The Research Office is accepting applications for the Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship and Creativity (URISC) program for Summer term 2014. This program supports undergraduate research activities from all academic disciplines within the University. Program description and application: http://oregonstate.edu/research/incentive/urisc. Information: Debbie Delmore at debbie.delmore@oregonstate.edu. Submission Deadline: Feb. 17.

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Data-Driven Discovery Investigator Competition

Pre-Application Process: January 9 through February 24, 2014

We are pleased to announce that the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Data-Driven Discovery Investigator Competition has now launched.  This competition is open to researchers in any PhD-granting institution or a private research organization in the United States.  The pre-application process will run from January 9 through February 24, 2014. If you or your colleagues are interested in learning more, please see the full solicitation attached as a PDF.

As an open call, we are also hoping to spread the word far and wide among qualified applicants, and to that end we’d like to ask your help. Please share this news through your institutional networks, social media, mailing lists, etc. In brief:

*Our Data-Driven Discovery Initiative seeks to advance the people and practices of data-intensive science to take advantage of the increasing volume, velocity, and variety of scientific data to make new discoveries. Data-intensive science is inherently multidisciplinary, combining natural sciences with methods from statistics and computer science.

*The goal of the DDD Investigator awards is to fund individuals who exemplify this new kind of data-driven discovery. These innovators are striking out in new directions and are willing to take risks with the potential of huge payoffs in some aspect of data-intensive science. Successful applicants must make a strong case for developments in the natural sciences (biology, physics, astronomy, etc.), or science enabling methodologies (statistics, machine learning, scalable algorithms, etc.) and applicants that credibly combine the two are especially encouraged. Note that the Science Program does not fund disease targeted research. It is anticipated that the DDD initiative will make about 15 awards at ~$1,500,000 each ($200K-$300K/year for five years).

*The pre-applications are due Monday February 24, 2014 by 5pm Pacific Time. They must be submitted online at www.moore.org/DDDInvestigator. A list of frequently asked questions is posted on the site. If your question is not answered, please contact the email address below. Pre-applications will be reviewed by Foundation staff and external experts.

*The Foundation anticipates extending invitations for full applications in April 2014.

Please feel free to send questions our way, and thanks in advance for helping us share this news.

Data-Driven Discovery Initiative

DDDInvestigator@moore.org

-Vicki Chandler, Mark Stalzer, Chris Mentzel, Jasan Zimmerman

DDD Investigator Competition Solicitation for Applications

 

OWHE’S Annual Conference gathers Oregon women from various intersecting identities and disciplines to connect, dialogue, grow and lead positive change in higher education. With a focus on diversity- encompassing women of all different identities and disciplines; and Inclusion- creating environments in which all are welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to fully participate, 2014’s conference theme is

THRIVE: Transformation ● Hope ● Renewal ● Innovation ● Vitality ● Engagement

THRIVE will bring together diverse perspectives of women from various identities (race, class, gender, ability, etc.) and career paths with the hope of  building community and solidarity by supporting all Oregon Women in Higher-Education to thrive and lead.

Join us for Oregon Women in Higher Education’s 34th annual conference on January 24, 2014 at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Providing Oregon women the opportunity to meet and share professional knowledge and skills, this conference is well-known for its low cost, friendly atmosphere, and valuable sessions. Registration opens November 26th, 2013.

KEY NOTE SPEAKER OF THE 2014 CONFERENCE : Dr. Avel Louise Gordly, activist, community organizer, first African-American woman to be elected to the Oregon State Senate and among many other reasons she is an inspiration to many.

Please click here for a list of presentations 

REGISTER

Join us for the 2014 conference! Complete a quick registration form!

Cost

Professionals, Faculty/Staff*: $125

Students: $50
*If you are selected to present at the 2014 conference, your registration is FREE!

Lodging 
Conference attendees who need lodging are encouraged to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Location and Maps 
The 34th annual conference will be hosted on Oregon State University’s campus in Corvallis, Oregon.

