CAER News Archive: April 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System (headed by John Hiett and administered through the CAER) received the Best of Kentucky technology award in the Best Online Services category at the Kentucky Digital Government Summit. The conference brings government information technology leaders together to share innovations and accomplishments.
Development of the information system began in May 2004 with a $1 million grant from the Mine Safety and Health Administration and continues with support from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining. The Internet site, http://minemaps.ky.gov, provides online digitized and georeferenced maps showing the location and extent of underground mines in Kentucky. The Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing has confirmed the presence of more than 30,000 abandoned mines in Kentucky and its collection of over 165,000 individual mine documents is the largest in the world.
Underground mining has occurred in Kentucky for well over 100 years. Many of these early abandoned mines present a danger to the public and the environment in terms of subsidence, blowouts, and other hazards. The Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System is serving a vital role in the areas of miner and public safety as well as environmental protection. The demand for this type of information is reflected in the fact that the Internet site experiences an average of 600,000 hits monthly.
In addition, the group was featured in the trade journal GeoWorld, April, 2008. the article is titled "A Mine Sweeper -- Kentucky Delivers Maps of Abandoned Mines Online."
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Monday, April 21, 2008
UK President Lee Todd, along with the presidents from Centre College, Berea College, and the University of Louisville, held a press conference recently for a new collaboration called "Energizing Kentucky." CAER Director Rodney Andrews has been instrumental in organizing this event, which will include three conferences during 2008. For more details on the event, go to: Energizing Kentucky.
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Thursday, April 17, 2008
CAER researcher Bob Rathbone presented awards last night at the Kentucky Theatre for the UK Smart Blues House competition. This moves the university toward the national design competition for the US Department of Energy's 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington DC. Each competing university is attempting to design, build and operate the most attractive, effective and energy-sufficient solar-powered house. Five of 25 submitted designs were given awards last night.
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis Group is the recipient of a University Research Program grant from Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI). The grant will be used to fund a three year project to optimize catalyst systems in order to decrease NOx emissions from diesel exhaust gas. Program Director, Mark Crocker is the Principal Investigator on the project.
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
The Tri-State Catalysis Society will host a seminar by Professor Hans Schulz from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, with a focus on Principles of Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS). Professor Schulz has been a pioneer in advancing FTS and the lecture will highlight some of his recent work. The seminar is scheduled at the Offices of Sud-Chemie Inc. in Louisville Kentucky, located on 1600 West Hill Street. · Presentation: Principles of Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis
· Location: Sud-Chemie Inc., 1600 West Hill Street, Louisville, KY
· Date: April 15th 2008
· Time: 4:00 pmPosted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The center has participated in the local high school mentoring program for many years with great success. This year's students arrived recently to shadow researchers and perform their own scientific investigations. Kory Figueroa (top) and Evan Schroader are from Tates Creek High School. Kory will be working with Bob Rathbone in the Environmental and Coal Technologies Group, while Evan will do carbon research with Matt Weisenberger in the Carbon Materials Group. We welcome them both and hope this experience helps them in determining their future goals.
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Monday, April 7, 2008
Donald C. Haney Distinguished Lecture
From the Gulf Coast to the Black Warrior Basin: The Geology and Future Resources of Alabama
Berry H (Nick) Tew, Jr., Director, Geological Survey of Alabama
Time: 7:00 pm
Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Place: Room 102 Mining and Minerals Building (504 Rose St.)
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Contact: Mike Lynch (859) 257-5500 ext. 128
Greater Louisville, Inc. – The Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Business at Breakfast
The Future of Energy: Reliability, Efficiency and Environmental Stewardship
Victor Staffieri, Chairman, CEO & President, E.ON U.S. and Chris Hermann, Senior Vice President, Energy Delivery, E.ON U.S.
Time: 8:00-9:30 am
Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Place: Galt House Hotel & Suites, Grand Ballroom A
141 North 4th St.
Louisville, KY 40202
(Event registration: $50)
Contact: (502) 625-0085, www.GreaterLouisville.com/events
Mining Engineering Foundation Distinguished Lecture
Fossil Fuels in a Future with Biomass Power, Biofuels and Climate Change
Michael Schaal, Director of the Energy Information Administration’s Oil and Gas Division for the UK DOE
Time: 5:00 pm
Date: Thursday, April 17, 2008
Place: Room 102 Mining and Minerals Building (504 Rose St.)
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Contact: Geaunita Caylor (859) 257-2820
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Open page 22 of the April, 2008 issue of Kentucky Living and you will see a large photo of CAER employees, Jim Neathery and Steve Summers, working on a pilot-scale power plant scrubber - (pdf). The article that accompanies the photo describes both CAER's, and KGS's, work on carbon management and sequestration.
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Victor Kunadian has won first place in the Oral Presentation category in the second annual University of Kentucky Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Conference. This award comes with a $100 honorarium. He presented on "Deposition profiles of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in a CVD reactor." His co-authors were CAER Director Rodney Andrews, along with CAER carbon materials researcher Dali Qian and Pinar Menguc, Professor of Mechancial Engineering at UK. Victor received the second place award last year. He has worked at CAER as a graduate student from the UK Mechanical Engineering for the last few years.
Posted by Marybeth McAlister [Link]
Friday, April 4, 2008
The published joint paper by the UK CAER Clean Fuels Research Group and Argonne National Laboratory is listed as the 14th top download on the Applied Catalysis A: General website for October - December 2007 according to ScienceDirect. This is the third article to crack the top 25 status in less than a year.
Jacobs, G.; Ji, Y.; Davis, B.H.; Cronauer, D.; Kropf, A.J.; Marshall, C.L. (with Argonne National Laboratory); Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: temperature programmed EXAFS/XANES investigation of the influence of support type, cobalt loading, and noble metal promoter addition to the reduction behavior of cobalt oxide particles, Appl. Catal. A: General 333 (2007) 177.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The UK Department of Mining Engineering will be hosting a Distinguished Lecturer - Michael Schaal from DOE EIA - on April 17, 2008 at the Mining and Mineral Resources Building on campus. It is free and open to the public but registration is recommended.
Also a Professional Development Seminar - "Crisis Management in the Coal Industry" - is scheduled for April 18, 2008 on campus. Registration/fee are required.
Lecturer Flyer - PDF | Seminar Flyer - PDF |
Registration form for all events - WordInformation provided by Ms. Geaunita Caylor, from UK Engineering College. Any questions, please contact her at 257-2820 or gcaylor@engr.uky.edu
