University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Researchers at the University’s Ecology Center have been working on a way to preserve and propagate native plants since 2007.

In addition to re-creating prairie, the research team developed a trademarked line of native seeds and plants called PureNative™.

Chemical engineering student Ashley Picou Mikolajczyk is studying alligator yolks to find out why the eggs of alligators in the wild are more likely to hatch than those of farm-raised gators.

Ashley’s work is aimed to improve hatch rates for farmers and in the conservation of related species that are threatened or endangered.

Graduate student Nicholas Lipari is using 3-D technology to make big data useful. He is using data collected when Hurricane Isaac made landfall in Louisiana to create a way to monitor real-time data.