YLACES Funded Research Published in Peer-Reviewed Journal

Funding from a YLACES grant has helped an atmospheric/environmental research group thrive at Xavier University.

Xavier University of Louisiana has been reestablishing its participation in GLOBE following losses of faculty and equipment associated with its participation prior to Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Morewell Gasseller, a physics faculty member, has used some salvaged equipment that he found on campus to involve his students in taking and reporting measurements including air temperature, precipitation, and aerosol optical thickness.

This year, the group published a paper based on research conducted with equipment provided by YLACES in a peer reviewed journal. The research focused on measuring the aerosol optical thickness of the atmosphere, using a sun photometer and digital voltmeter. Find out more about the research conducted here: https://www.jove.com/video/59257/measurement-aerosols-optical-thickness-atmosphere-using-globe

When the grant was provided to Xavier University in 2017, the tools were used in an Advanced Earth Science class for eight senior education majors to prepare them to teach Earth science at the K-12 level. The course emphasized inquiry-based teaching approaches and included discussions, interactive lectures, and hands-on and field-based experiences.

In 2017, the same group held a GLOBE training camp and trained over 30 participants from around the country on GLOBE atmospheric protocols.

(Bradley, M., Gasseller, M. Measurement of Aerosols Optical Thickness of the Atmosphere using the GLOBE Handheld Sun Photometer. J. Vis. Exp. (147), e59257, doi: 10.3791/59257, 2019)