LA-SiGMA First Annual ReportReporting Period: September 2010 – June 2011

As campus PI, please request and gather the information below regarding the LA-SiGMA participants, and send it to us no later than May 15, 2011 to Bety Rodriguez-Milla at brodrig@cct.lsu.edu.

If you have any questions or concerns, let us know.

a) RII Participants

a.1) RII participants - Include all participants, paid or unpaid, involved in activities funded by the project. Participants are defined as those members of the project who contribute to the project in an ongoing and regular basis. An example of an unfunded participant could be someone using RII funded equipment but not personally receiving RII salary support.If you are adding a participant, we need to know:

First name; Last name; Position in contract (undergrad, grad, postdoc, technical staff, nontechnical staff, faculty, RII

leadership team); Male/Female; Ethnicity (Black or African American, Hispanic, Alaska Natives, Native Americans, Native

Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders); Disable? Institution; Department; Worked for more than 160 hrs/month? Contribution to the project (optional, small paragraph); E-mail;

Weizhong Dai, Senior Investigator, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Mathematics, > 160, dai@latech.edu

Pedro Derosa, Senior Investigator, Male, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Physics, > 160, pderosa@latech.edu

Tabbetha Dobbins, Senior Investigator, Female, African-American, No, Louisiana Tech, Physics, < 160, On leave this year, tdobbins@latech.edu

Chokchai Leangusksun, Senior Investigator, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Computer Science, > 160, box@latech.edu

Yuri Lvov, Senior Investigator, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry & Physics, > 160, lvov@latech.edu

Daniela Mainardi, Senior Investigator, Female, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemical Engineering, > 160, mainardi@latech.edu

B. Ramu Ramachandran, Co-PI, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, ramu@latech.edu

Collin Wick, Senior Investigator, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, dai@latech.edu

Oneka Cummings, Graduate Student, Female, Black, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, < 160, Works with Dr. Collin Wick in SD3, otc002@latech.edu

Fei Han, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Computational Analysis and Modeling, < 160, Works with Dr. Dai in SD2 Focus 2, fha003 @latech.edu

Mohammed Assad, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Electrical Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Dai in CTCI, assad.ch@gmail.com

Sudapa Laosookasathit, Graduate Student, Female, Asian-American, No, Louisiana Tech, Computer Science, < 160, Works with Dr. Box Leangsuksun on CTCI, sla036@latech.edu

Fernando Soto, Graduate Student, Male, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, fso002@LaTech.eduSai Adithya Khandavelli, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, ksvaditya@gmail.com

Purnima Kharidehal, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, purnimakhal@gmail.com

Krishna Chaitanya Kasinadhuni, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, krishna.kasinadhuni@gmail.com

Shuo Yao, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Drs. Ramachandran and Wick on SD2 Focus 3, sya007@latech.edu

Vishwa Priya Podduturi, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD3, vishwa.priya.p@gmail.com

Divya Narayan Elumalai, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD3, dne003@latech.edu

Anjana Paudyal, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD1, apa026@latech.edu

Neelima Ranjitkar, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD1, nra010@latech.edu

Kirill Arapov, Graduate Student, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Yuri Lvov on SD3, kirill.arapov@gmail.com

Meera Lama, Undergraduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD1, mla034@LaTech.edu

Ashley Matthews, Undergraduate Student, Female, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2, adm036@LaTech.edu

Dwayne Teamer, Undergraduate Student, Male, African-American, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2, dte003@latech.edu

*see Sec. a.1.1 regarding non-technical staff for example*

a.1.1) Non-Technical Staff

Ms Shelley J. Lee, female, LSU, Manager of operations, >160 hr, sjlee@cct.lsu.eduDr Bety Rodriguez-Milla, female, hispanic, CCT LSU, Science Coordinator, <160 hr, brodrig@cct.lsu.eduMs Leigh Townsend, female, LSU, Outreach Coordinator,>160 hr, lgalat1@lsu.eduMs Kathy Traxler, female, CCT LSU, CCT Outreach, <160 hr, ktraxler@cct.lsu.eduDr Melanie G. Watson, female, LATECH, Outreach Coordinator, >160 hr, mgwatson@latech.eduMs Ashlen Boudeaux, female, CCT LSU, Grant Specialist, <160 hr, ashlen@cct.lsu.edu

a.1.2) RII Leadership Team

Name, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <.>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Michael Khonsari Mark Jarrell Randy Hall Lawrence Pratt B. Ramu Ramachandran, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160 hr, Project

