Research Awards and Grants (February 2025)

Each month College of Natural Resources faculty receive awards and grants from various federal, state, and nongovernmental agencies in support of their research. This report recognizes the faculty who received funding in February 2025.

Updated Root Mass Estimates as Influenced by Soil Texture

• PI: Cook, Rachel
• Direct Sponsor Name: NCASI
• Awarded Amount: $15,000 
• Abstract: Our goals are to: 1) Generate a new manuscript for publication that will permit estimating below-ground biomass from stem mass as influenced by soil texture; 2) Include decomposition rates available in the literature to estimate long-term root carbon; 3) Synthesize what is known about the fate of decomposing roots; and 4) Identify knowledge gaps.

Advancing the National Bioeconomy through Regional Sun Grant Centers

• PI: Gonzalez, Ronalds
• Direct Sponsor Name: (USDA) University of Tennessee
• Awarded Amount: $70,000 
• Abstract:  The hygiene tissue industry (bath tissue and kitchen towel) is an annual 39 million tons , $100 billion global market with a forecast to grow around 3% per year for the next decade. Most hygiene tissue paper grades require the use of both long and short virgin fibers, which provide strength and softness respectively. As an effect of global mega-trends, the demand for non-woody biomass for tissue manufacturing will continue to increase, and agricultural biomass, which is perceived to be a sustainable option, can be an important source of short fibers for the tissue industry. Therefore, the need to research and create knowledge on the handling and conversion of biomass sorghum and switchgrass to produce sustainable and high-end fiber furnish for the hygiene tissue industry. The proposed feedstock can be established to supply fiber at industrial scale.

Management of Emergent Eastern White Pine Dieback in the Southern Appalachians

• PI: Jetton, Robert
• Direct Sponsor Name: The Jack M Matthews Corporation
• Amount Awarded: $61,741 
• Abstract: Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) is a highly-valued conifer species for economic, ecological, and aesthetic reasons. Standing timber value of eastern white pine in North America is estimated to be greater than $18 billion, and the species is utilized for lumber as well as in Christmas tree, greenery, and essential oil industries. Eastern white pine is also an important source of year-round evergreen wildlife habitat and is a key component of the forest cover on the Matthews State Forest. Unusual branch dieback and tree death of eastern white pine has been occurring throughout its geographic range for the last two decades, and in the southern Appalachians since 2006. The damage is caused by a tiny, native insect known as a bast scale (Matsucoccus macrocicatrices) that attaches to the bark and sucks nutrients from the tree. This feeding activity creates wounds in the bark that become infected with a fungus (Caliciopsis pinea) that kills the wood-producing cells beneath the bark, causing cankers (patches of dead tissue).