OSU Spotlight « The people and stories of Oregon State University

Katie Briggs devotes her Friday evenings to playing with and helping children who have special needs.

Katie Briggs wants to work in a career in health

It’s a typical Friday night for Katie Briggs – a game of tag, teaching kids how to hit a baseball, and playing with a big, colorful parachute. “I just can’t imagine doing anything else with my Friday night,” Katie says. “I love it so much!”

For the past three years Katie, an exercise and sport science senior, has been a volunteer in the IMPACT (Individualized Movement and Physical Activity for Children Today) program, which is run through the College of Health and Human Sciences and is designed to develop important skills for children with special needs.

“My favorite part of the experience has been watching the kids develop over time,” she says. “For example, when I first started working with my child, he was afraid to get in the water. But after a year, he had overcome his fear. The day he got in the pool was one of the happiest days for me.”

Katie has always known that she wanted a career in health. “I chose to attend OSU because of the good programs offered in the College of Health and Human Sciences,” she says. She has also always enjoyed working with children. Through her experience in the IMPACT program and the connections she has made at OSU she has decided to pursue a career in pediatric nursing after graduation.

“I just naturally love to take care of others,” she says. “It’s just what I do!”

IMPACT website

College of Health and Human Sciences website

Exercise and Sport Science website

Tom Weeks’ signs have been on the Oregon coast for years. Now they’ve gone international.

These tsuname warning signs were illustrated by Jim Good

With the world’s largest and most technologically advanced tsunami wave basin, Oregon State University already is a global leader in tsunami research.

Now the warning signs developed by OSU Extension Service designer Tom Weeks also are going global.

Weeks’ signs have been displayed on the Oregon coast for years as part of the state’s tsunami warning system. Now the illustration is being used to warn coastal residents around the world.

The tsunami warning illustration is one of a series Weeks developed as part of OSU’s effort to help people move quickly to safety in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. The signs also have been adopted in Washington, California, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Jim Good, an OSU Extension Sea Grant scientist developed the tsunami sign concepts with state geologists and planners and worked with Weeks on the illustration designs.

After the Indian Ocean tsunami last winter, Good’s graduate student, Somrudee Meprasert, went to Thailand to serve on a tsunami assessment group, and she took copies of the signs to share with Thai officials. In May, the illustration was posted on new warning signs along Thai beaches as part of Thailand’s new National Disaster Warning Centre.

“Extension Sea Grant’s leadership and Tom’s clear, unambiguous design will now save lives around the world, not just in the United States,” Good said.

Warning signs introduced in Thailand

OSU Extension Service

Oregon Sea Grant Extension

OSU tsunami research basin

A team consisting of OSU students and others is testing a propulsion system that could cut the time needed for a human flight to Mars.

Traveling to Mars might not take as long as we think

When Marci Whittaker-Fiamengo describes the project she and other OSU undergraduate students are working on, she calls it “an out-of-this-world experience.”

And so it is. Marci, a senior in nuclear engineering, and Dan Wittmer, an electrical engineering senior, lead a student team working on ways to use nuclear power in a propulsion system that could substantially reduce the time needed for a flight to Mars.

“We’re not using nuclear fuel in the test,” Marci says, “but we’re doing a test of what the actual physical reaction in a nuclear reactor would be.”

Their idea impressed NASA officials enough that they agreed to test it in their Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities program.

That means a trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston this summer where the students will make presentations, work on experiments, and fly on NASA’s famed “vomit comet,” a large aircraft that simulates weightlessness in long, steep dives.

Dan and Marci have been on previous NASA flights through their participation in other student projects. “The nearest thing I can compare the ride to is when you’re in an elevator and it just drops,” Dan says. “That’s like a millisecond, though, and this goes on.”

The team has five OSU students (Brooke Butler, Adam Reiner, and Michael Rutherford, in addition to Dan and Marci), five from Western Oregon University, and a high school student from Salem. In addition, OSU student Cody Sheehy, is filming the students for a documentary on their project.

Marci and Dan plan careers in the space industry, and both would like to eventually go into space. They say OSU’s hands-on education and supportive professors have prepared them well.

