NEWS & RESEARCH

Astronomy Professor Appointed Holder of The Thomas Jefferson Chair

B. Scott Gaudi, professor, astronomy, has been appointed professor and holder of the Thomas Jefferson Chair for Discovery and Space Exploration in the Office of Academic Affairs effective Sept. 1, 2014 - Aug. 31, 2019. In 2007, Ohio State received an anonymous gift of $20 million to support the exploration of outer space, which funds student fellowships and two faculty chairs named for two men known for their fascination with exploration and discovery — Thomas Jefferson and John Glenn. The Thomas Jefferson Chair supports a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences studying grand-scale space exploration, specifically work that concentrates on the search for extra-solar planets with the potential to support life.

 

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Anonymous Donors Give Gift to English 

The English department received a $50,000 gift from two generous donors dedicated to improving the college experience for undergraduate English majors and students taking English classes. The donors targeted two projects, providing each with $25,000: The advancement of Writer's Exchange (WEx), a peer-review writing platform recently developed by colleagues in Rhetoric, Composition and Literacy; and the production and performance of a Shakespeare play by undergraduate students studying in the department. 

 

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Earth Scientist Receives NSF Grant to Study Magnet-making Bacteria

Earth Sciences Professor Steven K. Lower’s new three-year, $562,000 NSF grant will fund new work examining bacteria that have unique genes that allow them to make nanometer-size magnets inside their cells. They can use the magnets to navigate much like humans use a compass. The research is a novel combination of mineralogy, genetics and microbiology.

 

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Molecular Geneticist Invited to Give 4th Annual Seymour Benzer Lecture at National Academy of Sciences Headquarters

R. Keith Slotkin, assistant professor, molecular genetics, has been invited to give the 4th Annual Seymour Benzer Lecture, Sept. 10, at the National Academy of Science’s headquarters in Irvine, California. His lecture, “The Host-Pathogen Arms Race: a View from the Molecular Battlefield,” springs from a 20-minute lecture he gave at the Kavli Frontiers of Science meeting in 2013.

 

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Rinaldo’s Robotic Art, Digital Prints, on View in Short North

Ken Rinaldo, professor, art & technology, is one of the artists showcasing work in the Lumos Gallery and Tech Incubator, 937 N. High St. His exhibition, on view until Sept. 6 and featured at the Gallery Hop that evening, includes interactive robotic art and colorful digital print works.

AWARDS

Geographer Receives NSF/USAID Collaborative Global Research Award 

Bryan Mark, associate professor; geography and Earth sciences, received an NSF and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) global research award for his project with the Instituto Geofisico del Peru focusing on glacier retreat and water resource sustainability in the Peruvian Andes.

 

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Statistician Wins Best Application Paper 

Matthew Pratola, assistant professor, statistics, won the Wilcoxon Award (with co-authors) for the best application paper for the year 2013. Pratola was lead author of the paper, “Fast Sequential Computer Model Calibration of Large Nonstationary Spatial-Temporal Processes,” which appeared in the May 2013 issue of the journal Technometrics.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

2014-2015 Science Sundays Season Four Kicks Off Sept. 14 

What do a Nobel Laureate, a Pixar animation tailor and a ghost-particle hunter have in common? Can algebra be turned into art? Do we need to avoid GMOs? What about Einstein’s crazier theories, not to mention the future of the human population? And what does Homer have to do with mathematics? Answers are free at Science Sundays. Margot Gerritsen, Stanford University, starts it up Sept. 14 with Mathematical Tools Bring Hidden Beauty to Light.

 

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Save the Date: Sullivant Hall Grand Opening

Join us for an afternoon of festivities on Saturday, Sept. 20, 12:30-5 p.m. celebrating the transformation of historic Sullivant Hall, 1813 N. High St. Ribbon-cutting, remarks from university leaders, site-specific dance performances, open houses. FREE and open to everyone!

 

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Black Girls: The Silent Crisis Symposium

Black Girls: Silent Crisis, a two-day symposium on issues and challenges related to the economic, educational, social, mental and physical health of young black girls and teens, and the role of the criminal justice system in the lives of black girls and their families, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12 – 13, AAAS Community Extension Center, 905 Mount Vernon Ave. Free/open to scholars, students and the Columbus community.  

 

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National Postdoc Appreciation Week: Networking Social

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 5-7p.m., 105 Biomedical Research Tower (BRT). Guests from BioOhio, TechColumbus and other industry leaders from around Columbus have been invited. Refreshments. All Ohio State postdocs are welcome. RSVP by Sept. 12.

 

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Office of Research: New Faculty Reception 

New to Ohio State? Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research, and Jan Weisenberger, senior associate vice president for research, would like to welcome you to the Ohio State research community. Meet with representatives from the Office of Research, associate deans for research, research center directors and more. Sept. 23, 8:30 a.m., Ohio Union, Great Hall Meeting Room. RSVP by Sept. 17. Continental breakfast available.

 

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Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Student e-Newsletter – Autumn Welcome

The Autumn Welcome Edition of the undergraduate student e-Newsletter highlights student involvement opportunities; the Department of Molecular Genetics open house; OSU job and internship fairs; and the Psychology Career, Internship and Graduate School Fair. It also profiles Erica Beimesche (English and theatre major) who studied abroad as part of the London Theatre Program. Submit content, suggestions/be added to the mailing list, contact Ann Rottersman, director of student programs. Newsletter Archives.

 

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Honoring Civil Rights Struggles: 2014-2015 DISCO Welcome Reception

The Diversity and Identity Studies Collective at OSU (DISCO) honors the 50-year anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement, Thursday, Sept. 11, 3:30 p.m., 1120 Thompson Library. Each DISCO program has chosen someone to speak about the movement through a different lens. Geoffrey Smith, head of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, will introduce the library's forthcoming civil rights exhibition.

EVENTS

Through Sept. 5

Operetta Burlesque; Thurber Theatre

 

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Sept. 5

Romance and Reality in the Mythical Mission Past: How We Found the Lost Spanish Mission on St. Catherines Island; 10:30 a.m., 4012 Smith Laboratory

Reading and Writing, Acts of Collaboration; 12 p.m., Humanities Institute, 104 E. 15th Ave.

CHR Opening Keynote: Steven Pincus, Wars and State Making: Re-examining the Paradigm; 2 p.m., 165 Thompson Library

 

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Through Sept. 6

Mershon Research Network in Cultural Resilience: Sustainable Pluralism: Linguistic and Cultural Resilience in Multiethnic Societies; Mershon Center for International Security Studies

PULL LEFT: Contemporary Chinese Art; Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., Suite 130

 

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Sept. 8

Theatre Lab Series: Streaming; 7 p.m.

Mershon Center for International Security Studies: Mark Stewart, Climate Change Risk Assessment: Is Adaptation a Workable Solution to Climate Change?; 3:30 p.m., Mershon Center for International Security Studies

 

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Sept. 9

Theatre Lab Series: Untitled; 7 p.m.

Mershon Center presents: Waging Peace; 4 p.m., Saxbe Auditorium, Drinko Hall

 

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Sept. 10

Purnima Kumar: Tobacco Smoking and the Oral Microbial Ecosystem; 4:10 p.m., 001 Jennings Hall

 

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Through Oct. 3

Tracers Takes Over; Hopkins Hall Gallery

 

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Through Oct. 31

Faculty Club Alumni Art Exhibition: Maria Alejandra Zanetta; Faculty Club
 

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See more events at artsandsciences.osu.edu/events