A new study by researchers at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute suggests most entanglements of Steller sea lions in human-made marine debris along the Pacific coast could be prevented through education and changes to manufacturing and packaging processes.
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Campus Recycling Outreach Coordinator Andrea Norris (right) presents a trophy made out of reused materials to McNary Hall Treasurer Jeff Robideau (left), the prize for the residence hall recycling competition. (Photo: Shelly Clark)
Courtesy of: KVAL.com
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University has retained its top spot in the state for RecycleMania, an annual, nationwide recycling competition between universities.
By recycling and composting a total of 483,449 pounds during the 10-week competition (Jan. 23 through April 2), OSU nabbed first place, while claiming the RecycleMania Civil War title over the University of Oregon by recycling and composting 5.5 pounds more per person.
OSU also beat its own 2010 totals, recycling and composting 67,831 pounds more – a 23 percent increase – and sending 201,158 fewer pounds of materials to the landfill, a 17 percent decrease over the previous year.
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The Columbian: here
OSU News click here
Click here for a letter signed by 13 business, foundation and community leaders urging support for higher education programs.
Signatories include:
Governor Kitzhaber has declared Thursday, April 21 as Oregon State University Extension Day. This year OSU Extension celebrates its 100th birthday. To see the Governor’s Proclamation: OSU Extension0n. On Thursday a number of OSU Extension supporters and their County partners will be in the Capitol.
Governor Kitzhaber has declared Thursday, April 21 as Oregon State University Extension Day. This year OSU Extension celebrates its 100th birthday. To see the Governor’s Proclamation: OSU Extension. On Thursday a number of OSU Extension supporters and their County partners will be in the Capitol.
In college terms, when people talk about sticking together through thick and thin, they often mean the first week of April.
That’s the time when many of the most selective colleges respond to their applicants, with letters either thick — containing details of how to respond to offers of admission, sometimes including literal confetti — or thin (Thanks for playing, now go away). Getting into some of these colleges may require high school seniors to be Superman, but to get the gist of the letter, X-ray vision isn’t necessary.
For Oregon higher education, reading the signals from last week — when Gov. John Kitzhaber testified before the legislature about his education vision — isn’t quite as easy. As usual, when people talk about the importance of Oregon’s universities, they tend to lay it on fairly thick; when it comes to actual support, things tend to run pretty thin.
For the full article: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/david_sarasohn/index.ssf/2011/04/higher_eds_trail_through_thick.html
After being approved by the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee, SB 242 is now before the Joint Ways and Means Education Subcommittee: Hearing, 8:30 AM, Wednesday April 13, Hearing Room F. Please help pass this bill.
· SB 242 is the result of a year of work by the State Board of Higher Education and an interim bi-partisan legislative committee.
· SB 242 ensures that tuition paid by students will stay with the universities to provide for educational services rather than being taken in legislative “fund sweeps” – as has been done in the past.
· SB 242 ensures that interest generated by tuition will stay with the universities. Currently it goes to the general fund where it is used to pay for programs that have nothing to do with higher education.
· SB 242 creates performance contracts between universities and the legislature to ensure results-oriented spending for every public dollar invested in universities.
· SB 242 is supported by the Oregon Student Association, the Governor, all of Oregon’s business organizations, and the state board of higher education.
AURORA — It’s like a 160-acre experiment. In various corners of the North Willamette Research and Extension Center, experts are attempting to grow blueberry trees, turn seedlings from Turkey into Christmas trees and raise organic flax.
They’re also figuring new ways to kill bugs, revive strawberries and make compost. They’re helping new farmers get started and developing low-maintenance landscape plants. Meanwhile, the gravel parking lot is filled with pickup trucks as growers attend a meeting on how to increase production. A notice on the bulletin board announces an April 21 workshop on spotted wing drosophila, the destructive fruit fly.
For the full story:
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/04/environmentalists_join_farmers.html
Monday, March 7, 2011
ALBANY, Ore. – With almost every hand shooting up in the air in front of them, it was hard for Oregon State University dietetics students to decide which eager sixth grader to call upon as they guest-taught a North Albany Middle School class Friday morning. The women came armed with boxes of raisins to bribe students into participating in their class demonstrations, but they never had to dig into their stash, because the kids were more than ready to jump in and help.“They didn’t even need the incentives,” Renee Faville said with surprise.
Dietetics student Amber Richmond explains the components of a healthy breakfast to a table of North Albany Middle School students. (photo: Theresa Hogue)
Students in Jenny Vannoy’s Communications in Dietetics course put their expertise in nutrition to the test when they crafted lesson plans tailored for middle school students. They spent several days at North Albany Middle School delivering lessons on topics ranging from healthy breakfasts to portion sizes to being physically active for at least 60 minutes a day. They were working with the Oregon Dairy Council to bring lively discussions about healthy eating to the middle schoolers.
