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Breakthroughs in Science

Archive for December, 2008

Grazing Animals Help Spread Plant Disease

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Researchers have discovered that grazing animals including deer and rabbits are actually helping to spread plant disease – quadrupling its prevalence in some cases – and encouraging an invasion of annual grasses that threatens more than 20 million acres of native grasslands in California. Click here to read the full article.

EarthScope looks into the planet

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

President Ray’s quarterly report brings us news of the EarthScope Program: A first-of-its-kind transcontinental project called EarthScope, whose national office is located at OSU, is giving geologists an unprecedented look into the depths of North America. Their work is already turning up clues about silent quakes, creaking fault lines and the potential for a tremor […]

Dr. Jane Lubchenco chosen to head NOAA

Friday, December 19th, 2008

This news is spreading like wildfire today: OSU’s Dr. Jane Lubchenco has been chosen by President-elect Obama to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We are very proud and excited to see Jane take on this role. Here are some news links! Obama’s new hotshot at NOAA – Los Angeles Times Lubchenco Brings Northwest […]

Oregon Mathematics Leadership Institute Partnership

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

The Oregon Mathematics Leadership Institute is a partnership between Oregon State University, Portland State University, Teachers Development Group, and 10 Oregon school districts, with approximately 180 teachers and 100 administrators participating across the 10 partner districts.  OMLI works to build collaborative professional learning communities within the participating schools through a series of intensive summer institutes […]

Transmissions from the Ice Sheet

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

We have an exciting blog to share today. Ph.D. student Logan Mitchell is spending two months working at the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide research station in Antarctica, as a member of a National Science Foundation-funded project that aims to collect a 3.5 kilometer-long ice core over three summer seasons. The intention is to […]

OSU Mentors

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Mentorship is not a new thing for Peter Bottomley, professor of microbiology in the College of Science. Back in 2006, Peter became the very first recipient of the Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award, given by the OSU Graduate School. These days, Peter is part of the Mentor Program at OSU. He and former student Shawn […]

Breakthrough Made in Metamaterial Optics

Friday, December 5th, 2008

These “metamaterials,” which gain their properties from their structure rather than directly from their composition, have been seen as a key to a possible “super lens” that would have an extraordinary level of resolution and be able to “see” things the size of a nanometer – a human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide. They could […]

Assessing the Threat of Whirling Disease

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Risk Assessments May Help Control Spread of Whirling Disease in rainbow trout and other salmonids: There are no effective ways to control the disease once it’s introduced. This makes it important, researchers say, to identify the most vulnerable river systems and take all the necessary steps, including public education efforts, to prevent it from becoming […]

Breakthroughs in Science: Corvallis

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

On October 10, 2008, the College of Science welcomed guests to the Board of Visitors Luncheon and a Breakthroughs in Science interactive faculty event. The luncheon provided our attending board members an opportunity to discuss their board “task” completed for this calendar year and our special guests a forum to discuss their history and current […]

The National System of Marine Protected Areas

Monday, December 1st, 2008

From News and Communication Services at OSU: “Marine protected areas are parts of the ocean set aside for their conservation value, much like state and national parks,” said Mark Hixon, a professor of marine biology at Oregon State University and chair of the federal advisory committee that helped produce the framework for the national system. […]