Interprofessional partnerships along with quality and safety are important essentials for nursing students to learn and practice. The focus of this research project is to enhance the knowledge and confidence of undergraduate nursing students when using medical packaging within a medical packaging kit. This is a vital and important skill for nurses going into the workforce. The medical packaging kit will include a variety of packaging types and supplementary materials. The emphasis of this presentation regards a literature search that is being conducted to inform the project to create supplementary materials for students enrolled in a junior level nursing course. The literature search will inform effective learning techniques in undergraduate nursing programs. The project as a whole is a collaborative partnership between members of the nursing program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and members of the packaging program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice and the Essentials: Core Competencies for nursing education guided the project.
Climate change is impacting water resources globally. In the US Mountain West, warming is pushing watersheds beyond historical hydroclimate conditions and altering snowpack, groundwater recharge, and stream baseflow. This project investigates intermittent groundwater discharge, i.e., flow that pulses following snowmelt and ceases during late summer low-flow conditions. Here we address three research questions to better understand shifting ecohydrological baselines: (1) What groundwater flow path distributions support intermittent flow? (2) What is the chemical signature of intermittent groundwater discharge? And (3) How do groundwater age and flow duration relate to landscape geomorphological characteristics? The study will be conducted in the Sagehen Creek Basin, CA, a well-instrumented Sierra Nevada watershed with long-term climate, streamflow, and groundwater records. We will sample five intermittent groundwater sites for age-dating using CFCs and SF6, analyze major ion chemistry and field water quality parameters, deploy in-situ loggers to record flow persistence or absence, and compute high-resolution terrain metrics to evaluate landscape controls. Pending results and analysis will provide insight into how climate-driven changes in recharge and snowpack influence groundwater flow paths, water quality, and the resilience of mountain groundwater systems.
The electric utility industry is changing fast. Tax incentives, new regulations, and rising electricity demand from AI data centers are pushing leaders to rethink sustainability. This project examines how Midwestern electric utility executives respond and whether sustainability is driven by compliance, financial incentives, or long-term strategy. Electric utilities are interested in sustainable energy, but they are restrained by complicated regulatory and economic limitations. Focusing on leadership decisions, the study connects sustainability strategy to policy shifts and emerging energy demands. Structured interviews with senior utility leaders will be analyzed by theme to reveal how sustainability fits into the business plan. Currently in the literature review phase, the project expects to find that sustainability is seen as a smart business strategy rather than just a regulatory requirement, helping utilities manage long-term risks and plan for future growth.
This Animal Planet-style video shows how the endangerment of Lake Sturgeon impacts the Great Lakes. The Lake Sturgeon is culturally important to indigenous people as well as historically significant to the Great Lakes Region. While the Department of Natural Resources are protecting the Lake Sturgeon, I feel that their story is special and they should be a greater focus to the conservationists of the Great Lakes. This film brings awareness to how important they are to so many people, therefore we need to do more to protect them.
Understanding the cow rumen microbiome is an ongoing project with significant implications for agriculture, as the health, weight, and methane emissions of the animal are tied to the microbiome. However, knowledge of rumen microbiomes is biased towards dairy cows and geographically influenced by European breeds. Therefore, to more comprehensively understand the contributions of the microbiome to sustainable animal agriculture, there is a need to study American and beef cattle rumen microbial communities. Using metagenomic techniques, we identified 1,329 microbial genomes from beef cattle rumen fluid. Using the Blugold HPC, we compared these genomes to a database of 12,906 microbial genomes compiled from different ruminants to determine which were newly-sampled. This identified 505 rumen microbial genomes that were uniquely-recovered in our American beef cattle metagenomes. We selected a genome classified as a Prevotella, a ubiquitous rumen genus, and characterized its phylogeny, revealing it likely represents a novel species. We will characterize its metabolic potential to understand the role of this genome in rumen microbiome carbon and nitrogen cycling. This work will lead to a more thorough understanding of the rumen microbiome, informing any efforts to improve animal health, reduce methane emissions, and otherwise improve farming practices.
