In a project led by lecturer of landscape architecture Jeremiah Bergstrom, South Dakota State University's School of Design has developed a first of its kind guide for creating flood-resilient landscapes. The guide, which was developed in partnership with faculty at Rutgers University, is aimed at helping community officials and leaders turn vacant, flood-prone properties into usable community assets.
With more than 80,000 miles of roads and over 5,000 public bridges, maintaining and preserving all of South Dakota's infrastructure can be both challenging and time consuming. A five-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will help faculty members in South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering find innovative ways to preserve the existing infrastructure in South Dakota — one of the USDOT's top priorities.
According to Srivinivas Janaswamy, associate professor of food chemistry at South Dakota State University, banana peels, full of lignocellulosic material, can turned into biodegradable films. The plastic-like material will decompose in the environment and may one day replace petroleum-based plastic as the dominant food packaging material. Previously, Janaswmay has demonstrated how avocado peels, switchgrass and spent coffee grounds can be utilized for bioplastics.
What is the relationship, if any, between wildflowers and grazing cattle? According to novel research from South Dakota State University student Kaitlyn Preszler, rangeland with areas of high wildflower diversity may be beneficial for cattle.
Aritra Banerjee, assistant professor in South Dakota State University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and his research team are exploring ways to improve the resiliency of infrastructure — like roads — by addressing a primary area of concern: problematic soils.
