Today in the News Media


Today in the News Media is a synopsis of some of the most prominent coverage of OSU people and programs. Inclusion of any item constitutes neither an endorsement nor a critique, but rather is intended only to make the OSU community aware of significant items in the media. For more about this section, see: https://today.oregonstate.edu/email/submission-guidelines
 

 

Adding solar panels to farms is good for plants, animals and people (How Stuff Works)

Studies at Oregon State University found that solar panels like these with crops planted beneath were able to generate 10 percent more electricity.

 

Plastics recycling misses the point. Here's what we have to try next (CNET)

Lucas Ellis, assistant professor at Oregon State University's School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, helped work on research that delved into the idea of using "oxygen and catalysts to break down plastics into smaller, biologically friendly chemical building blocks." The team then used a biologically engineered soil that could consume those building blocks and turn them into either something called a biopolymer or a component for advanced nylon production.
 

Today's photo


Turkey trot: Jeremy Schuster, graduate student in horticulture, says, “I wanted to share a slice of Oregon’s beauty from my research project. This is a picture of OSU’s Woodhall Research Vineyard near Monroe, Oregon early on the morning of Nov. 10. We were rolling up bird netting that was used to prevent turkeys from getting into the research plots. If you look closely, you can see some of the turkeys in the picture." We are accepting photo submissions at [email protected].

Timely Teaching Tips: Wondering how to better implement project-based learning? Read Project-Based Learning (Part 3): Practical Preparation by Ecampus instructional designer Ashlee Foster for resources, strategies and examples. For earlier installments in this series, see Architecture for Authenticity (Part 1) and Mindful Design (Part 2).

Today 

M.S. Water Resource Policy & Management Defense: Dina Kaskina will present her thesis, titled, “Agreeing to nothing? Exploring the role of ambiguity in international water treaties,” on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7 a.m., in Burt Hall 193 and on Zoom. WRGP department chair Mary Santelmann advises Kaskina. Reach out to [email protected] for Zoom details. 

Hiring Q&A Webinars Hosted by Human Resources: These sessions are designed for supervisors and department HR liaisons. Feel free to drop in and ask your questions about the hiring process. We will have a panel of experts from different HR Teams that work directly with hiring to assist with your questions. Dec. 7, 1-2 p.m.: Registration link. Jan. 9, 11 a.m. to noon: Registration link.

Indigenous Placekeeping in Corvallis and at the Confluence: Join us Dec. 7, 7 p.m., for the next talk in this year's Champinefu Webinar Series. Indigenous artists will join in conversation with David Harrelson, cultural resources department manager for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Register and learn more. Co-sponsored by the Spring Creek Project.

Events

NEW! Retirement Celebration for Jon Dolan: Jon Dolan, Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) has formally announced that he will retire from OSU on Dec. 31. Please join University Information and Technology (UIT) and the OSU IT community for an open house at the Memorial Union, Room 109 on Dec. 13 from 3-5 p.m. to congratulate Jon on his retirement and thank him for his extraordinary service to OSU. 

Faculty senate: The Dec. 8 Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled from 3-5 p.m. This meeting will be held in person in the LaSells Stewart Center Construction and Engineering Hall with a Zoom webinar option for individuals outside of OSU Corvallis and those unable to attend in person: https://senate.oregonstate.edu/attending-faculty-senate-meetings.
 
Visceral Imagery: A surround-sound composition concert by students in the OSU music technology program. Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Community Hall 202. Free, open to all

Lectures, Workshops, Webinars

NEW! Department of Integrative Biology Ph.D. defense seminar: Dan Schneck will present “Phenotypic and Transcriptomic Evolution of the Circadian Clock Network in an Intertidal Marine Crustacean” on Friday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. in person in LINC 314. Or join via Zoom: https://beav.es/DanSchneckPhD. Schneck is completing his Ph.D. in integrative biology under the guidance of Felipe Barreto.

NEW! Floor Monitor Training: Training for Floor Monitors and Building Managers on roles and responsibilities when evacuating their building. Training is the second Wednesday of every month via Zoom. Sign up for Zoom Floor Monitor Training at: https://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1ZhCgowN8AukjPf.

