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The Center for Ecological Research and Education (CERE) supports basic and applied ecology by providing expertise in the following
areas:- diversity of ecosystems; native vegetation; isolation of buried
wastes; agricultural effects on natural ecosystems; wetland creations;
ecological effects of wild fires; and effects of global climate changes on
animal and plant populations. CERE encompasses the following;-
- CERE Analytical Laboratory, housed in ISU's Life Sciences Building, has capabilities of doing a variety of
chemical analyses to support ecological research, including:- total carbon
and nitrogen analyses of soil and plant tissues, and ammonium, nitrate
phosphorus, and bromide analyses of liquid extracts.
- Barton
Road Ecological Research Area is a 60-acre dedicated ecological research site adjacent to the ISU Research
Park. The site is used by various Biological Sciences classes as an
outdoor laboratory.
- Plant
Sciences Research Facility - Equipment
includes walk-in and reach-in growth chambers, soil sterilization equipment, a
root washer, a leaf area meter, an electronic balance, drying ovens, a
microscope, computers, and supplemental lighting in three greenhouse bays.
- O'Neal
Ecological Reserve is a 100 acre site
containing riparian areas along the Portneuf River and upland areas on lava
benches and is used by faculty, graduate students, and classes for studies of
magpie behavior, amphibians, vegetation, and insects.
The Center for Business Research provides valued
information regarding the demographics of eastern Idaho, proposed economic
impact of new business development, and other important factors affecting
economic development of eastern Idaho, including:
- Surveys of businesses to
determine markets and capabilities
- Demographic studies and
projections
- Studies of infrastructure
and needs for improvement
- Studies on trends and
development of business and industry
The Environmental Assessment Laboratory provides independent
radiological monitoring, analysis of environmental surveillance samples, and
research in support of environmental surveillance. The Environmental
Monitoring Laboratory (EML) has contracted with the State of Idaho’s INEEL
Oversight Program to analyze environmental samples and to conduct research and
other activities in support of environmental surveillance. Analyses
performed by the EML include gross alpha and beta measurement, measurement of
gamma‑emitting radionuclides, measurement of tritium by liquid scintillation
counting, and tritium enrichment.
The Geographic
Information System Training and Research Center (GISTReC) facilitates
decision-making through the use and application of state-of-the-art geo-spatial
technologies. GIS is the tool for managing information of any kind
according to where it is located and is the term for computerized mapping.
The Center supports courses in GIS techniques at ISU and joint research,
including collaborations with the INL. In 2000, the Center received a
Special Achievement Award from GIS software developer ESRI.
The Idaho Accelerator Center is a unique research facility providing opportunities for nuclear physics
research and development by creating partnerships with scientists and engineers
in the government, university, and private sector that are designed to make
advances and practical applications including:- X-ray imaging of metals;
assaying of containers of radioactive waste; extending storage life of
vegetables; medical imaging; medical isotope production; instrument testing; and
testing of radiation effects on materials.
The Idaho
Museum of Natural History is located on the ISU campus and houses
the Stirton-Kelson Reporting Collection, the R.J. Davis Herbarium, collections
of insects and vertebrates from the Intermountain West, and one of the largest
collections of vertebrate fossils in the country. Facilities include
supporting laboratories and research equipment.
The Idaho Small Business
Development Centers,
supervised by ISU, are located in Pocatello and Idaho Falls. These centers
serve as a focal point for linking together the resources of higher education,
the private business community, and federal, state, and local governments.
They provide small business assistance for prospective and existing small
businesses in Idaho.
The Institute of Rural Health Studies (IRH) is established to improve the
health of rural communities through research, education and service projects in
such areas as health care and vaccine needs, correlation of air pollution levels
to hospitalizations, environmental conditions affecting farm worker health and
substance abuse prevention in Native American populations.
The Intermountain
Anthropological Research Center, housed in the Idaho Museum of Natural
History, contains extensive collections of materials from the Intermountain
region. The center focuses on the region’s ethnology, archaeology, and
historical archives. It also serves as a repository for the “Archeological
Survey of Idaho.”
The ISU Business and
Research Park is an ISU-sponsored location for new businesses with
research and development units. Presently it houses American Microsystems,
Inc. and Ballard Medical Products, Inc. It provides special arrangements
for location in the Park with easy access to utilities and other infrastructure.
It also provides an incubator building for new, developing companies and houses
the Pocatello-based Small Business Development Center, the Idaho Accelerator
Center, and several small businesses with significant growth potential.
The Laboratory for Environmental Geoscience conducts research on natural and human‑induced environmental hazards including,
but not limited to, groundwater quality, industrial pollutants, and natural
disaster potentials. Initial emphasis is on a field‑based approach to
geochemical problems (e.g., pollutants) relating to solute transfer within
geologically complex fractured terrains. Access to laboratory
instrumentation provides researchers with the means to obtain chemical data,
including pollutants, tracers, and natural constituents, on virtually any type
of geologic material.
The Measurement and Control Engineering Research Center (MCERC) focuses on
advancing the state-of-the-art in MCE technology by promoting a
multidisciplinary systems perspective that emphasizes the relationship between
measurement science and control theory in applications. Through its
activities, the Center connects educators, researchers, and practitioners from
universities, national labs, industry, and government. This interaction is
facilitated through research, education, and service activities.
The Molecular Research Core Facility (MRCF) housed in the Gale Life Sciences building provides a broad array of
instrumentation and research services to ISU scientists in keeping with the
goals of quickly producing high-quality molecular data and supporting
multi-disciplinary approaches to molecular research. Routine activities in
the MRCF that are available to ISU faculty and graduate students include
automated DNA sequencing and microsatellite analysis, PCR, oligonucleotide
synthesis, electrophoresis, gel documentation and analysis, photomicroscopy
image analysis, and fluorometry.
The National
Information Assurance Training and Education Center (NIATEC) is recognized
by the Department of Defense as a National Center of Academic Excellence in
information assurance. NIATEC is part of the National Alliance for
Information Assurance. ISU is a founding member of the Alliance, together
with the University of Idaho, George Mason University, and James Madison
University. This Alliance addresses two great shortages in the effort to
protect cyberspace: 1) trained professionals, and 2) research on securing the
next generation of information infrastructure.
The Particle Beam
Laboratory provides elemental analysis of a wide variety of samples.
This achieved through the use of 2 MeV positive ions striking the sample with
the resulting products (back scattered ions, characteristic x‑rays, nuclear
reaction products, etc.) analyzed in various ways. For many samples it is
possible to develop a depth profile of the elements present.
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