New aging research collaboration between WSU and KSU
The recent advancements in the field of unconventional oil and gas extraction techniques (e.g., horizontal fracturing) have made the Oklahoma and Kansas Mississippian limestone formation much more technologically and economically feasible. The Mississippian formation is a thick, porous carbonate deposition full of oil and gas that extends over millions of acres in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas.
This exploration has brought hundreds of workers to the area in a rapid manner, mostly in northern Oklahoma, but also in the town of Anthony, Kan. With rapid energy exploration activity expected in more Kansas communities, particularly in small communities, various positive and negative consequences are likely to occur in terms of social impacts, i.e., community infrastructure, economic wellbeing, housing, health issues; to name a few.
WSU researchers Richard Muma, the lead researcher and associate vice president of Academic Affairs and professor of Public Health Sciences, and Teresa Radebaugh, director of the WSU Regional Institute on Aging, partnered with professor Rick Scheidt from Kansas State University's College of Human Ecology and his team to conduct the first ever focus groups about the impact of energy exploration with the residents in Anthony, Kan., on June 5.
The overall goal of the research is to understand the impact of the changes brought to small communities and the residents by the influx of people, equipment and businesses to support the rapidly expanding drilling operations. Understanding the impact of these changes on communities and older adults, may result in ways to advise communities on how to mitigate the impact of massive drilling operations and how to support their most vulnerable residents.
The project is supported in part by the Cassat Regional Institute on Aging Research Fund housed in the WSU Regional Institute on Aging. For more information on the Regional Institute on Aging, go to http://wichita.edu/aging.