Memorial Union Ballroom and Campus Map:http://mu.oregonstate.edu/reservations/map-directions 
Google Map of Parking:http://oregonstate.edu/conferences/parking

2013-14 Excellence Awards Nomination

Oregon Women in Higher Education is excited to recognize women who have positively contributed to their campuses, communities, and beyond. We especially want to honor those individuals who envision an educational, social and political climate in which diverse women benefit from the opportunities in higher education and shape the progression of their chosen field.

We encourage you to nominate an outstanding woman leader (2-year and 4-year institutions) for these awards. Recipients will be recognized at the Oregon Women in Higher Education Conference at Oregon State University on January 24, 2014.

Fill out your nomination at our Google Form.

Questions about the conference can be directed to owheconf@gmail.com

  • Imposter Syndrome: Implications for Women in Higher Education
  • Women negotiating salary; narrowing the gender wage gap
  • Higher Education: It’s a Family Endeavor
  • Healing as Liberation for Women of Color in Higher Education
  • Impact of Involvement: Queer Women in Higher Education
  • The Empowering and Isolating Experience of Online Distance Graduate Education
  • Assisting Dual Career Couples within Higher Education
  • Being Young and Female in Student Affairs
  • The World Needs Women: Developing and Sustaining Empowered Leaders Locally and Globally through Service-Learning and Civic Engagement.
  • From Invisible to Visible:  Creating a Welcoming Campus for Third Culture Kids
  • Promoting Success for Female Nontraditional Students
  • Assessing OSU Climate for International Women Graduate Students
  • Borderlands:  The Immigration Experiences of Haitian Women in the Dominican Republic
  • An Analysis of the Relation between Urban Design and Street Harassment
  • How Can One Continue to Make a Difference as an Emeritus Faculty?:  Exploring this Landscape
  • Why Oregon? And How I’ve Found Community

Chemistry online?  How is that possible?  More and more students are finding that taking an OSU Chemistry class online is not only possible, but is a great way to meet the requirements of their degree program in a way that fits well in their life.

During the 2012/2013 academic year, students took more than 6600 credit hours of Chemistry classes online, second only to the Fisheries and Wildlife department in number of student credit hours.  Most terms, about 12 classes are offered, including 2 different series of General Chemistry and the complete Organic Chemistry series.  The CH 121/122/123 series is completely online, with the labs provided by OnLineChemLabs.  For the higher level classes, the labs are offered in a condensed format that make it easy for distance students to travel to campus for a short time (like a 3 day weekend) to complete their requirements.

Who are our students?  Our online instructors have students from all over the world, including students in the military in Afghanistan.  Our students include working people that want to complete their degrees, spouses of military personnel, stay-at-home parents, and many others.  Some on campus OSU students have found that taking their chemistry online fits well in their schedule as well.

If you are interested in learning more about online chemistry here at OSU, please check out our website, or email Kim Thackray at kim.thackray@oregonstate.edu.

by David Stauth

1/6/2014 – Reprinted from News & Research Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered novel compounds produced by certain types of chemical reactions – such as those found in vehicle exhaust or grilling meat – that are hundreds of times more mutagenic than their parent compounds which are known carcinogens.

These compounds were not previously known to exist, and raise additional concerns about the health impacts of heavily-polluted urban air or dietary exposure. It’s not yet been determined in what level the compounds might be present, and no health standards now exist for them.

The findings were published in December in Environmental Science and Technology, a professional journal.

The compounds were identified in laboratory experiments that mimic the type of conditions which might be found from the combustion and exhaust in cars and trucks, or the grilling of meat over a flame.

“Some of the compounds that we’ve discovered are far more mutagenic than we previously understood, and may exist in the environment as a result of heavy air pollution from vehicles or some types of food preparation,” said Staci Simonich, a professor of chemistry and toxicology in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences.

