Apply for a long-term (6 to 12 months) research room at the Valley Library. Doctoral candidates and faculty members engaged in special projects may apply. Applications (available here) will be considered based on project merits and specific need for library space and materials. The application deadline is Feb. 14 and decisions will be made Feb. 28. Please complete and return to the library circulation desk, or return by email to lori.hilterbrand@oregonstate.edu.
Author Archives: Luanne Johnson
February is Food Drive Month!!
This post will be updated with all the February Food Drive Events. If you receive our weekly links email, expect to see this title every week.
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Penny Drive! The Chemistry Department is holding a penny (but we’ll take your silver change too) drive to benefit the Linn Benton Food Share. Bring your spare change into Gilbert 153 and fill the flask! We’re accepting donations through Friday, February 28th.
Crock-Pot-Cook-Off To Benefit Linn Benton Food Share: Sponsored by the AMBC. Calling all crock-pot chefs! Compete for OSU glory and enter your favorite chili, soup or side for just $5. Cook-off on Thursday, Feb. 6 in Hovland Hall conf. Room 09 from 11:30 a.m. until the pots are empty! Help us judge and taste all the cook-off entries for just $3! See http://oregonstate.edu/fa/bc/ambc/crock-pot-cook for details.
Quilt Raffle: Beautiful quilt made by Robin Baker of Primetime Quilters. On display in the Research Office located at A312 Kerr Administration Building. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5 from Jan. 30-Feb. 28. For questions, contact mimi.poitras@oregonstate.edu.
NROTC Soup Luncheon: Come and share our bounty of Hearty Soups (one bread item is included) for $3 per bowl on Thurs., Feb. 4. Desserts & additional bread items sold separately for $.50 – $1.00. Serving begins at 11:30 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m at the Naval Armory Qrtdeck. For questions, contact state.sec@oregonstate.edu.
Book & Media Sale: Check out books and media for sale at the Valley Library’s 4th floor reception area, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., M-F, Jan. 30-Feb.28. Inventory is constantly changing throughout the month. Benefits go to Linn Benton Food Share. For questions, contact jolynn.ohearn@oregonstate.edu.
Flower Power for Linn Benton Food Share: For every purchase made at Flower Power Fundraising, 50% will be given back to OSU Libraries, Extension & Experiment Station Communications & E-Campus to support Linn Benton Food Share. Lots of varieties of bulbs, strawberries, vegetables and flower seeds to choose from!
Horticulture Chili Feed to Stop Hunger!: Join us Wed., Feb 5, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in ALS 4018. Cost is $5 or two canned/ packaged food items. For questions, contact leeann.julson@oregonstate.edu.
Soup Lunch: Join us Feb. 6, 11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m., 3rd floor Staff Lounge, behind Willamette Room West, Valley Library for many varieties of homemade soup, bread/crackers, drink & dessert for a donation of a minimum of $5. Also have soup bowls made by Crescent Valley High School students for $10 donation! Questions? Contact jolynn.ohearn@oregonstate.edu.
OSUsed Store Discount Sale: Wed., Feb. 5, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Property Services Bldg. Donate 3+ Food Drive items at our public sales in Feb. to receive a coupon for use in our store! For each set of 3 donations, receive 1 coupon for up to $20 off. Please see full details at http://surplus.oregonstate.edu. We sell used furniture, computers, sporting goods, bikes, housewares and more.
International Potluck Lunch: Come join us for an internationally-themed lunch on Feb. 5, noon to 1:30 p.m. at ILLC’s fifth floor kitchen to benefit the OSU Food Drive. The suggested donation for this event is $5. All monies collected will be donated to the Linn-Benton Food Share. For questions, contact erin.creager@oregonstate.edu.
Economics Program Plant Sale: Come by Ballard Ext. Hall, Room 303, M-F 8-5, Feb. 3-28, to purchase a variety of easy care plants, mostly succulents. $5 suggested donation for most plants with all proceeds going to the Food Drive. Questions can be directed to Laura.Relyea@oregonstate.edu.