Execution Team member and leader of Evaluation & Assessment Team, ramu@latech.edu. Pedro Derosa, Male, Hispanic, No, Grambling State University, Physics, > 160 hr, Co-Lead of

the External Engagement & Workforce Development Committee, pderosa@latech.edu. Diola Bagayoko Cheryl Stevens Scott Whittenburg Kevin Carmen Leslie K. Guice

a.1.3) SD1FacultyName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Pedro Derosa, Senior Investigator, Male, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Physics, > 160, pderosa@latech.edu

B. Ramu Ramachandran, Co-PI, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, ramu@latech.edu

PostdocsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Graduate studentsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Anjana Paudyal, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD1, apa026@latech.edu

Neelima Ranjitkar, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD1, nra010@latech.edu

Research StaffName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

UndergraduatesName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Meera Lama, Undergraduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD1, mla034@LaTech.edu

Other (specify the role)

Name, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

a.1.4) SD2FacultyName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Weizhong Dai, Senior Investigator, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Mathematics, > 160, dai@latech.edu

Tabbetha Dobbins, Senior Investigator, Female, African-American, No, Louisiana Tech, Physics, < 160, On leave this year, tdobbins@latech.edu

Daniela Mainardi, Senior Investigator, Female, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemical Engineering, > 160, mainardi@latech.edu

B. Ramu Ramachandran, Co-PI, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, ramu@latech.edu

Collin Wick, Senior Investigator, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, dai@latech.edu

PostdocsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Graduate studentsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Fei Han, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Computational Analysis and Modeling, < 160, Works with Dr. Dai in SD2 Focus 2, fha003 @latech.edu

Fernando Soto, Graduate Student, Male, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, fso002@LaTech.eduSai Adithya Khandavelli, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, ksvaditya@gmail.com

Purnima Kharidehal, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, purnimakhal@gmail.com

Krishna Chaitanya Kasinadhuni, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2 Focus 2, krishna.kasinadhuni@gmail.com

Shuo Yao, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Drs. Ramachandran and Wick on SD2 Focus 3, sya007@latech.edu

Research StaffName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

UndergraduatesName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Ashley Matthews, Undergraduate Student, Female, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2, adm036@LaTech.edu

Dwayne Teamer, Undergraduate Student, Male, African-American, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Daniela Mainardi on SD2, dte003@latech.edu

Other (specify the role)Name, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

a.1.5) SD3FacultyName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Pedro Derosa, Senior Investigator, Male, Hispanic, No, Louisiana Tech, Physics, > 160, pderosa@latech.edu

Yuri Lvov, Senior Investigator, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry & Physics, > 160, lvov@latech.edu

Collin Wick, Senior Investigator, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, dai@latech.edu

PostdocsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Graduate studentsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Oneka Cummings, Graduate Student, Female, Black, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, < 160, Works with Dr. Collin Wick in SD3, otc002@latech.edu

Vishwa Priya Podduturi, Graduate Student, Female, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD3, vishwa.priya.p@gmail.com

Divya Narayan Elumalai, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Pedro Derosa on SD3, dne003@latech.edu

Kirill Arapov, Graduate Student, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Yuri Lvov on SD3, kirill.arapov@gmail.com

Research StaffName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

UndergraduatesName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Other (specify the role)Name, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

a.1.6) CTCIFaculty

Name, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Weizhong Dai, Senior Investigator, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Mathematics, > 160, dai@latech.edu

Chokchai Leangusksun, Senior Investigator, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Computer Science, > 160, box@latech.edu

B. Ramu Ramachandran, Co-PI, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, ramu@latech.edu

Collin Wick, Senior Investigator, Male, Caucasian, No, Louisiana Tech, Chemistry, > 160, dai@latech.edu

PostdocsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Graduate studentsName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,> 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Mohammed Assad, Graduate Student, Male, Asian, No, Louisiana Tech, Electrical Engineering, < 160, Works with Dr. Dai in CTCI, assad.ch@gmail.com