Students scramble to assemble the perfect breakfast, with help from OSU student Erin Dooher. (photo: Theresa Hogue)
“This project partnership allowed an opportunity for OSU dietetics students to apply their nutrition education knowledge and skills in the real world,” Vannoy said. “What better way for them to learn and provide community service than by teaching young people about healthy eating and activity behaviors? We’re excited to participate in North Albany Middle School’s efforts to improve their food and physical activity environment.”
Cara Seger, who works as Oregon Field Manager for the National Dairy Council’s “Fuel Up to Play 60” program, said the Oregon Dairy Council wanted to build up its partnerships with Oregon State University and with local schools, and held a contest in the Albany School District to select a school to participate in the program. North Albany Middle School was selected to participate.
“We thought it was a great fit with the school’s wellness program,” Seger said.
Tish Bottaro is an OSU alum and a teacher at North Albany Middle School. Her background is physical education, and she was thrilled to turn to her alma mater for support in providing students with the nutritional aspects of healthy living.
“It’s awesome and it’s such a good collaboration,” she said.
Back inside the classroom, OSU student Erin Dooher was warming the students up with an introduction to eating a healthy breakfast.
From left, Renee Faville, Amber Richmond, Erin Dooher and Elke Schleiss discuss how to eat a healthy breakfast with a class full of North Albany middle schoolers. (photo: Theresa Hogue)“I have a fun little activity that is not scary at all,” she said, as hands shot up around the classroom to participate.
The OSU students weren’t sure how much the sixth graders would know about a balanced breakfast, but it turns out, the kids readily discussed whole grains and carbohydrates like nutrition experts.
Although the sixth graders clearly enjoyed their time with their OSU teachers, the lessons didn’t end when the university students departed. The sixth graders are now expected to launch their own nutrition and physical activity education campaigns within their school, and because of their participation in the program, they’re now eligible for a $3,000 grant to use toward supporting health and wellness at their school.
“These messages will extend well beyond the walls of the classroom,” Seger said.
~ Theresa Hogue
For the original story click here
Last update: March 8, 2011 at 9:20 am by By Armand Vervaeck
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Since a few months the transform fault zone about 350 km out of the Coos Bay Oregon coast is discharging energy by means of earthquakes of magnitude 5.x The Blanco Transform Fault as it is called, has become the most intensely studied ocean transform fault in the world.
Oregon State University scientists have completed a analysis of an earthquake fault line that extends some 200 miles off the southern and central Oregon coast that they say is more active than the San Andreas Fault in California.
The Blanco Transform Fault Zone likely won’t produce the huge earthquake many have predicted for the Pacific Northwest because it isn’t a subduction zone fault. But the scientists say an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 to 7.0 is possible, if not probable in the near future, and their analysis suggests that the region may be under some tectonic stress that potentially could affect the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University this month is helping a private company test its latest technology, another step forward for the work of this center and evolution of the field of wave energy.
Design, analysis and permit work is also continuing for what will be the world’s first site for testing wave energy devices in the Pacific Ocean near Newport, Ore. And a range of faculty and students are involved in comprehensive research and outreach to help bring wave energy closer to a working reality.
The latest project of the marine energy center is assisting Neptune Wave Power, a Dallas, Texas, firm, in testing the motion and power output of its new and patented wave energy technology – in which wave action would cause a horizontal pendulum to rotate and drive an electric generator. These tests will be run during March at the Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at OSU.
“Eventually, the combination of the new test berth , the two wave basins on our campus and our wave energy linear test bed will provide some of the best facilities in the world to evaluate and test wave energy devices,” said Annette von Jouanne, an OSU professor of electrical engineering and leader in wave energy research.
A range of other projects is also moving ahead under the leadership of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, according to Meleah Ashford, program manager. Studies are under way in advanced wave forecasting, device and array optimization, device reliability and survivability, environmental effects, social impacts, and other topics.
“There are tremendous opportunities for wave energy but still many challenges,” Ashford said. “The development and evolution of this technology is moving at a careful and steady pace, in part because we want to be very responsible, consider all the issues and perfect the best technologies. We’re particularly pleased that more companies are now taking advantage of our facilities, which are unique in their ability to test new technologies at smaller scales,” Ashford said. “Broad industry participation such as this is a key part of what the marine energy center is designed to encourage.”
Among recent wave energy developments:
Oregon has one of the largest wave energy resources of any state in the nation, experts say.
The technological research, testing, environmental assessments, and public outreach being coordinated by OSU and the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center are seen as the key to developing that potential.
The marine energy center is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and is a collaboration of OSU and the University of Washington. OSU’s research efforts are focused on wave energy and the University of Washington on tidal energy.
