The Center for Advanced Friction Studies (CAFS) focuses
on research, education, and technology development involving
materials and applications relevant to the friction industry.
The center's research program covers five areas of interest
to the aircraft and automotive industries: friction and wear
performance effects in carbon-carbon brake materials, on-highway
and heavy-duty brake materials, thermal effects in braking,
vibration and noise effects in braking, and wet friction systems.
By employing graduate and undergraduate students in its research programs,
and by developing friction-related courses offered in the College of Engineering,
CAFS prepares students for employment in the friction industry. The center
is a cooperative venture between SIUC, the State
of Illinois, the National Science Foundation,
and a consortium of industrial
partners.
This School of Medicine center in Springfield conducts basic and clinical
research on normal aging, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, vascular
dementia, and gait disturbances in the elderly. Projects include a
longitudinal study of memory and cognitive function in older volunteers, a
study of the effects of estrogen replacement therapy on cognitive function,
studies of cell death and regeneration, and biomechanical studies. In
addition, clinical drug studies are conducted at the center's Memory and
Aging Clinic.
The center has a clinical and educational outreach program with 20
hospitals throughout Illinois, providing a unique opportunity for
educational research.
Closely associated with SIUC's Department of Anthropology,
the Center for Archaeological Investigations is currently conducting
research in the American Midwest, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Peru, and the
western Pacific.
One of the best-known centers of its kind in the nation, it has been a
leader in cultural ecology (the study of how cultures adapt to and use
environments over time) and conservation archaeology (conducted for firms
and government agencies required to comply with environmental and
antiquities laws).
The Center for Archaeological Investigations curates a large collection of
research materials and artifacts, representing over 30 years of research. It
conducts an annual field school, provides research opportunities for
numerous students, hosts a yearly international symposium, and maintains an
extensive publications program.
The Center for Dewey Studies was established in 1961 to prepare a definitive
edition of John Dewey's works. Its publications, research, and collection
of source materials have made it the international focal point for research
on Dewey's life and work. Original letters and manuscripts, Dewey's
professional library, photographs, and memorabilia are housed in Special
Collections, Morris Library. The center houses photocopies of original
research materials and of Dewey correspondence located in repositories
around the world, along with oral history interviews, audio-cassettes, slides, and
biographical, bibliographical, and critical materials.
In 1991, the center completed the monumental 37-volume collected edition of
Dewey's writings, published by SIU Press.
In progress is a comprehensive edition of Dewey's correspondence (some 15,000
items).
The center's work has been funded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the John Dewey Foundation, and private donors.
Center of Excellence for Soybean Research, Teaching, and
Outreach
The Center of Excellence for Soybean Research, Teaching, and Outreach was
established in 1999. The outgrowth of more
than 20 years of nationally recognized research in soybean breeding by SIUC
agronomists, the center is continuing efforts to improve soybean production
in Illinois and the north-central United States and to expand uses of
soybeans. Based in the College of Agriculture, it coordinates cooperative research and learning by SIUC
faculty and students in agriculture, science, and medicine and by non-SIUC
research partners.
Focuses include determining the soybean genome, combining biotechnology
with standard breeding techniques to develop improved disease- and
pest-resistant soybean varieties, improving production, investigating
health benefits of soy products, and developing new food and feedstock uses
for soybeans. For more information, see SIUC's soybean research home page.
The Safety Center was established in 1960 and is affiliated
with the Department of Health Education and Recreation. The center's
research activities, carried out by faculty, staff, and graduate students,
focus on injury prevention techniques, traffic safety, and employee health
promotion.
The center also offers training programs; provides
consulting services to businesses and agencies; holds short meetings,
courses, and conferences on a wide range of topics concerned with injury
prevention, traffic safety, and work site health promotion;
and acts as a repository of
health and safety information. Special resources include a driving test and
training facility and safety assessment equipment.
This center enables
faculty, staff, and students to work as partners with area agencies to
address the most pressing health and social service problems of Southern
Illinois. Based in SIUC's Office of Economic and Regional
Development, the center conducts research, needs assessments,
demonstration projects, and program evaluations;
designs and implements training programs; tests
new models of health care delivery; and develops policy recommendations to
improve the health of our rural population. It has received grants from
many public and private agencies concerned with health care, including the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Current research priorities include rural primary care, safety
and health promotion, and the needs of special populations (e.g., migrant
farm workers).
This recently established center prepares graduates to tackle
scientific and societal issues related to the biodiversity crisis.
The center coordinates research in systematics: the science of
discovering, describing, and classifying species and determining
their evolutionary relationships.
Working with faculty in anthropology, microbiology, plant biology,
and zoology, students develop skills in field methods, molecular
techniques (such as DNA analysis), anatomical data, computer analyses,
collection management, and other areas critical to conservation
efforts. Research focuses include potentially valuable microbes,
plant genome evolution, environmental monitoring of amphibians, and
evolutionary relationships of fishes, birds, marsupials, primates,
and other taxa. Studies range from local biotic surveys to
international collaborations.
