To the OSU Community:

I write to invite you to consider submitting a proposal for an OSU Women’s Giving Circle grant.  Founded in the spring of 2003 by a group of OSU alumnae and friends, the Women’s Giving Circle has awarded more than $700,000 in grants to enhance the undergraduate student education and experience at OSU. Last year, the Women’s Giving Circle awarded more than $80,000 to thirteen OSU programs.

To apply for a grant please visit http://www.osufoundation.org/s/359/foundation/index.aspx?sid=359&gid=34&pgid=4389

Please note all proposals are due by Friday, January 15, 2016.  Grants will be awarded in May 2016.

Sabah Randhawa
Provost and Executive Vice President

Thanks to all of your generous donations, we were able to get a large bag of gifts for each of our sponsor children this year as well as having a little left over to give a gift card to the parents for other holiday needs.

Our youngest... a 14-month-old girl
Our youngest… a 14-month-old girl
Our middle child - a 3-year-old boy.
Our middle child – a 3-year-old boy.
Our oldest... a 6-year-old girl.
Our oldest… a 6-year-old girl.

The Research Office is accepting applications for the Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship and Creativity (URISC) program for Summer term 2016. This program supports undergraduate research activities from all academic disciplines within the university. Program description and application: http://research.oregonstate.edu/incentive/undergraduate-research-innovation-scholarship-creativity-urisc. Information: Debbie Delmore at debbie.delmore@oregonstate.edu. Deadline: Jan. 19, 2016.

Applications for URSA Engage will be accepted until Jan. 15, 2016. The program provides support ($ 1,000) for undergraduate (first year, second year and early transfer students only) engagement in research/creative activity under mentorship of an OSU faculty member. Participation by a diverse group of undergraduates with a variety of abilities is encouraged. Undergraduates across all OSU colleges/schools/ majors are eligible.  No prior experience required. Details at: http://undergraduate.oregonstate.edu/research/ursa-engage). Contact: Sujaya-ugr@oregonstate.edu

The Academic Success Center (ASC) has proposed a Scaled Learning Innovation Grant to fund the research toward and development of high-quality, visually engaging, and stimulating video-based success modules. The modules will highlight learning and study strategies to support and increase student success, within the context of specific disciplines. As such, the video modules will be developed through collaboration with partner-college faculty.

In accordance with the Innovation Grant timeline, we need to identify college/departmental partners by December 18th. Because of our previous work together and the breadth of enrollment in your courses, we are highly interested in partnering with the College of Science.

By collaborating with faculty at each step of the module development, incorporating interactive multimedia technology, and focusing on discipline specific strategies, we hope to create compelling learning and study materials and facilitate meaningful faculty and student interaction. We see opportunity for these modules to be shared by faculty in classes or as links provided to students.

The ASC has submitted an initial Innovation Grant proposal and we are now seeking a few college/departmental partners with whom we can pilot this initiative. We anticipate working with identified partners during Winter Term to determine module topics and plan production needs. Spring Term will focus largely on production with the summer months available to finalize the modules. The modules will be ready for distribution and faculty use Fall 2016.

I recognize the timeframe for identifying possible partners is tight. We welcome any feedback related to the proposal and are open to exploring ways this project could be viable in your college. If collaboration seems feasible, I’d like to visit with you so we can hammer out the details and identify shared expectations prior to the December 18 grant deadline.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss further.

Jesse Nelson, Ph.D.
Director, Academic Success Center
Oregon State University
102 Waldo Hall
541-737-2272
http://success.oregonstate.edu

Avon Foundation
Breast Cancer Research – Deadline Jan. 7, 2016 for LOI
Proposals may request up to $150,000 total costs per year (this limit is inclusive of 10% indirect costs), for up to 2 years in duration.
Research questions we hope to answer to further the development of breast cancer prevention strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:
– Understanding the potential causes of breast cancer and research to develop new preventative strategies
– Understanding metastases and developing new treatments for metastatic breast cancer
Avon BCC limits its research funding to clinical studies, human cell culture and epidemiologic studies. Avon BCC funding may not be used to fund studies involving animals.

American Cancer Society
Research Professor Grants – Deadline February 1st (LOI)
The American Cancer Society offers a limited number of grants to mid-career investigators who have made seminal contributions that have changed the direction of basic cancer research. Furthermore, it is expected that these investigators will continue to provide leadership in their research area. Up to two awards are made annually for a five-year term that can be renewed once. The award of up to $80,000 per year (direct costs only) may be used for salary or research project support.

