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Research In brief

From Behind the Mask: Essays on South Louisiana’s Mardi Gras Runs explores traditional Mardi Gras runs of south Louisiana, including strategies for masking, costuming, begging, singing and moving through the countryside. Author Barry Jean Ancelet is professor emeritus of Francophone studies. From UL Press.

Rethinking American Disasters, a pathbreaking collection of essays on hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and other calamities over four centuries, confronts the premise that there is no such thing as a “natural” disaster. Liz Skilton, an associate professor of history, is among the book’s editors. From LSU Press.

Through Mama’s Eyes: Unique Perspectives in Southern Matriarchy explores how images of Southern matriarchy are interpreted and challenged through literature, history and the sciences. Authors Cheylon Woods and Kiwana T. McClung are head of the Ernest J. Gaines Center and UL Lafayette’s chief diversity officer, respectively. From UL Press.

20 Years of Marais Press features images of 250 fine art prints produced by the College of the Arts’ Marais Press. The prints are part of the Hilliard Art Museum’s Marais Press Print Collection. From UL Press.

Critical Perspectives on Teaching in the Southern United States presents provocative insights into education in the southern United States and raises complex questions that consider how history has shaped present-day education in the region. Editors Tori K. Flint and Natalie Keefer are faculty members in the College of Education & Human Development. From Lexington Books.

Reading Confederate Monuments addresses the need for scholars, educators and the public to be able to read and interpret the literal and cultural Confederate monuments pervading life in the contemporary United States. Maria Seger, an assistant professor of English, is the book’s editor. From University Press of Mississippi.

The Fear of Everything, a collection of nine stories by John McNally, the University’s writer-in-residence, are by turns fantastical, hilarious and heartbreaking. Readers will meet a magician who shows up unexpectedly at a grade school, retirees who answer phone calls from lonely children, and a sleep study assistant with a compelling afterlife. From UL Press.

Photo credit: Doug Dugas

UL Lafayette is steering a $14 million, multiyear initiative to develop oyster broodstock capable of survival in low-salinity environments.

Leveraging Opportunities and Strategic Partnerships to Advance Tolerant Oysters for Restoration, or LO-SPAT, is designed to help sustain populations of the shellfish and support the seafood industry. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is funding the project.

Dr. Beth Stauffer, an associate professor of biology, is principal investigator. She and other UL Lafayette researchers are collaborating with scientists from the LSU AgCenter and the University of Maryland. Spat-Tech, a Mississippi-based oyster aquaculture company, is the private sector partner.

“The objective is to examine low-salinity tolerant populations of oysters. We’re researching how low salinity – and other environmental stressors – factor in and identifying heritable traits that make some oysters hardier than others,” Stauffer said.

The LO-SPAT team is examining the entire oyster life cycle, from larvae and broodstock to juveniles that can be deployed in nurseries and, ultimately, at restored reef sites.

Louisiana is one of the nation’s major oyster-producing states, but declining production has created ecological and economic consequences.

Jack Montoucet, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries secretary, said LO-SPAT provides “a comprehensive approach to addressing a state, regional and national problem. Developing an oyster that can tolerate low salinity for an extended period – which we don’t have now – is important to maintaining the industry as we know it.”

Photo credit: Doug Dugas

President Joseph Biden appointed a UL Lafayette engineer to the Mississippi River Commission.

Dr. Robert Miller is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and assistant director of the University’s Louisiana Watershed Center. The Mississippi River Commission advises a range of federal agencies, providing recommendations in areas such as engineering, flood control, environmental projects, navigation and policy.

The Mississippi River is one of the world’s most important waterways. In addition to providing water for drinking and crop irrigation for 31 states, shipping, fishing, tourism and other industries that depend on the river and its tributaries generate billions of dollars each year. The river is also a key route for international commerce.

Photo credit: Rachel Rafati

Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas will establish a hub for the development, production and use of hydrogen as fuel and manufacturing feedstock.

The partnership will enable the three states – where large amounts of hydrogen are produced – to collectively compete for federal funding that’s available for the creation of regional clean hydrogen hubs. Hydrogen is used in manufacturing processes and is increasingly tapped as a clean-burning fuel that helps reduce carbon emissions.

The goal is to foster research, training, workforce development and collaboration with industry and governmental entities. UL Lafayette is among several Louisiana universities that will be central to the project.

The University’s “inclusion in the hydrogen hub initiative is indicative of longstanding success in developing solutions for today’s energy needs,” said Dr. Mark Zappi, executive director of UL Lafayette’s Energy Institute of Louisiana. “That effort is built around a comprehensive approach to energy research, education and outreach led by our world-class scientists and engineers.”

Human activity is degrading the Amazon at a pace faster than what was previously known. That’s according to a paper coauthored by a UL Lafayette biology professor in the premier journal Science.

“These changes are happening too rapidly for Amazonian species, peoples and ecosystems to respond adaptively,” Dr. James Albert said.

The Amazon rainforest is the most diverse ecosystem on Earth. It’s home to about 10% of all plant and animal species and is critical to the Earth’s climate system. It contributes 16% of all terrestrial photosynthetic productivity and regulates global carbon and water cycles.

Behind the destruction and degradation of the Amazon’s habitat: deforestation, wildfires, soil erosion, damming rivers and desertification from global climate change.

“These human-caused changes affect the whole continent in the time frame of decades to centuries, as compared to millions to tens of millions of years for evolutionary, climatic and geological processes,” Albert said.

Science published the findings in January.

UL Lafayette is dishing the dirt on soil health.

The University’s Delta Urban Soils Laboratory can help small production farmers, gardeners, homeowners, landscape designers and architects, and companies better understand what’s in their soil.

Healthy soil produces healthy plants and crops, said Dr. Anna Paltseva, assistant professor of environmental science and the lab’s director.

“It’s important to know what is in your soil so you can grow plants effectively. People will say, ‘My plants are dying. I don’t know what I am doing wrong.’ But if you study the soil, you can see what you need to do to fix it in order to meet the needs of the plant,” Paltseva said.

“The soil speaks for itself.”

The Delta Urban Soils lab examines samples submitted by the public to identify what nutrients soil contains – and which it needs – to improve plant growth. Tests also pinpoint soil composition and detect any contaminants that are hindering development.

The lab accepts samples from anywhere in the U.S. Visit geology.louisiana.edu/soils-lab for information, including pricing and how to submit samples.

Photo credit: Doug Dugas

The Lafayette Science Museum is under new management: UL Lafayette. The University is now operating the science museum in partnership with Lafayette Consolidated Government. As part of the agreement, the educational facility has been renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Science Museum.

Plans for the downtown museum include expanded, cross-disciplinary exhibitions, enhanced programs and resources to engage learners of all ages, a café, gift shop and public event rental options.

The University already had a presence within the museum. The School of Geosciences has operated a geology museum there since 2013.

Photo credit: Doug Dugas

These articles first appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of La Louisiane, The Magazine of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.