News

Scientists find significant greenhouse gas reductions assoicated with biofuel crop systems

Corn cob as gas pump "Biofuels have a great potential to reduce our dependence on imported gasoline and diesel fuel," said William Parton, researcher from Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, or NREL. "We have performed a unique analysis of the net biofuel greenhouse emissions from major biofuel cropping systems by combining ecosystem computer model data with estimates of the amount fossil fuels used to grow and produce crops for biofuels."

Nitrogen affecting Rocky Mountain National Park hails from east, study says

Winter scene at LVWS at RMNP The highest concentrations of trace nitrogen affecting ecology in Rocky Mountain National Park originate from sources east of the park, according to initial results of a new study by Colorado State University researchers...

Much of the work evaluating effects on the ecosystem in Rocky Mountain National Park has been done by Jill Baron, senior research scientist in Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory within the Warner College of Natural Resources, with the U.S. Geological Survey and colleagues. Among the negative effects of increased nitrogen in the park are the proliferation of grasses and fewer wildflowers in the tundra and spruce trees that are more vulnerable to drought and insects, Baron has said.

Dr. Reid new director of the Center for Collaborative Conservation

The Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University named Robin Reid as the director of the new Center for Collaborative Conservation. She will start Jan. 1, 2008.... In addition to her current position, Reid has been a senior research scientist at Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory since 2002. Since then, she has worked collaboratively with scientists from NREL to examine the sustainability of rangelands across the globe and wildlife responses to humans in the savannas of Kenya.

NREL senior researcher Dr. Keith Pautian is a 2007 Soil Science Society of America Fellow

Paustian receives SSSA Award The Soil Science Society of America, or SSSA, recognized Keith Paustian as one of the 2007 SSSA Fellows.

The Society has been electing outstanding members to the position of Fellow since 1976. Colleagues within the Society nominate worthy members, and the SSSA Fellows Committee carefully ranks the nominees to determine the final selection. SSSA has chosen 14 individuals based on their professional achievements and meritorious service to receive this honor in 2007.

Dr. Keith Paustian participants in four grants from biofuels collaboration

Chemistry Flask A joint center of Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and sponsored by industry, has announced $500,000 in grants to 10 teams pursuing renewable energy research ranging from the solar conversion of plant material for fuels to genetic crop engineering.

- Professor Keith Paustian, on the faculty of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and a research scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, is collaborating on a project led by the Colorado School of Mines on the technological and economic analysis of a proposed thermochemical plant to produce biofuels from cellulose.