Nebraska researchers are making progress in showing that forever doesn’t have to mean forever when it comes to harmful chemicals, says Nirupam Aich.

Aich, McNeel Associate Professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, won the 2024 Faculty Research and Creative Activity Slam Nov. 13. Chosen by a panel of judges representing the broader Lincoln community, he won a $1,000 prize to support his research.

Becky Haddad, assistant professor of agricultural leadership, education and communication, won the audience choice award – a golden microphone that Jocelyn Bosley, research impact coordinator, dubbed the Slammy.

The Slam is an annual event, held in conjunction with the university’s Nebraska Research Days, in which researchers present their work in five-minute, engaging talks, this year around the theme “Why does the world need your research?”

Nirupam Aich, “Breaking the Forever Cycle”

Aich noted that industry began producing a class of fluorochemicals made from carbon and fluorine in the 1940s. Known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, these highly stable chemicals are resistant to heat, fire and water, and they’ve gone on to become staples in nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, shampoo, food packaging and more.

“Essentially, PFAS is everywhere and in everything,” Aich said.

The problem: these “forever chemicals” leach into the environment, where they don’t degrade naturally and make their way into humans, where they cause cancers, developmental issues in infants and reproductive issues in women.

The Environmental Protection Agency has set regulatory limits for PFAS in drinking water, and Aich’s research team is developing new technologies to remove these compounds.

“We call this process ‘trap and zap,” he said.

The process uses tiny nanoparticles to trap the PFAS molecules from water and then harness the power of sunlight to break them down. Basically, the nanoparticles pull the carbon and fluorine atoms apart and break their bonds, making them nontoxic and essentially breaking the forever cycle. 

This is only the beginning, though. The EPA regulates only six PFAS compounds, and there are potentially more than 15,000, Aich said.

“We are hoping that with the advancement of AI and machine learning, we will be able to design nanoparticles for specific PFAS to trap and zap at lower cost and high efficiency. This will really create a future with safe water and food for all.”

Becky Haddad, “Impossible Choices”

Haddad said today’s teachers are confronting impossible choices in their work, which she spelled out in a series of “would you rather” questions, such as: “You have a student in your office in crisis. Would you rather stay after work until 6 to support him OR go to your own child’s baseball game?”

“We know we have a teacher crisis. It’s here. It’s not looming anymore.”

“This constant game of ‘would you rather’ in our schools means that teachers constantly need to ask, ‘Would I rather do what’s good for my students or what’s good for me?’ And that’s not a fair question to demand they ask,” she said.

Haddad aims to address this “glaring gap in the research between everything teachers say they love about teaching and everything that drives them away.

“My research shows teachers move schools out of a hunger for a new challenge because the teaching career isn’t set up to allow for growth,” added Haddad, herself a former high school teacher.

“Our teachers are stuck in a perpetual Groundhog Day, waking up in each new place bright-eyed and excited, only to find themselves in the same patterns and systems that hold back their creativity, advocacy and ability to change the world.”

Haddad said she believes it’s essential to address the workplace issues teachers face, even though it will mean embracing “inconvenient change.”

Teddy Garcia-Aroca, “Fungal Evolution for People in a Hurry”

Playing in the dirt of coffee farms near his Honduras home as a boy, Garcia-Aroca got his start in a life that’s led him to become an assistant professor of plant pathology and a quantitative fungal ecologist.

“You see, these fungi are everywhere, from the dirt you collect at the bottom of your shoes to the dust in the atmosphere. They do all kinds of things, from food spoilage, to uses in medicine or foods, and more importantly, diseases in animals and plants. And many are friendly to humans and animals and represent an important part of the ecosystem.”

Garcia-Aroca researches how quickly they evolve, reproducing both sexually and asexually.

“I like to say, fungal love is complicated,” he said.

“Our research focuses on the evolution of genetically isolated fungi, those that stay close to their host plant in the soil, to learn patterns and impacts of how they change to survive, and how these changes can solve some of our most difficult ecological problems.”