American Association for Cancer Research
Judah Folkman Fellowship for Angiogenesis Research – Deadline December 15th
The AACR Judah Folkman Fellowship for Angiogenesis Research represents a joint effort to encourage and support a postdoctoral or clinical research fellow to conduct research in the field of tumor angiogenesis and to establish a successful career path in this field. Proposed research projects can be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature, and must substantially advance the field of tumor angiogenesis. Grant Amount: $100,000.

Young Investigator Translational Cancer Research Award – Deadline December 15th
The AACR-Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Translational Cancer Research Award provides funding to promising investigators to encourage and promote quality research in clinical oncology. The purpose of this jointly-supported award is to fund a physician-scientist during the transition from a fellowship program to a faculty appointment. Research projects are restricted to translational cancer research. Grant Amount: $50,000.

Career Development Awards for Translational Breast Cancer Research – Deadline December 15th
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards for Translational Breast Cancer Research represent a joint effort to promote and support innovative research designed to accelerate the discovery, development, and application of new agents to treat breast cancer and/or for pre-clinical research with direct therapeutic intent. Eligibility is limited to junior faculty who, at the start of the grant term, will have completed their most recent doctoral degree or medical residency within the past 11 years. The research proposed for funding must be translational in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to breast cancer. Grant Amount: $138,000.

AACR-Ocular Melanoma Foundation Fellowship – Deadline December 16th
The AACR-Ocular Melanoma Foundation Fellowship represents a joint effort to encourage and support a postdoctoral or clinical research fellow to conduct ocular/uveal melanoma research and to establish a successful career path in ophthalmology, ocular oncology, uveal melanoma biology, or a similar field. The research proposed for funding may be basic, translational, or clinical in nature and must have direct, primary applicability and relevance to ocular/uveal melanoma. Grant Amount: $50,000.

Fellowships in Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Research – Deadline December 16th
The Never Too Young Coalition-AACR Fellowships in Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Research represent a joint effort to encourage and support postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to conduct young-onset colorectal cancer research and to establish a successful career path in this field. The research proposed for funding may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and should focus on understanding the mechanisms that underlie young-onset of colorectal cancer, including the biological differences between young-onset and onset of the disease over the age of 50. Grant Amount: $50,000.

Career Development Award for Gastric Cancer Research – Deadline December 17th
​The Debbie’s Dream Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Gastric Cancer Research represents a joint effort to encourage and support junior faculty who, at the start of the grant term, will have completed their most recent medical residency or doctoral degree within the past 11 years to conduct gastric cancer research and to establish a successful career path in this field. The research proposed for funding may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to gastric cancer, specifically non-Helicobactor pylori associated gastric cancer. Any proposals focused on Helicobactor pylori-associated gastric cancer will NOT be accepted. Grant Amount: $150,000.

Gastric Cancer Research Fellowship – Deadline December 17th
The Debbie’s Dream Foundation-AACR Gastric Cancer Research Fellowship represents a joint effort to encourage and support a postdoctoral or clinical research fellow to conduct gastric cancer research and to establish a successful career path in this field. The research proposed for funding may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to gastric cancer, specifically non-Helicobactor pylori associated gastric cancer. Any proposals focused on Helicobactor pylori-associated gastric cancer will NOT be accepted. Grant Amount: $50,000.

Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Fellowships – Deadline January 7th
The AACR Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Fellowships represent a joint effort to encourage and support postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to conduct clinical and/or translational cancer research. Proposed research projects may be in any area of clinical and/or translational cancer research. Grant Amount: $55,000.

Research Grant for Immunotherapy in Kidney Cancer – Deadline January 12th
The Kure It-AACR Research Grant for Immunotherapy in Kidney Cancer represents a joint effort to promote and support innovative cancer research. This grant is available to full time, independent junior and senior investigators to study immunological aspects of, or treatments for, kidney cancer. Research projects should advance the basic knowledge of tumor immunology mechanisms, or develop new concepts in the treatment, control, or prevention of kidney cancer by immunology-based therapeutic approaches. Proposed projects may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and must focus on cancer immunology including, but not limited to: immune recognition, regulation, tumor escape, and therapeutic manipulation for kidney cancer. Grant Amount: $250,000.

Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation-AACR Grant – Deadline January 12th
The Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation-AACR Grant represents a joint effort to promote and support innovative cancer research. This grant is available to full time, independent junior and senior investigators to develop and study new ideas and innovative approaches that have direct application and relevance to neuroendocrine tumors. Proposed research may be in any discipline of basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological cancer research. Grant Amount: $250,000.

