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- Rivlin says bipartisan budget action, stronger budget rules key to reversing debt
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- W.D. Snodgrass Symposium to honor Pulitzer winner
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- UD in the News, March 25, 2011
- For the Record, March 25, 2011
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- Stay connected with Sea Grant, CEOE e-newsletter
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- March 31-May 14: REP stages Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor'
- April 2: Newark plans annual 'wine and dine'
- April 5: Expert perspective on U.S. health care
- April 5: Comedian Ace Guillen to visit Scrounge
- April 6, May 4: School of Nursing sponsors research lecture series
- April 6-May 4: Confucius Institute presents Chinese Film Series on Wednesdays
- April 6: IPCC's Pachauri to discuss sustainable development in DENIN Dialogue Series
- April 7: 'WVUDstock' radiothon concert announced
- April 8: English Language Institute presents 'Arts in Translation'
- April 9: Green and Healthy Living Expo planned at The Bob
- April 9: Center for Political Communication to host Onion editor
- April 10: Alumni Easter Egg-stravaganza planned
- April 11: CDS session to focus on visual assistive technologies
- April 12: T.J. Stiles to speak at UDLA annual dinner
- April 15, 16: Annual UD push lawnmower tune-up scheduled
- April 15, 16: Master Players series presents iMusic 4, China Magpie
- April 15, 16: Delaware Symphony, UD chorus to perform Mahler work
- April 18: Former NFL Coach Bill Cowher featured in UD Speaks
- April 21-24: Sesame Street Live brings Elmo and friends to The Bob
- April 30: Save the date for Ag Day 2011 at UD
- April 30: Symposium to consider 'Frontiers at the Chemistry-Biology Interface'
- April 30-May 1: Relay for Life set at Delaware Field House
- May 4: Delaware Membrane Protein Symposium announced
- May 5: Northwestern University's Leon Keer to deliver Kerr lecture
- May 7: Women's volleyball team to host second annual Spring Fling
- Through May 3: SPPA announces speakers for 10th annual lecture series
- Through May 4: Global Agenda sees U.S. through others' eyes; World Bank president to speak
- Through May 4: 'Research on Race, Ethnicity, Culture' topic of series
- Through May 9: Black American Studies announces lecture series
- Through May 11: 'Challenges in Jewish Culture' lecture series announced
- Through May 11: Area Studies research featured in speaker series
- Through June 5: 'Andy Warhol: Behind the Camera' on view in Old College Gallery
- Through July 15: 'Bodyscapes' on view at Mechanical Hall Gallery
- More What's Happening >>
- UD calendar >>
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- April 8-29: Faculty roundtable series considers student engagement
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- April 30: UD Evening with Blue Rocks set for employees
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2:44 p.m., Sept. 21, 2009----Donald L. Sparks, S. Hallock du Pont Chair in soil and environmental chemistry at the University of Delaware, has been appointed director of the Delaware Environmental Institute, which will be officially opened on Friday, Oct. 23, at the University's Newark campus.
The Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) is a multidisciplinary institute focused on providing solutions to global environmental challenges through knowledge-based partnerships that integrate environmental science, engineering and policy.
DENIN will be closely allied with the colleges at UD and other educational institutions in the state. Institute research will initially focus on three areas: Processes at the air, land and sea interface, environmental forecasting and restoration, and ecosystem health and sustainability.
A three-day celebration of the environment at the University of Delaware's Mitchell Hall and central Green will mark the institute's official opening:
- Wednesday, Oct. 21: UD Campus Sustainability Day;
- Thursday, Oct. 22: Environmental Sustainability Day and “2020: A Greener Vision,” an undergraduate expo; and
- Friday, Oct. 23: Delaware Environmental Institute Opening, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sparks, who joined the University of Delaware faculty in 1979, was the chairperson of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences from January 1989 until December 2008. In his role as chairperson, he was instrumental in building a world-class faculty, particularly in the areas of soil science and plant biology. He also helped establish the federally funded Institute of Soil and Environmental Quality and the Center for Critical Zone Research.
Sparks holds joint faculty appointments in civil and environmental engineering, chemistry and biochemistry and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.
Sparks is internationally recognized for his research in the areas of kinetics of soil chemical processes, surface chemistry of soils and soil minerals using in-situ spectroscopic and microscopic techniques and the physical chemistry of soil potassium. He is the author, co-author or editor of 284 publications and author of three widely adopted textbooks in environmental soil chemistry and kinetics of geochemical processes.
He has mentored 50 graduate students and 24 postdoctoral fellows and regularly hosts visiting scholars and professors from around the world. Sparks has also lectured at universities, institutes and national laboratories worldwide.
Sparks has received numerous awards and honors. These include: Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America; the Francis Alison Award, UD's highest faculty honor; the first UD doctoral student advising and mentoring award; the Soil Science Basic Research Award; the M.L. and Chrystie M. Jackson Award; the American Society of Agronomy Environmental Quality Award; the Sterling B. Hendricks Medal and Memorial Lectureship; distinguished alumni awards from the University of Kentucky and Virginia Tech; and honorary member of the Polish Society of Soil Science.
Sparks also served as president of the Soil Science Society of America and the International Union of Soil Sciences.
“Don Sparks is an outstanding scientist and a great academic leader,” said UD Provost Tom Apple. “He has forged strong research collaborations in the environmental arena that have borne fruit and brought prominence to UD. In his new role as director of DENIN, he will leverage the strengths across many of UD's colleges to make the University a world leader in environmental research.”
Article by Katie Ginder-Vogel
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson