Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture

IMG 5664webTechnological developments have drastically transformed modern agricultural production, facilitating increased yields more efficiently than ever before. While this efficiency results in increased food supplies at lower consumer costs, Marife Anunciado, an environmental science graduate student in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, said some resulting effects such as air and water pollution are a concern to public health.

According to Anunciado, concentrated animal feeding operations are one of Texas’ primary food providers. CAFOs supply commodities for items such as chicken, beef and pork products. Due to the sheer concentration of livestock and the subsequent waste produced, these operations are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency through the Clean Water Act.

Anunciado said ammonia is one of the most generated waste byproducts of livestock production; therefore, its management is a top priority.

TAEP2012A group of Environmental Science seniors and graduate students recently attended the Sixth Annual Environmental Challenges and Innovations Conference - Gulf Coast which is hosted by the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals in Houston.  SFA students Melissa Bozarth and Melissa Ferguson were recognized at the conference as TAEP scholarship winners.

SFA senior Environmental Science student Eric Kauffman was one of 29 undergraduate and graduate students, from 28 colleges and universities nationwide, selected to  participate in the six week NASA Airborne Science Program. During the internship program, Kauffman learned how to sample and test air quality from aircraft.

 

Eighteen senior and graduate students of the SFA Environmental Science program recently attended the Environmental Challenges and Innovations Conference: Gulf Coast in Houston, which is hosted annually by the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals (TAEP).    SFA undergraduate students Sean Pessara and Paul Swartz were recognized at the conference as TAEP scholarship recipients.  SFA graduate students Rachel Blodgett and T. Wells Shartle presented research papers at the conference.  Blodgett’s paper was titled: Utilizing Industrial Ash to Stabilize Arsenic in Chromated Copper Aresenate (CCA) Contaminated Soil. Shartle’s paper was titled: Fate of Phosphorus in Constructed Wetlands for Water Reuse.