3rd Annual Prettiest Pet Contest: Does your pet have what it takes to be the prettiest? Enter the Grad School’s 3rd Annual Prettiest Pet Contest with your pet’s photo & $1 entry fee at 300 Kerr Admin Bldg. Vote for the prettiest pet by donating funds/food from Feb. 5-28. The “prettiest” pet wins a prize & bragging rights for 1 year! For questions, contact Jessica.king@oregonstate.edu.
Papa’s Pizza Coupons for Sale: The University Honors College Student Association is selling coupon sheets to Papa’s Pizza (located in South Town) for $15 each for the Food Drive from Feb. 6-20. This coupon sheet is worth over $100 in savings, including a coupon for a free small pizza. Email univhonorscollegesa@oregonstate.edu for details.
Contest: Does your pet have what it takes to be the prettiest? Enter the Grad School’s 3rd Annual Prettiest Pet Contest with your pet’s photo & $1 entry fee at 300 Kerr Admin Bldg. Vote for the prettiest pet by donating funds/food from Feb. 5-28. The “prettiest” pet wins a prize & bragging rights for 1 year! For questions, contact Jessica.king@oregonstate.edu.
Folding for Food- Public Health and Human Sciences: Put your creativity and your dollar bills to good use – submit your best origami-folded bills to 101 Milam by Feb. 21 for contest prizes. Then vote (with coins or dollars) for your favorite in 101 Milam between Feb 24-27. All money will be donated to OSU Food Drive. For questions, contact susan.carozza@oregonstate.edu.
NEW! Archive Film Festival and Bake Sale: Join us on Feb. 13 from noon to 1 p.m. to watch a film from OSU Archives in the Valley Library, Willamette E&W, 3662. Buy some goodies and help out Linn-Benton Food Share. Event sponsored by OSU Libraries & Press/ E-Campus/ Extension & Experiment Station Communications. Questions? Contactkarl.mccreary@oregonstate.edu.
Forum on Learning Management Systems
During winter and spring quarter, OSU will undertake a university-wide process to review options for learning management systems to best support our educational needs. Several products, including the current system, Blackboard, are being considered as the platform of choice for OSU. Employees are invited to join an overview session to learn why this effort is underway, how the review is being done, and how to participate. Learn more about this project at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/elearnosu/ or contact Lynn Greenough. Overview session: Friday, Feb. 14, 2 to 3 p.m., Kidder 202. Remote participation: http://live.oregonstate.edu
OSU-ChUME Hosts Watch Party for Bill Nye/Ken Ham Debate
Guest Blogger: Lindsay Wills
OSU-ChUME organized a watch party for the Tuesday night debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham entitled, “Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?”. This was a long debate, scheduled to last two and half hours, so we got some pizza and gave people a place to watch the debate with fellow scientists and engineers.
The debate was a very interesting watch. Our audience was primarily on the evolution side of this debate, cheering several times at points made by Bill Nye. Nye made several excellent arguments to show that the earth is much older than the 6,000 years asserted by Ken Ham. Nonetheless, Ken Ham reiterated many times throughout the night that he believes that the bible is the literal word of god, and no one could ever convince him that the word of god is not true.
However, it didn’t seem like Bill Nye was there to change Ken Ham’s mind. Nye put a strong emphasis on reaching out to voters and kids during his chances to talk. He appealed to voters that the U.S. must continue to fund science education and warned that the U.S. could fall behind technologically if we do not keep science important in the classroom. For more information about the debate, or to watch a replay, visit http://debatelive.org/.
OSU-ChUME hosted this event to give undergraduate and graduate science students a chance to intermingle and talk about issues relevant to the lives of both groups. We will continue to host events like this throughout the remainder of the year. For more information about the OSU-ChUME program, contact Maduka Ogba (ogbao@onid.orst.edu) or Lindsay Wills (willsl@onid.orst.edu).
Air Force Chemistry Jobs
The Air Force Technical Applications Center is standing up a new laboratory and looking to fill numerous positions.
-The jobs can be found on usajobs.gov using the codes listed below.
-The salary ranges do not include a locality adjustment.
-Note that all positions require a US Citizenship and the ability to obtain a Top Secret security clearance.
-Please encourage your students to apply for these jobs, particularly undergraduates finishing up this Spring.
