Higher education urged to adapt, adopt new strategies for success

Colorado State University Chancellor Larry Edward Penley

Higher-education institutions must adapt to a new environment that relies less on state funding yet promotes public accountability and access for lower-income students, Colorado State University Chancellor Larry Edward Penley told a crowd of 3,800 higher-education leaders in April.

Penley, recognized as a leader in identifying and addressing the challenges facing higher education, gave the keynote speech in Chicago at the annual conference of the Higher Learning Commission, the organization that accredits degree-granting educational institutions in the 19-state North Central region.

Confronting a challenging environment
Higher education confronts a very different and challenging environment, Penley said. Seven countries with which we directly compete – Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Norway, South Korea, and Sweden – already are ahead of the United States in college-degree attainment. Meanwhile, in the United States, state budgets are strained by the rising costs of Medicaid, deteriorating infrastructure, the need for more prison beds, and improvement of K-12 schools. Competition for what formerly was the state's budget for higher education is growing, Penley noted.

Commit to accountability with transparency
"We must make accessible our universities to those with lower incomes, but with equal commitment to those students' success," Penley said. "We must commit to accountability with transparency, with rising quality and value in our colleges and universities."

In Colorado, state support for higher education has dropped from 17 percent in 1997 to 9 percent today. Nationwide, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems projects state revenues will be 5.7 percent lower than necessary to meet anticipated services expenditures within the next eight years. Every state will face a shortfall of varying magnitude, according to the NCHEMS forecast.

Incorporate change management strategies
We must not rely on the argument that higher education is different from other industries, said Penley. Education leaders must incorporate change management that is sensitive to the education environment.

Higher-education leaders cannot be complacent, he said. "We must adopt goals that challenge us to stretch and improve, and then develop strategies and restructure and reorganize to achieve these goals."

Those goals include building partnerships with state governments; finding alternate sources of revenue; seeking lower-cost, higher-output alternatives to traditional instruction; and controlling administrative costs.

Capitalize on regional economic prosperity
Universities also must capitalize on their contributions to regional economic prosperity. At Colorado State, the University has developed a strategic plan tied to economic development and statewide outreach. As part of that plan, CSU created an office for Outreach and Strategic Partnerships to more effectively deliver community services – from economic development to agricultural research – to a network of 55 offices throughout the state.

Additionally, the University has created an innovative Supercluster program that will make it easier for businesses to commercialize groundbreaking research in areas of global concern such as clean energy and cancer. The first Supercluster, MicroRx, focuses on infectious disease and will help business entrepreneurs better navigate academia.

Rise to the challenge
Higher education is essential to our country's future – its economic prosperity and our quality of life, Penley told the conference attendees. "We are higher education's leaders. The future of higher education – and the future of our country – depend on our rising to the challenges that confront us. Let us embrace those challenges."

Biofuels can significantly reduce greenhouse gases

As fossil fuel supplies decrease and greenhouse gas emissions increase, biofuels are being touted as part of the global solution. Researchers from Colorado State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have conducted the first complete analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from biofuel production.

Crops used for biofuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy generated, compared to greenhouse gases emitted from fossil fuels, the study revealed.

Biofuels can reduce our dependence on imported gasoline and diesel fuel, says William Parton, researcher from Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory. Research analysis of the net biofuel greenhouse emissions from major biofuel cropping systems combine ecosystem computer model data with estimates of the amounts of fossil fuels used to grow and produce crops for biofuels.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Ethanol and biodiesel from corn and soybean are currently the main biofuel crops in the United States, but the perennial crops alfalfa, hybrid poplar, reed canarygrass, and switchgrass have been proposed as future dedicated energy crops.

Farmers will have a variety of biofuel crop options available in the future, the research shows, and these biofuel crop rotations will have a positive impact on the environment. The study found that when compared with the life cycle of gasoline and diesel, ethanol and biodiesel from corn and soybean rotations reduced greenhouse gas emission by nearly 40 percent, biodiesel from reed canarygrass by 85 percent, and biodiesel from switchgrass and hybrid poplar by 115 percent.  

