The National Science Foundation recently announced support for a variety of studies aimed at understanding Earth’s biodiversity, including a project led by UT’s Frank Loeffler.

Loeffler, the joint UT–Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Microbiology and Civil and Environmental Engineering, is researching the role of microbes in controlling emissions of nitrous oxide—also known as laughing gas—from the ground.

“As nitrous oxide destroys the ozone layer and is a greenhouse gas, gaining a better understanding of how it is released naturally and its overall effect on the environment would be a step toward better controlling it,” said Loeffler, who holds UT appointments in the Department of Microbiology in the College of Arts and Sciences and in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Tickle College of Engineering, as well as an adjunct appointment in UT’s Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science and an appointment in ORNL’s Biosciences Division.

Top Row: Christine Egger, Terry Hazen, Troy Lane, Guoxun Chen. Second Row: Patricia Coan, Dawnie Steadman, Lee Meadows Jantz. Third Row: Colleen Gilrane, Theresa Lee, David Bemis. Bottom Row: Robert Nobles, Brian Ranger.

The Office of Research Integrity presented seven faculty members with Service Excellence and Leadership Awards during a special celebration at Tyson House Thursday afternoon.

A better understanding of how carbon cycles through the ocean could advance our knowledge of climate change, according to a UT researcher.

From beach shallows to the ocean depths, vast numbers of microbes work together to transform and store atmospheric carbon in the world’s oceans, compounds collectively referred to as dissolved organic carbon (DOC). But studying the connections between those ocean-borne compounds and microbes has been impractical because of their huge number and complexity—until now.