Focus
on Research
Penn State Intercom......August
15, 2002
Jet contrails alter average
daily temperature range
When the Federal Aviation Administration grounded commercial aircraft in the U.S. for three days after Sept. 11, scientists at Penn State and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater got a rare glimpse of the climate effects of jet contrails. An examination of the high and low temperatures recorded throughout the country and of satellite photos taken during that time revealed an anomalous increase in the average difference between the nighttime low temperature and the daytime high temperature. Because persisting contrails can reduce the transfer of both incoming solar and outgoing infrared radiation, and so reduce the daily temperature range, the experts attribute at least a portion of this anomaly to the absence of contrails. For the full story by A'ndrea Elyse Messer, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/jetcontrails.html.
Biochemist gets
National Science Foundation Award 
Squire J. Booker, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation.
The award, which the agency describes as its highest honor for new faculty, provides five years of funding to stimulate the early development of academic careers in science and engineering and to support the critical roles played by faculty members in integrating research and education.
A University faculty member since 1999, Booker is an enzymologist whose research focuses on understanding the fundamental interactions that allow enzymes to catalyze reactions within cells.