Although fossil fuel inputs are required to produce and process biofuels, hybrid poplar and switchgrass converted to ethanol compensate for these emissions and actually remove greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere when the benefits of co-products are included, the scientists found.

Greenhouse gas savings from biomass gasification for electricity generation are even greater. The research provides the basis for evaluating net biofuel greenhouse gas emissions and highlights the need to improve the technologies used for large-scale conversion of biomass to energy and to more fully exploit agricultural co-products, the researchers concluded.   

Global warming will affect grasslands, holds economic implications for livestock producers

Rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and global warming will increase grass production and decrease forage quality for grasslands of eastern Colorado and Wyoming, say Colorado State University researchers. The result could ultimately have a big impact on livestock grazing conditions and livestock production in the region.

Study results note that both elevated CO2 and warming will increase grass production, but the quality of the vegetation will decrease due to lower nitrogen concentration in the forage.

Researchers William Parton from Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and Jack Morgan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service studied the effects of warming, increased CO2 levels, and the combination of both factors on eastern Colorado grasslands to predict how global warming will affect these ecosystems.

Results revealed that elevated atmospheric CO2 levels always increase grass growth. Warming, however, can have both positive and negative effects on plant production.

Mixed results
The potential impact of elevated CO2 levels on Colorado and Wyoming grasslands is mixed since grass production will likely increase while digestibility of forage and cattle weight gains will likely decrease, Parton said. "Increased air temperatures will have a mixed impact with plant production increasing in wet years and decreasing in dry years."

These predictions are based on results from an ecosystem model developed using data from locally observed climatic change experiments that will continue during the next five to 10 years.

Considering the future
The scientists observed that doubling CO2 levels caused strong and consistent increases in grass growth, which was due to improved water-use efficiency. Under the elevated CO2 levels, plant nitrogen content is also declining in native grasslands.

This is a critical matter for livestock and for native animals that have grazed these prairies for thousands of years. Increased CO2 dilutes nitrogen concentration in grazing vegetation, and animals require sufficient forage protein nitrogen to sustain normal weight gains. But the immediate impact on the livestock industry is unknown.

"One of our biggest challenges is how to interpret relatively short-term experiments and predict the long-term global warming consequences on grasslands," Morgan said. "By taking the results from our field experiments and applying computer models tested using the observed field data, we are able to extrapolate beyond our short-term experiments into the future."

The results of this study are published in the April issue of New Phytologist.

Inventory documents Colorado’s open space for first time

The first statewide inventory of open space, which provides comprehensive information about the status of the land in Colorado and detailed parcel maps, has been released by the Great Outdoors Colorado Board and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University.

Eagle's Nest Open Space
Livermore, CO

"This inventory is an important undertaking," said Susan Kirkpatrick, executive director for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. "The collaboration between GOCO, NREL, and CSU has created an invaluable tool for us at the state and local levels. Communities' planning efforts can be enhanced greatly by this resource."

Nearly 30 million acres in Colorado have some form of protection by federal, state, or local governmental agencies or private conservation organizations. The inventory also documents that roughly 1.8 million acres – 3 percent of Colorado – is made up of locally protected open areas through city and county governments and land trusts. These parcels are protected both through fee-title ownership and conservation easements.

This is the most ambitious and comprehensive mapping of open space in Colorado ever undertaken, providing critical information to help focus conservation resources where they are most needed and to document successful conservation, noted Colorado State researcher David Theobald.

"But we aren't done yet," Theobald said. "Through continued collaboration with our partnering organizations, we are striving to maintain a current and consistent picture of the unfolding conservation legacy for future Coloradans."

