NEWS & UPDATES

NOTE: Next week, because of the Memorial Day holiday, News & Updates will be published on Thursday, May 28.

NEWS & RESEARCH

Molecular Genetics Professor Receives Four-Year, $1.2 Million NIH Grant

Hay-Oak Park, professor, molecular genetics; has received a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences that funds her project, "Spatial and temporal regulation of polarity establishment in budding yeast." Placement of the cell division plane and polarity establishment are crucial for cell proliferation and cell movement, as seen in developing embryos, wound healing and bud formation during yeast growth. 

AWARDS

Fifteen ASC Graduate Students Awarded 2015 Presidential Fellowships 

Fifteen ASC students are recipients of the Graduate School’s highly competitive Presidential Fellowship, which provides funding to support a year’s full-time study toward dissertation or degree-project completion unimpeded by other duties. They are: Scott Adams, astronomy; Ayse Baltacioglu, history; Ka un Lao, chemistry and biochemistry; Sarah Leopold, speech/hearing; Katherine Maskell, music; Xiaodi Ren, chemistry and biochemistry; Haley Swenson, women's, gender, & sexuality studies; Christian Clanton, astronomy; Christopher Hartmann,  geography; Jennifer Hellmann, EEOB; Jonathan Holmes, English; Joel Moreira, math; Gayathri Natarajan, microbiology; Chunyu Ng, physics; and KayLoni Olson, psychology. Competitions are held twice annually, in spring and fall.  

Arts and Sciences Students Named Schweitzer Fellows

Two Arts and Sciences students — Ahran Koo and Sarah Levitt — are among the 18 graduate students selected for the 2015-16 class of Albert Schweitzer Fellows from Columbus and Athens. They will spend the next year learning to effectively address social factors that impact health and developing lifelong leadership skills, following the example set by famed physician-humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, for whom the fellowship is named.

Earth Sciences Graduate Student Awarded NSF EAPSI Fellowship

Kevin J. Meyer, first-year MS student and University Fellowship holder in the School of Earth Sciences, has been awarded a National Science Foundation East Asia and Pacific Study Institute (EAPSI) fellowship for study in Taiwan during summer 2015. Meyer is the sixth NSF EAPSI fellowship award winner from Earth sciences since 2004. His advisor is Earth Sciences Professor Anne Carey.

Earth Sciences Graduate Student Awarded NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

Earth Sciences graduate student Jeffrey Pigott has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship for his project, “Diffusion anisotropy in Earth's inner core.” Pigott, whose advisor is Earth Sciences Associate Professor Wendy Panero, will defend his PhD June 15 and do his postdoctoral research at Case Western University. After his postdoc, Pigott hopes to move on to a faculty position, continue conducting mineral physics research and remain actively involved in the deep-Earth scientific community.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Christopher Hoch Named Interim Director of Marching Band

Veteran music educator Christopher Hoch will assume interim leadership of The Ohio State University Marching and Athletic Bands through the upcoming season, according to an announcement from Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Steinmetz. Hoch has 15 years of experience teaching music and leading young people in various band and musical ensemble programs at the high school and college levels, including Ohio State. As associate director of the Ohio State Marching and Athletic Bands during the 2013 and 2014 seasons, Hoch helped oversee show design, music rehearsals and student staff, along with other administrative responsibilities.

Anthropology Professor Presents Lecture Series in China

Jeffrey Cohen, professor, anthropology, is in residence at the South Central University for Nationalities (SCUN), Wuhan, China, where he is presenting a series of lectures on migration, methodology and anthropological theory.  He is working with SCUN faculty to develop research around rural-urban migration patterns.

If you have information or announcements for News & Updates, please send an e-mail to asccomm@osu.edu, or call (614) 292-8686. News & Updates is published every Wednesday; deadline for content is Monday at noon.