This Land

OSU's land-grant commitment is for the good of all residents of the state. Making sure that includes the area's original peoples is top on the mind of Kurt Peters.

He has long been involved in developing vital associations between OSU and Native American tribes in Oregon. Seeing a need for a comprehensive approach to interact with the tribes, in 1993 he helped create the Native American Collaborative Institute (NACI) initiative and serves as its director.

"It's for the mutual benefit of the tribal residents, OSU students, the university, and the state," he says. "I've been visiting the tribes for ten years. It's not like they immediately said 'Oh yes, let's form a partnership.'" But now, important joint projects are beginning, even though some are still in rudimentary stages." The NACI mission includes "identifying areas of research, education, and outreach affecting the quality of life of tribal peoples, through collaborations based on concepts of respect, relevancy, responsibility and reciprocity." One such collaboration is with the Science and Engineering Division of the confederated tribes of the Umatilla Indian reservation, near Pendleton. OSU President Ed Ray, Vice President for Research John M. Cassady, Government Relations Director Jock Mills, and Nuclear Engineering Professor Kathryn Higley will be accompanying Peters to a meeting with the tribe's Board of Trustees in late May, to discuss a multifaceted project.

"All My Relations" © Sam English

"It will begin with a mapping of the resources of the geography of the Umatilla reservation lands," Peters says. "This will provide a baseline for understanding quality issues for future projects."

He adds, "It is essential that we are going to be led by tribal policy and tribal expertise in this project. As Ed Ray said when we began discussions, 'I am not going out there pretending we are in charge of anything.'"

Another developing relationship is with the Burns Paiute Indian Reservation. "This is a tribe that's in transition in terms of their economic development," Peters says. The tribal council has called for a 'memorandum of understanding' between their Fish and Wildlife Department and OSU. We've taken students to talk with Paiute and other stakeholders about the sustainability and quality of life there in Harney County. This tribe too is interested in mapping their resources, as a baseline. By the way, two of the fellows in the tribe's department are OSU grads. "

"It's groundbreaking work," says Peters. "If we can continue on this path and follow through, I am hopeful that other tribes will engage in similar projects with the university."

He notes that NACI already is an established entity. "We have an office [210 Ballard Extension Hall]!" Peters says. "We have someone running the operations! [Siletz tribal member Jennifer Butler] We have a website! [naci.oregonstate.edu]." Peters, Jack Higginbotham of the Research Office and the Research Council are completing the process for establishing NACI as a University research center reporting to the Research Office.

Peters is of Native American descent [Blackfeet/Powhatan]. He is associate professor of Native American Studies and Comparative Ethnic Studies in the Ethnic Studies Department. His research focuses primarily on the twentieth century Native American experience and Native American wage labor. He also serves on the executive committee of OSU's Rural Community Sustainability Project.

 

True, Fair, and Clear: OSU's Scientific and Scholarly Misconduct Policy

Fabrication is making up data or results and recording or reporting them. Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.

Such offenses rarely arise in the OSU community. Yet because the federal guidelines of scientific and scholarly misconduct had been redefined, a group of faculty reviewed and revised the university's policy.The Faculty Senate recently approved the revisions as crafted by the committee chaired by Larry Curtis.

"We made our policy quite succinct, more so probably than policies of other institutions," says Curtis. "We wanted it to be straightforward, and the process of dealing with problems to be clear and fair to everyone."

Committee members were Larry Curtis, Chair, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology; Leslie Burns, Design and Human Environment; Caroline Kerl, General Counsel; Peggy Lowry, Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance; Michael J. Quinn, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

OSU's Scientific and Scholarly Misconduct Policy, available at oregonstate.edu/research/osprc/rc/miscon.htm, has the following goals:

It is the purpose of these procedures to set forth guidelines for efficient disclosure and resolution of accusations of research misconduct in a manner that protects the public from the results of misconduct protects innocent scientists and scholars from harassment or interference with their academic freedom, and protects from retribution the individual who unmaliciously presents evidence of misconduct. These procedures apply to all research endeavors whether or not federally funded.

 

Gerontology: A Mature and Still Vital Field

Joe Hendricks, Dean of the University Honors College and professor of sociology, was a keynote speaker at OSU's recent Gerontology Conference. He has a distinguished career as a leader in the field. Following are excerpts from his talk.

• Isn't this an exciting time to be working in the field of aging? . . . There is going to be an explosion in the number of persons over the age of 65, and they will be staying healthier far longer than did previous generations of older people . . . They will not be the drain on the system that is oftentimes projected . . . The cohorts of older persons lining up for disability and chronic services may not be growing as rapidly as some would have predicted 10 or 15 years ago.
• Declines are likely to occur much later in life . . . The outcome will be an improved quality of life and a different constellation of client demands placed on service providers.
• Will there continue to be socioeconomic disparities? You betcha.
• Old age is big business. . . The gray market . . . spending is high, earmarked allocations for older persons have been politically sacrosanct, the dollars involved are substantial, and the financial implications are staggering. In the ten-year span between ages 65 and 74, older people spend more in most consumer categories than do their counterparts aged 25-34.
• I suspect that political scientists will be occupied answering questions about older people as political actors . . . Labor market analysts will be busy looking at retirement policies, always hot button topics that will remain vital determinants of late life life-styles.
• One of the downsides of improvements in life expectancy and health expectancy is that in all likelihood divorce rates will rise among older persons
• Gerontology and gerontological practitioners . . . have a great deal to offer as our society comes to terms with the ways in which old age will change in the coming decades.

