The Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CEES) was established in October 2010 with $5M in funding from NSF. CEES Phase II award from NSF started on October 1, 2019. CEES personnel include eight faculty members, 1 program coordinator, and 4 research staff members. CEES is addressing the challenging interdisciplinary problems and is paving the way for scientific and technological breakthroughs in energy engineering to meet short- and long-term national needs. The Center’s research mission is accomplished through 3 distinct research thrust areas and strong education and outreach programs. The research areas include Bio-Energy (Energy crop cultivation and gasoline/diesel-like hydrocarbon fuel production from energy crops), Offshore Wind Energy (Massive offshore power generation and risk analysis with big data), and Environmental Sustainability (Produced water treatment and environmental impact evaluation with life cycle assessment). The Center’s education and outreach activities are carried through the Energy Engineering and Research Learning Initiative (EERLI), which includes a myriad of activities that engage K-12 students through graduate students. The researchers, including our students, have published 1 book, 185 peer-reviewed publications and have given more than 220 presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. CEES faculty and staff are also supported by other leveraged funding of about $12.82 M from NSF, USDA, Tran-SET, and industrial partners. CEES has supported more than 220 students, including 73 graduate, and 145 undergraduate students. The Center also established state-of-the-art research laboratories with high-quality equipment using leveraged funds.

Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability (CEES)

The Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program provides support to enhance the research capabilities of minority-serving institutions (MSI). Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge (SUBR) established its Next Generation Composites CREST Center (NextGenC3) by a unifying theme of multiscale and multifunctional composites and related technology development of advanced fiber reinforced polymer composites with capabilities to address varying technological needs and challenges in material applications. Dr. Jahan in this colloquia session will provide an introduction and overview of her projects focusing on food wastes and byproducts. Her team at SUBR provides educational and research training opportunities to traditionally underrepresented minority (URM) students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines by using enhanced non-structural functionalities of the bio-composites towards a potential replacement for their inorganic-based counterparts in automotive, aerospace industries, and researchable fuel cell applications.

Potential Multifunctional Composite using carbonized coconut shell particles

Multimodal binding as mereological co-constituency

Detecting Out-of-Domain (OOD) or unknown intents from user queries is essential in a taskoriented dialog system. Traditional softmaxbased confidence scores are susceptible to the overconfidence issue. In this paper, we propose a simple but strong energy-based score function to detect OOD where the energy scores of OOD samples are higher than IND samples. Further, given a small set of labeled OOD samples, we introduce an energy-based margin objective for supervised OOD detection to explicitly distinguish OOD samples from INDs. Comprehensive experiments and analysis prove our method helps disentangle confidence score distributions of IND and OOD data.

Disentangling Confidence Score Distribution for Out-of-Domain Intent Detection with Energy-Based Learning

Scorpion venoms contain different types of proteins, peptides, and molecules that can be used against predators or to immobilize prey. Toxins of venom are used for pharmaceutical purposes that require maintaining scorpions in captivity as long as possible for venom extraction purposes.
In this survey, four scorpion species from four genera; Androctonus, Buthus, Hottentotta, and Scorpio, were put in environments that vary in three variables: Diet, Temperature, Humidity. And it Was conducted to discover the influence of the captivity conditions on the venom quantity. During this research, we aim to explore these interactions, to optimize captivity conditions for more venom secretion efficiency. 
In the Light of this study, the results are very promising. This proves the huge impact of the environment on the scorpions. It could be the main key to studying other species or other venomous animals.











Performance of scorpion venom secretion in response to different captive conditions: diet, temperature and humidity on different genera of scorpions

Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) invaded the Laurentian Great Lakes in the early 20th century and remain a threat to fisheries in the largest freshwater ecosystem of the world. Nowadays, population growth is restrained by a highly successful control program that mainly relies on the application of the lampricide 3-trifluoromethyl-4’-nitrophenol (TFM) to streams infested with larval sea lamprey. Recent work shows that the effectiveness of TFM is affected by temperature, with the toxicity to larval sea lamprey decreasing with increasing temperature. As such, we set out to unveil the thermal breadth of larval sea lamprey using intermittent-flow respirometry. To do so, we calculated thermal performance curves for this life stage using two approaches: First, we acclimated larvae to 7, 13, 18, 21, 25 and 28°C and tested their aerobic scope at the respective acclimation temperature. Second, we acclimated larvae to 6, 13 and 21°C and subsequently performed acute exposure tests (6, 10, 13, 15, 18, 21, 25, 28 and 31°C), with a temperature increase/decrease rate of approx. 0.1°C/min. Our results show a wide thermal tolerance, consistent with the plasticity required to become a successful invasive species. Further, sea lamprey larvae show a thermal optimum nearing 28°C, indicating that their tolerance to TFM will likely continue to increase as water temperatures in the Great Lakes continue to rise due to climate change.

