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Soil bioengineering using Vetiver is a widely used vegetation-based slope failure mitigation technique. Though Sunshine Vetiver grass, also known as Chrysopogon zizanioides, grows 3 m in length inside the soil in tropical and subtropical climate conditions, the depth up to which Vetiver impacts the soil property has remained undetected. This study has investigated the subsurface influence zone of Vetiver grass based on nondestructive geophysical investigations Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI) and Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) in a high plasticity expansive clay soil slope in Mississippi, United States. ERI data collected on the slope revealed that the top 2 m of the high plasticity clay soil had a higher resistivity value with Vetiver (ranging from 4 to 60 􀀺m) compared to the soil without Vetiver (ranging from 2 to 28 􀀺m). MASW investigation results at the same slope have indicated a similar increase in shear wave velocity with Vetiver up to 2 m indicating enhanced soil stiffness while compared to the section without it. The combined geophysical approach using ERI and MASW reveals that the root system of the Vetiver grass enhanced the moisture content and increased the stiffness of soil within the top layers. Though the grass roots can grow more than 3 m inside the soil, the major influence was observed within the top 2 m from the slope surface. 

As part of the PI's outreach, a course-based undergraduate research experience engaged undergraduate women in research from examining the literature to identify a gap, formulating a research hypothesis, designing experiments to test the hypothesis, analyzing the data, writing and submitting an abstract and presenting the research to the scientific community. This project was as follows: Current clinical approaches to repair breast damage from cancer resection, injury, or deformity focus on synthetic implants or autologous muscle grafts. While there are drawbacks and benefits to each, neither restore the function lost should the woman desire to nurse children. Tissue engineering methods have the potential to restore breast tissue volume and function that circumvent the reconstructive limitations of contemporary surgical procedures. There is a large body of research on breast tissue engineering; however, much of the research focuses on restoring breast volume rather than breast function and seek to replace the missing tissue with fat or muscle.​ Here, we aim to develop a scaffold capable of supporting both breast adipose and glandular tissue (the main components of breast tissue) towards restoring both form and function to the breast.