Matthew Philpott is a virologist with expertise in bird flu. Yet since joining OSU in January, his focus has not been on birds; it's been on the safety of other researchers and of the community. Our new Biosafety Officer, who served the same function at Louisiana State University, works with the university's Biosafety Committee to assure the safety of researchers and the community, as well as compliance with regulations for projects that involve pathogens and recombinant DNA. "I focus on activities that pose potential harm, he says. "But I’m not a policemen — I’m more a guide and a coach."

OSU’s tremendous scope of biological research, its competency, and the "very good culture of compliance with regulations here,” have impressed Philpott, while at the same time he has identified the need to improve communication and education about biosafety.

He is planning information sessions at the departmental level. He says, " I want to explain best-practice scenarios. And to clear up misconceptions – for instance, a lot of investigators think their project is exempt – but if you’re putting recombinant DNA into plants and animals, for example, that’s not exempt.”

Projects are rated according to their potential risk, into four biosafety levels, Philpott explains. Level 1 includes dealing with lab strains of Escherichia coli, and soil or environmental bacteria that may infect insects but would not harm healthy adult humans. Level 2 projects pose moderate risk; an example is Staphylococcus aureus, the cause of many staph infections, which could cause disease in healthy adults but is treatable.

Level 3 projects present more serious risks and may not be treatable. The pathogens are typically spread by inhalation of aerosols, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. "Such projects require a high-containment lab," says Philpott. "OSU has two such facilities, and will soon be adding a third. They are highly secure and require advanced training, special procedures, and medical monitoring of the personnel. I suspect OSU will be dealing with more Level 3 projects in the future, because the research is needed, considering there are two billion people worldwide who have tuberculosis."

"This photo [of my son] illustrates that routine laboratory work should include the use of gloves, lab coat and eye protection." - M. Philpott

Level 4 projects involve deadly viruses and other extreme pathogens, such as ebola, which are typically not treatable. Philpott says, "We do not deal with this level at OSU." OSU's Biosafety committee is currently chaired by Janine Trempy. It is one of seven oversight research compliance committees that report to the Vice President for Research via Peggy Lowry, Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance. More information about biosafety: Biological Health and Safety; NIH guidelines; and article about OSU's Biosafety committee

Nell O'Malley: Dealing with the Media; Learning about Children; Valuing the Arts

Nell O'Malley of the College of Education received a phone call from her ecstatic 8-year-old son, Emmett: "Mommy, we just heard you on the sports channel! You sounded really good!"

Watching TV, Gellad, Beer-Sheva

O'Malley's research, about children's preferences in leisure activities as revealed in their drawings, had been the subject of an OSU press release. "Within 24 hours, there were more media inquiries than I ever anticipated. But this one reporter was grilling me in an odd way. He kept saying 'So, you think that children need to spend more time with their families?' I replied that actually the research pointed to children's lack of unstructured play time with others, which may be necessary for social and moral development. He said, 'So, they need to be with their families more, right?' It seemed he had an agenda, and I was eager to get off that call! And he did not tell me that one of the stations where he was airing my comments was a sports station!" Fortunately, O'Malley is used to dealing with the media carefully, especially in her role as the chair of the local public school board.

Computer, Branden, Adams Elementary, Corvallis

You can read about her work on children's leisure preferences in a Star-Ledger story and OSU Press Release. Some of the interest the study generated has been about how today's children spend their time: alone with technology or in adult-managed activities, and away from nature. Another interest concerns the two cultures of the children [U.S. and Israel] : the similarities in children's preferences, and the differences in their artistic abilities. Yet another aspect is about art as a tool for communication. That has inspired O'Malley to delve more into her life-long interest in creativity.

Playing at the Park, Oral, Beer-Sheva

"I had formal schooling in art, but then instead pursued an elementary teaching license. As the arts have been cut in public schools, I've become more and more passionate about their value. We need to pay attention to children's creativity, and not just focus all of our energy on raising test scores. I taught a course for pre-service teachers about integrating the arts across the curriculum. The students loved it— they said they need this."

O'Malley is now embarking on another research project involving art; teens will be asked to draw pictures about their future. O'Malley is collaborating with colleagues in Israel, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Angola, and Portugal. They'll compare the youths' life expectations, and also learn about the role of contemporary art. "But first," O'Malley says, "We have to get through the Internal Review Board process!"

Dancing, Edan, Beer-Sheva