One project will help the National Weather Service improve forecasts within Palo Duro Canyon. Another explores the artwork created by World War II-era prisoners of war around the state.

These are among the research projects funded in 2019 by West Texas A&M University internal grants for students and faculty members. Proposals for the 2020 grants are due Oct. 13.

In all, 35 projects were funded in 2019 — 14 undergraduate, 12 graduate and nine faculty.

Among them was Dr. Erik Crosman’s preliminary attempt to understand why temperatures in Palo Duro Canyon soar in the summer, causing heat-related illnesses and even a handful of deaths. Crosman, an assistant professor of environmental science, and his team purchased and deployed a weather balloon sounding system along with a network of temperature and humidity sensors to analyze heat waves. The sensors will be used to improve forecasters’ understanding of the canyon’s unique environment.

Preliminary data was collected with a mobile weather station during the record-breaking heat this summer as part of the research project, and it helped result in Crosman being awarded a follow-up grant for Summer 2021 through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and the Amarillo NWS office.

Another project funded in 2019 was graduate student Michaela Wegman’s research into art created by prisoners at POW camps around the state during World War II. A group of those who were interred in Hereford created murals at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Umbarger. Wegman traveled to five other camps around the state to explore similar art objects and compare the styles, subjects and mediums to the murals in Umbarger.

The Killgore Research Committee requests proposals annually for the President’s Undergraduate Student Research Grant, the Graduate Student Research Grant and the Killgore Faculty Research Grant.

Undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members in all disciplines are eligible for internal grants, which help fund research that could have an effect on this region.

“Our hope with these grants is that faculty members can launch their research careers, which ultimately builds a foundation of service to this region,” said Teresa Clemons, director of Sponsored Research Services. “These grants also assist graduate students in completing their dissertations or theses, as well as giving undergraduate students exposure to the discipline of major research projects.”

Undergraduate grants are $3,500 or less and are restricted to WT students who are in good standing at the time of the project and who are being advised in their research by a WT faculty member.

Graduate grants are limited to $3,500 and are meant to educate the recipient in the philosophies, techniques, and tools of research through the discovery of new knowledge leading to publication, performance or exhibition. They are restricted to WT students who are in good standing at the time of the project and who are being advised in their research by a WT faculty member.

Faculty grants are $5,000 or less, will fund proposals with direct impact on the Texas Panhandle and are geared toward the discovery of new knowledge leading to publication, performance or exhibition appropriate to the faculty member’s discipline.

Grants such as these are crucial components in the University’s aim to become a first-of-its-kind regional research university, as spelled out in its long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

-West Texas A&M University