Meanwhile, the team is carrying the story of the project and the space program to students in schools around the state. “This is an important program. It needs to continue. That’s the message we carry,” Dan says.

The Oregon Space Grant Consortium has provided much of the financial assistance for the student project. “They have been a major supporter of our program from its infancy to where we are today, and without them this program would have diminished long ago,” Dan says.

OSU student team news release

Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities program website

OSU College of Engineering website

Oregon Space Grant Consortium website

Isis Ilias started her college career by getting involved in every program she could find, but she soon realized she needed to prioritize.

Isis Ilias is getting her dream job before graduation

Between classes and studying for finals, Isis Ilias stops by the Centro Cultural César Chávez to visit with friends. Isis works at El Centro as an office assistant but also just enjoys coming in to hang out. “It’s like my second home,” she says.

When Isis arrived at Oregon State as a freshman she had no idea what to expect. “I actually hadn’t planned on going to college,” she admits. It wasn’t until she was encouraged by her Big Sister from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program that she applied and was accepted.

Isis spent her first weeks on campus exploring her new home and was surprised by the many opportunities to get involved. “I attended as many events as I could and just started signing up wherever they needed volunteers,” she says. “There is just so much going on here!”

Realizing that she couldn’t do it all, Isis narrowed her commitments down to a couple of groups. As the Political Action Co-Chair for MEChA, Isis helps organize events to raise awareness about access to education for Chicanos. As a member of the ASOSU’s Disabled Student Affairs Task Force she works to advocate for students with disabilities. She also started the Capoeria Club, with the intention of teaching others about Capoeria (Brazilian martial arts).

Isis plans to tell her younger brother and sister about the opportunities she’s had during her first year at OSU. “I hope it encourages them to also consider attending college,” she says.

Centro Cultural César Chávez website

OSU MEChA website

ASOSU Disabled Student Affairs Task Force

Chris Johns, OSU alumnus and editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine, is recipient of the university’s Distinguished Service Award for 2005.

Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic is an OSU Alum

Chris Johns came from a family farm near Central Point, Oregon, to study agriculture at Oregon State University. By the time he graduated in 1975, he was ready to set agriculture aside for a career in photojournalism.

Now, three decades later, Johns returns to OSU Sunday, June 12, to receive the university’s Distinguished Service Award and to speak at the 136th annual OSU commencement.

Two years ago Johns was named one of the 25 most important photographers in the world by American Photo magazine, and that same year he was appointed editor-in-chief of National Geographic.

Johns first became interested in photography though his college roommate, Dennis Dimick, who also is a National Geographic editor. Dimick was taking a photography class and Johns says he thought the idea of having a camera and taking pictures would be “cool.”

He enrolled in a photography class, using his friend’s camera to take photos for his final exam. From that moment on, he says, he was hooked on photojournalism.

After graduating and earning a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, he worked at the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Seattle Times. While in Topeka, he was named National Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 1979.

In 1983, he decided to become a free-lance photographer and worked primarily for Life, Time, and National Geographic magazines.

He joined the National Geographic staff in 1995, and since then has photographed more than 20 articles for the magazine, eight of which were cover stories. He also has photographed and written four books.

“I’ve had the privilege of traveling all over the world . . .” Johns told the Oregon Stater alumni magazine last year. “I’ve seen some of the worst human behavior on the face of the earth, and I’ve had violence directed at me. I’ve had some life-altering experiences. I’ve also seen hope come out of some of the darkest situations and it has reinforced in me, time and time again, how important leadership is.”

OSU Commencement

National Geographic website

Photography at OSU

Jane Clark keeps herself involved in OSU and in the world.

Jane Clark is an active student by most standards. She’s the publications coordinator for the OSU Women’s Center, co-chair of the judicial branch of student government, on the University Honors College steering committee, and a member of Mortar Board senior honor society.

But the political science senior from Newport, Oregon, also finds time to serve away from campus.

During the past few years, she has studied abroad in Italy, done a political science internship providing voter information in New England, and taken trips to Brazil and Siberia with Habitat for Humanity to help build houses.

She was prepared for Brazil because she and her family had previously traveled to South America.

