CNR Dean Brown Announces Retirement

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

Dr. Robert (Bob) Brown, Dean of the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University, has announced his plans to retire in late summer-early fall, 2012.

Dr. Brown has been Dean at NC State since 2006. He attended the University of California at Davis, and received his B.S. from Colorado State University. After a tour in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, he attended Penn State University and received his Ph.D. in 1975. He was on the faculty of Texas A&I University in Kingsville and a Research Scientist there with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute from 1975-87. He was head of the Wildlife and Fisheries Department at Mississippi State University from 1987-93, and then head of the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department at Texas A&M University from 1993-2006. While at Texas A&M, he was also Director of the Institute for Renewable Natural Resources and Coordinator of the Gulf Coast CESU.

Dr. Brown has been National President and a Fellow in The Wildlife Society, President of the National Association of University Fish and Wildlife Programs, Chair of the Board on Natural Resources of NASULGC (now ALUP), a Professional Member of the Boone & Crockett Club, Chair of the External Review Panel of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and was an Adult Leader in the Boy Scouts for 18 years. He retired as a LtCol. in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Dr. Brown and his wife, Regan, will remain in the Raleigh area after retirement. Together they recently established the Bob and Regan Brown Endowed Scholarship in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology to provide support for incoming freshman. The first recipient will enter the program at NC State in Fall 2012.

NC State is moving forward with a national search for a new dean of the College of Natural Resources, according to Provost Warwick Arden. Blanton Godfrey, dean of the College of Textiles at NC State, will lead the CNR search.

College Welcomes Distinguished Visitors

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

The conferring of honorary doctorate degrees at NC State’s Winter Commencement brought the opportunity to welcome two distinguished visitors to the College of Natural Resources.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and NC State alumnus Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, a worldwide leader in the study of climate change, was on campus to accept his honorary degree and to deliver the commencement address. While campus he visited CNR to greet old friends and to learn more about the innovative work our scientists, policy experts and extension professionals are doing in the areas of forest biomass and renewable energy.

After accepting an honorary doctorate at university commencement, Robert G. Stanton, joined CNR for the college diploma ceremony where he addressed our new graduates and their families. Stanton is senior advisor to the secretary of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior and was both the first African-American director of the National Park Service and the first director to have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Renowned for his dedication to parks, his advocacy of opportunities for youth and his efforts to increase diversity in our national parks – Stanton shared a bit of his own experiences and commended the graduates on their achievements. In his inspirational remarks, he stressed education and service as the crucial foundation upon which to build successful lives and careers.

Lessons In Environmental Sustainability – Topic of 2011 Borlaug Lecture

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

Dr. Julio César Calvo Alvarado, the 6th Norman E. Borlaug Distinguished Lecturer on Global Service to Society and the Environment - 10/31/2011 NC State University

The sixth Borlaug lecturer – Dr. Julio Cesar Calvo Alvardo – has an important connection to N.C. State University: He earned his doctorate in forestry here in 1991 and went on to become president of one of Costa Rica’s most prestigious universities, said Dr. Dan Robison, associate dean of the College of Natural Resources (CNR).

In introducing Calvo at the October lecture, Robison said he had hoped that Calvo’s doctoral mentor Dr. Jim Gregory of the College of Natural Resources could be on hand to introduce the speaker, but Gregory was away from campus. Still, Robison reflected on the honor of having one’s own student to become president of the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, or TEC for short.

“How many of us here can say that one of our former students has become a university president?” Robison said. “And not just any university – TEC was established in 1971 and is one of the most prestigious universities in all of Central America.

“TEC is autonomous, public and comprehensive and offers bachelors through doctoral degrees. An institution of about 8,000 students, TEC has a mission and determination similar to ours here at N.C. State,” Robison said.

The Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Distinguished Lecture on Global Service to Society and the Environment is held in October each year in conjunction with World Food Day and in recognition Borlaug’s accomplishments in revolutionizing food production and speaking out on environmental management. The late Dr. Norman Borlaug – known as father of the Green Revolution — was the lecture’s inaugural speaker in 2005.

Sponsored by both the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Natural Resources, the lecture has brought to campus a number of professionals who have worked for sustainability of both humankind, through food production, and the environment.

