In this issue of UND Discovery, we explore our own backyard and the myriad ways research right here makes a difference for our “land and its people.” This can be seen over the next 20 pages in stories about exceptional and talented researchers such as Dongmei “Terry” Wang, who followed her college-bound son from China to America so she could be closer to him. She’s now one of the newest additions to UND’s Petroleum Research, Education and Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence, which, among other exciting things, is experimenting with innovative ways to extract more oil from the tough shale rock in western North Dakota. On the creative side, UND alumna and poet Lisa Linrud uses verse in her new book to capture the triumphs, the struggles, and the important legacy of family farmers — the area’s first entrepreneurs and researchers — who made this region great. There are also stories about UND’s efforts in carbon-capture technology, protecting a slice of native prairie, probing the depths of Devils Lake, and a powerful new forensics tool for discovering clues to unexplained deaths and, potentially, treatments that could prevent them.
UND Discovery is published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, with assistance from the Office of University Relations, Peter Johnson, executive associate vice president. Editor: David Dodds. Contributors: Juan Pedraza, David Dodds, Patrick C. Miller, Caitlin Slator, and Denis MacLeod. Photography by Jackie Lorentz, Office of University Relations, except as noted: White frost scene on back cover, North Dakota scene on Page 13, Mary Ann Sens portrait on Page 14, and portraits of Phyllis E. Johnson and Barry Milavetz by Chuck Kimmerle; forensic laboratory on Page 15 by Wanda Weber. Please send inquiries and comments to the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, University of North Dakota, 264 Centennial Drive Stop 8367, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8367. The University of North Dakota is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.
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