“Siberia was a shock because it’s so far removed from everywhere,” Jane says. “Everything is so old and outdated. It’s like it’s still in the Soviet era.”

Getting there was no picnic, either. “We flew to Moscow, then there was a seven hour flight to Ulan Ude,” she says. “Everyone was packed on the flight, and they served pickled fish. It wasn’t a great experience.”

Attending OSU seemed to be a natural decision for Jane. Her parents, aunt, and uncle went to OSU, and her grandfather taught at the university years ago. But being accepted into the Honors College and receiving a Presidential Scholarship were also big factors in her decision.

Currently she’s working on her honors thesis “on the labor movement and why it hasn’t been more politically progressive.” After she graduates, she plans to take a little time off from school and then go to law school.

For a career, she’s “interested in working with a nonprofit organization,” she says. “I’d like to be involved in international development. Women’s development in other countries would be ideal.”

Associated Students of Oregon State University website

University Honors College website

Department of Political Science website

OSU Women’s Center website

Habitat for Humanity website

From seed to market, Organic Growers Club members learn to do it all.

The OSU Organic Growers Club offers something for everyone

An Earth-friendly approach to farming has quietly been taking place for the past five years at OSU. Members of the Organic Growers Club use alternative weed and pest controls, including beneficial insects, to produce a wide range of crops.

James Cassidy was one of the first members of the club when he joined as a soil science student in 2001. Now, a soil science instructor and research assistant, he is marketing director for the club.

“The emphasis of the club is on the food, not the politics of organic versus inorganic or any other political issues,” Cassidy says. “We choose not to use chemicals because our customers prefer that. We have nothing against people who use chemicals, but it’s not for us.”

Cassidy says the club offers something for everyone. Members include staff, faculty, and students from various majors. Many participants find something to do in their field because club activities involve agriculture, social sciences, marketing, and other areas. Engineering students helped create the drip irrigation system, for example.

“We bought the system with our earnings. That’s the way we get equipment,” Cassidy says. “I think of it in terms of how many onions it is to buy something. I know how much work goes into onions, and if they sell at three for a dollar, it’s easy to determine how many onions something costs, so we know if it’s worth it.”

At their 3.5-acre farm just east of Corvallis off Highway 34, club members produce more than 50 different crops, including tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, garlic, potatoes, corn, beets, broccoli, beans, and, of course, onions.

The club distributes its goods through a list of about 300 on-campus customers. “I send out a message every Monday during the season to tell people what’s available that week and how much it costs. They order by Thursday, then we harvest that night and deliver the items on Friday.”

Organic Growers Club website

James Cassidy’s departmental page

An international expert on honeybees is better known at OSU for teaching a “far out” course.

Michael Bugett is teaching a "far out" course

Michael Burgett’s Far Side Entomology course is so popular that even though he’s officially retired, he has started offering it twice a year instead of once.

Earlier this year, in fact, National Public Radio selected Far Side Entomology as one of the nation’s most popular college courses.

Using entomological cartoons by Gary Larson and others, Burgett encourages his students to take an in-depth look at the more serious aspects of insects and their relevance to human activities. “Each two-member team does four presentations per term. I give them two cartoons and some entomological reference works to start. They can then go off on any tangents they want,” Burgett says.

The course is filled with humor, but it also involves serious learning. “Each team will have four entomological themes, and they really dig into those and learn the material pretty deeply. They also say they improve their speaking skills,” Burgett says. “Students do 10-12 minute presentations, but they have to spend three or four hours putting each one together. That’s where they learn.”

It’s no surprise that Burgett’s a good teacher. It’s what he always wanted to do, and he received his bachelor’s degree in education in 1966.

“Then 17 days later I got my draft notice,” he says. “I was assigned to a medical lab’s entomology division, so I did medical entomology for two years.”

That interested him in entomology, so he applied to Cornell University for graduate work in the field. “They had one graduate assistantship available, and it was in honeybees. So I went into honeybees,” he says. “People ask me if I’ve always loved honeybees. Actually, it was just a matter of money, but it has developed at least into a large affection.”

Over the years the wild honeybee population in the United States has been devastated by mites, but commercial populations have been saved by chemical controls developed by Burgett and others at OSU and other western universities.