-The job postings are incredibly vague, so below is some more information on what we are looking for on each job.
-Lastly, I expect a Chemical Safety Officer/Radiation Safety Officer job will be posted sometime in the future as well.
Feel free to contact me if any questions arise regarding the Air Force civil service, Florida, the laboratory, etc.
All the Best,
Brent Matteson, 2010
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Brent Matteson, PhD
Chief, Laboratory Operations Branch
Air Force Technical Applications Center
Patrick AFB, FL
Comm: 321-494-6312
DSN: 854-6312
* 8X-DCIPS-1032156-028735-JP
Interdisciplinary nuclear engineer/ physics/chemistry – This position is for a senior level mass spec scientist. (The ad also mentions counting experience, but is really for mass spectrometry.) We really need a good person here. They should have both analytical chemistry and mass spec experience. This is a MS/PhD level position. They will be supervising several chemists and instrument techs, run two large clean-room suites, and some really cool MS instruments to work with. We particularly would like chemists with mass spectrometry experience.
The other 6 jobs are all classified as physical sciences technicians. There are two levels of scientists being advertised – GG-09 and GG-11. The big difference is just in responsibility and ability to solve problems. None of these are supervisory positions. A BS or MS is preferred for each position.
* 8X-DCIPS-1031366-029326-JP
* 8X-DCIPS-1031780-033980-SDL
These two positions are sample processing technicians in the radiochemistry section. We are looking for folks with good analytical skills and any bit of radchem experience. They will work on elemental purifications. A third job in this group should come out in the next few days.
* 8X-DCIPS-1032943-033867-SDL
This is a chemistry position working in the mass spec section. This is all very low level work mostly in the clean room environment. Strong analytical skills are desired. Another, tech position in this group will come out in the future.
* 8X-DCIPS-1027157-034011-SDL
* 8X-DCIPS-1030266-029844-JP
These two positions will part of one of the largest count rooms in the world. These positions will specialize in alpha, beta, or gamma counting chemically separated samples and keeping the instruments up and running. Another job in this group should come out in the next few days.
* 8X-DCIPS-1032208-033965-SDL
This position is for a sample reporting/logging technician. They will help coordinate the submission of gamma screening and count room data.
Discover Thinner, Green Materials for Screens
By: Dacotah-Victoria Splichalova
Originally printed in The Daily Barometer February 4, 2014 (used with permission)
Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry looks at sustainable compounds used in electronics.
Behind every LCD screen, there are metal components that require high-quality UV exposure in order for the television or iPhone displays to work more efficiently.
Higher quality metals used in LCDs produce faster pixels, which results in better quality devices.
“We’re looking at elements that are more commonly available and affordable like tin, zinc and aluminum,” said Shawn Decker, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of chemistry and a member of the Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry. “Our goal is to discover ways to process these materials in more sustainable and less energy-consuming ways.”
Traditionally the materials that go into making electronic devices have been processed using various types of vacuum chambers, which takes a lot of energy, according to Decker. This process is of concern to Decker and his colleagues because it is inefficient and wasteful.
Recognizing the vital need to lessen the energy that goes into the production of these materials, the CSMC’s research is looking at cutting down the waste of materials and energy by focusing on more environmentally friendly compounds and solvents.
For this reason, one of the main solvents being used within the laboratory research is water.
The CSMC is a Phase-II Center for Chemical Innovation and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It is the brainchild of Doug Keszler, a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry at OSU and the current director of the center.
Maintaining a strong emphasis on research collaboration, the CSMC brings together university, industry and community partners.
There are six university collaborators involved with furthering research discovery within the CSMC: Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Washington University in St Louis, Rutgers University, UC Davis and UC Berkeley. Hewlett Packard, IBM and Intel are a few of the CSMC’s industry partners.
The CSMC is comprised of researchers from various disciplines including inorganic and computational chemists, mechanical engineers, material science specialists, physicists and electrical engineers.
The industry strives to make displays on electronic devices, like the iPhone or the flat screen television, thinner and thinner.
The overarching goal for CSMC researchers and its industry partners is to produce materials that will in turn shrink the electrical components and all of the parts that go into making these displays.