Coal-related research at SIUC is coordinated by the Coal Research Center,
established in 1974. With funding and collaborative support from industry
and government, SIUC
has conducted long-term projects relating to surface mine reclamation, mine
subsidence, coal desulfurization, coal characterization and combustion,
coal residue management and utilization, coal market modeling, and
environmental policy. Faculty, staff, and students in fields as diverse as
engineering, science, business, education, law, and agriculture have
contributed to the University's international reputation in coal research.
The Coal Research Center operates the Illinois Coal Development Park under a
cooperative agreement with the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.
New technologies developed for coal cleaning, refining, and combustion
are being put into practice at this facility.
The center also operates the Dragline Productivity Center,
a unique program that offers
computer-based instruction and hands-on simulator experience for personnel
from mining operations around the world.
Founded in 1950, SIUC's Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory
has achieved a distinguished record of research and graduate training
in vertebrate ecology and wildlife biology.
It is the only such comprehensive program in Illinois and is recognized
as among the premier programs of its type in the United States.
The Wildlife Lab is nationally known for pioneering research on mined-land
reclamation and the development and use of wetland habitats. It has received
state and national awards for its work converting mined lands to productive
wetlands. Other areas of lab expertise include wildlife and environmental
toxicology; wetland/ waterfowl ecology; the biology and ecology of game
animals and of endangered and non-game wildlife; land use/habitat analyses
and relationships; and wildlife diseases.
The lab receives substantial grant funding from government and industry. Its
staff serves citizens, industry, and public agencies
by providing expertise in diverse areas relating to
natural resources management.
The Fisheries and Illinois Aquaculture Center, founded in 1950
as the Cooperative Fisheries Research Laboratory,
conducts a comprehensive, nationally recognized research and training
program in fisheries science and aquatic ecology.
Areas of expertise include
cultivation and management of game fish and fish for human consumption,
fish habitat requirements and life-cycles,
water quality, and fish genetics. The center's
research into habitat requirements for river fishes has led to
innovative ways to design and evaluate large-scale habitat restoration
and enhancement projects. A developing International Fisheries
Program has extended the center's activities into Latin America, Asia, and
Africa.
The Fisheries Center also is leading efforts to develop
aquaculture as a profitable industry in Illinois.
Work in this area ranges from genetic engineering to the
identification and cultivation of aquaculture species
suitable for the north-central United States.
The center has one of the finest aquaculture research facilities in the world,
including a major research and demonstration station at SIUC's
Touch of Nature Environmental Center.
The Materials Technology Center (MTC), established in 1983,
promotes regional economic growth by developing innovative
materials-related research pertinent to the practical needs of society.
MTC's historical strengths have been in the areas of carbon-carbon composites,
electrorheological fluids, catalysis, magnetic materials, superconductivity,
materials to reinforce civil engineering structures, plastic matrix
composites, chemical vapor infiltration, and plasma-induced deposition
techniques. In 1996, MTC "spun off" its research emphasis in carbon
into the Center for Advanced
Friction Studies. Current MTC research emphasizes biomedical and
smart materials; strategic materials; electronic packaging materials;
fuel cell materials; advanced materials for practical applications,
such as civil infrastructures or compressor engineering; and manufacturing/fabrication
of materials and structures.
The center works closely with industry and with government agencies. It
initiates interdisciplinary research, provides small-grant funding to
SIUC researchers, and
sponsors international technical conferences and seminars.
This center, housed in the College of Business and Administration,
was established in
1989 to advance both theory and practice of
management of information. Students, technologists, and managers are
the targets of its education and research.
The Pontikes Center is interdisciplinary, supporting projects by faculty
and students across the University. It has carried out research
projects on data mining for the Chrysler Corporation and IBM. Its current
activities are focused on eBusiness, business continuity, and enterprise
resource planning systems, and it supports research and curriculum
development in these and related areas. The center also is the home of
the new SIUC eBusiness Initiative (SIUC-eBI) and the Consortium for Business
Continuity (the latter funded by Comdisco Inc.).
The Public Policy Institute was established in 1997 by former
U.S. Senator Paul Simon to act on significant and controversial issues
affecting the region, state, nation, and world.
In 1999, the institute developed recommendations on the issues of
literacy, water desalination, and genocide that were delivered to
state, national, and world leaders. Previous institute accomplishments
include engineering the most sweeping campaign finance reform
legislation in Illinois in the past 25 years, developing alternatives
to building one prison after another, and convening a national meeting
of religious leaders on the issue of poverty.
The institute is committed to developing approaches that can bring
concrete, positive results in tackling some of the most difficult
challenges in the public policy arena.
The Office of Economic and Regional Development (OERD) at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale established the Rural Illinois Cooperative Development
Center through a Rural Cooperative Development Grant from the United States
Department of Agriculture on October 1, 2000. This Center is committed to helping
groups in rural Illinois find ways to increase their profits from current and
new activities by working together in cooperatives to add value to their products.
The Center provides the guidance and consulting necessary to help ensure that
these groups become profitable, functioning cooperatives.