Protected land projects documented
The Great Outdoors Colorado Board has helped fund roughly 460 land protection projects across the state totaling 551,127 acres since 1994. Protected lands in the study refer to lands that either are owned by government agencies or conservation organizations, or privately owned with legal protections such as conservation easements.

The number of acres of land protected by conservation easements has more than doubled since 2000. Under a conservation easement, landowners give up the right to develop their property, but not the property itself. The purchase of easements help protect wildlife habitat and preserve scenic view corridors.

The inventory is an asset for the state. "Colorado citizens, land trusts, local governments, and state agencies can greatly benefit from current, consistent information about the status and trends of protected open space to assess remaining open space needs," said John Swartout, Great Outdoors Colorado Board Executive Director.

The study was built on the existing Colorado Ownership, Management, and Protection, or COMaP, project to avoid the collection of duplicative data that researchers at CSU have been using to map information on protected lands in Colorado since 1999.

To access the entire report, visit here.

College graduates fill economic need

With many industrial sectors of the economy expanding in Northern Colorado, employer demand for college graduates continues to keep university career-placement officials busy.

Ann Malen, director of the Colorado State University Career Center, said the number of employers who participated in job fairs the past school year was strong. Malen expects more than half of the CSU students who graduated in May to secure jobs.

Job outlook good
The number of new jobs in Northern Colorado will grow 2.8 percent in 2007 – the fastest expansion the region has experienced since the 2001 recession, said Colorado State’s regional economist, Martin Shields.

Nearly 6,100 jobs could be added in Larimer and Weld counties in 2007, particularly in the areas of health care and social assistance and professional and business services, according to a quarterly economic forecast report, co-authored by Shields and David Keyser, research economist. Their research is supported by the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. and Colorado State's Office of Economic Development.

Economic impact of college graduates
College graduates contribute to the economic engine of a region.

CSU’s College of Engineering recently completed a study that estimated the value of employment for its 423 spring 2007 graduates in all undergraduate and graduate programs. Based on national averages for starting salaries from the "National Association of Colleges & Employers Summer 2006 Salary Survey," the students’ collective salary values in their first year on the job total $22.8 million.

Career fairs booming
Malen said campus job fairs continue to be well attended by students and employers. In fall 2006, 211 employers participated in an all-campus fair – 18 percent of them first-time participants and some 2,472 students attended the fair. This spring, 193 employers participated and 2,558 students attended.

Through April 2007, online job postings at CSU’s Career Center for full-time jobs totaled 7,787 and online internship postings totaled 2,492. Nearly 200 employers interviewed students on-campus, providing 3,025 interview opportunities.

Niche career forums valuable
Additionally, the second annual Biotech Connect in April provided a forum for 125 industry representatives, faculty, and students to meet and discuss issues within the Colorado Biotechnology community.

The program is held in conjunction with the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium and included presentations on "The State of the Industry," "Careers in Biotechnology and Medical Devices," a special session on faculty research at CSU, and an "Employer Expo" that showcased 20+ companies with new products, as well as job and internship opportunities for CSU students.

The half-day event received high marks from attendees, indicating the value of networking and collaboration between industry and academia.

Expert predicts gas prices will affect region’s summer economy

Martin Shields, regional economist and associate professor of economics

With the end of the school year and an absurdly long winter is relegated to folklore, it is time to start planning for summer vacation. Across America, families are undertaking their annual ritual of collecting vacation guides, finding some 12-year-old neighbor to mow their lawn, and figuring out how to put their mail delivery on hold for two weeks.

In most years, summer marks heady economic times for Northern Colorado, as tourists flock to the region. In 2006, an estimated 3 million visitors descended on Rocky Mountain National Park. And when these vacationers open their wallets, they generate hundreds of jobs in Estes Valley and beyond. For example, in July 2005 the city of Estes Park had nearly 5,000 jobs in hotels, restaurants, and retail. By comparison, in the winter season, the tourism economy hibernates with these sectors employing fewer than 2,300 workers.