Sudapa Laosookasathit, Graduate Student, Female, Asian-American, No, Louisiana Tech, Computer Science, < 160, Works with Dr. Box Leangsuksun on CTCI, sla036@latech.edu

Research StaffName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, $<,>$ 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

UndergraduatesName, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, $<,>$ 160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

Other (specify the role)Name, Male/Female, Ethnicity, Disable?, University, Department, <,>160 hr, contribution (optional), email address

a.2) Collaborators: Please add any collaborator who is not funded by this RII, and cannot be considered as a direct RII participant. Please include

Name Affiliation Is this institution considered an academic research institution, primarily undergraduate

institution, historically black college and university, hispanic serving institution, tribal college/university, national laboratory, industry, or other (specify)?

Brief explanation (1-2 sentences) of the nature of the collaboration

Please add collaborators to the sections a.2.1, a.2.2, and a.2.3, accordingly.

a.2.1) From Louisiana Partners

Name, university (academic research institution, primarily undergraduate institution, historically black college and university, hispanic serving institution, tribal college/university, national laboratory, industry, or other (specify)), and nature of collaboration.

Chester Wilson, Louisiana Tech University, Academic Research Institution, Founder of Carbon Capture Energy Technologies, LLC, a company whose industrial process for conversion of syn gas and CO2 to liquid fuels will be one of the topics studied by the SD2 Focus 3 team.

John McDonald, Louisiana Tech University, Academic Research Institution, Chief Engineer of Carbon Capture Energy Technologies, LLC, a company whose industrial process for conversion of syn gas and CO2 to liquid fuels will be one of the topics studied by the SD2 Focus 3 team.

a.2.2) US PartnersName, University (academic research institution, primarily undergraduate institution, historically black college and university, hispanic serving institution, tribal college/university, national laboratory, industry, or other (specify)), and nature of collaboration.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (National Laboratory): Collin Wick is collaborating closely with PNNL scientists to develop improved force fields for predicting the properties of the air-water interface and the changes in its properties in the presence of solvated species at the interface. This work will be relevant to the efforts in SD3 to model molecular self-assembly and drug delivery in aqueous media.

a.2.3) International PartnersName, University (academic research institution, primarily undergraduate institution, historically black college and university, hispanic serving institution, tribal college/university, national laboratory, industry, or other (specify)), and nature of collaboration.

Yuri Lvov has established a collaboration with Professor K. Ariga at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Japan. During October 2010-March 2011, a NIMS postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Weng Yah, visited Louisiana Tech and continued the work started by Lvov at NIMS during an extended visit in the summer of 2010. This work involves clay nanotubes with silver nanorods inside the lumen. A paper resulting from their collaboration will be submitted to ACS Nano in June 2010.

Daniela Mainardi has established collaborations in the areas of Energy Conversion and Storage with Prof. Suddhasatwa Basu, IIT Delhi India. At this time they are working together to decipher reaction mechanism in direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC). IITD and LATech would start collaboration through short visit of Ph.D. students from both sides by taking help of funding available in individual countries and as well as sponsored projects already funded. The data generated from IIT Delhi on DAFC will be shared with LATech to model reaction mechanisms and electrochemical characterization results (cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy etc.) using quantum chemistry and a kinetic Monte Carlo approach.

Professor Alex Safarenko and Professor Sven-Bodo Scholz, Department of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK, Parallel Programming Tool development.

a.3) OutputsWe need to know if there were any new faculty hired involved in LA-SiGMA, if there were any postdocs completed, or if LA-SiGMA undergraduate or graduate students graduated, and the demographics of each.