Safety Data Sheet training and Lab Hazard Awareness Training for Non-lab workers now available online (http://oregonstate.edu/ehs/training-materials). This safety training is required for all OSU employees who are not lab employees but may need to enter a lab in the course of their work.  Examples would be trade workers, IT workers, or administrative personnel.  The courses assist personnel to become familiar with lab hazards, lab warning signs and labels, and general and specific protective measures.  Refresher training is required every three years.  Questions? Contact safety@oregonstate.edu.

Dear faculty member:
OREGON STATE ADVANCE invites you to nominate yourself to participate in one of the 2016 ADVANCE summer seminars. The summer seminar is the centerpiece and innovation for our NSF-funded ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant and provides participants with opportunities to learn how issues of gender, race, sexual identity, social class, ability, age, religion, nation of origin, and other forms of difference work in higher education and STEM/SBS specifically and how to make institutional change to bring about a more welcoming and life-affirming university.
The seminar will meet for nine days, 9-4 each day, with an hour break for lunch (lunch provided) and for six hours across the 2016-17 academic year. Participants on a 9-month contract will receive a stipend for participation; those on 12-month contracts will receive professional development funds.
The 2016 seminars meet (1) M-F June 13-17 and T-F June 21-24 or (2) M-F August 29-September 2 and T-F September 6-9.
If you are interested in participating, please fill out the information at the following link:http://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Wz2d9GzlkQs8zH by Friday, Dec. 4, 5 p.m.
Let me know if you have questions. Thanks so much.
Susan
Susan M. Shaw, PhD
PI, OREGON STATE ADVANCE
Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Director of the School of Language, Culture, and Society
Waldo 234
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97330
541-737-3082

This week, we’d like to focus on Andreas Lutzen, a 44-year-old Danish national living in Hong Kong with his family. Andreas works for Hempel China Ltd, a marine and protective coatings company. Andreas has completed our 100-level general chemistry sequence and is currently taking CH 331 Organic Chemistry.

 

How did you find our chemistry program?  Any advice for us that would have made that process easier for you?

Having had some success with online education before, I was looking for an opportunity to study chemistry while holding down a day job. Pending an extensive search, I found that only OSU could offer a well-functioning platform for online chemistry studies. To my knowledge, there is in fact not that much competition around in the area of university-level chemistry distance learning. Some institutions offer programs that I would characterize as “thin,” and others offer programs that are too demanding to be realistic if you have a job. OSU has struck the right balance in my view.

Please share your background so we can get to know you better—how did you end up where you are on this journey?

I work in the technical service department of Hempel, a major coatings supplier within the area of industrial and marine paints, and studying chemistry is the thing I need to take my understanding of things to the next level. That is, I already have certificates and experience in on-site coating inspection, factory audits and so on, but knowledge of the underlying science of the whole affair—chemistry—is still not part of my toolbox. This is something I wish to change.

To give you an idea of my work content: I will go and do coatings inspection for, say, the docking of a ship. That is, I help plan the application by making a paint specification and by ensuring the right quantities and qualities of paint are ordered. During the actual docking of the ship, I am on site agreeing with yard and ship-owners on a painting time-table, overseeing the actual application ensuring that climatic conditions are acceptable for painting, salt content of abrasive not too high, that the paint is properly mixed (stoichiometry) and so on and so forth. As you can see from this, chemistry is central to what we do in the coatings industry, and hence the things you teach at OSU are very valuable to me in getting a better and deeper understanding of my work.

What inspired you to choose the career path you are working towards?

I joined the coatings industry sort of by chance. I have never regretted ending up here, however. The drama of chemistry, different cultures (most projects are of an international nature) and commercial interest clashing, as they do in our industry, is intense. One might be stressed out and vexed from time to time, but work here is never boring! My goal is simply to become better at what I am doing, and the inspiration for that is pretty straightforward: Nothing beats being good at what you do. The joy that comes from being good at something lasts a lifetime; it cannot be taken away from you.

Do you have any advice for other online students? 

You have to want this to succeed. Only personal interest and a good fit with career plans and goals are sufficient to power the sustained effort needed to be able to pull this through. On a personal level, I experience this right now, as I am struggling with organic chemistry, which is much harder than originally anticipated. I have already made up my mind to push on, even though temporary setbacks may come to visit. If you really want something, having to redo a course or two is no more than a bump on the road. On a practical level, my advice is this: Work the problems, work the problems, and work the problems. Chemistry cannot be read and memorized; it has to be worked to be understood.

What is next for you? 

Maybe a job with the complaints-handling unit at our HQ. Having spent more than a decade in China and in the field, moving back to HQ in Europe would be a good next step. Needless to say knowledge of chemistry is going to be indispensable in that job.

 

Thank you Andreas for sharing your experience and insight with us! Good luck in the rest of your term and your professional endeavors!