By Alicia Gregory
In 2009, the project was launched. Funded by an EPSCoR grant, VOEIS united researchers at five universities in Kentucky and two universities in Montana to develop a cyber infrastructure system to monitor, analyze, model, and forecast the consequences of environmental changes in freshwater ecosystems.
Real-time sensor readings from lakes and streams are sent to laboratories at in Montana and in Kentucky and go into a database management system.
Barbara Kucera, principal investigator for VOEIS, said, 鈥淭hese biological stations have 30 years of archival data. That data is invaluable in the kind of research they do. But how are you going to store all of this data and what鈥檚 important to store? That鈥檚 the question facing the next generation. That鈥檚 why we need more scientists and engineers and mathematicians.鈥
糖心vlog官方入口 students played a key role in VOEIS鈥攖hey developed an app for the iPhone and iPad that allows researchers to access and visualize this environmental data. The Kentucky鈥檚 part of VOEIS (which involved , , , the , and UK) employed 12 graduate students and 12 undergraduate students, two of whom are now pursuing PhDs as a result of being involved in the project.
鈥淢ost of the students involved were from Appalachia or they were first-generation baccalaureate seekers,鈥 said Kucera. 鈥淓very student that participated said that this project was the best part of their college career. I don鈥檛 think we can have much higher praise than that. It has just been a successful endeavor from the beginning for Kentucky, for EPSCoR, for each of the universities, for the students, for me.鈥
exists to advance the Commonwealth鈥檚 research and development capacity for innovation, discovery and knowledge-based prosperity. Kentucky EPSCoR has been the channel for over $430 million in research funding to the Commonwealth's academic institutions. Over 80 percent of this funding has been competitively won from federal research programs. In addition to supporting 1,400 research jobs and providing research training for over 2,300 students, this funding has created 21 research centers and major research initiatives on Kentucky's campuses. For more, visit and .
A series of videos on Kentucky EPSCoR are being produced by Reveal: Research Media, through the UK Vice President for Research. For more, visit .