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OSU Today is a daily e-mail news briefing provided by OSU News and Communication Services. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the mailing list, visit here.
Questions, comments and ideas for news briefs may be sent to Kevin Hanson at osutoday or Kevin Hanson.
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.
Oregon State University’s Solar Vehicle Team leaves today for the North American Solar Challenge, a 2,400-mile car race from Dallas, Texas, to Calgary, Canada, that starts July 13. OSU’s entry, the Rain Dancer, looks a bit like a three-wheeled Batmobile. It took three years and $50,000 to build. “Finally seeing it run … I can’t describe it. It’s awesome,” said Hai-Yue Han, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering. Moments later, Han took the car for a spin Friday afternoon in the National Guard armory parking lot. He accelerated silently and suddenly, drawing shouts from his teammates. “Easy,” yelled Bob Boyer, a retired OSU professor and the machinist for the team. “This is like our maiden flight here.”
OSU researcher Scott Baker has uncovered victims of a hidden killing. The victims are endangered fin whales, the second-largest living animals in the world after blue whales. Baker and colleagues started their detective work when they bought whale meat from shops in Japan in 2006 and 2007. Using DNA fingerprinting, they soon discovered that the meat came from more fin whales than Japan has acknowledged killing. The discovery suggests that unregulated and unreported whaling may be cutting into the world's imperiled whale populations more than anyone realizes. …(Japan) contends that its whaling is for scientific purposes, but the meat is sold commercially. Many critics argue that it's a commercial whaling program in disguise. Other whales are killed as "bycatch" when they get tangled in Japanese fishing nets, although critics also suspect the bycatch might not be accidental. Japan is supposed to report the number of whales caught by either approach, and it reported a total of 13 whales. But DNA analysis by Baker's team identified meat from at least 15 fin whales sold by Japanese stores. "Clearly there must be an undocumented source of these whales," Baker said, "but we don't know what it is."
Each spring, the cycle of death begins anew. Nitrogen and phosphorus, leached from fertilizer, pass from farmland into streams, from streams into rivers—the Mississippi, the Potomac, the Susquehanna—and then, finally, into some of the country's great bodies of water: the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay. There the chemicals collect each summer, spawning the growth of algae, which deplete the water of oxygen and lead to ghostly aquatic wastelands. Marine life, if mobile enough, will swim away; the rest will suffocate and die. …Not only are dead zones not going away, scientists say, but they are becoming more frequent and intense. A 2004 U.N. report documented nearly 150 dead zones worldwide, and scientists continue to come across new ones, including some apparently caused by climate change. Researchers at Oregon State University, for example, identified a recurring dead zone in the Pacific Northwest in 2002; during the 2006 cycle, it caused "mass die-offs" of marine life on the seafloor.
Oregon State gymnastics recruit Olivia Vivian (Perth, Australia) is one of six gymnasts nominated to form Australia’s women’s artistic gymnastics team for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Gymnastics Australia will nominate Vivian and two other Western Australians, Daria Joura and Lauren Mitchell along with Georgia Bonora, Ashleigh Brennan and Shona Morgan to the Australian Olympic Committee (pending appeals) for selection to the Australian Olympic team. Vivian, who turns 19 just before the Games, is the oldest gymnast among the Australians, all of whom will make their Olympic debuts in Beijing.
The Nutrition and Exercise Sciences office is collecting old shoes to benefit kids in the local area through the Congressional Reuse-A-Shoe Drive. They will begin collecting shoes at Langton 123 today and continue until Wednesday, July 30. Thanks to many people's help last year, Congressman Peter DeFazio's office collected the most pairs of shoes in the Oregon delegation. Soles of these athletic shoes were cut up and modified into sports and play surfaces for kid's playgrounds at schools. DeFazio subsequently received a donation of sports equipment from Nike that he donated to the Sweet Home Boys & Girls Club and the SW Oregon Boys & Girls Club.
The COAS Marine Geology and Geophysics department is presenting, "The Dynamics of Oceanic Transform Faults: Perspectives from Integrated Geochemical-Geodynamical Modeling,” a seminar by Trish Gregg. It will be held on Tuesday, July 8, from noon to 1 p.m. in Burt Hall, Room 193.
From Friday, July 11 to Monday, July 14, OSU will play host to a high school Latino camp, “Opening Roads and Reaching Dreams.” The camp invites Latino high school students to learn about career opportunities in engineering, education, natural resources, technology, nutrition, and history and culture. The college admission process will also be discussed. Participants will also engage in team sports. The camp cost is $100. For more information, contact Mario Magana at 737-0925 or mario.magana@oregonstate.edu.
For more upcoming events, go to http://oregonstate.edu/events/newsevents/events.html.
The Office of Disability Access Services at OSU is seeking a Coordinator for Alternative Formats and Business Administration. Responsibilities include coordinating alternative formats production, ensuring operations are in compliance with Federal and State statutes, and administrating departmental financial reporting. This is a full-time, 12-month, fixed-term position with renewal at the discretion of the director. To view the full position description and to apply, go to http://oregonstate.edu/jobs, posting #0002844. The closing date is July 17.
The OSUsed Day Store will be from noon to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2. It’s located at 644 S.W. 13th Street. More information can be found here: http://www.surplus.oregonstate.edu/.
The new issue of Update, the Research Office newsletter is available at http://oregonstate.edu/research/news/update/0807.htm. It includes news and features about and for the OSU community, including: To Bees (or not to be); Appreciation, Technology Transfer for You; Distinguished Lecturers, Thoughts on Fiction, Science, and Popular Opinion; Fresh Faces in the Research Office, Minding the Books; Grants and Music for Fun; and Expanding Horizons, Sabbatical in Germany.
The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at OSU is seeking a Grants/Contracts Technician (Internal to OSU employees only). The complete announcement can be accessed at https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/, posting # 0002808. Closing date is July 9.
The English Language Institute (ELI) at OSU is in urgent need of home stay hosts for a group of teachers from Mexico who are coming to study at the ELI for five weeks. The home stay weekend is July 11-13 (a two-night home stay). These are teachers of English and they are coming to study new teaching techniques. Hosts may have one or two teachers for the weekend. If you would like to volunteer for this, please call Candy Pierson-Charlton at 737-6981 or e-mail her at candace.pierson-charlton@orst.edu candace.pierson-charlton@orst.edufor more information.
The Office of Human Resources is accepting applications for the position of Employee Benefits Retirement Analyst. Applications are due by Thursday, July 10. The complete announcement can be accessed at https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/, posting # 0002806.
All fume hood services will be temporarily shutdown in Burt Hall today due to service work on the building condenser unit. This will affect the entire building. The shutdown will begin at 8 a.m. and should be restored by noon. If you have any questions concerning the shutdown, please contact Steve Allen at 230-0211.
Due to construction associated with phase two of the 14th/15th Street roadway improvement project, 14th/15th Street between Jefferson Ave. and Campus Way will be shutdown to all vehicle traffic, beginning Monday June 30 and reopening on Thursday, Sept. 4. Campus Way will remain open for local traffic only. All through traffic is advised to detour around the street closure using 9th Street. To accommodate construction, the western half of the parking lot north of Jefferson Way (between 11th & 15th) will be closed until Oct. 14. If you have any questions concerning this shutdown, please contact Zack Golik 737-5569.
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