Gas prices put brakes on summer travel plans
This year, however, there is concern that the summer economic boom may not be so substantial. With gas prices expected to stay above $3 per gallon for the foreseeable future, the fear is that rising prices at the pump will put the brakes on summer travel plans. Given the importance of tourism to the Estes Park economy – it supplies 64 percent of all local jobs in the summer – even a small dip in visitor numbers can have tremendous repercussions.

The question, then, is what effect will rising gas prices have on the Northern Colorado tourism economy? Generally, we expect that increasing fuel prices should alter travel plans. While families may still go on vacation, the jolt induced by a $50 tank of gas may keep them closer to home. For example, a family from central Pennsylvania may decide that a car trip to the Rockies is prohibitively expensive, and travel to the Maine coast instead. Such substitution can have important implications for Rocky Mountain National Park, where out-of-staters account for nearly 60 percent of all visitors.

Destination diversions
Yet research shows that these fears are most likely unfounded. While some families will certainly rethink their destination, most will simply reallocate their vacation expenditures. Those Pennsylvania travelers will pay for gas by spending less on food, checking into budget accommodations instead of higher service-oriented hotels, and buying fewer T-shirts. And when not scrimping on other expenses, they will likely resign themselves to a larger credit-card bill than was previously anticipated.

Coloradans will also be more likely to stay closer to home. The flip-side of the RMNP visitor profile is that 40 percent of the park's guests call Colorado home. Denverites concerned about gas prices may not want to travel to the Grand Tetons, instead taking a new look at the mountains in their own backyard.

For Choice City residents hoping that high gas prices will mean less congestion at Rocky this summer, that's the bad news: The parking lot at Bear Lake will still be full this summer, just expect to see more Colorado license plates.

Martin Shields is an associate professor of economics at Colorado State University. His research on Northern Colorado's economy is sponsored by a partnership between the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation and CSU's Office of Economic Development. He can be reached at Martin.Shields@colostate.edu.

Students engineer solutions, speed production of cookstove to benefit Guatemalan residents

Students install one of the new stoves that typically replace the traditional fire pits in homes in developing countries.

Don O'Neal of Texas manufactures 2,500 inexpensive cookstoves a month for some of Guatemala's poorest residents, but he can increase that fourfold with the help of Colorado State University students.

A group of senior mechanical engineering students is working at Colorado State labs and in Guatemala to reduce costs and increase production of O'Neal's stove, called the ONIL.

The stoves – which replace the traditional but dangerous fire pits typical in homes in developing countries – recently attracted national attention in Guatemala when Guatemala's first lady, Wendy Berger, showed them to U.S. first lady Laura Bush. Berger's programs have led to the installation of several thousand of the stoves in Guatemala, increasing home and cooking safety.

Addressing  health and safety
In most of the rural areas, residents still cook on open fires in the middle of the floor, O'Neal said. "Kids stick a hand in the fire, and that hand is ruined for life."

The stove is a simple and inexpensive solution to decrease serious cooking burns and reduce indoor air pollution – a leading cause of death for children younger than 5. The stove uses basic materials such as concrete blocks to get the stove off the floor and keep its sides cool and provides an exhaust system to cut down on pollution.

Enhancing production
But manufacturing the stoves was a time-intensive process. Only one or two stoves could be made a day – a stretch for O’Neal’s 10-year plan to produce 1.3 million stoves – because the cast concrete body of the ONIL stove required six to eight hours to cure.

Under the direction of Bryan Willson, engineering professor and director of CSU’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, the students developed a process that reduced the curing time to two hours, increasing to four times the number of stoves that could be made each day.

Real-world results
The students are making modifications partly from their experience as engineers-in-training and partly from visiting with families in Guatemala.

"We are working on making the process faster, better, and cheaper," said Elisa Guzman, a senior mechanical engineering student who spends at least 20 hours a week on the project with her team of four students.