Calvo’s lecture focused on “Costa Rica in the Path of Environmental Sustainability. Lessons Learned.” He described how Costa Rica has become a leader in Central America in striving for environmental, economic and social sustainability.

Costa Rica is one of only a few countries that have reversed the process of deforestation, thanks to a concerted government effort that started in the 1970s, Calvo said. While 59 percent of Costa Rica was forested in 1969, a national development plan based on agriculture and livestock led to major deforestation that reduced forest cover to an all-time low of 40 percent by 1986. An intensive effort has restored forest cover to 50 percent of the country in 2010, and today Costa Rica is working hard to maintain a sustainable balance.

Much of the country – 25 percent – has been protected as national park land, and forest plantations have helped to renew the country’s forest resources. As a result, tourism in Costa Rica has grown to more than 2 million visitors each year.

Costa Rica also has made a substantial investment in human and infrastructure development. The country’s strong education system has resulted in a higher standard of living and low childhood malnutrition rates.
Pursuing a high standard of living and sustainable development has required Costa Rica to carefully manage its energy usage, Calvo explained. The country has developed a strong hydroelectric energy system and also is investing in other options for renewable power sources. As a result, Costa Rica has been able to manage its carbon footprint, Calvo said.

The country also has invested in roads, helping to provide useful infrastructure for trade. Costa Rica exports more than 4,000 products around the world. Its gross domestic product is growing, and it is considered one of the best countries in the region for foreign investment.

Costa Rica is faring better than many of its neighbors, Calvo said. Investment in education and strong democracy gives Costa Rica a better chance of achieving sustainability. But this model won’t work in all countries, Calvo said.

Costa Rica is a good case study. Its path towards sustainability is built on quality education, health and a stable society as precursors to sustainable environmental management, while in many developing countries those precursors are not in place, and the approach must be different — and probably more challenging, he said.

At the conclusion of the lecture, Dr. Paul Mueller, crop science professor, gave Calvo a piece of North Carolina’s own Seagrove pottery, a gift that has become a Borlaug lecture tradition.

During his visit, Calvo also delivered a couple short seminars and engaged in small group roundtable discussions with faculty, staff and students from the two sponsor colleges.

– N. Hampton, CALS Communications

NC State Renewable Energy Experts Serve On EPA Science Advisory Board Panel

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

Three North Carolina State University professors recently served on an Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board Panel to discuss scientific issues that have major implications for the future of renewable power and fuels.

Drs. Robert Abt, professor of forest economics and management; Morton Barlaz, professor and head of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering; and Stephen Kelley, professor and head of the Department of Forest Biomaterials; joined 15 other researchers from 10 universities and three national laboratories on the panel.

The Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel met in Washington, DC, Oct. 25-27 to conduct a peer review of EPA’s Accounting Framework for Biogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions from Stationary Sources. The review included identifying key scientific and technical factors to be considered when constructing a framework for accounting for the impacts of utilizing biologically-based feedstocks at stationary power and fuel production sites, which include power plants, chemical plants, landfills, bioethanol plants, oil refineries and wood products manufacturing facilities.

Biogenic carbon dioxide emissions are emissions from a stationary source directly resulting from the combustion or decomposition of biologically-based materials other than fossil fuels. This panel focused on the scientific links between the biogenic emissions and the capture of carbon during the growth of the biomass, along with the associated land changes.

When the panel completes its work it will provide a comprehensive scientific overview of the different frameworks for tracking biogenic CO2 emissions through the carbon cycle.

NC State was the only university with three researchers appointed to the board, one from the College of Engineering and two from the College of Natural Resources.

Abt has 25 years of experience in modeling forest-dependent industries and markets. He developed the Sub-Regional Timber Supply (SRTS) modeling framework, which has been used by NASA and EPA to evaluate the potential impact of climate change and other environmental stressors of southern forests. Abt’s forest resource assessment research is supported by a consortium of 22 resource- dependent firms who are members of the Southern Forest Resource Assessment Consortium at NC State. Recently, his work has focused on the potential impact of bio-energy demand on the sustainability of the forest resource, traditional wood dependent industries and sequestered carbon.

