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Prepared by: Jack G. Goldsmith, Associate Professor 
Chemstry, USC-Aiken

The goal of this project is to characterize surface waters adjacent to the USC Aiken campus. Particular attention is being paid to land management practices and their impact on water quality. Since the project was initiated, student researchers have been collecting data from a pond located next to the campus’ soccer and softball fields, as well as the on-campus apartments. Tests being performed include: water temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved solids, phosphate/nitrate/ammonium ion concentration as well as surveys for metals and organics. To date, no organic or metallic contaminants have been found. Early data also suggest that fertilizer runoff from the athletic fields is not problematic and that groundskeeping practices are not having a negative effect on water quality.

Prepared by:  Joe N. Emily
The Department of Physical Sciences 
South Carolina State University

Timothy Shaw,  Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, USC

Learning by doing is an invaluable asset to academic researcher when attempting to train young scientists and to help them find their direction in terms of career choices. The South Carolina Sustainable Universities Initiative (SC-SUI) program like wise has been an invaluable asset by helping to provide research experiences for undergraduate students here at South Carolina State University. Thanks to resources provided through the SC-SUI we were able to conduct a scientific study this summer which utilized students and involved them in hands on research.

The study involved using the distribution of lead concentrations and ratios in drinking water samples taken from a small rural town and to attempt to identify whether the source of lead is geogenic or anthropogenic. Lead has four naturally occuring isotopes. Only 204Pb is a nonradiogenic stable isotope. The others, 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb are decay products of uranium or thorium. Lead from a natural source (geogenic) is known to have a different ratio of 206Pb to 207Pb than lead from anthropogenic (man introduced) sources1,2.

SC-SUI funds were used to travel to Columbia to use the clean room and High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer housed in the laboratories of Dr. Timothy Shaw in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of South Carolina and to buy standards and supplies. The Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities provided us with drinking water samples from their distribution system and gave us a tour of their facilities.

An abstract based on the results from this study has been submitted for presentation at the Southern Region Extension Water Quality Conference to take place on October 26, 2001 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Hopefully we will be able to continue this work and provide the same experience for other students.

References:

(1)  Faure, Gunter, Principles and Applications of Geochemistry, 3rd Ed.; Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1991; p 485.

(2)  Prohaska, T.; Watkins, M.; Latkoczy, C.; Wenzel, W. W.; Stingeder, G.; J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2000, 15, p365-369.

Prepared by:  Molly Espey
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Clemson University

I have developed two versions of manuals on economics of sustainability, or economics for natural resource and environmental management.  The first version has been designed more as a workbook for my introductory microeconomic theory course (APEC 257) entitled "Natural Resources, the Environment and Economics," covering terminology, applications, and problem solving examples.  The second version has been designed for a more general audience and I have given a copy to all of the graduate students in APEC 810, "Natural Resources Management and Policy."  It was the need for a basic economics manual in this course that was the primary impetus to doing this.  I have titled the manual "Economics for Natural Resource Analysis in a Nutshell". 

I have received unsolicited positive feedback from students in both of my classes regarding these manuals.  I have also received positive feedback from former APEC 810 students who have seen copies from the students currently in the class.  Two have told me they really wished they had a copy of that manual ("... in a Nutshell") when they took my class last fall and they are going to make a copy for future reference!

Prepared by:  David Voros
Department of Art
University of South Carolina

I requested funding through a Sustainable Universities Mini-Grant to research ways of integrating sustainable issues into courses I am presently teaching, as well as to develop new courses.

The focus of my research was on sustainable issues. This aspect of my study was broad-ranging, involving USC Departments of Biology, Philosophy, and History. My idea was to look at themes such as: ‘wilderness,’ ‘frontier,’ and ‘sustainability’ on a broad conceptual level. While exploring sites and doing fieldwork with students, we also made a comparative study of works of art, which address these concepts - in both the visual arts and film as well as literature and poetry. Much of the curriculum I developed centered on utilizing the paintings and journals of 18th and19thc artist/naturalists as models for exploration of the contemporary coastal environment. The comparison was most illuminating – as well as sobering. More broadly, however, it lead to an exploration of similarities in methodologies of artists and naturalists in their efforts to observe and record the world around them. I feel that this latter aspect of my research has been in many ways the most exciting and has much potential for further exploration and interdisciplinary course development. I intend to pursue this direction in further research and new course development.