Dwayne Teamer, undergraduate working with Dr. Mainardi on SD2, will graduate on May 21 with a BS degree in Nanosystems Engineering. He is an African-American male who plans to pursue a PhD in Engineering under the guidance of Dr. Mainardi at Louisiana Tech and will continue to make contributions to SD2.

a.3.1) New Faculty HiredName, University, Male/Female, Underrepresented Minority? Disabled?

a.3.2) Postdocs CompletedName, University, Male/Female, Underrepresented Minority? Disabled?

a.3.3) Graduate Students GraduatedName, University, Male/Female, Underrepresented Minority? Disabled?

a.3.4) Undergraduate Students GraduatedName, University, Male/Female, Underrepresented Minority? Disabled?

b) Publications

For each publication we need to know: Type of publication (Refereed, conference proceedings, book, chapter, other) Status (Submitted, accepted, in press, published, in revision, manuscript) Date of publication (mm/yyyy) Name of journal Title of publication Editor (books, chapters only) Publisher (books only) Volume and beginning/ending pages (chapters, conference proceeding and refereed journal

articles)

Please add the publications to the respective section, b.1 or b.2 depending on whether they were primarily of partially supported by LA-SiGMA.

Daniela: I have not heard from you. If you have any to add in the categories below, please do so.

b.1) Publications Primarily Supported By LA-SiGMA (Sept. 2010 - June 2011) Fernando Soto and Daniela S. Mainardi, “Computational Study of the Effect of 3d Transition

Metals on NaMgH3 for Hydrogen Storage Applications”, To be submitted to the Journal of Physical Chemistry C on June 2011. (Outside the current reporting period; include in next year’s report).

b.2) Publications Partially Supported by LA-SiGMA (Sept. 2010 - June 2011) Refereed publication, published in February 2011, D. Liu, D. Dai, Y. Lvov, Journal of

Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, “Joint Simulations of Confined Diffusion Inside Nanotubules,” v.8,no. 2, pp. 168-178, 2011.

Refereed Conference Proceeding, published, Fernando Soto, Aditya Khandavelli, Scott A. Gold, and Daniela S. Mainardi, “Effects of Catalytic Supports On the Structure and Dehydrogenation of Ammonia Borane”, Conference Proceeding Paper of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), 2010 Spring Meeting & 6th Global Congress on Process Safety, San Antonio, TX March 21-25. (Prior to RII grant start date.)

Refereed publication, to be appeared in December 2011, S. Laosooksathit, C. Leangsuksun,

Two-Level Checkpoint/Restart Modeling for GPGPU, 9th ACS/IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, December 27-30, 2011 (Outside the current reporting period; include in next year’s report).

c) Invited PresentationsFor each presentation we need to know:

Presenter’s Name: Title of Presentation: Date of Presentation (mm/yyyy) Name of Inviting Organization Scope (International, Nation, Regional, Local)

Only invited presentations should be reported. The definition of 'invited presentations' will not include workshops, 'brown bags', or individual class lectures.

Y. Lvov, “Halloysite Nanotubes as Nanocontainers for Controlled Release,” Polymer Materials Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division Symposium on Clay/Polymer Nanocomposites, 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Anaheim, March 30-31, 2011 – invited talk; scope – international.

Collin D. Wick, “Ions, ion pairing, and the influence of aqueous interfaces on them,”12/15/2010, American Chemical Society PacificChem Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii,International Scope

Daniela Mainardi, “Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Hydrogen Storage Systems”, Invited oral presentation during the NSF-funded Indo-US Workshop: Emerging Issues in Energy and Environment Security: Challenges and Research Opportunities, The Claridges Hotel, SurajKund, Delhi NCR, India, Dec 12-15, 2010; International scope.

d) GrantsFor any grant submitted, we will need to know the following:

Participants Status (Awarded, Declined, Pending) Submission date (mm/yyyy) Beginning date (mm/yyyy), if awarded Ending date (mm/yyyy), if awarded Amount requested Amount awarded, if awarded Title of award Grantor (NSF, NIH, etc.) Award number, if awarded

List only external funding requests (proposals) submitted, declined, or awarded as a direct result of this grant.

1. B. Ramu Ramachandran (PI), Collin Wick, Pedro Derosa, and Daniela Mainardi, Submitted 10/15/2010, Beginning date: 06/01/2011, Ending date: 07/31/2012, $68,869, Title: Acquisition of a shared memory computer for computational chemistry and materials science education,

Grantor: Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund, Awarded, Award No. LEQSF (2011-12)-ENH-TR-14.

2. B. Ramu Ramachandran(PI), Weizhong Dai, Galen Turner, Submitted 11/14/2010, Beginning date: 06/01/2011, Ending date: 07/31/2016, $200,000, Title: Superior Graduate Fellows in Computational Analysis and Modeling 2012-2016, Grantor: Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund, Awarded, Award No. N/A (Granted; Contract pending).

