Four Search Advocate full-day workshops are now available! Be prepared to work with search committees by completing this workshop covering strategies to enhance validity, fairness, and diversity in the search process. Instead of requiring the typical two-workshop series (totaling ten hours), this workshop is a single day ( 8 am to 5 pm, breakfast and lunch included). Register at the OSU Professional Development website http://oregonstate.edu/training/index.php for one of the following offerings: Dec. 1 in Clatskanie, Dec. 15 or 17 in Corvallis, or Jan. 9 at North Willamette Research and Extension Center. Questions? Contact Anne Gillies anne.gillies@oregonstate.edu, 541-737-0865.
Call for Proposals: Learning Innovation Grants
I am pleased to announce a call for proposals for
individual Learning Innovation Grants to help faculty bring innovation through technology to the learning experience.
Faculty are invited to apply for grants of up to
$10,000 for educational technology that improves the student experience in courses, in informal learning experiences, or in student life.
Grant guidelines and information about how to apply
can be found at http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/information/tech-funding/innovation-grant/individual.
Proposals are due by December 18, 2014.
An informational session will be held on Friday,
November 21, 1-2pm, in Kidder 202
to answer questions you may have about these grants. You will also be able to participate remotely
via
live.oregonstate.edu.
Call for Award Nominations: 2015 MLK Jr Celebration
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Change
Do you know of a student, faculty or staff member who enriches our OSU community in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King?
Join us in acknowledging individuals who work to create inclusive communities and support diversity at OSU. We welcome nominations for recipients of our two community awards which are recognized yearly at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Breakfast in January. The two awards include:
· The Frances Dancy Hooks Award recognizes students, staff, or faculty who embody Frances Dancy Hooks’ work of building bridges across cultures, showing courage in promoting diversity, and “walking the talk” proudly;
· Phyllis S. Lee Award honors a member of the OSU community who exemplifies Dr. Lee’s commitment and dedication to social justice and the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are requesting that nominations be submitted by December 10th, 2014. To find out more information or to submit a nomination visit: Frances Dancy Hooks and Phyllis S. Lee Award Information and Nomination Page
Want to share Thanksgiving with an International Student??
The OSU Homestay Program is seeking local families to share their Thanksgiving festivities with international students. Applications are currently available at https://jfe.qualtrics.com/form/SV_1yTjGUsntSs1cu9. Hosting application deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. Hosts will be informed of student placement Monday, Nov. 24. If you have any questions, please contact homestay@oregonstate.edu.
OSU Course Helps Teachers with Online Lab Science Classes
Originally printed in Campus Technology 11/13/14
By Michael Hart
Oregon State University (OSU) is collaborating with a private partenr on a graduate-level course designed to help the students teach their own online laboratory science classes.
In the class, now offered online twice a year, students — most of whom teach online lab science classes themselves — work with a number of content delivery modes that include but are not limited to virtual labs, lab packs, kitchen science, data mining and field work, evaluating for themselves how the different modes work for the courses they teach.
eScience Labs, a company that provides customizable lab kits for online lab science courses at the university level, supplies lab kits, a set of hands-on experiments and curricular materials for the OSU courses titled “Instruments and Online Interactions in the Sciences.” The lab kits can be customized so that the students in the course can use them in the courses they teach themselves. Read more…
Who Am I? Wednesday – May Nyman
Name: May Nyman
Area of study / position title: Materials Inorganic Chemistry focused on aqueous inorganic clusters/Associate Professor
Why chemistry? (What about it initially interested you, etc.): My father was a naturalist and took us hiking to look at trees, birds, flowers, animals. But I only cared about the rocks and the sparkly minerals that made up the rocks. We went to the Smithsonian many times and I only wanted to see the gem and mineral collection. This steered me towards geology as an undergrad. Then I took mineralogy and learned how the arrangement of atoms in minerals control the shape, and how the periodic table controls the color and arrangement of the atoms; I was totally hooked on inorganic chemistry…not organic chemistry: that was the trees, birds, flowers and animals!
Research focus (in non-science terms) or basic job duties?: Discovering new ways to make materials from water. Some materials are simply to understand how molecules and atoms interact with each other in water, and some are help solve global energy and environmental issues.
One thing that you truly love about your job?: Top three things: I love discovering new chemistry that totally surprises me, I love writing about it to share these discoveries with the scientific community and the world, I love working with young scientist in training, and colleagues from all over the world.
One interesting/strange factoid about yourself.: What really makes me happy and sometimes gets me through those rainy Oregon days is international traditional music and dance. Now if only I can get the international scientists to dance with me, my circle would be complete.
2014 Joy Drive Family
Hello All-
We’ve been assigned our Joy Drive family!! This year, we’ll be bringing holiday joy to a 5-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy and a 3-month old girl. We’re asking for your help to bring these kids a great Holiday season. Please bring your donation to the main office (Gilbert 153) and put it in the giant beaker. We will be shopping for gifts on Wednesday, so we need your donations no later than Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity in making these children’s holiday one to remember.
Who Am I? Wednesday – Paula Christie
Name: Paula Christie
Area of Study / Position Title: Asst. to The Chair / Office Manager
Why Chemistry? (What about it initially interested you, etc): I joined the chemistry department in 2009, it was quite a culture shock compared to managing the Physics office. After many years of working for both departments, it is good to call Chemistry my home.
Research focus (in non-science terms) or basic job duties?: Duties include: Assist the Department Chair and manage the Chemistry office. 🙂
One thing you truly love about your job?: I love working with people that have a true passion for what they do.
One interesting / strange factoid about yourself: I grew up on a small farm in Crabtree Oregon (population ~300 ) we raised sheep, pigs, cattle, rabbit and had 15 farm cats at one time.
Accidentally Blue: Mas Subramanian featured in Terra Magazine
Originally published in Terra Magazine
By: Nick Houtman
October 15, 2014
Mas Subramanian didn’t expect to find a brilliant blue pigment when he was looking for new semiconductors. But the Milton Harris Chair Professor of Materials Science in the Oregon State University Department of Chemistry was shocked in 2009 when he saw a graduate student take a powder with a vibrant blue hue out of a laboratory furnace.
The student was worried. He thought it was a mistake.
“We were trying to find a material with novel magnetic properties for electronics applications, but it didn’t work. I didn’t think it would have a special color. I expected it to be brown or black,” says Subramanian, who grew up in Madras (now called Chennai), India, and received his Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology. “But when I saw what he had, I knew this was something unusual.”
The new blue is stable and relatively non-toxic. Produced at temperatures in excess of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, it reflects infrared energy and may thus help to cool buildings and reduce air conditioning costs. And it can be “tuned,” says Subramanian, to produce a range of shades from sky blue to nearly black. Read more…
See also: Mas Subramanian featured in ChemMatters
Staci Simonich featured in 2014 Terra Report of Research
Dr. Staci Simonich is highlighted in the Winter issue of the OSU Research Office Terra publication for the 2014 Annual Report of Research, for her research on air quality across the globe:
http://oregonstate.edu/terra/2014/11/leading-indicators/
Please join me us congratulating Staci on this more than well deserved recognition for her scholarly accomplishments!