager
NASA Langley Research Center Office of Education

Abstract
The project that I was assigned for the summer required development of a new NASA Digital Learning Network module that was mathematically based and tied to NASA concepts/missions. This world of interactive learning with NASA’s DLN is free, available to teachers and students across the country to learn more about our home planet. Digital Learning Network (DLN) Coordinators conduct modules to students across the country at various times convenient to schools throughout the year.

In order to understand the communication medium required to create a module and educate students, I trained with LaRC’s DLN Coordinator and Assistant Manager to effectively present the module, Magnificent Sun, to several schools across the country using distance learning equipment housed at NASA LaRC and the school where the module was presented. The conduction of module presentations on a variety of K-12 student levels allowed me to practice/develop instructional and presentational skills through distance learning. Upon completion of the module presentation phase of my internship, inservice was conducted by DLN Coordinators at Kennedy Space Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on how to develop a module.

Habitat Conservation Division SCEP Appointement
Mentor: Marcy Scott, Sean McDorett
Student Career Experience Program (SCEP)

Abstract
This position is a SCEP appointment. The cooperative education program student will assist staff of the Habitat Conservation Division to: 1) identify coastal dams on rivers currently or historically supporting diadromous finfish in the Northeast Region; 2) using GIS, establish a base map for the location of each structure and include information for each barrier including (location information, type of structure, owner, facility type, license info, etc.); and 3) incorporate other GIS map layers including watersheds, waterways, towns and cities, and environmental data as available. In Maine through CT, GIS maps will include designated Essential Fish Habitat for Atlantic salmon. Final map product will be made available for use by staff in Arc View or similar desk top application. These tasks will be performed in support of Essential Fish Habitat consultation activities currently underway in the region. Other GIS-related tasks in support of the Habitat Conservation Division may be assigned as necessary.

Intern Project
Utilize existing information to determine locations of first barriers to upstream fish migration for each major watershed from Maine through Virginia. Research will be done to locate existing sources of information, predominantly from various government websites. Using GIS, establish a base map for the project and map the location of each structure. Map must include an information function which provides details of barrier including: location information, type of structure, owner, facility type, license info, etc. Include other GIS map layers including watersheds, waterways, towns and cities, and environmental data as available. In Maine through CT, GIS maps will include Essential Fish Habitat for Atlantic salmon. FiUnal map product will be made available for use by staff in Arc View or similar desk top application. Some examples of existing products include: Nationalatlis.gov and The National Hydrographic Data-NHD Geodatabase http://nhdgeo.usgs.gov/
 

High-Speed Data Collection for Wireless Seismic Sensor Networks
Mentor: Jerome Mitchell, Dr. Albert Harris III
CReSIS

Abstract
The purpose of this research was to set up wireless communication between nodes with development and testing of a data storage logger for seismic monitoring of ice sheets. Seismic data can provide a detailed picture of the nature of the ice at a given location. This is especially important in order to understand and predict the role of polar ice sheets in sea level change. The urgency of addressing the impact of climate change makes it imperative that the scientists receive data quickly. This project consisted of the development of a wireless sensor network with a removable device that would be able to store an abundance of data rapidly using a small platform. The development of a small embedded system that can be easily deployed, which stores data onto a USB drive was the main goal. Included in this design is the implementation of a data logger. The USB drive inserted into the data logger would inevitably be connected to a computer for viewing and analyzing of the seismic data collected. This research has also emerged from the need for high-speed data collection and storage of seismic data, which has resulted from the high collection rate of 240 Kbps per node being processed. Therefore, an inexpensively built platform that could support the high data rate was constructed. Implementing a wireless network with a USB connection for data storage instead of through a serial port will allow for more expedient data transfer, less maintenance, and will facilitate for more advances technologically.