As fungi evolve, they learn to resist the fungicides used to control them. “We need better ways to fight them,” he said.

“I think back at those mud pies I loved when I was a little kid, little did I know that they contained one of the most expansive and fascinating scientific frontiers of our generation and that they would capture my imagination for a lifetime.”

James Garza, “Lost Wings of Eden: Beauty, Power and the Search for Wealth in the Modern World”

Humans’ quest for the exotic and beautiful has often led to environmental destruction – species lost, rivers dammed, forests cleared, said Garza, associate professor of history and ethnic studies.

He recalled his research in Mexico City, where Spanish conquerors seized a crown belonging to the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, made of feathers from tropical birds. It was found in an Austrian castle in the 1860s, “a symbol of not only nature’s beauty … but also a representation of power and wealth,” he said.

Other evidence of that damaging quest included the loss of herons, displaced from their winter migration by massive hunting and the loss of canals and lakes. Heron feathers were widely sought for fashionable hats.

“The great plunder of these birds was made possible with what was then modern technology, including global communications and steamships,” Garza said. From Mexico to New Guinea to Florida, this plunder spread.

Such practices have ended, but their consequences continue to be felt.

“As I have watched my kids play in an ancient prairie, my hope is that they see nature as something to be respected, not conquered, that they see beauty needing protection,  not mass production like those hats,” Garza said.

Andrew Little, “Finding the Balance for Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes”

Little, assistant professor in the School of Natural Resources, set the scene – a cool November morning, arriving at his favorite spot on a Nebraska farm to hunt for deer and connect with nature. Pheasants crowing in the distance, a covey of quail bursting from the prairie and leaves crunching under his feet.

“I am in awe of the beauty of this landscape – I’m nerding out here – the integration of grazing lands, row crop fields and wildlife habitat. This is what a holistic system of conservation in agriculture looks like,” Little said.

Little leads the Applied Wildlife Ecology and Spatial Movement Lab – the aptly-named AWESM lab – whose mission is to provide applicable science to help landowners and management agencies find the balance for conservationin ag landscapes.

Using a unique tool that combines satellite imagery, sounds of birds calling and other data, the project prioritizes areas where conservation can be adapted into farmland. A partnership with Iowa State University in 2022 expanded the footprint of prairie across Nebraska by incorporating strips of prairieland into less productive strips of corn and soybean fields. Comprising just 10% of the fields, the project resulted in a threefold increase in grassland birds, a 20-fold increase in soil retention, a 45% reduction in water runoff and no drop in per-acre crop yields.

“This is monumental for landowners — farming the best acres while conserving the rest,” Little said.

Farmers are starting to embrace this effort, which they can observe at university research and extension centers across the state.

Wendy Smith, “It’s Time for Change: Disrupting Inequitable Education Systems”

Smith said they grew up privileged – not financially but encouraged by their well-educated family, which “never pushed me into the gendered boxes where girls are pink and hate math. So, I grew up loving math, science, engineering AND also reading, music and poetry.

“My parents saw leadership where others saw me as too bossy, too stubborn,” they added.

Smith, research professor of mathematics and director of the Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education, said they pursued their field despite signs all around that women didn’t “belong” in fields such as math.

Progress has been made. More than 40% of UNL math faculty are women. “It’s still not enough. What can we do differently? Where can we focus our efforts? What if we focused on what is working? In my research, what’s working is the small stuff: one-on-one relationships, working around the edges. It’s hard to see the small things that we each do to support students. What if it’s that hidden work, that other people don’t even realize we are doing, that could really transform us?”

This “hidden work” creates more pathways for everyone, giving students multiple chance to explore STEM fields. Smith said more co-equitable partnerships are important among educational institutions.

And universities should value the time faculty spend improving their teaching, they said.

The Slam is hosted by the Office of Research and Innovation.

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