Ohio State to Conduct Wide Range of Shale-Related Research

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University researchers have begun focusing their expertise on the shale energy industry in Ohio.

August 26th, 2013 by Martha Filipic

With the industry growing at a rapid pace in Ohio and around the country, Ohio State aims to produce research that can help inform policymakers, industry leaders and the public.

The university formed a research cluster with a $50,000 seed grant from the university’s Environmental Sciences Network in October 2012. The team, the Shale Environmental Management Research Cluster, has attracted about 30 Ohio State faculty members from four colleges across the campus: the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), the College of Engineering, the College of Public Health, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The group also includes researchers from the University of Toledo’s Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and several representatives from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Ohio Water Science Center, and is partnering with faculty from West Virginia University under a new shale energy partnership.

All of the Ohio State faculty in the research cluster are also part of the university's Subsurface Energy Resource Center (SERC), established in 2011 to provide research and policy guidance in the shale arena. The center now has more than 80 affiliated researchers who provide foundational expertise and integrate research efforts across campus to answer important shale-related concerns.

“The shale energy industry is moving very quickly, and there’s not really much science behind what’s happening and what impact it can have, good or bad,” said Zuzana Bohrerova, coordinator of the team and research specialist and associate director of Ohio State’s Ohio Water Resources Center.

To read the full article follow the link: http://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/ohio-state-conduct-wide-range-shale-…