Dr. Cynthia Atterholt is currently conducting research at the contaminated Barber Orchard in neighboring Haywood County. Her work has appeared in local newspapers. Dr. Atterholt's research should soon be patented. It may reduce commercial agriculture's reliance on toxic pesticides.

"I love environmental chemistry," Atterholt exclaimed. "It is exciting to contribute to a product that may help the environment and farmers."

Dr. David Butcher's research focuses on air pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The physics department is no stranger to high technology. Dr. Kurt Vandervoort uses the Nobel Prize-winning technology of a scanning tunneling microscope in his research. Vandervoort recently presented a research paper at the 100 year celebration of the American Physical Society in Atlanta. The APS ranks as the preeminent physics society in the world. Forty Nobel Prize Laureates were in attendance at the Atlanta meeting.