Bobby Nelson, a senior mechanical engineering student, traveled to Guatemala and saw the impact their engineering decisions could have.  "We can see the effect and ask people how the stove affects their lives."

Putting a face to the technology was the most valuable part of the experience for Guzman. "We met with 60 to 100 people in a couple of days when we were there. If everyone made a difference one person at a time, what change we'd see in the world."

A global investment
The stoves cost about $60 each to produce, and aid agencies finance most of the cost. But recipients must make a small monetary contribution or participate in community service, which contributes to a personal sense of ownership and empowerment, said O’Neal.

O'Neal, a retired mechanical engineer, designed the stove after numerous trips to Guatemala as a volunteer when he noticed many women and children with severe cooking burns. He distributes the stoves through his volunteer work with HELPS International, a Christian-oriented program that provides education and literacy, medicine, and other services and programs to people in the underdeveloped world.

Education mistakes

"Arguing that education is different – which it is – from other industries only means that higher-education leaders must engage in change management that is sensitive to our own environment."
—Larry Edward Penley, chancellor of the Colorado State University System, at the Higher Learning Commission conference, where he urged universities to adapt to a new environment that relies less on state funding yet promotes public accountability and student access

Fueling independence

"Biofuels have a great potential to reduce our dependence on imported gasoline and diesel fuel."
—William Parton, researcher from Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, on the results of the first complete analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from biofuel production, which found that ethanol and biodiesel from corn and soybeans reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 40 percent 

C2B2 buzz

"We're going to work together to move those technologies into the marketplace as rapidly and expediently as we can for the benefit of creating new jobs and developing the economies, not only in Colorado but nationwide."
—Stan Bull, associate director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, on the new Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels (C2B2) unveiled by Gov. Bill Ritter in March

Governor unveils center for renewable energy

Researchers at Colorado State University will play an integral role as the state continues its push for more renewable energy innovation. At a news conference at the state Capitol in March, Gov. Bill Ritter announced the formation of the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, the first research center created under the umbrella of the new Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory. The Collaboratory is a partnership of Colorado State, the University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dubbed C2B2, the center will conduct world-class research to develop new biofuels and biorefining technologies, with funding provided primarily by private sponsors. By collaborating on instead of competing for research ventures, the state's largest research institutions will gain more research funding and will more rapidly bring new renewable energy technology to the commercial sector. —The Coloradoan

Climate change will affect grasslands, create economic disadvantage for ranchers

Some U.S. grasslands will become more diverse but less productive as precipitation patterns change due to global warming, say Colorado State University scientists, and the results could have a negative economic impact on ranchers. In a 15-year experiment on the native tallgrass prairie of eastern Kansas, researchers at Colorado State, Kansas State, New Mexico, and Yale universities simulated predicted future rainfall patterns in which storms occur less often – about 50 percent longer between rain events  – but with a larger volume of precipitation. "If you are a rancher, anything that reduces the total biomass produced by these grasslands would be an economic disadvantage," said Alan Knapp, senior ecologist and a professor of biology at Colorado State. "From an ecological perspective, the consequences of changes in the composition of the species of grasses and other plants will require further study."

Engineered tissue reduces use of animals in research

Colorado State University is engineering tissue in a laboratory that can replace the use of animals in research. The Tissue Engineering Laboratory, established this year in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, creates tissue from a combination of cells, materials, and biochemicals that model living biological systems. The model tissue replaces live animals in the initial phases of many biological studies, reducing the number of animals needed for use in research. "As a researcher, I want to understand tissue cellular responses and develop a greater capacity to mitigate or prevent damage," said Dr. Tom Eurell, veterinarian, expert in toxicology and immunology, and director of the laboratory. "As a veterinarian, I want to minimize or eliminate painful experiments in animals. Tissue engineering allows me to do both.”
Engineered artificial corneas, for example, help scientists research ways the eye can repair itself following injury or determine what happens to cornea cells after they have been exposed to lasers from such procedures as LASIK or accidental exposure.