Burgett still finds time for honeybee research, but much of it is done in Thailand because most honeybee varieties are found in Asia. And he plans to continue finding time to teach Far Side Entomology.

“I’m still excited about teaching, so I’ll continue to do it,” he says.

Michael Burgett’s website

OSU news release on NPR selection of the course

NPR story on Burgett class (includes audio)

Josè Reyes leads an OSU team designing a safer, smaller, more streamlined nuclear reactor.

Jose Reyes is designing better nuclear reactors

As a powerful and potentially clean source of energy, nuclear power could offer a solution to the Earth’s dwindling supply of oil and fossil fuels.

But in a world that recalls the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, nuclear energy is seen by many as a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Enter a team of OSU nuclear engineers led by Josè Reyes, interim director of the OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering.

By eliminating pipes, pumps, and moving parts, the engineers have created a new reactor design that is simpler, less costly to build, and based on passively safe concepts that take advantage of natural forces such as gravity, natural circulation, convection, and evaporation.

In short, the new reactor has fewer parts that can fail than previous generations of nuclear plants. “Because our design is so simple, the reactor is much safer,” says Reyes.

The team’s innovative approach enables the reactor to fit on a single railcar, run for five years between refueling shutdowns, and be installed for a fraction of the cost of a traditional nuclear plant.

The team is considering the patent potential of the design and has completed testing the first prototype for the U.S. Department of Energy. The promise for the system is so great that many other countries, including Argentina and South Korea, are considering similar designs.

In addition to Reyes, the project team includes OSU professors Brian Woods, Qiao Wu, and Todd Palmer, as well as partners at the Idaho National Engineering Lab and Nexant/Bechtel.

Reyes is a key innovator on the team and at OSU. In the past 10 years, he has leveraged an initial $4,000 grant into more than $13 million in research funding–part of the reason the graduate program in nuclear engineering is currently ranked ninth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

And, as one of the nation’s leading Hispanic engineers, Reyes was named “Role Model of the Week” in early March by HENAAC, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to promoting careers for Hispanics in engineering, science, technology, and mathematics.

Josè Reyes nuclear engineering faculty page

Large-Scale Energy Systems cluster at OSU

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics at OSU

Childhood obesity is becoming a crisis in Oregon, and OSU professors are working with schools and communities to get it under control.

Childhood obesity is on the rise in Oregon and the U.S.

Although Oregon is considered one of the hungriest states in the nation, 28 percent of 8th graders in the state are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

That means those children probably have a fat-rich, nutrition-poor diet and don’t get enough exercise, which can lead to serious health problems–heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure–that will affect them over their lifespan.

Obese children are likely to become obese adults, and in Oregon the Centers for Disease Control estimates the obesity figure for adults at 60 percent. Clearly the way to reverse the trend is to change the habits of the young.

That’s why the College of Health & Human Sciences and the OSU Extension Family and Community Development Program are working with schools and health practitioners to tailor programs that change nutrition and exercise behaviors of children and their families. Here are some of the programs:

Bilingual and bicultural Extension faculty, staff, and volunteers work with Hispanic, Native American, African American, Asian, and Russian communities that represent about half of those in limited-income nutrition programs.
A school-business-community collaboration in Waldport promotes eating fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking water.
Fourth graders in Tillamook are learning the importance of calcium for healthy bones, along with ways to cook calcium-rich foods.
More than 450 Spanish-speaking families in Marion County participated in Las Comidas Latinas, an informal course on nutrition and food safety.
In Columbia County, nutrition education has elementary school children requesting more fruits and vegetables in their cafeteria.

“We have evidence that shows investments in our children pay off–that early learning and success lead to continued learning and success throughout life,” said Tammy Bray, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. “We know, too, that the later we try to repair deficiencies, the costlier it becomes.”

College of Health and Human Sciences website

Extension Family and Community Development Program website

OSU Spotlight

The people and stories of Oregon State University

Friday night is playtime

OSU-developed tsunami signs go global

Out of this world

You can’t do it all

From farm boy to National Geographic editor

Earth-friendly is in at OSU

Top scientist and top teacher–all in one

Going nuclear — the next generation

Gaining on a weighty problem

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