Effects of temperature acclimation on thermal performance for sea lamprey larvae

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is widely used as a signalling molecule. It is critical to measure H2O2 with a high spatial and temporal resolution to better understand its role as a messenger. The most frequent approach to detect H2O2 has been using chemical probes, which have the disadvantage of limited specificity and cannot report any dynamics or spatial information. Genetically encoded probes have made significant advances to overcome these limitations. Probes of the HyPer family consist of a circularly permuted yellow fluorescent protein (cpYFP) core and a sensing domain from a bacterial H2O2-activated transcription factor (OxyR). These, however, have a pronounced pH sensitivity. Other H2O2 sensors, such as roGFP2-Orp1, have shown to be pH-insensitive but lack the responsiveness to detect low nanomolar H2O2 changes, possibly due to the strong reducing effect of the glutathione redox potential (EGSH). A new ultrasensitive HyPer7 fuses the OxyR of N. meningitidis to an optimized cpYFP largely pH-independent. Here, we have generated and characterized stable Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing a cytosolic version of HyPer7 and prove that the reduction of this sensor is mostly EGSH-independent and highly responsive to externally imposed oxidation via H2O2 feeding. Furthermore, HyPer7 could sense stress-induced H2O2 in live-cell plants exposed to herbicides, such as methyl viologen or the flagellin-induced apoplastic ROS burst, much better than the previously mentioned H2O2 probes. HyPer7 sensitivity also allowed us to see that the laser light used for excitation is sufficient to induce H2O2 release from chloroplasts in amounts only detected by this ultrasensitive sensor.

The latest HyPe(r) in plant H2O2 biosensing

Determining how plasticity of developmental traits respond to environmental conditions is a challenge that must combine evolutionary sciences, ecology and developmental biology. Developmental plasticity is defined as the ability of an organism to adjust its development depending on environmental signals, thus producing alternative phenotypes precisely adjusted to the environment. Yet the mechanisms underlying developmental plasticity are not fully understood yet. Determining how plastic developmental changes that occur in response to environmental conditions are coordinated at the physiological, cellular, and molecular levels is a challenge that must combine ecology with developmental biology. The mechanisms that underlie the development of alternative phenotypes are still unclear for many systems and is one major goal of ecological developmental biology or Eco-Evo-Devo. We observed that clownfish (Amphiprion percula) young juveniles have a different rate of white bar formation depending on the sea anemone species, their obligate symbiotic partner, in which they are recruited: white bars develop more rapidly when fish are recruited in Stichodactyla gigantea than in Heteractis magnifica. Because the sister species A. ocellaris acquire their adult color pattern during metamorphosis under thyroid hormone (TH) control, we asked whether developmental plasticity in bar formation was associated with alteration in TH status as these are the main hormones triggering metamorphosis in vertebrates. We found that thyroid hormones regulate white bar formation and that a shift in hormone levels, associated with ecological differences, results in divergent color patterns in different sea anemone species in which the young fish is recruited. Taken together our results suggest that TH control the timing of adult color pattern formation and that shifts in gene expression and TH levels are associated with ecological differences resulting in divergent ontogenetic trajectories in color pattern development. We recently observed that the phenotypic change observed not only concerns pigmentation but also energy metabolism. The evolutionary implications of these observations will be discussed

Phenotypic plasticity in anemonefishes: An Eco/Evo/Devo analysis

Surviving in low oxygen environments requires complex and integrated physiological responses, many of which center on economizing energy budgets. At the cellular level, significant reductions in protein synthesis and even translational arrest (in anoxia) can save as much as 90% of routine ATP demand. This suggests strategic investment in the protein complement of essential tissues, like the heart, that must maintain some level of function for the animal to survive through and recover from a hypoxic bout. The use of quantitative proteomics in animal models of hypoxia tolerance has unveiled new ideas about how the cardiac proteome is influenced by hypoxia exposure, as well as the ontogenic constraints on this aspect of cardiac plasticity. For example, developmental hypoxia exposure of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) induces persistent shifts in the cardiac proteome that, paradoxically, reflect an increased capacity for translation, proteolysis, and metabolic capacity. Concomitant with these changes was an equitable down-regulation of seemingly random cardiac proteins, which may offset the cellular energy budget. In Western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii), the cold acclimation required to prepare tissues for chronic anoxia during winter dormancy induced general down-regulation of electron transport system proteins in adult but not hatchling turtles. Interestingly, both studies revealed 
‘age’ as a key explanatory variable in the cardiac proteome. This suggests a robust developmental program in the ectotherm heart that is resilient even to potent environmental stressors like oxygen and temperature, and warrants further investigations into the developmental thresholds of hypoxia tolerance.






