Appalachian State University
AC-9: Academic Research

Names, departments, and research descriptions are included in the above list.

App State's Institution Research Assessment and Planning (IRAP) office along with the Office of Sustainability distributed a survey to researching faculty. The response rate was determined to not be high enough for a representative sample. To augment results from the survey, the Office of Sustainability conducted an audit of recent publications and literature of researching faculty. Results from this were combined with survey results to generate our inventory of sustainability related research. The inventory included above designates which method was used to collect individual's information.

-The Solar Homestead, Appalachian State University’s department of Technology & Environmental Design's entry in the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2011 competition, a student-designed, student-built, net zero-energy house, won first place in the People’s Choice Award, second place in the communications competition and third place in the architecture competition. -Appalachian’s Department of Technology has had huge successes in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) Competition, winning more projects than any other university in the state and ranking among the top participating schools in the nation. During the Annual Sustainability Research Forum, several projects where highlighted for their innovation, success, and/or interdisciplinary scope. Some of the research abstracts are included below: Dr. Beth Ellington - My research involves utilizing Engstrom’s Activity Models to analyze the planting, harvesting, transporting and ginning processes of Cotton of the Carolinas “dirt to shirt” supply chain to identify areas for improvement in the information flows, material flows and financial flows in order to make it leaner and greener. Cotton of the Carolinas, http://whereyourclothing.com/, is an organization that makes “homegrown” t-shirts from NC grown cotton. Their “dirt to shirt” supply chain concept is focused on a transparent green supply chain where their t-shirts travel on average 750 miles from “dirt to shirt” thus minimizing the environmental impact of producing the shirts. My research is focused on environmental, economic and social equity issues involved in outsourcing and how Cotton of the Carolinas is trying to reverse its impact on the NC farming and textile industries. Tom Hansell - The social, economic, and environmental challenges to Wales and Appalachia in recent decades are at times tragically similar: increasing unemployment, chronic health problems, environmental devastation, and the challenge of redefining community identity. The Welsh coalfields were shut down in the 1980’s, with a loss of more than 20,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the Appalachian coalfields lost 23,000 mining jobs between 1980 and 2000, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts Central Appalachian coal production will be cut in half this decade. Stories from miners, mothers, and other coalfield residents offer rare insight into the transition away from fossil fuels. The goal of the After Coal project is to facilitate conversations about sustainable development in coalfield communities through a combination of live forums, local radio programming, and public television broadcast. Our work is built on the following principles: • Local people must control the development of their own communities. • Cultural democracy is an essential ingredient for building sustainable and democratic economies in the coalfields. • Exchanging information across global mountain regions can help communityies create localized solutions to issues related to the extraction of natural resources.