Research > Update Newsletter >

Update

The Research Office Newsletter

Featuring OSU research and scholarship in all disciplines, and the services of the Research Office

Volume 2, Issue 6 April, 2003

IRIS: Customized Funding Information, and More

The Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS) is an information dissemination service that is a valuable resource for OSU researchers.

IRIS is available by subscription only, and the Research Office, The OSU Foundation, and the Valley Library pay for a subscription for Oregon State University. It can be accessed from any Internet address inside the OSU domain - from computers on campus, but not from elsewhere.

IRIS Database:

This allows a search for funding opportunities in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. The database currently contains over 8,000 active federal and private funding opportunities. You can search by sponsor, deadline date, keyword, and other criteria. Most IRIS records contain live links to sponsor Web sites, electronic forms, or Electronic Research Administration (ERA) portals.

You can also access the Online Periodical Service Database of selected items from the Commerce Business Daily/FedBizOpps and Federal Register.

The IRIS Database is updated daily.

IRIS Alert Service

Use this to receive funding alerts automatically.

You create your own IRIS search profile and can modify it at any time. The program runs your profile against the IRIS database You can select how often you would like your alert profile run - daily, weekly, or monthly. You have two choices for delivery method: by e-mail directly to you; or posted to a customized web page that will be set up at the University of Illinois.

How to use IRIS

The IRIS site includes a "Short Course" and "Tips," to learn the system.

If you have problems using IRIS, the site also offers a "Help File," as well as information on how to contact support people: phone number (217) 333-0284, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Central Standard Time); and e-mail rso@uiuc.edu.

Note: The OSU Research Office does not currently provide technical support for the use of IRIS. Please contact IRIS directly with questions about its use.

link to IRIS

Return to Table of Contents

Interview in the Elevator: Mark McCambridge

Update: Hello. Which floor? Mark McCambridge, Vice President for Finance and Administration: Six, please. Update: Do you have any specific message today for faculty and staff? MM: We had intended to get budget information for next year out to the campus community by the first part of April, but we're still unable to do so - because of the uncertainty in the state legislature. Stay tuned. Update: Thank you. Here's my floor. MM: You're welcome. Bye.

Return to Table of Contents

Stranded Marine Mammals

"There's a poor, cute little baby seal that was abandoned. We want to feed it and take it somewhere for help." Tamara McGuire is familiar with such sentiments of well-intentioned beach-walkers. Yet as the new coordinator for the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network program, her response is, "Don't go near the seal pup."

Since she began working at the the Hatfield Marine Science Center in February, it's been one of McGuire's tasks to help educate the public about leaving alone the seals, sea lions, whales, and dolphins which appear on the beach. She is also coordinating a statewide network of volunteers to help respond to stranded animals. "I want to ensure that we are responding as quickly as possible," she says.

Documenting marine mammal stranding, in coordination with different universities and state agencies, is another focus. "We want to be making the most of opportunities to collect scientific data. Oregon's south, central, and north sections of coast all have strandings. But the information about what is found, how to deal with it, and what any overall causes may be, has not been collected or shared systematically. We're now making a cohesive effort to communicate."

While it's too soon for McGuire to discuss trends or data, she already has a growing list of the strandings for this season:

• A striped dolphin was found dead between Agate and Nye beaches in Newport. "That was unusual. It may have been because of El Nino conditions or storms," McGuire says. "We collected the body and will do a necropsy."
• A sea lion, less than a year old, appeared in the backyard of a home. It bore a tag indicating that it had been rehabilitated in the Crescent City, California area. "That means it had been found, was helped and put back. It had come this far, but it wasn't doing well. It was alive, but starving," McGuire says. "It was begging from people. We brought it to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport." McGuire says the fate of that animal is still unknown. "It's gaining some blubber, but not enough yet to protect it. And we are still looking into the possibilities, consulting all of the many deciders. I may end up driving it back to the rehab facility in California. We'd put it in a dog kennel in the back of a truck"
  

The new position is funded by a federal grant, the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and also through matching funds from an endowment of the Marine Mammal Program. McGuire is currently reapplying for the funding.

Link to Marine Mammal Program

Return to Table of Contents

Endowed Chair: Dan Arp

Dan Arp, Acting Chair and Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology, has been named to the Stewart Professorship for Gene Research in the Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology (CGRB). Dr. Arp's research deals with bacteria that carry out agriculturally and environmentally relevant processes in soils. One project involves bacteria with the ability to degrade environmental pollutants. He is currently also the director of the Nitrogen Fixation Lab, and is the former director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program. He joined OSU in 1990.

The Advisory Board to the Vice Provost for Research selected Dr. Arp for this five-year nonrenewable endowed chair, previously held by Chris Mathews, of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and before that by Kensal E. van Holde.

Gifts from Faye and L. L. "Stub" Stewart enabled OSU to establish the Stewart Professorship for Gene Research. The brothers are graduates in forestry; both went on to distinguished careers in the timber industry. Both have supported OSU in many ways, including gifts for the operation of the LaSells Stewart Center, named in honor of their parents.

More about all of OSU's Endowed Positions are on the Foundation's website. More about Arp's research can be found on the CGRB and the Botany and Plant Pathology websites.

Return to Table of Contents

Links

Funding Resources

OSU and external programs and other opportunities for faculty.

Shared OSU Facilities and Services - Resource List

Access research resources across disciplines on campus. Please let us know if you have facilities to add to this list.

Online OSU Newsletters and Magazines

News and feature publications abound around campus. Link to a list of those available online, about everything from academics to cultural events.

Scholarship and Research across Campus

The broad, deep, and diverse research and scholarship activities of OSU faculty across campus are summarized at Research Summaries

Update, The Research Office Newsletter

This newsletter is produced approximately monthly and announced via email to all OSU faculty and staff. Link to archived issues. Please send any news, announcements, or comments to jana.zvibleman@oregonstate.edu

return to Table of Contents

© 2003 Oregon State University