Several broad-reaching fiscal policies (http://oregonstate.edu/fa/manuals/fis) have been updated which can affect individuals who travel or purchase on behalf of OSU as part of their work. These changes 1) clarify personal reimbursements to generally $100 or less; 2) establish a maximum 60 day submittal period to the appropriate Business Center for personal reimbursements (FIS 407) and travel (FIS 411-07); and establish mandatory procedures regarding the use of non-contracted vendors for airfare travel (failure to follow the policy could result in loss of a future reimbursement (FIS 411-01)).
If these changes affect your OSU business, be sure to review the complete policy as noted in brackets.
The Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry is sponsoring a webinar on Feb. 2 (12-1 PM) entitled Intellectual Property, Tech Transfer and YOU(http://nciia.org/node/1771).
Join our expert panel in exploring the roles of students, postdocs, faculty, and Tech Transfer in the protection of intellectual property. REGISTER EARLY TO SAVE YOUR SPACE! IT’S FREE! (http://nciia.org/node/1771)
The Leadership Academy is a one-year, not-for-credit program open to all undergraduates in the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry. Selected students evaluate their leadership strengths and areas for growth and set goals for long- and short-term leadership development. Working closely with a faculty mentor, students identify on- and off-campus activities, professional development workshops and organizations that will help them take steps toward reaching their leadership development goals. Students also seek out academic coursework that will enhance their growth and complement the requirements of their chosen degrees. Interested students, complete and submit your application to be part of the 2012-2013 Leadership Academy. Applications due Feb 10, 2012.
The Provost has designated funds for graduate fellowship stipends and recruitment bonus scholarships to recruit students of the highest quality and to raise the profile of graduate education at OSU.
The Provost’s Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Program provides prestigious university fellowships for one year only, which will be comprised of twelve‐month stipends, plus tuition scholarships and subsidized health insurance. Fellowship nominations will be accepted on behalf of newly recruited and admitted doctoral and master’s degree students. Provost’s Distinguished Graduate Scholarship Program will provide one time, academic year scholarship awards for recruiting purposes. Awards will be made to students admitted for the 2012‐13 academic year.
Fellowships will include a twelve‐month stipend of $30,000 for doctoral students and $22,000 for master’s students, to be distributed in four equal quarterly installments during the year. The fellowship will also provide full academic year tuition remission through the Graduate School’s Targeted Graduate Tuition Scholarship program plus a supplemental scholarship to cover the cost for enrollment in three graduate credits during summer term. Recipients will be formally appointed as OSU graduate fellows to allow access to subsidized health insurance under the prevailing graduate assistant/fellow health insurance plan. Fellowships will be administered by the Graduate School.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) – Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) is soliciting applications from eligible colleges and universities located in the U.S. and its territories nominating undergraduate students to participate in the NIST – SURF Gaithersburg or Boulder Programs. The programs will provide research opportunities for undergraduate students to work with internationally know NIST scientists, to expose them to cutting-edge research, and to promote the pursuit of graduate degrees in science and engineering.
Applications consist of two parts: (1) The student’s university must submit a grant proposal that provides details about its academic program and must nominate one or more students, (2) Students must provide copies of their transcripts, two letters of recommendation, and a letter of intent or personal statement.
The University Honors College (UHC) will take the lead in submitting proposals from OSU. Please contact Kevin Stoller (kevin.stoller@oregonstate.edu) if you are interested in applying to the NIST – SURF Gaithersburg or Boulder Programs.
When Sam Bartlett, an Oregon State University senior in chemistry, put on his lab coat, goggles and latex gloves in the summer of 2010, he didn’t expect to wind up helping organic chemists around the world.
OSU undergraduate Sam Bartlett, right, used the tools of organic chemistry — reflux condenser, thin-layer chromotography, nuclear magnetic resonance — to develop a new synthetic chemistry method. He works with Assistant Professor Chris Beaudry in the new Linus Pauling Science Center. (Photo: Karl Maasdam)
With guidance from Chris Beaudry, assistant professor of chemistry, he developed the most efficient and productive method yet reported for a fundamental step commonly used to synthesize new molecules.
Bartlett and Beaudry published their findings in October in the Journal of Organic Chemistry. The research has already drawn the attention of pharmaceutical scientists and has potential in fields from nanotechnology to biochemistry.
“If you’re a synthetic chemist and you want to build complicated molecular architectures – a pharmaceutical, a new material for nanotechnology, a new probe for a biological system – you need to make new chemical bonds,” Beaudry said. “This oxidation is convenient to do, very mild, operationally simple and high yielding. It is the solution to this problem.”
Bartlett’s discovery started with a chance meeting. The student from Corvallis, Oregon, was taking an advanced chemistry course from Beaudry and happened to meet the professor in the Interzone, an off-campus coffee shop. “I asked him if he had any research opportunities in his lab,” Bartlett said.
“I suggested that Sam look into this problem,” Beaudry recalled. “There was some indication that we had a lead hit on how to solve it. Sam took it and ran with it.”
The problem was to convert one commonly used compound (beta-hydroxyketone) to another (beta-diketone). Both are fundamental starting points in the synthesis of more complex organic molecules. Previous methods produced unwanted byproducts and only 30 to 35 percent of the desirable molecule, says Beaudry.
Bartlett found that an oxidant called IBX (o-iodoxybenzoic acid) converts nearly 100 percent of the beta-hydroxyketone to the beta-diketone, thus saving chemists time – and simplifying the synthesis process.
Bartlett, who graduated from Crescent Valley High School, is applying for graduate school, where he intends to focus on synthetic organic chemistry.
“I just like the search for new knowledge,” said Bartlett. “There’s a lot we still don’t know. There are problems out there we still need to solve. Even if I don’t find a solution, I’m contributing to the scientific community.”
Bartlett had support for his research from two programs: the Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship & Creativity program sponsored by the OSU Research Office, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship. He is continuing to work in Beaudry’s lab in the new Linus Pauling Science Center on steps to make a natural plant compound that has potential anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties.