“These devices can take up less space and be nice and flush against your living-room wall or fit better in your coat pocket,” Decker said.
The center is working with different metals that are low-cost and reusable, so the energy it takes to produce these new materials is reduced.
Sumit Saha, a synthetic chemist, joined the CSMC this past fall as a postdoctoral research scholar.
Saha is focused on cultivating some of these new materials by working specifically with organometallic compounds, which are organic and inorganic metals combined.
This combination of the old technology (organic materials only) with the new (inorganic materials) is a bridge toward becoming more sustainable in the industry.
The opportunity to see how the CSMC’s research performs outside of the lab on the larger scale within industry is important for the researchers in order to recognize what the full potential and benefits are for society, according to Saha.
“It is a great center to work … to commercialize (students’ and faculty’s) research with the potential of starting up a new company,” Saha said. “Researchers need to share our science with the community in order to see if its going to be applicable or not.”
Energy Department Announces $12 Million for Technology to Produce Renewable Carbon Fiber from Biomass
Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Renewable Carbon Fibers
FOA: DE-FOA-0000996
Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: March 3, 2014
Science and Technology Policy Fellowships – Strategic Programs
Science and Technology Policy Fellowships in Strategic Programs
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
Washington, D.C.
EERE-ORISE/STP-2014-4
Project Description:
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Science and Technology Policy (STP) Fellowships will serve as the next step in the educational and professional development of leaders in energy efficiency and renewable energy policy, providing an opportunity for scientists and engineers with relevant energy technology experience to participate in policy-related projects at DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Washington, D.C.
The EERE STP Fellows will apply the expertise gained from advanced degrees and history of conducting research to new and ongoing EERE initiatives. As a result of their participation in the program, Fellows are expected to:
-Gain deep insight into the federal government’s role in the creation and implementation of policies that will affect energy technology development.
-Contribute to the implementation of energy policies by applying their scientific and technical expertise to the development of solutions for problems in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
-Continue their education and involvement in areas that support the EERE mission either in a technical or policy-related role.
-Introduce policy-related knowledge and interest into research facilities supporting the EERE mission.
Three levels of Fellowships, Fellows, Senior Fellows and Junior Fellows, will allow both recent graduates and experienced scientists and engineers to participate in the EERE STP Fellowships. Fellows will be assigned to policy-related projects and be mentored by senior EERE staff.
Strategic Program Fellows: Applicants selected as a Strategic Programs Fellow will be a core team member of the Assistant Secretary’s initiative to increase commercially relevant research conducted at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, with an end goal of doubling commercial activity at the national laboratories in three years. The fellow will serve as a research analyst and conduct research, analysis, and synthesis and analysis of internal and external business models, approaches, reports, and other relevant materials associated with national laboratory activities In close collaboration with the Director of the initiative and EERE’s senior leadership, the Fellow will analyzes strategic plans/reports and advises senior management on how to implement these concepts in conjunction with changes brought about by assessments of programs and services of the technology offices. The Fellow will develop research reports, briefing materials and recommendation memos for the Director and EERE senior leadership.
Technical Questions:
Questions about these Fellowships can be addressed to: STPfellowships@orise.orau.gov
More Information and How to Apply:
For full project description: http://orise.orau.gov/science-education/internships-scholarships-fellowships/description.aspx?JobId=14579
For Application Form: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/education/stp_fellowships.html, and email to which to submit their applications, and other pertinent information.
For more information about the Office of Strategic Programs: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/office_eere/sp_main.html
To unsubscribe from this announcement, click this link STPfellowships@orise.orau.gov and send a message with the subject line “Unsubscribe.”
Mas Subramanian spotted in Campaign for OSU Video
Mas Subramanian and some other College of Science folks were spotted in this Campaign for OSU Video.
http://campaignforosu.org/newsletter/2014/winter/featured/billion_slideshow.htm
Congratulations OSU on beating our $1 Billion record!
Recycle Mania
2014 Recycle Mania competitions have started up again. You can find the schedule here if you’re interested.
The department WILL be making a push to purge confidential documents during Departmental Shredding Discount Week (M-F, March 17-21), contact Luanne Johnson if you have questions.