Barlaz became head of the CCEE department in August 2010. He has been a faculty member at NC State since 1989 and served as the associate head of the department from 1998 to 2006. He is an internationally renowned expert in the field of solid waste management, and his research in microbial ecology and degradation processes in landfills is considered by many to be the most important work in the field today. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Individual Achievement Award from the Solid Waste Association of North America in 2004 and the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors in 2003 and 2009.

Kelley became head of the Department of Forest Biomaterials in 2005. His research interests include the sustainable production of energy and materials from biomass, life cycle analysis of wood products and energy systems and the application of novel analytical tools to biomass characterization. Prior to joining NC State, he worked for 13 years at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and six years as an industrial researcher working with renewable polymers. He currently serves on the editorial boards of three international journals and is the president of the Consortium for Research in Renewable Industrial Materials.

-smith-

For more information:
Nate DeGraff, NCSU College of Engineering 919-515-3848
Tilla Fearn, NCSU College of Natural Resources 919-513-4644

Natural Resources and Textiles Colleges Co-Host Global Health Special Event

Posted on October 24, 2011 by

Speaker: Elizabeth Scharpf, CEO, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)
Date: Wed., Oct. 26 at 5:00 p.m.
Location: College of Textiles, Rm. 2207 (parking available adjacent to the building)
RSVP: ncstateglobalhealth@gmail.com by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 24

NCSU Global Health Initiatives in the Office of International Affairs, along with the College of Textiles and the Department of Forest Biomaterials in the College of Natural Resources, invite you to a special event featuring Elizabeth Scharpf, a noted social entrepreneur and CEO of Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE). The topic of her presentation will be: The Period Problem: Challenges and Opportunities in the Creation of Market-Based Solutions for Low-Resource Settings

Ms. Scharpf will also address the ways in which she has worked with University students and faculty to co-develop solutions. There will be refreshments in the College of Textiles Atrium following the presentation. For more information on Elizabeth and SHE, please read below. Faculty are invited to a drop-in with Elizabeth in Withers 331 on Oct. 26 from 10:30 – 11:30 (please RSVP). Elizabeth will have limited availability to meet individually with faculty or student groups between 2 – 4 p.m., location TBD. Please contact Marian McCord at ncstateglobalhealth@gmail.com to request a meeting.

Demonstration: 1 p.m. Biltmore Hall – Pulp and Paper Labs

Researchers in the Department of Forest Biomaterials will demonstrate the processes they have been working on with SHE for more than a year.
The service project takes locally-available banana stem fiber and turns it into a surprisingly-absorbent fluff material that seems suitable for the
manufacture of hygienic devices. Two simple steps turn the coarse, twine-like stem material into a woolly mass. The simplicity of the process means that the local people can start up a cottage manufacturing facility and make their own hygiene devices. For more information on the Demonstration contact Dr. Med Byrd at med_byrd@ncsu.edu.

About SHE
Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) is a social venture using market-based approaches to address social problems in developing countries. Its first initiative, she28, is addressing girls’ and women’s lack of access to affordable sanitary pads when they menstruate causing them to miss school and/or work–up to 50 days per year. she28 helps women start their own businesses distribute and eventually manufacture affordable, eco-friendly sanitary pads by sourcing local, inexpensive, raw materials (e.g., banana fibers), establishing manufacturing systems, and leveraging existing distribution networks. Echoing Green, one of the premier seed funders of social enterprises, named SHE one of the 20 most innovative social ventures worldwide (out of 1,500 applicants). Harvard Business School named SHE founder, Elizabeth Scharpf, its first Social Enterprise Fellow. President Clinton recognized SHE for its accomplishments at the Clinton Global Initiative. In October 2010, Elizabeth won the Curry Stone Design Prize, a $100,000 grant started by UK architect, Clifford Curry, and his wife, H. Delight Stone, and awarded annually to a designer making a global impact in the education, water, health, food, social justice, energy or peace promotion field.

About Elizabeth Scharpf
Founder and Chief Instigating Officer of SHE
Elizabeth is an entrepreneur who has spent most of her professional career starting up ventures or advising businesses on growth strategies in the health care industry. She has spent time as a strategic management consultant at Cambridge Pharma Consultancy as well as stints at the Clinton Foundation and the World Bank in Asia and East Africa, respectively. Elizabeth has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPA in international development from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a BA from the University of Notre Dame. Despite all the academic acronyms, she thinks her best education has come from talking with those sitting next to her on buses around the world.