Department of Integrative Biology Ph.D. defense seminar: David Hubert will present “Life in a rapidly changing environment: The thermal biology of the Red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis)” on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 9 a.m. in person in ALS 4001 or via Zoom: https://beav.es/DavidHubertPhD. Hubert is completing his Ph.D. in integrative biology under the guidance of Bob Mason.

Department of Integrative Biology M.S. defense seminar: Sushovita Pal will present “Seeking sacred sequences: A comparative population-genetic analysis of Ficus religiosa chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA” on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. in person in the Coast Range Building, room 2196, 4575 SW Research Way, Corvallis. Or join via Zoom: https://beav.es/SubiPalMasters, Meeting ID: 91023581837. Pal is completing her M.S. in Integrative Biology under the guidance of Dee Denver.

ElderCare Connections will meet on Thursday, Dec. 8. The winter holiday season can be a particularly stressful time for caregivers. Join Lumina Hospice and Palliative Care caregiver support coordinator Naomi Hirsch as she shares strategies for managing caregiver stress. The Zoom link will open at 11:30 a.m., for caregiver check-in from 11:30 a.m. to noon and will close at 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact [email protected].

HMSC Research Seminar: On Thursday, Dec. 8, at 3:30 p.m., Laurie Weitkamp, a research fisheries biologist with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center at HMSC, will be giving a seminar titled “Opening the oceanic black box: highlights from the 2022 IYS High Seas survey.” Please join us in person at HMSC’s GVMSB Auditorium or online. Zoom link or call +1-971-247-1195 Meeting ID: 945 5573 115. Click here for more information

Coaches Clinic: Teambuilding and Culture, Jan. 18. OSU kinesiology faculty show you how to support connection, encourage learning and create community as a youth sports coach. The College of Public Health and Human Sciences' next Coaches Clinic event is Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hallie Ford Center 115. Create a positive culture with rituals, routines and practices for your team. Registration required

Environmental and Molecular Toxicology Research Symposium: Come explore the intersections between chemistry, biology, epidemiology and regulatory science on Friday, Jan. 20 in The LaSells Stewart Center. Speakers include current students and staff and EMT alumni from industry, government and academia. There will be a career Q&A and a poster session. Registration is free. https://emt.oregonstate.edu/research-symposium.

Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue: Learn skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional or risky topics. Discover how to speak and be heard (and how to encourage others to do the same), surface the best ideas, make the highest-quality decisions and act on your decisions with unity and commitment. View dates for the Winter 2023 and Spring 2023 courses and register here. There is a $100 fee to attend this workshop.

SJEI workshop registration open through spring 2023, with in-person and remote options. The Social Justice Education Initiative is a professional development program for all faculty, staff and graduate students. SJEI workshops are infused with expertise, empathy and humor while embracing a guiding principle of “more curiosity, less judgement” to achieve robust learning objectives. Learn more, see the workshop schedule and register on the SJEI registration page or contact SJEI director Jane Waite at [email protected].

Take Note

NEW! 25 Year club: Congratulations to Janet Nagele, associate professor, for being inducted into the 25 Year club at OSU. You can read more about their time at OSU and others inducted into the club by clicking on their name.

NEW! MLK event submissions: Event submissions for the 41st annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration are now open. An important part of the Commemoration are events organized by Oregon State community members across the state to collaboratively carry on the legacy and teachings of Dr. King. We encourage community members to submit an event or learn more by going to the event page. Event submissions will be accepted until Dec. 21.

NEW! Why should I give via the Charitable Fund Drive? When you give through the CFD, 100% of your donation goes to the organization(s) you designate. All CFD costs —less than 10% of funds raised — are paid by the participating charities. And by giving during this OSU campaign, you help boost OSU’s reputation as a kind, generous neighbor, all while making a positive impact in Oregon. It’s easy with online pledging and payroll deduction: https://www.ipledgeonline.org/_cfduniversities/.

Grants to support undergraduate student experience and improve retention! Since 2003, the OSU Women's Giving Circle has supported the university with 178 awards totaling over a million dollars. They are seeking applications for programs and projects which enhance the OSU undergraduate student experience and improve student retention. The average grant amount is $5,000-$10,000. Application deadline: Jan. 9 at 9 a.m. Applications, additional criteria, and further information can be found at fororegonstate.org/wgc_grant or by contacting the Women’s Giving Circle staff liaison, Sara Dier.