3-7-11
OSU honors two medical/health researchers with Distinguished Professor awards
By Mark Floyd, 541-737-0788; mark.floyd@oregonstate.edu
Source: Sabah Randhawa, 541-737-2111
Luiz Bermudez, a professor in OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, is a national expert on tuberculosis and similar diseases. (photo by Karl Maasdam)
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Two Oregon State University faculty members have been awarded the title of “distinguished professor” – the highest honor that OSU gives to its faculty – for their teaching and collaborative research in biomedical sciences and environmental health science.
The honorees are Luiz E. Bermudez, a professor and interim associate dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Robert L. Tanguay, a professor of molecular toxicology in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
“The study of human health and disease prevention is one of OSU’s most important and rapidly growing fields of study, and professors Bermudez and Tanguay epitomize the excellence and international prestige of our faculty,” said Sabah Randhawa, OSU provost and executive vice president. “Their honors are richly deserved.”
Robert Tanguay, an OSU researcher in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute checks tanks of zebra fish. Tanguay uses zebra fish to examine the biological interactions of nanomaterials with biological systems. Embryonic zebra fish are particularly useful for studying the effects of nanomaterials on living organisms because they develop quickly, are transparent and can be easily maintained in small amounts of water. (photo by Lynn Ketchum, OSU)
Bermudez specializes in the study of tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases. Funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of nearly $1 million – as well as numerous other research grants – he is pioneering the first new tuberculosis therapytreatment in four decades. His research is critical: Tuberculosis is making a comeback around the world and infects about 8 million people annually, killing a quarter of them.
Some new strains of tuberculosis have developed strong resistance to powerful drugs, which have been “the backbone of modern anti-TB chemotherapy,” noted Bermudez, who also heads the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “Now it is very common for a healthy person to acquire drug-resistant bacteria directly. In terms of public health, that is a nightmare.”
Bermudez has been on the OSU faculty for eight years and is noted for his teaching and mentorship as well as research. He also is a leader among national medical health researchers, chairing or participating on grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tanguay came to OSU in 2003 to direct the university’s Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory, where he has created a world-class zebrafishresearch facility. Tanguay and other scientists use zebrafish as a model organism to study environmental effects on human health. During the past year, he received the prestigious National Institutes of Health Director’s Award of $2 million to build advanced robotics to automate zebrafish experimentation.
“A surprisingly large number of human diseases can be modeled in fish,” said Tanguay. “With about 80 percent of genes in humans also present in these fish, they present an opportunity to better understand risks to human health.”
Tanguay is a professor in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at OSU, and also is noted for his teaching and service as well as research. In addition to studying the effects of toxins at the molecular level, he is pioneering new approaches for drug and environmental chemical safety testing, examining mechanisms for regenerative medicine, and investigating the emerging field of nanotoxicology.
By Lee Sherman, Posted on November 20th, 2010
As Northwest farmers and homeowners, fishermen and business enterprises, timber operators and political leaders confront the mounting impacts of climate change, OSU and other universities are seeking better ways to lend support and ease transitions.Two new regional climate centers will apply research to resource management issues faced by the general public and policymakers. With funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Pacific Northwest Climate Decision Support Consortium will bring together faculty from the universities of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Boise State, as well as Oregon Sea Grant and extension services, to meet the climate-related needs of businesses, governments, tribes and non-governmental organizations.
One of 11 regional groups, the program — Regional Integrated Sciences Assessments (RISA) — will help “to realign our nation’s climate research to better serve society,” according to NOAA.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Interior has established a new Climate Science Center with OSU, the University of Washington and the University of Idaho to assist state and federal agencies.
“It is the agencies that create action plans to adapt to climate change,” said Phil Mote, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at OSU and a leader in both of the new regional centers. “What the Climate Science Center will do is provide the science needed to help the agencies make the best decisions. There also is a role for training students on climate change-related issues and preparing them to work in the organizations the center will serve.
By Lee Sherman, Posted on November 20th, 2010
Eagle III heads out to sea (Photo: Lynn Ketchum)
As Northwest farmers and homeowners, fishermen and business enterprises, timber operators and political leaders confront the mounting impacts of climate change, OSU and other universities are seeking better ways to lend support and ease transitions.
Two new regional climate centers will apply research to resource management issues faced by the general public and policymakers. With funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Pacific Northwest Climate Decision Support Consortium will bring together faculty from the universities of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Boise State, as well as Oregon Sea Grant and extension services, to meet the climate-related needs of businesses, governments, tribes and non-governmental organizations.
One of 11 regional groups, the program — Regional Integrated Sciences Assessments (RISA) — will help “to realign our nation’s climate research to better serve society,” according to NOAA.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Interior has established a new Climate Science Center with OSU, the University of Washington and the University of Idaho to assist state and federal agencies.
“It is the agencies that create action plans to adapt to climate change,” said Phil Mote, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at OSU and a leader in both of the new regional centers. “What the Climate Science Center will do is provide the science needed to help the agencies make the best decisions. There also is a role for training students on climate change-related issues and preparing them to work in the organizations the center will serve.”
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