BOONE—The Cratis D. Williams Graduate School has announced winners of its 2008-09 Transforming North Carolina Faculty Research Award and its 100 Scholars Research Award.

Lauren Renkert and her methamphetamine intervention research team, and Jeff Ramsdell and his biofuels initiative have received the Transforming North Carolina Faculty Research Award. The honor includes a $1,000 award for each project.

Appalachian State University faculty members Howard Neufeld, left, William Harbinson, Jeff Ramsdell and Lauren Renkert have been honored by the Cratis. D. Williams Graduate School for their scholarly and creative activities. (Photo by University Photographer Marie Freeman)

Receiving this year’s 100 Scholars Research Award are Howard Neufeld and William Harbinson. Each received $1,200.

The Transforming North Carolina Faculty Research Award recognizes research with a significant impact on the present and/or future of North Carolina. It is sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Development Institute and the Cratis D. Williams Graduate School.

Renkert, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work, was nominated for the award by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Spencer Clark, assistant chief of Community Policy Management with NCDHHS, wrote, “Over the past three years, Dr. Renkert has spearheaded an important program evaluation effort in North Carolina that is evaluating the development and implementation of the state’s methamphetamine treatment initiative for individual and families in four local management entities.”

Renkert and an interdisciplinary team of Appalachian researchers have collaborated with local,
regional and state mental healthcare and substance abuse agencies to develop and evaluate an innovative approach in which meth users and their families partner in a treatment program.

Ramsdell is an associate professor in the Department of Technology. He and his team are testing biodiesel that is being produced by several companies in the region as well feedstock crops grown on and around the Caldwell County’s landfill for potential biodiesel production.

“Crops will be used to develop bio-fuel for operating the Blackburn Landfill, which will, in effect, offset building construction and lower operational costs over time,” wrote Barry Edwards, director of utilities and engineering for Catawba County.

“Appalachian will test crops, and adjust or introduce new crops when applicable, to optimize the county’s fuel production, improve biodiesel crop production in Catawba County’s climate, and learn and share with producers in Western North Carolina which crops produce the best oils for the production of biodiesel,” Edwards said.

The 100 Scholars Research Award, presented by the graduate school, recognizes exemplary research or creative activities of a tenured faculty member.

Harbinson, dean of the Hayes School of Music, has had 25 of his compositions selected for publication and distribution. His works also have been recognized nationally. Among his honors are the Merle J. Isaac Senior Compositions Competition, Hinda Honigman Cup, Dallas Wind Symphony Fanfare Competition, and Editor’s Choice awards from J.W. Pepper Music Catalog.

His compositions have been featured an international and regional music conference and meetings, including the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division, International Trumpet Guild Conference, National Intercollegiate Men’s Chorus, National Flute Association and the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic.

His works also have been featured on 10 different occasions at the N.C. Music Educators Conference.
Harbinson will use the award to upgrade the technology he uses to compose music.

He writes, “The digital age has impacted creative activity in such a way that composers are afforded immediate feedback with reasonably realistic sounds. Certainly, the process of producing individual parts from a musical score is much more efficient.”

Neufeld is a professor in the Department of Biology and has been a member of the faculty at Appalachian since 1987.

During his career, Neufeld has received more than $700,000 in grants for more than 30 research proposals. He has had 34 articles published in peer reviewed publications. He has mentored 20 graduate students, six of whom have received or are working on their doctorates.

“I have always been the most proud of the accomplishments of my graduate students and the work they have done over the past two decades,” he wrote.

Neufeld’s awards include the Wachovia Award for Achievement in Environmental Science, the Association of Southeastern Biologists’’ Faculty Research Award and Appalachian’s Sigma Xi Chapter Senior Research Award.

Neufeld’s research has established cause and effect relationships between ozone and plants in the Great Smoky Mountains, determined why galax leaves turn red in winter, and documented the role of shrubs in recovery from fire in the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area.

Neufeld will use his award to conduct research on chlorophyll fluorescence in stems with Professor Tom Vogelmann at the University of Vermont.

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