GCE4All Free Webinar Series: Register for the International Genetic Code Expansion Webinar, a free monthly webinar series, open to all, featuring talks focused on cutting-edge applications of GCE technologies as well as advances in the GCE field. It is organized by the Oregon State University GCE4All Research Center and hosted by Rick Cooley and John Lueck. To register: https://oregonstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vTb9mXiISqSNSeNfnzKJrQ. The webinars run from October through June and occur on the third Thursday of each month at 7 a.m. Learn more on the International GCE Webinar webpage

Honors College Colloquium Proposals: OSU tenured/tenure-track, senior instructor and emeritus faculty are invited to submit honors colloquium proposals for 2023-2024 at honors.oregonstate.edu/course-proposals. Any general catalog course can also be offered as a small, highly-engaged honors course; interested faculty should contact [email protected] for details. Faculty may apply for Meehan course development grants of up to $3,000 to develop experiential learning opportunities for honors courses and colloquia. More information: [email protected] or 541-737-6412. Deadline: Jan. 15.

Deadline Extended: OSU's Open Educational Resources Unit is accepting proposals for the Affordable Learning Grant until Dec. 15. The grant provides funding to adopt, adapt or author an open educational resource, such as a textbook. An open textbook is one that is published under an open copyright license and is made freely available online for students, faculty and the public. All funding is a department-to-department transfer. Please talk to your department head about how this applies to the grant. Questions? Contact OERU Director Stefanie Buck

OSU Women’s Giving CircleEach year the OSU Women's Giving Circle funds vital and innovative grants for university programs. Last year, the Women’s Giving Circle awarded more than $70,000 to 11 OSU programs. If you have an idea for a funding opportunity to enhance the OSU undergraduate student experience and improve student retention and the determination to directly impact as many OSU students as possible, consider applying for an OSU Women’s Giving Circle grant by Jan. 9. For more information, visit the Women’s Giving Circle proposal site or contact Sara Dier.

Monthly Emergency Preparedness Topic — Workplace Violence: Every day, we see workplace violence on the news. However, reports and statistical analysis of workplace violence document the low probability of injury or death due to violence. Still, being prepared and knowing how to respond to violence in the workplace is important in case it should occur. This month’s poster can be downloaded at: https://emergency.oregonstate.edu/emergency-management/preparedness-topics/hostile-intruderworkplace-violence.

OSU Today holiday schedule: OSU Today will switch to weekly production starting Dec. 12 for the holiday season. We will publish Dec. 12, Dec. 19 and Jan. 3, with no edition during the week of Dec. 26-30. We will resume daily publication Jan. 9.

Free COVID tests: Free iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Tests are available on the Corvallis and Bend campuses and at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Each box contains two tests. While supplies last, OSU community members can pick up these self-test kits without restrictions. Please note the FDA has extended the self-test kit expiration dates by six months.

Traffic and Maintenance

NEW! Student Legacy Park South parking lot: As part of the Washington Way Improvement Project, Student Legacy Park South parking lot, the parking lot directly north of SW Washington Way, will be permanently closed. (view map). For questions or comments on this closure, contact construction manager Derek Bennett at 541-609-6111.

Street and sidewalk closure on Washington Way: As part of the Washington Way Improvement Project, SW Washington Way will be closed daily between SW 26th and SW 17th Streets to begin water line replacement. Work will occur Nov. 30, 2022 through Jan. 6 from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. This portion of Washington Way will reopen to vehicle traffic after 5 p.m. daily. (View map) The sidewalk on the north side of Washington Way will also be closed, and an alternate pedestrian route will be identified with signage. For questions or comments on this closure, contact construction manager Derek Bennett at 541-609-6111.

Weather

“Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity." ~ Jose Marti

Corvallis: Patchy dense fog then partly sunny, high of 41, low of 36. Rainy Thursday.

Central Oregon: Sunny, high of 36, low of 25. Snow likely Thursday.

Newport: Rainy and breezy, high of 48, low of 42. Rainy Thursday.

Statewide: For OSU employees around the state, find your local forecast here: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/.