Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.51
Liaison Aimee Lemrise
Submission Date Nov. 23, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
AC-9: Academic Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 10.59 / 12.00 Derick Chick
Graduate Asssistant
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Number of the institution’s faculty and/or staff engaged in sustainability research:
138

Total number of the institution’s faculty and/or staff engaged in research:
670

Number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that include at least one faculty or staff member that conducts sustainability research:
31

The total number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that conduct research:
54

A copy of the sustainability research inventory that includes the names and department affiliations of faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research:
Names and department affiliations of faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research:
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A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory:

We asked colleges to provide a list of faculty engaged in sustainability research. We define sustainability research as the integration of social, economic, environmental, and energy (environmental includes energy) components. It supports innovative and collaborative projects that have impact on future resources, ecosystem health, and human well-being.


A brief description of notable accomplishments during the previous three years by faculty and/or staff engaged in sustainability research:

1) This year, Ruplal Choudhary, an associate professor in plant, soil and agriculture systems, discovered potential alternatives to carcinogenic preservatives, which there is a growing concern that artificial food preservatives link to cancer, and shoppers should be able to identify ingredients on food labels.This research is important because turmeric can be used as a natural way to delay the expiration process of foods. Their previous research beginning in 2011, revealed that the spice also has antimicrobial qualities. It is powerful enough to potentially prevent E. coli outbreaks in food and lengthen the shelf-life of fresh produce.
http://news.siu.edu/2015/12/121515amh15136.html

2) On February 26, 2016, it was reported that David Gibson, professor of plant biology; along with Karla Gage and Joseph Matthews, assistant professor and assistant scientist, were trying to find out how the seed bank and the underground reserve of viable weed seeds might be affected by the glyphosate cropping systems used across a large part of the Midwest. The team was able to identity 139 different species of weeds from 150 sample field sites. They found a large geographic variability, with 79 species unique to a single state. Some of the most troublesome agricultural weeds stored seeds in the soil, including common water hemp and redroot pigweed.
http://news.siu.edu/2016/02/022616tjc16006.html#Researchers'%20paper%20earns%20national%20recognition


The website URL where information about sustainability research is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.