Kennedy Space Center: IFAS Research
Date: June 8th, 2009
From: Mark R. McLellan, Dean
In February, the Deans for Research visited Kennedy Space Center to see firsthand the exciting research being done by IFAS researchers. At KSC, IFAS researchers work in collaboration with NASA at the Space Life Sciences Lab. UF/IFAS faculty and students work on many projects that are leading us closer to unlocking the mysteries of how organisms can survive and thrive in space.
The Center for Space Agriculture and Biotechnology Research and Education program (also known as SABRE) at the Kennedy Space Center was launched in 2002. Directed by Robert Ferl, a UF professor of horticultural sciences, the program seeks to develop plant-based techniques to create regenerative life-support systems in space.
The program is dedicated to finding ways to get plants to survive the rigors of spaceflight. Ferl and his colleagues are working on greenhouses that could allow plants to grow on the surface of Mars.
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Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory: Invasion Biology of Aedes albopictus: The Asian Tiger Mosquito, Aedes albopictus, first discovered in Florida at a scrap tire dump in Jacksonville in 1986, subsequently spread rapidly to become the most common daytime pest mosquito biting people in the State. This same invasive species has been recently incriminated as a transmitter of LaCrosse encephalitis virus to people elsewhere in the southern USA, and during the West Nile epidemic of 2002, 11 states and the District of Columbia reported the detection of this virus in field-collected A. albopictus. More recently, invasive A. albopictus has been recognized as the epidemic vector of chikungunya virus in Italy and in African island nations of the Indian Ocean.
FMEL is the home base of an NIH-funded research program, led by Dr. Phil Lounibos, on A. albopictus invasions, conducted in collaboration with researchers from Illinois State University and the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Brazil. Current research activities include...
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The IFAS Research Roadmap web site is the hub for all things strategic planning here at IFAS. Visit often to stay up to date with the most recent planning resources, unit roadmaps, and faculty discussions.
Visit the Research Roadmap Web Site
Six IFAS projects have been funded through the USDA Specialty Crops Initiative for 2007-2008. These projects have received over $1.8 million in total funding.
View the Complete List of Funded SCRI Project for 2007-2008
IFAS is pleased to announce that the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station is partnering with IFAS Statistics to launch a brand new opportunity for faculty to acquire new skills in design and analysis of experiments. During the 2009-2010 academic year IFAS Statistics is offering a series of workshops and short courses on topics of relevance to IFAS Faculty. Some of the workshops are focused on design, while others focus on data analysis. Topics include analysis of breeding trials and Monte Carlo statistical methods.
The Experiment Station will offer 210 total scholarships throughout the year for training opportunities for IFAS faculty to attend one or more workshops and/or short courses given. Each course or workshop has varying number of scholarship seats available.
Registration opens May 13, 2009, on a first-come-first serve basis. Click here for a list of the courses offered and for registration details.
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