Proteomes & Juveniles: A synthesis of ideas on the ontogeny of hypoxia tolerance

A central prediction of recent climate change models is that there will be an increase in thermal unpredictability and heatwave events. Sessile intertidal organisms experience a high degree of thermal unpredictability due to combined effects of solar radiation and tidal movement. How thermal unpredictability operates in microhabitats with different media, such as tidepool (aquatic) or tidally exposed (aerial) environments is poorly understood, especially when coupled with other important determinants of performance, such as food availability. Understanding how these factors interact to influence performance is essential towards understanding the effects of climate change on intertidal communities. We examined how acclimation to different levels of thermal predictability (no, predictable, unpredictable) with high and low food availability shape performance during a three-day heatwave in Mytilus californianus in two microhabitat treatments: tidepool and tidally exposed. During the heatwave, mussels were warmed to 35C each daytime low tide in their respective medium (water or air). Tissues samples were taken for biochemical analyses the day before, each day during, and the day after the heatwave. We found that microhabitat was the strongest driving factor for shaping physiological performance in Mytilus californianus. Food availability played a larger role in shaping performance in tidally exposed mussels, and the influence of thermal predictability depended on heatwave day. Our results suggest that the predicted increases in heatwave events and thermal unpredictability from climate change will not have a uniform effect in different microhabitats, which could have severe consequences for intertidal community and composition.

Heatwaves in the intertidal: how microhabitat, thermal unpredictability, and food availability shape physiological performance in mussels

Anthropogenic changes in the environment are ubiquitos and affect organisms in many ways. Flexibility of the endocrine system may help organisms to response to those changes. However, disruption in the female endocrine function may lead to altered transfer of hormones in eggs or embryos, ie. transgenerational endocrine disruption, which can have long-lasting effects on offspring. Maternally derived thyroid hormones (THs) are essential for development, but poorly studied, especially in wild birds. Here, we provide three case examples of studies on transgenerational TH disruption. First, we studied how parental exposure to metal pollution, using repeated sampling of polluted and control areas across Europe, influenced egg TH levels in a passerine bird, the great tit. Second, we studied how long-term experimental parental herbicide exposure influenced egg THs and offspring traits in Japanese quails. Third, we studied experimetally how limitation of iodine, a key element of the TH molecule, influenced parental and egg THs in rock pigeons. We found no overall effect of parental metal exposure on egg THs, but the effect was dependent on calcium availability. Parental herbicide exposure did not influence egg THs, but affected hatchability and embryo traits. Parental iodine availability did not influence parental or egg TH levels, but decreased egg laying rate. Results of these case examples suggest that transgenerational endocrine disruption is a complex phenomena and should be further studied, as such legacy effects can delay adapting to environmental changes.

Transgenerational endocrine disruption - a potential mechanism for legacy effects of anthropogenic disturbance

Developmental programming is a major source of inter-individual variation that can tailor phenotypes to environmental conditions, including thermal conditions. While the underlying mechanisms of developmental plasticity are mostly unknown, there is growing evidence for the involvement of mitochondria in this process. Here, we investigate whether prenatal sound – increasingly recognised as an essential source of information for embryos – can program mitochondrial metabolism. In the arid-adapted zebra finch, prenatal exposure to “heat-calls”, produced by parents incubating at high temperatures, adaptively alters nestling growth in the heat. To test whether mitochondrial programming underlies this adaptive pattern, we measured red blood cell mitochondrial function in nestlings, exposed prenatally to either heat-calls or control-calls, and reared in contrasting thermal environments post-hatch. Exposure to high temperatures always reduced mitochondrial ATP production efficiency. However, as expected to reduce heat production and improve growth, prenatal exposure to heat-calls improved mitochondrial efficiency under mild heat conditions. By contrast, when exposed to an acute heat-challenge, LEAK respiration was higher in heat-call nestlings. Consistent with its role in reducing oxidative damage, LEAK under extreme heat was also higher in fast growing nestlings. These changes in mitochondrial function are consistent with the differential growth pattern induced by prenatal heat-calls. Our study therefore provides the first demonstration of mitochondrial acoustic sensitivity, and brings us closer to understanding the underpinning of acoustic developmental programming and avian strategies for heat adaptation.

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Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability (CEES)

Potential Multifunctional Composite using carbonized coconut shell particles

Multimodal binding as mereological co-constituency

Disentangling Confidence Score Distribution for Out-of-Domain Intent Detection with Energy-Based Learning

Performance of scorpion venom secretion in response to different captive conditions: diet, temperature and humidity on different genera of scorpions

Effects of temperature acclimation on thermal performance for sea lamprey larvae

The latest HyPe(r) in plant H2O2 biosensing

Phenotypic plasticity in anemonefishes: An Eco/Evo/Devo analysis

Proteomes & Juveniles: A synthesis of ideas on the ontogeny of hypoxia tolerance

Heatwaves in the intertidal: how microhabitat, thermal unpredictability, and food availability shape physiological performance in mussels

Transgenerational endocrine disruption - a potential mechanism for legacy effects of anthropogenic disturbance

Prenatal acoustic programming of mitochondrial function for high temperatures in an arid-adapted bird

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