3. James Palmer (PI), B. Ramachandran, Galen Turner, Submitted 11/14/2010, Beginning date: 06/01/2011, Ending date: 07/31/2016, $200,000, Title: Superior Graduate Fellows in Engineering 2012-2016, Grantor: Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund, Awarded, Award No. N/A (Contract pending).

4. B. Ramu Ramachandran (PI), Collin Wick, Yuri Lvov, Sven Eklund, James Palmer, David Hall, Submitted 12/18/2010, Beginning date: 01/01/2011, Ending date: 06/31/2011, $50,000, Title: Removal of trace water from cooking oils, Grantor: Frymaster Inc., Shreveport. Awarded, Award No. N/A (Industrial contract, no award number assigned by grantor).

Researcher Name:

Grant Name 1:Participants:Status (Awarded, Declined, Pending):Submission date (mm/yyyy): Beginning date (mm/yyyy):Ending date (mm/yyyy):Amount requested:Amount awarded:Title of award:Grantor (NSF, NIH, etc.):Award number:

Grant Name 2:Participants:Status (Awarded, Declined, Pending):Submission date (mm/yyyy): Beginning date (mm/yyyy):Ending date (mm/yyyy):Amount requested:Amount awarded:Title of award:Grantor (NSF, NIH, etc.):Award number:

e) Patents

For each patents you filed or obtained during the period of Sept 2010- June 2011, we need to know:

Name of Patent

Brief Description Name of Researchers with Affiliation Awarded, Pending, or Licensed?

Microreservoir with End Plugs for Controlled Release of Corrosion Inhibitor, The patent application describes methods for capping the ends of halloysite nanotubes with custom-designed molecular plugs which will control the rate of release of corrosion inhibitors loaded in the tubes. Y. Lvov, E. Abdullayev, Louisiana Tech University, Provisional  US patent appl. #12/795,984. Sept 8, 2010. Status: Pending

f) Nuggets

Please let us know of any highlight-able/noteworthy activities from Sept 2010- June 2011, such as CAREER awards, graduating students, prizes, conferences organized, new software released, planning for upcoming grants, etc. Things that highlight students and intra-site collaborations would be great. Please note, nuggets are distinctly different from Highlights (Sec. h) submissions.

Researcher Name 1:Nugget 1:Description:

g) Outreach Activities

NOTE: Please let us know of any outreach activities from Sept 2010- June 2011 in which LA-SiGMA was involved in any way.

See the Excel spreadsheet for Appendix D. Each tab includes a brief description of the activity.

We need to know Name of the outreach activity Brief description Organizers and affiliations Statistics of the event: number of people attending the event (excluding la-sigma participants

and collaborators), and classifying the attendees as:o From academic research institutions (#faculty, #students);o From primary undergraduate institutions (#faculty, #students);o From minority serving institutions (#faculty, #students);o From K-12 institutions (#teachers, #students reached directly, #students reached via

teach, training);o Other – Include work with museums or general public - please specify and give details.

Outreach Activity 1. Description:Organizers and Affiliations:

From academic research institutionsNumber of faculty:Number of students:

From primary undergraduate institutionsNumber of faculty:Number of students:

From minority serving institutionsNumber of faculty:Number of students:

From K-12 institutionsNumber of teachers:Number of students:Number reached directly:Number of students reached via

Teaching: Training: Other:

h) Highlights

We need to add NSF highlights to the report. Please read the NSF highlights guideline below, and send us the NSF Form 1515 for each highlight, do not send to NSF directly.

Highlights being submitted separately: Outreach activity

Taken from NSF:

An important facet of the annual reports is submission of several highlights featuring the research and broader impacts of the project. In terms of subject matter:

Any highlighted project should have been majority-funded by the award Highlights should have taken place during the most recent reporting period Holding a meeting does not usually justify a highlight Highlights must be stand-alone stories, assume that the reader has no background in your

project Receiving an award, or funding for travel, or having a prestigious journal accept an article is

generally not a highlight. The science that was the reason for the award, travel, or article almost always is.