“We don’t know at this point what levels may be present, and will explore that in continued research,” she said.

The parent compounds involved in this research are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, formed naturally as the result of almost any type of combustion, from a wood stove to an automobile engine, cigarette or a coal-fired power plant. Many PAHs, such as benzopyrene, are known to be carcinogenic, believed to be more of a health concern that has been appreciated in the past, and are the subject of extensive research at OSU and elsewhere around the world.

The PAHs can become even more of a problem when they chemically interact with nitrogen to become “nitrated,” or NPAHs, scientists say. The newly-discovered compounds are NPAHs that were unknown to this point.

This study found that the direct mutagenicity of the NPAHs with one nitrogen group can increase 6 to 432 times more than the parent compound. NPAHs based on two nitrogen groups can be 272 to 467 times more mutagenic. Mutagens are chemicals that can cause DNA damage in cells that in turn can cause cancer.

For technical reasons based on how the mutagenic assays are conducted, the researchers said these numbers may actually understate the increase in toxicity – it could be even higher.

These discoveries are an outgrowth of research on PAHs that was done by Simonich at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in 2008, when extensive studies of urban air quality were conducted, in part, based on concerns about impacts on athletes and visitors to the games.

Beijing, like some other cities in Asia, has significant problems with air quality, and may be 10-50 times more polluted than some major urban areas in the U.S. with air concerns, such as the Los Angeles basin.

An agency of the World Health Organization announced last fall that it now considers outdoor air pollution, especially particulate matter, to be carcinogenic, and cause other health problems as well. PAHs are one of the types of pollutants found on particulate matter in air pollution that are of special concern.

Concerns about the heavy levels of air pollution from some Asian cities are sufficient that Simonich is doing monitoring on Oregon’s Mount Bachelor, a 9,065-foot mountain in the central Oregon Cascade Range. Researchers want to determine what levels of air pollution may be found there after traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean.

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Science Foundation. It’s also an outgrowth of the Superfund Research Program at OSU, funded by the NIEHS, that focuses efforts on PAH pollution. Researchers from the OSU College of Science, the University of California-Riverside, Texas A&M University, and Peking University collaborated on the study.

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About Oregon State University: OSU is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution. OSU is also Oregon’s only university to hold both the Carnegie Foundation’s top designation for research institutions and its prestigious Community Engagement classification. Its more than 26,000 students come from all 50 states and more than 90 nations. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.

1/7/2014 – See article on Science Daily

Congratulations to our Fall 2013 Chemistry Honor Roll students!!

Armstrong, Chadd
Backus, Dakota Russell
Best, Monica Taylor
Best, Scott Ryan
Brucks, Corinne Nicole
Cho, Hyun Jun
Cobb, Tora Jean
Davis, Shannon Elizabeth
Diaz-Hui, Nicholas Scott
Duong, Tony
Durfee, Brandice Wray
Figura, Robert James
Gass, Elizabeth Marie
Hanson, Erin Rozell
Hemphill, Timothy
Hergert, John Elliott
Holmes, Joshua Aaron
Hughes, Michael Paul
Jagielski, Michael Jeffrey
Kaufman, Jacob R
Ketsdever, Thomas Henry
Kurapova, Regina A
Lafave, Derek Allen
Lee, Jamy
Lew, Cassandra Irene
Lucchini, Stefan Enrique
Michaud, Lindsey Robin
Mueller, Monica Jean
Ng, Chen Xian
Niemeyer, Dallas Edward
Pavitt, Ania Sylvia
Points, Gary Lee
Rains, Jordan M
Rains, Ryan David
Richardson, Tyler L
Riggs, Brian Evert
Ruark, Collin Ian Edward
Sandwisch, Jason William
Smets, Amy Jonelle
Taylor, Karmin Lee
Walters, Michael Gene
Yeakle, Clark Wade
Youngblood, Stephanie Kaye
Zhang, Tianqi