In terms of content, a good highlight has 7 pieces:1) A Suggested Title  (at most 20 words)Example: Rocks Indicate That Antarctica was Connected to North America2) A main outcome or accomplishment? (1-2 short sentences describing it and why it is transformative; 50 word max.)Example: A team of scientists has shown that a rock from Antarctica is identical to a band of rocks in western North America, implying that the two continents were once adjacent to one another.

3) Impact (1-2 simple sentences describing the benefits for science, industry, society, the economy, national security, etc; 50 word max)Example: Determining the past configuration of the continents can serve many purposes, including modeling past climates, understanding evolution, and helping to locate natural resources.4) Explanation/background does the lay reader need to understand the significance of this outcome (1-2 paragraphs that might include, for example, more on who, when, where; NSF's role; support from multiple directorates/offices; what makes this accomplishment unique; additional intellectual merits; or broader impacts such as education, outreach, or infrastructure improvement that are integral to this outcome; 150 word max. suggested)Example: We currently have a good understanding of the last amalgamation of continents called Pangea, which existed from 545 to 180 million years ago and allowed land-dwelling organisms to proliferate across the globe. However, we have poor information on the previous amalgamation--Rodinia--which formed about 1.3 billion years ago. Determining Rodinia's characteristics are key to understanding the origins of complex life on Earth, as well as understanding the snowball Earth period, when the entire globe froze over.The rock study, conducted by a multi-university team, supports the juxtaposition of East Antarctica with western Laurentia at that time. Laurentia is the continent that, at the time, included the landmasses now known as North America and Greenland. Previously, scientists had suggested that China or Siberia had been adjacent to this coast.5) An image that can be understood by lay-people, with accompanying release form6) A suggested caption/description for the image (25 word max.)Example: Researchers collect rock samples in the TransAntarctic Mountains.7) The  credit that should accompany the image (usually the owner or copyright holder; can be individuals and/or their institutions)Example: John Goodge, University of Minnesota-Duluth; multiple credits can be entered here

Examples given by NSF:

NSF HighlightsExamples

Rocks Indicate That Antarctica was Connected to North America

Outcome:

Impact/benefits:

Background/

explanation:

A team of scientists from multiple universities has shown that a rock from Antarctica is identical to a band of rocks in western North America, implying that the two continents were once adjacent to one another.

Previously, China or Siberia were thought to have been adjacent to the western coast.

Determining the past configuration of the continents can serve many purposes, including modeling past climates, understanding evolution, and helping to locate natural resources.

We currently have a good understanding of the last amalgamation of continents called Pangea, which existed from 545 to 180 million years ago and allowed land-dwelling organisms to proliferate across the globe. However, we have poor information on the previous amalgamation--Rodinia--which formed about 1.3 billion years ago.

The rock study supports the juxtaposition of East Antarctica with western Laurentia at that time. Laurentia is the continent that, at the time, included what is now North America and Greenland. Determining Rodinia's characteristics are key to understanding the origins of complex life on Earth, as well as understanding the snowball Earth period, when the entire globe froze over.

Images/videos understandable by general audience, with captions and credits

Caption: Researchers collecting rock samples in the TransAntarctic Mountains.

Credit: John Goodge, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Permission from copyright holder via email or form 1515 to use images publicly

Community College Students Discover Rare Mushroom

Outcome:

Impact/benefits:

Explanation/benefits: In June 2007, a group of students from Dallas Country Community College,

Eastfield, Texas, discovered the rare mushroom Hygrophorus chameleon. The mushroom had never before been spotted west of the Mississippi River, and had not been documented east of the Mississippi in the last 30 years. The find highlights one of the benefits of NSF-funded, hands-on education programs: scientific discovery.

The discovery was made during an eight-week summer program in Big Thicket National Preserve, and mycologist David Lewis identified the mushroom, recorded

its location using a GPS unit, and sent specimens to a Chicago lab for further examination. The students were assisting

U.S. National Park Service researchers in collecting data for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. Students also collected data for their own research projects in areas including botany, entomology, mycology and ichthyology.

The research expedition was part of the college's "Project Pathways: Broadening Access and Success for STEM Students" program. Started in 2005, the project is intended to encourage students to pursue associate science degrees at the college or transfer to baccalaureate programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.